Turkish Air Force Field Jacket, M2008, Surplus

The jackets use the European jacket sizes complemented by the Turkish length code, where a larger number means a longer jacket/sleeves. The EU jacket size is the recommended chest circumference divided by two in centimeters. In the chart below, you will see the average chest circumference and sleeve length of the jackets. Note that you need to add c. 20 cm (8″) to the chest to get a jacket that doesn’t feel like a cotton condom. There can be some variation depending on how these have been washed and how accurate the Turkish factories have been.

The fabric is fairly thin yet strong ripstop polycotton. At least on some, the percentages were 85/15 cotton/polyester, but it can vary to some extent depending on the batch.

M2008 camo pattern

This distinctive camo pattern is the Turkish M2008, or to be precise, the air force version. It was modified from the army pattern and primarily used by their ground defense personnel, but also seen on pilots in photos. The original M2008 (together with the air force variant) saw the light of day in the late 2000s and was eventually used throughout the Turkish military. Patternwise, it is similar to this blue-hued version, but it uses olive green, reddish brown, and khaki colors. In addition to Turkey, this air force version was, for some reason, used by the Free Syrian Army that opposed Bashar al-Assad. In the Turkish Air Force, this pattern was replaced by the M2018 and the army version by the M2021.

Some call this the blue Turkish digital camo, and if you see it further away, it does look a bit like MARPAT. However, when you inspect it more closely, you will notice that it isn’t actually pixelated.