Picked this up yesterday, no sheath / re-blued or touched up bluing.  But has full 6 7/8" blade and good tip unlike most I have seen for sale recently.  No sheath, if anyone has any spare L77 leather shoot me a PM. (Need to bump up my post count to 30. so will be posting quite a bit today) 😁

Very Informative! I have the 3rd model meatcan you mention as well as a couple of forks.

Didn’t add this to my last post in time. Here is my 1983/84 BX-purchased jacket. I removed the velcro decades ago but kept it. You can see the nametag was blank.   second photo is just to show that these jackets do develop all kinds of character. They just need to be worn.    hard to believe this is now 40+ years old

Wow, steel link #2's are rarer than rare. Maybe 1 to every 100 steel link model 1's in 43.  Even the sheath is an easy 1k. 

The medal in post 7 is interesting.   The ribbon length appears to be shorter than usual, much like the US Mint versions. The brooch looks like the 1930's - 40's US Mint bronze brooch. The sewing looks well done.   The medal looks "salty". But it is a variation I've not seen. The Navy did issue the longer drape medals, some named.   It would be possible to create a drape like this, then add a planchet. If so, it was done a long time ago.   Mike

Cool find.  These Coopers predated the issue A-2s by a couple of years. I bought mine (still have it), circa 1983/84.  The tag on mine is blank. The early Coopers (like yours) are literal clones of the 1988 contract jackets. Note the area below the wing on the orange tag.  When Cooper got the contract, these orange tagged jackets got an updated label referencing USAF.  Not sure how long afterwards that happened. 

Some great items.   Love the sleeve invasion flag the type issued to the 82nd AB

Very sorry for the loss. Most certainly a deeply important figure in our field.