I have a 9 year old grandson who is affected by Asperger's syndrome and ever since he was about three years old has been fascinated with airplanes. He has become a walking encyclopedia on airplane facts, especially war planes both vintage and modern. For the past three years I have been working with him with FSX, working on behavior control, maintaining focus, and lengthening attention span.  It has been a rough flight at times, but lately we have begun to turn the corner.  At Valentine's Day he and my daughter, his mother, presented me with a very nice knit pilot's shirt, complete with striped epaulets. Nice enough that I thought some of you might like one of these.

 

I neglected to post this last month because the shirt was way out of size range and we have gone through two rounds of returns/exchanges. I am posting this for you to see in case you are interested in these.  Despite the sizing issue, this is a very well made shirt. It is made from a substantial 60/40 cotton poly fabric, and has quality stitching.  It is very comfortable and because it has a finished band at the bottom can be worn tucked in or left out.

 

On sizing. For most knit shirts like this, as well as for sweaters, pullovers, fleeces, and the like, I normally come in between USA men's Large and XL.  The first shirt she ordered was L and was way too small. So she exchanged it for an XL.  It fit OK, perhaps a bit snug for my liking knowing that with 60 percent cotton content it would shrink some.  So it was returned in favor of a an XXL or 2XL as it is marked. The 2XL is perfect, understanding that it is 1 1/2 sizes larger than my usual size.  Point that out for you to use for your own reference if you wish to order one of these.

 

Another note. the epaulet straps on the shoulders are short. On most pilot shirts the strap buttons are still visible.  Not on this shirt.  My daughter had to go through sets of epaulets from three sources to find a set small enough to fit, and then even then they had to have a V cut into the top edge of the backside layer  where it meets the button (out of site).  She actually started the process of finding the shirt and epaulets for Christmas.

 

The shirt came from Blair.com. Just search for pilot shirt.  She said the epaulets set that finally worked with the shirt came from PilotMall.com.

 

They do not make these in a size small enough for a 9 year old, so I have a very jealous grandson, until he grows a bit more. I already have ordered and received a S for him to grow into.  His is Air Force blue!

 

Great heart warming story of a little aviator who is climbing on his way! That is indeed a cool looking shirt. Something to fly around in while in my little Cessna

Haven't worn it yet. Just keep looking at it. Will probably wear it when grandson is next over here.  That's mid week next week and its forecast to be much warmer here in Maryland. Mid to upper 60s.