B-Man2
Well-Known Member
I’ve reposted this as I think the other post got lost in the shuffle and was missed by many members . Apologies to all as I attempted to edit the piece and it did not go well . Sorry for any confusion this double posting may have caused.
A couple of weeks ago this thread was started to help bring a little bit of “ Vintage ” back into VLJ . The thread seems to have been well received, so as I had mentioned my intent was to try and post an original jacket every couple of weeks, in hopes that others might join in as well and post some of their originals. Hopefully, with an eye towards describing some of the traits of their contract jackets and to pass along some of what we learned about identifying the different contracts and manufacturers to the newer or younger guys just getting into this hobby. So with that in mind , the next original issued A2 jacket I’d like to post today is the Horsehide Perry Sportswear 42-161475P contract A2 jacket seen below .
Perry Sportswear was awarded three contracts during the war and the 16275 P contract was their second contract awarded in May of 1942, for 50,000 jackets. Rather than get into all of the finer details of the contract , let’s concentrate on those traits that make the Perry Sportswear A2 one of the most recognizable original jackets of WWII . One of the most notable traits of a Perry Sportswear A2 is the short rounded collar . Unlike most contracts of that period, Perry’s have a very Identifiable collar . While the Doniger has a pointed, longer collar similar to a shirt collar, the PS has a short rounded collar as seen below .
This is typical of all of the three PS contracts.
So that’s the first give away that the jacket is made by PS . Now another quirk about the Perry is that many of them had an off set label and leather hanger that was sewn in offset from the centerline of the collar and jacket lining . I’m not sure if this was a trait that was found on all PS contracts but it’s certainly a quirk with this jacket . Here you can see how the jacket hanger strap and label are offset from the center of the collar . Hopefully others can weigh in here and relate their knowledge of this trait.
Looking at the back of the collar you can see that this contract has a collar stand and you can see the attachment points for the collar hanger are offset .
Moving out to the Epaulettes we can see that they are attached in front of the shoulder seams, with the back edge of the epaulette butted up against the shoulder seam . They are sewn in with an X-Box rectangle at the shoulder tip end and again at the collar seam end . The epaulettes have double row stitching on both sides of the epaulette .
Moving to the next area of interest is the multiple piece interior wind flap that is found on many PS jackets . The interior wind flap is sectioned into 3 sections on many of these jackets . Many presume this was done by the manufacturer to save materials by using smaller sections of Horsehide rather than one complete strip . I honestly don’t know if that’s the case, but with wartime production anything is possible and desired if it saved time, materials and money .
Shifting now to the pockets of the PS A2 , a unique trait of the attachment of the corners of the pockets, which differed from mostly all other manufacturers who used triangular stitches, were the small square stitch box attachment points seen here .
The pockets on the PS A2 also have a distinctive wider pocket flap and the pockets have rounded corners, which all combine to make the pockets look a slight bit smaller that the other contracts .
Attachments
A couple of weeks ago this thread was started to help bring a little bit of “ Vintage ” back into VLJ . The thread seems to have been well received, so as I had mentioned my intent was to try and post an original jacket every couple of weeks, in hopes that others might join in as well and post some of their originals. Hopefully, with an eye towards describing some of the traits of their contract jackets and to pass along some of what we learned about identifying the different contracts and manufacturers to the newer or younger guys just getting into this hobby. So with that in mind , the next original issued A2 jacket I’d like to post today is the Horsehide Perry Sportswear 42-161475P contract A2 jacket seen below .
Perry Sportswear was awarded three contracts during the war and the 16275 P contract was their second contract awarded in May of 1942, for 50,000 jackets. Rather than get into all of the finer details of the contract , let’s concentrate on those traits that make the Perry Sportswear A2 one of the most recognizable original jackets of WWII . One of the most notable traits of a Perry Sportswear A2 is the short rounded collar . Unlike most contracts of that period, Perry’s have a very Identifiable collar . While the Doniger has a pointed, longer collar similar to a shirt collar, the PS has a short rounded collar as seen below .
This is typical of all of the three PS contracts.
So that’s the first give away that the jacket is made by PS . Now another quirk about the Perry is that many of them had an off set label and leather hanger that was sewn in offset from the centerline of the collar and jacket lining . I’m not sure if this was a trait that was found on all PS contracts but it’s certainly a quirk with this jacket . Here you can see how the jacket hanger strap and label are offset from the center of the collar . Hopefully others can weigh in here and relate their knowledge of this trait.
Looking at the back of the collar you can see that this contract has a collar stand and you can see the attachment points for the collar hanger are offset .
Moving out to the Epaulettes we can see that they are attached in front of the shoulder seams, with the back edge of the epaulette butted up against the shoulder seam . They are sewn in with an X-Box rectangle at the shoulder tip end and again at the collar seam end . The epaulettes have double row stitching on both sides of the epaulette .
Moving to the next area of interest is the multiple piece interior wind flap that is found on many PS jackets . The interior wind flap is sectioned into 3 sections on many of these jackets . Many presume this was done by the manufacturer to save materials by using smaller sections of Horsehide rather than one complete strip . I honestly don’t know if that’s the case, but with wartime production anything is possible and desired if it saved time, materials and money .
Shifting now to the pockets of the PS A2 , a unique trait of the attachment of the corners of the pockets, which differed from mostly all other manufacturers who used triangular stitches, were the small square stitch box attachment points seen here .
The pockets on the PS A2 also have a distinctive wider pocket flap and the pockets have rounded corners, which all combine to make the pockets look a slight bit smaller that the other contracts .
Attachments
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