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A-2 Liner Stamp?

Jaydee

New Member
Anyone know what this means?
leather-4.jpg
 

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
I believe the P and the number relates to the inspector who stamped the lining. Now the AN possibly stands for Army Navy, but others here may know for sure.
 

Jaydee

New Member
TankBuster said:
Yep, Andrew is right. It is a inspectors stamp.
Thanks, I figured that's what is was. Any way to tell MFG or Year of MFGing from this number? I don't imagine so.... :?
 

shanghai joe

New Member
Jaydee said:
TankBuster said:
Yep, Andrew is right. It is a inspectors stamp.
Thanks, I figured that's what is was. Any way to tell MFG or Year of MFGing from this number? I don't imagine so.... :?


i think certain contracts have the unigue inspection stamp, alpha numeric-wise.....check out JC's cd! dunno whether it relates to year of manufacture!
 

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
If the inspectors role was that of quality control, why are there no stamps on B3s for example? They could be stamped on collar straps as some later war ones were with the USAAF decal.
 

MikeyB-17

Well-Known Member
Roughwear said:
If the inspectors role was that of quality control, why are there no stamps on B3s for example? They could be stamped on collar straps as some later war ones were with the USAAF decal.

I thought they were. I have one on my Aero B-3, and I know ELC puts them on their collar straps. Never having owned an original, I assumed that was the case for all B-3's.
 

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
MikeyB-17 said:
Roughwear said:
If the inspectors role was that of quality control, why are there no stamps on B3s for example? They could be stamped on collar straps as some later war ones were with the USAAF decal.

I thought they were. I have one on my Aero B-3, and I know ELC puts them on their collar straps. Never having owned an original, I assumed that was the case for all B-3's.

I have owned around 30 original B3s. Not one has had the AN inspectors stamp on the straps or anywhere else, but some later war ones have a white USAAF winged stamp.
 

Jaydee

New Member
Excuse my ignorance guys, I'm just getting started with the A-2s. I guess what I want to know about the stamp is, does it signifly a particular era of the A-2? Ie: Pre War, War, or Post War before Hap gave them the Axe? (When did that go down anyway?) Or do all the old A-2s have the stamp. I recall seeing a repro with the AAF Symbol on the liner, did they ever do that?
 

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
This from the Acmedepot website maybe helpful.

The Army Air Corps wing and star insignia is also seen to appear in various forms. It can be found as a larger stamp on the lining, as a smaller stamp or decal on the inside face of the zipper wind flap, or as a full color transfer on the left shoulder. The application of this insignia on clothing and other flying equipment was specified in Technical Order No. 13-1-12, dated February 1, 1944. Insignia were then applied both to new items and to used items, such as many A-2 jackets, which were either reissued or refurbished
.

As far as the inspectors stamp is concerned they were used as early as 1941 and probably before. John Chapman would know for sure.
 

MikeyB-17

Well-Known Member
Roughwear said:
I have owned around 30 original B3s. Not one has had the AN inspectors stamp on the straps or anywhere else, but some later war ones have a white USAAF winged stamp.

Well there you go. Interesting. Obviously one of the repro boys decided it would add a little 'authenticity'. I wonder who copied who? Do RM or any of the Japanese companies do it?
 

Curahee

New Member
Jaydee said:
Excuse my ignorance guys, I'm just getting started with the A-2s. I guess what I want to know about the stamp is, does it signifly a particular era of the A-2? Ie: Pre War, War, or Post War before Hap gave them the Axe? (When did that go down anyway?) Or do all the old A-2s have the stamp. I recall seeing a repro with the AAF Symbol on the liner, did they ever do that?

In 1943 Hap gave the order to stop the producion of A-2's , although I believe that some companies produced their last jackets as late as 1944 or 1945 ?
 

Jaydee

New Member
I did some searching after a forum member sent me a PM about Army Inspectors being regional, or maybe even assigned to a factory. Therefore you could tell a MFG by the Stamp number. I found this ELC Star A-2 repro with an inspection stamp number that matches mine, and the Star they were compairing it to in the review. I already heard mine was a Star, (It's missing the label) but that pretty much confimed it! So it seems you can tell some jackets mfg by the inspection number.
http://www.acmedepot.com/a2jacket/eval_ELCstar.shtml
 
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