Alpha Industries is an American clothing manufacturer founded in 1959 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Initially as a contractor to the United States military, the company grew into an international commercial seller of American military style and fashion apparel.
MA-1 bomber jacket (also known as the MA-1 flight jacket) was first developed in the mid-1950s. The MA-1 and its predecessor, the B-15 flight jacket, were needed at that time because the emergence of the jet age created new requirements for pilot performance, safety and comfort.The MA-1 was designed by the Air Force to serve as an intermediate weight flight jacket for use all year. This was accomplished by manufacturing the MA-1 from very high quality nylon fabrics and polyester interlinings. The light weight nylon design allowed the pilot in warm weather to wear the jacket open and be comfortable; upon entering the aircraft, the pilot could zip the MA-1 closed and be afforded ample protection against the cold conditions encountered in flight.
CWU-45 flight jacket is a version of the MA-1 bomber jacket that was originally designed for the U.S. military during the 1950s. The term MA-2 or CWU-45 was a trademark of the Cobles Clothing Company, adopted in the late 1980s when the CWU-45 military jacket started to gain popularity in street fashion. When contested in court, Cobles lost the exclusive right to the use of the term as they had attempted to widen it to other garments and footwear which was not acceptable because of a legal technicality. The term MA-2 has become so popular it is now used interchangeably with CWU-45 to represent this type of jacket.
M-1965 Field Jacket (also known as the M-65 Field Jacket), eponymously named after the year it was introduced, is a popular field jacket initially designed for the US military. The M-65 field jacket was widely used by United States Forces during the Vietnam War in which the jacket became useful for troops serving in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, as well as keeping a soldier warm from the cool weather conditions that came after monsoonal rains. It was and is a standard issue to US troops in several other wars all around the globe as well.
