eBay

Offered for sale is an RAF officer’s greatcoat.

 

 

Details.

The greatcoat was bespoke made by Jones & Jones Co. of Mayfair, London in March 1945, for Group Captain Geoffrey Mungo Buxton. 

 

Geoffrey Mungo Buxton was born in 1906.  Buxton entered the air force as soon as he left school.  He trained in India with them, before being sent to Cambridge University where he achieved a starred first in aeronautical engineering. 

 

He designed the Buxton Hjordis, a single-seat sailplane built by Slingsby Sailplanes Ltd, which was flown at competitions in Europe between 1935-1937.  He went on to design the Buxton Hjordis 2, which was again built by Slingsby, but renamed the King Kite. 

 

During WW2, Buxton was involved in research experiments with “Queen Bee”, seeing whether wooden gliders would get picked up by radar. 

 

Post war, he was sent to Germany to see how far the Germans had got developing rockets, and the like.  His record of his trip to Germany is held by the RAF Museum, Hendon.  He worked at the Ministry of Supply until 1956, when he retired to North Norfolk. 

 

This information was given to me by one of his daughters after I bought the uniform.  There is lots of further information about him on the Internet.

 

The greatcoat came from a collector in Wiveton, North Norfolk, and had been in storage in their collection for over 30 years.  I acquired a number of pieces of Buxton’s uniform; this greatcoat is just one of them.  Please check out my other items, as I will happily combine postage. 

 

The greatcoat is half lined and has corduroy lined pockets and still has the original buttons.  It is a beautiful thing, very well made, and incredibly heavy! 

 

 

Condition.

The greatcoat is in beautiful condition, and looks little worn, but there are some points to note.

-          It has been in storage in an attic for a long time, and therefore has storage odour, but it does NOT smell of moth balls.

-          There is slight corrosion to one of the buttons on the left sleeve

-          There are a few moth grazes, not holes, just nibbles in the material.  There are a couple on the collar, a 4mm one on the right hand side on the back near the sleeve, a 4mm on the left sleeve and a 1” patch on the inside left lapel.

 

 

Measurements.

For a wartime piece, it is actually a decent size.

Laid flat the chest measurement is 22” across, so doubled up, and allowing room for movement, it probably comes up as a 40” chest.  Moving the buttons would give a bit of extra room, if needed.

Shoulder width is 20”

Collar to hem is 56”

 

 

Postage.

The greatcoat is incredibly heavy, hence the high postage.  It will only be sent using an insured method, and the auction is UK only.  You can arrange local collection from the Felixstowe area, or you can pick the coat up from me at the Ramsey 1940’s Weekend on 16th and 17th August.

 

Please note that I know very little about RAF uniforms, but have done my best to describe it as accurately as possible.  If you want further information or more pictures, please ask PRIOR to bidding, as all sales are final.

 

Happy bidding :o)