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New 37J1 Model - The "Tophatter's Jacket" - 37J1 Pre-contract Test Jacket

Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
OK guys, some preliminary photos of the new Top Hatter's 37J1:
Some item to take note of, 6 main buttons not 5, A-1 style stitching not double lines, Unique pocket design.
The liner was dark brown not tan. This was determined by inside shots of the jacket on the movie "Hell Divers".

Front-1.jpg


Back-1.jpg



P1040973.JPG


Label-Small.jpg P1040959.JPG P1040957.JPG P1040960.JPG P1040958.JPG P1040969.JPG

More to come....
 
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Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
Looks gorgeous, Jay! How does the fit compare with that of the A-1? They look fairly similar in style.

Hi Lorenzo! Hope the jacket is serving you well.

The 37J1 is a very similar fit to the A-1. The arms are a bit more narrow on the A-1. The sizing is pretty much the same. I would recommend the same size in either model.

All The Best,
Jay
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
Just ordered one of these from Jay.
Now I need to find a really good
‘“Top Hatters” early period repro Patch . I’m assuming it was a cloth patch back in those days but I’m not sure. I need to know the correct color and background color for the 1920 - 1925 time period. Can anyone educate me on this please.:)
 
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Bombing IP

Well-Known Member
Do you have any art colleges near you ,speak to one of the professors as to who would be a good student to take on this and earn some money . It would be local no shipping of the jackets and you would still be in control because there would be no waiting line ahead of you . Another person who could take it on would be a local commercial sign writer ?.

Jeff
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
Just ordered one of these from Jay.
Now I need to find a really good
‘“Top Hatters” early period repro Patch . I’m assuming it was a cloth patch back in those days but I’m not sure. I need to know the correct color and background color for the 1920 - 1925 time period. Can anyone educate me on this please.:)

Looking forward to the photo of your jacket
I also think to order one by spring, really like this design.
 

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
Yes the emblems were painted on. I need to find someone in the USA that can paint them onto the jackets so I can offer a painted version. Any suggestions?

Jay, it would be great if the jackets will come with the right patch. And customers won’t have to do it themself. I think you need to find artists near you. The main thing is that they have to make what is needed, and not how " they see it" :) Control ans control and control again.
 

Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
OK I am on the case. With any luck, Burt may get the first painted one.

Question is....which version. The High Hats demonstration team seems to have an early design without the circle. The jackets that appear later have the surrounding circle. Maybe the ones w/o the circle were only issued to the demo team.

Tophat.jpg


Circle Version: (Here.....Pull my finger)
97b635e460bc07598c5dec2e89320ac9.jpg


Original press release photo from 1932: (I scored this 8 x 10 on eBay!)
Appears to be a black & white hat with a red background? Then again Beery's jacket was not olive so who can say for sure. More research is needed.
s-l1600.jpg
 

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Grant

Well-Known Member
Hey Jay,
The pockets on Gable's 37J1 look like they have pocket seams double stitched on the outside. Could this be a studio made jacket made just for him?

Gable.png
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
You must have read my mind Grant ;)
I was just looking at that when your posting popped up. Here’s a photo I found of the same thing. You can also see a dark background for the hat painted on the plane. I went to the web and found this on Flightjackets.com site
68358C88-0EAA-4018-A530-2893A52DFAA4.jpeg
9BFE34B9-605E-4015-8C1D-73CE2C41CC8C.jpeg

However there are also renditions that look like this
0E4069C2-F521-42F8-B56F-04135C56B80D.jpeg

The jacket that Gable is wearing looks to be the later version of the 37J1 with the pockets sewn on the outside of the jacket.
 
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Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
Hey Grant, no I don't think so although that is an interesting jacket in a few ways.

This method of pocket attachment is seen on other 1930's flight jackets. The most famous being Amelia Earhart's:

amelia-pock-1.jpg


I will expand on this jacket in another post below....
 

Skyhawk

Well-Known Member
The Gable jacket in Hell Divers is what I believe is another slightly modified pre contract 37J1. They were obviously testing out several designs before nailing down the final specs. The Top Hatters seem to have been the beta test squadron for the program.

Gable's jacket is made in the same type Capeskin, and has many consistent small details to other 37J1 jackets. Why bother with a costume jacket and take it that far. Also they used a ton of real 37J1 jackets in the movie. Why fake his?
 

Grant

Well-Known Member
Here's a screen grab from page 90 of Suit Up! Looks like the two aviators on the left are rocking 37J1's with double stitched pockets. Also, could those be snap closures on the two bottom buttons? Keep in mind, what we call 37J1 and A-1 jackets were both very similar to civilian jackets of the day, so some of the aviators we assume are wearing A-1's or 37J1's might just be rocking a civi jacket.

37J1.jpg
 
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