Original Aero B-3 with duel tone finish.

Some more photos, and short analogy.

There is a robust and wonderful orange peel like quality of texture to the chrome tanned sheepskin hide that ripples like shimmering ocean waves from a distance. Unique to the Aero hide, it's a very even, almost grid like uniform graining. The fleece is wonderfully Dense in some areas too. Very psychedelic, almost cracking apart over time like the forming of the cosmos.

Kindly note the beautifully tapered contour of the wind flap.

What do you call the color of the finish on those collar straps and waist buckles? It's lovely, it has a beautiful glossy sheen like the finish on a pair of dress shoes.

Please appreciate how incredibly well constructed and proficiently shaped jackets these Aero Leather B-3's are.

This Jacket in particular has some noticeable heft to it as well, more than you would expect.

Included some closeups of the repair on the sleeve, nice hand stitching where the seam cried uncle.

It needs a name, I want to name it after a classic racehorse if anyone has any suggestions? (Anything but Schnickelfritz please. Haha!)

(Also took some rough measurements, to post in the ELC/GW Mixed batch review thread, soon.)

Like the way the jacket become aged . Superb natural patina that most B3 owner's will envy !!!!
Obviously a repro jacket cannot get such patina whitout a ton of aging process. The repaired sleeve with the handstiching is nice too, look like a quick field repair . And don't worry about oiling the jacket, such leather need to be feed... Youv'e got a real gem.And its a real pleasure for the eyes... guess that it will last for years The B3 is an ICONIC JACKET.

Dumpster D said:

Some more photos, and short analogy.

There is a robust and wonderful orange peel like quality of texture to the chrome tanned sheepskin hide that ripples like shimmering ocean waves from a distance. Unique to the Aero hide, it's a very even, almost grid like uniform graining. The fleece is wonderfully Dense in some areas too. Very psychedelic, almost cracking apart over time like the forming of the cosmos.

Kindly note the beautifully tapered contour of the wind flap.

What do you call the color of the finish on those collar straps and waist buckles? It's lovely, it has a beautiful glossy sheen like the finish on a pair of dress shoes.

Please appreciate how incredibly well constructed and proficiently shaped jackets these Aero Leather B-3's are.

This Jacket in particular has some noticeable heft to it as well, more than you would expect.

Included some closeups of the repair on the sleeve, nice hand stitching where the seam cried uncle.

It needs a name, I want to name it after a classic racehorse if anyone has any suggestions? (Anything but Schnickelfritz please. Haha!)

(Also took some rough measurements, to post in the ELC/GW Mixed batch review thread, soon.)

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Definitely from the same Aero W535ac-19436 contract! Only real difference is yours is in a larger size and mine has redskin for the back panels.

Goinghome82 said:

Definitely from the same Aero W535ac-19436 contract! Only real difference is yours is in a larger size and mine has redskin for the back panels.

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Pretty significant I would say, to see two of these jackets turn up here.

How did you find yours, if you don't mind me asking, I would love to hear your thoughts or any information about these.

How many of these jackets were produced from this Aero contract? and how many are known to have survived intact? Is there any estimation how many mixed batch Jackets were ever made and by how many different makers etc?

I would love to know any information or detail about how these Jackets were made this way.

Hopefully someone has some background about the Aero Leather company itself, photos and history etc. Would love to see.

Can I just ask, do you think the US B-3 was more rigorously checked by inspectors than the equivalent Irvin
For example we have couple variants of zipper on both but are Irvin components more generic in sizing or open to manufacturers interpretation…such as say comparing Irvin belts to the B-3’s neck fastenings with seemingly different width and thickness of the fastenings by manufacturers

blackrat2 said:

Can I just ask, do you think the US B-3 was more rigorously checked by inspectors than the equivalent Irvin
For example we have couple variants of zipper on both but are Irvin components more generic in sizing or open to manufacturers interpretation…such as say comparing Irvin belts to the B-3’s neck fastenings with seemingly different width and thickness of the fastenings by manufacturers

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John
I think that you’ll find numerous examples of US wartime production jackets to include the B3 and A2 that go “Off Script” as far as specifications for components and hardware.
A while back we had a number of discussions about how zippers and knits differed from the specs for a specific contract o jacket. I can remember original Rough Wears and DuBow that were supposed to have Crown zips but had Talons and Vis versa. Wartime production runs always either ran out of components and material or left an excess of them. Zips from one contract were often used in another contract so they wouldn’t be wasted or set aside. I remember seeing photos of WWII A2’s with old Kwik zips installed in them. The object was to fulfill the contract asap and move on to the next one .

Yes Burt for sure I get that particularly if we use the A-2 as an example…but given that the RAF only had the Irvin was that jacket open to so many discrepancies or was it more generic in comparison to its B-3 cousin

The Irvin was made by several companies all of whose examples differed. They are/ were no different from US makers in this respect.

Define what you mean by generic

blackrat2 said:

Yes Burt for sure I get that particularly if we use the A-2 as an example…but given that the RAF only had the Irvin was that jacket open to so many discrepancies or was it more generic in comparison to its B-3 cousin

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John
Great question … here’s my thoughts on it and if ZUZu was still around he’d probably ask “Do you have any proof “ . I don’t, so my answer is just a guess but from 1940 on the UK was pretty much blockaded by German U- Boats and were experiencing shortages of everything, to include industrial and manufacturing materials for shoes, clothing and military uniforms. I don’t think that it’s a far reach to think that corners were cut and military contracts and specs were adjusted to accommodate those shortages in the manufacturing process. If thinner hides were all that was available in the production of the Irvin jacket, then that’s what was used to get the job done . If lightning zippers were in short supply, I could see where other alternatives may have been sought out to complete the contract and get the jackets out to the UK and to Russia. I also think that Irvin’s that went to Russia may have been some of those with less than exacting standards of production. Just my thoughts on it .

B-Man2 said:

John
Great question … here’s my thoughts on it and if ZUZu was still around he’d probably ask “Do you have any proof “ . I don’t, so my answer is just a guess but from 1940 on the UK was pretty much blockaded by German U- Boats and were experiencing shortages of everything, to include industrial and manufacturing materials for shoes, clothing and military uniforms. I don’t think that it’s a far reach to think that corners were cut and military contracts and specs were adjusted to accommodate those shortages in the manufacturing process. If thinner hides were all that was available in the production of the Irvin jacket, then that’s what was used to get the job done . If lightning zippers were in short supply, I could see where other alternatives may have been sought out to complete the contract and get the jackets out to the UK and to Russia. I also think that Irvin’s that went to Russia may have been some of those with less than exacting standards of production. Just my thoughts on it .

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You’re right. I’ve handled Irvin’s where the sleeve zips may differ, or the main zip may differ from the sleeve zips etc.. I actually own an early 30’s IAC with mismatched sleeve zips, before there were shortages. As you said, they used up what they had.

Thanks guys you’ve answered my question, I guess we have recently looked more closely at A-2’s and B-3’s and there aren’t many posts in original Irvin’s particularly since Andrew left…would be good if anyone with several originals could maybe post something up to show us the differences..zips aside would be nice if they could compare weights, hides and other fasteners as lest be honest the zippers are easy to spot but belt buckles etc we never really study and compare but thanks for answering…sadly no originals I can bring to the party

blackrat2 said:

Thanks guys you’ve answered my question, I guess we have recently looked more closely at A-2’s and B-3’s and there aren’t many posts in original Irvin’s particularly since Andrew left…would be good if anyone with several originals could maybe post something up to show us the differences..zips aside would be nice if they could compare weights, hides and other fasteners as lest be honest the zippers are easy to spot but belt buckles etc we never really study and compare but thanks for answering…sadly no originals I can bring to the party

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John
Here’s photos of my original 1939 Warings Irvin . You should be able to see some of the details you’re asking about .

blackrat2 said:

Thanks guys you’ve answered my question, I guess we have recently looked more closely at A-2’s and B-3’s and there aren’t many posts in original Irvin’s particularly since Andrew left…would be good if anyone with several originals could maybe post something up to show us the differences..zips aside would be nice if they could compare weights, hides and other fasteners as lest be honest the zippers are easy to spot but belt buckles etc we never really study and compare but thanks for answering…sadly no originals I can bring to the party

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There’s an old thread on TFL “ Irvins loving that wolf in sheep’s clothing “ (google it) which Andrew contributed to extensively.

Andrew also has a Facebook group devoted to Irvins.

You’ll find everything you want and more

OperationCoffee said:

There’s an old thread on TFL “ Irvins loving that wolf in sheep’s clothing “ (google it) which Andrew contributed to extensively.

Andrew also has a Facebook group devoted to Irvins.

You’ll find everything you want and more

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Hi
Don’t know if you’re aware of it, but Andrew was a long standing member here. After a series of questionable events and accusations he voluntary decided to leave the forum.

B-Man2 said:

Hi
Don’t know if you’re aware of it, but Andrew was a long standing member here. After a series of questionable events and accusations he voluntary decided to leave the forum.

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I know. I’ve been a lurker here for ages.

The whole incident where he decided to make Irvins at the same time Jon was starting up Aces High comes to mind if that’s the kind of thing you mean.

He’s still my go to for Irvin knowledge however. I never participated in the drama.

Apologies if this jacket was posted in this forum already, I can't remember.

Of course of all the photos I could find in my archives, It's missing the closeup of the tag. You can sort of make it out if you're an expert, It's a different tag, yellow lettering. The Aero tag has silver lettering.

This looks close to the Aero mixed batch, but it's got a straight puller tab, anyone know this Jacket? ...The chrome on the back looks identical to my Aero Jacket, at least to me.

Can anyone make a positive ID on this?

Roughwear I guess.

NOTE** The one redskin cuff, and the other is a chrome cuff.

Another nice gem !

flyincowboy said:

Another nice gem !

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Hard to beat. The ELC perry mixed batch reflects upon such nicely produced grain and features.

Dumpster D said:

Apologies if this jacket was posted in this forum already, I can't remember.

Of course of all the photos I could find in my archives, It's missing the closeup of the tag. You can sort of make it out if you're an expert, It's a different tag, yellow lettering. The Aero tag has silver lettering.

This looks close to the Aero mixed batch, but it's got a straight puller tab, anyone know this Jacket? ...The chrome on the back looks identical to my Aero Jacket, at least to me.

Can anyone make a positive ID on this?

Roughwear I guess.

NOTE** The one redskin cuff, and the other is a chrome cuff.

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That's Jorge's Rough Wear 17756.