30's or earlier pre A-2 jacket

[Sid-Vintage]

Thought some of you guys might find this recent purchase interesting. 20 years hunting for vintage jackets this must be the earliest American made leather flight jacket I've yet come across. Leather appears to be pig skin or similar. Very old grommet zipper marked Kwik and have not previously seen this make. Appears similar to Hookless zip of same era. Moleskin lining. No pit vents. Overall construction similar to A-1 jacket with zipper instead of buttons. Interested in any thoughts or comments on this one. Apologies for the somewhat rushed pics. Cheers.

 

[havocpaul]

A very interesting jacket, the Airborne patch from XVIII Corps is a starnge one, although if original to the jacket would indicate a private purchase jacket used by an Airborne soldier, the unit history is given as:
"The corps was first activated on January 17, 1942 as the II Armored Corps at Camp Polk in Louisiana. When the concept of Armored Corps proved unnecessary, II Armored Corps was redesignated as XVIII Corps on October 9, 1943 at the Presidio of Monterey, California.

XVIII Corps deployed to Europe on August 17, 1944 and became the XVIII Airborne Corps on August 25, 1944 at Osbourne, St. George, England, assuming command of the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions, as part of the preparation for Operation Market Garden."
Did you buy it here in UK?

 

[John Lever]

Looks like a British jacket to me. Derek at lewis Leathers has several just like it.

 

[Sid-Vintage]

Thanks for the insight. Not often I'm stumped but this one pretty well did the job... Jacket was purchased in US. However private purchase British theory sounds solid. The part that was confusing me was the zipper maker. Never seen or heard of it before and over the years believe I have at some point previously come across just about every American made zipper. Construction of zipper appears pre 40's very close to a 30's Talon. The patch appears to be original to the jacket. Jacket came from a non dealer source unlikely to have gone to the trouble of "tampering for profit". Cheers.

 

[havocpaul]

If the zipper is a Kwik then it will be probably a late 1930's one, Kwik were also seen on A-2's and recently reproduced by Eastman....
http://www.eastmanleather.com/Kwik.htm

 

[Sid-Vintage]

Thanks for the further insight. Interesting indeed. So now have done a U turn back to thinking American jacket. The info on the zip. Plus the faded out label inside pocket appears identical in size and construction to US Garment Workers label found on a lot of 30's - 40's American work / sportswear....

 

[Roughwear]

The jacket would appear to date from the late 1930s. The American Kwik zipper looks to be original to the jacket and the rivets securing the zip to the leather are fairly typical of pre- 1940 jackets. It is not an issued jacket but a private purchase, and is as you say, essentially an A1 with a zip.

 

[deeb7]

The jacket would appear to date from the late 1930s.

With the riveted zipper, and the little A-1-like pockets, isn't it more from the early 30's?

 

[John Lever]

Lewis have one from the 20's ...

 

[Roughwear]

David, perhaps the keyto the age of the jacket is the date of the Kwik zipper. I have only seen this particular style from 1935 onwards, but you may have seen this exact style used earlier.

 

[deeb7]

I don't know when the KWIK was first introduced, Andrew, I'm waiting for the Mituhiro zipper book .... but just look at those pockets.

The circa 1930 jacket, top of page 156 Full Gear, is very similar, wearing a Talon. Here's another early use of KWIK:

http://translate.google.com/translate?j ... l=ja&tl=en

 

[Roughwear]

I thought you were an expert on all zips David! It would be great to have a definitive date for the introduction of this 30s Kwik zipper.

 

[Sid-Vintage]

Over the last 20 years or so had dozens of older pre war jackets with various Talon / Crown / Hookless brand zippers. Never seen the Kwik variety until this jacket came along. Also don't recall seeing it in any publications or online auctions. Learn something new every day. Who'd a thunk it?

 

[deeb7]

I thought you were an expert on all zips David! It would be great to have a definitive date for the introduction of this 30s Kwik zipper.

• Patent number: 1752111
  Filing date: May 17, 1927
  Issue date: Mar 1930

 

[Roughwear]

Good detective work David. So the jacket is post 1930.

 

[greyhound52]

Great work guys and one cool jacket.

 

[deeb7]

Good detective work David. So the jacket is post 1930.

Thanks Andrew .... yes, looks like 1930. The other patent number on the slider relates to the ball, and socket tooth form.

• Patent number: 1761385
  Filing date: Jul 24, 1926
  Issue date: Jun 3, 1930

They sure were slow at issuing the patents, those guys would think that ordering from Aero was a breeze.

Both patents were assigned to The Shoe Hardware Company, Waterbury Conn.

 

[Roughwear]

Where did you find the information from David?

 

[deeb7]

From Googling the patent numbers ... the one above from Google patents:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=dLV4AA ... &q&f=false

The picture with the patent numbers came from a Japanese blog. They had dated the zipper, but it doesn't translate well.

http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... google.com

 

[Roughwear]

What would one do without Google and Full Gear?!