B3 group shot

[John Lever]

Some characters in this photo. The darker fleece on the central 3 is unusual.

 

[Steve27752]

Nice pic John. Characters both human and jacket wise.

 

[Roughwear]

Yes this HLB Corp B-3 does have darker fleece than the others, but there was variation in the colour of the fleece from almost white, through to the commonly seen cream to a honey shade.

 

[Smithy]

I'm wondering as well, if with that darker one some of that darker hue isn't also accentuated by dirtiness. Be very interesting to know what crew position he is.

 

[Falcon_52]

That's a neat photo, John. Another interesting thing that I spotted with the man wearing the darker fleece B-3 is that he is wearing A-2 trousers (the ones that go with the B-2 jacket) instead of the A-3 trousers like the rest of the crew.

Noel

 

[Roughwear]

That's a neat photo, John. Another interesting thing that I spotted with the man wearing the darker fleece B-3 is that he is wearing A-2 trousers (the ones that go with the B-2 jacket) instead of the A-3 trousers like the rest of the crew.

Noel

Although they may be A-2 trousers as one can't see the tab fastening at the waist one can't be 100% certain. My guess is they are Irvin trousers, which came from the same stable as A-2 trousers. Occasionally you see photos of 8th AF bomber crew wearing Irvin jackets and sometimes the trousers as well.

 

[WBOONE]

Very nice pic!. I wonder if those jackets were "issued" to each crew member or if they were swapped out between crews going off duty to those coming on duty. I could see the jackets taking quite a beating

 

[Roughwear]

They were issued to bomber crew and you see pictures of them in their huts, so no, they were not usually swapped around as crews rotated. Parachutes and Mae Wests though were issued for each mission.

 

[B-Man2]

Great example that the war time sizing of the jacket was pretty much what the quartermaster gave you, as long as it was close to your listed size.

 

[Roughwear]

Very true and I know some guys occasionally swapped their jackets among themselves to secure a better fit.

 

[WBOONE]

If they only had any idea what people would pay for those things in 70 years they would have treated them with kid gloves.