"Better Living through Chemistry": Getting to know a(nother) Flyer through his Jacket

[mulceber]

After getting an original Cable 27753 (discussed in the previous thread in this series), I figured I was done collecting original A-2s. Then, last month as I was going back and forth about whether to order a Monarch or a Rough Wear 1401-P from Good Wear, I came across a post by Vic (@Silver Surfer), in which he mentioned that he had just bought his second original Monarch and was already contemplating selling it. I knew that, regardless of whether he decided to sell it, I'd want to see pictures, so I emailed him asking if he could share them. Vic clearly knew I was interested, because he responded by sending me the measurements, and told me he'd send me some photos when he got back. As soon as I saw the pictures, I jumped on it. My thinking was I'd get an original Monarch and go for the Rough Wear from JC (little did I know that I'd like this jacket enough to proceed with the Monarch order from GW anyway ).

One of the things I noticed, as I was pouring over the photos Vic sent me, was that the jacket had a nameplate: M.L. Hyman. Before the jacket had even arrived, I decided to do a profile on the pilot. Whereas last time, @Nnatalie dug up the bulk of the research materials and I read through them and used them to craft a narrative of the pilot's life, this time the research is mostly my own, although Natalie made some important contributions on the more obscure details. First though, I'm going to talk about the jacket itself. After everyone's had a chance to see the jacket, I'll post a biography of the pilot.

The Jacket:

And, of course, a fit pic:

 

[mulceber]

Comment on the Contract and the Jacket Generally:

The Monarch contract is made of horsehide in a medium russet color. As the jacket aged, however, the color has faded to a lighter russet, and, especially in the sunlight, it is a pretty light-colored jacket. The leather is still supple after all these years, and apart from a very little bit of cracking around the shoulders, the leather remains remarkably pliable.

The thing that stands out immediately, however, upon handling the jacket is how light weight it is and how thin the horsehide is. Vic told me this in his assessment of the jacket’s condition, and he isn’t kidding. It’s almost as thin as lambskin. I remember hearing that Chuck Yeager, who wore a Monarch, once quipped to a jacket enthusiast that he switched to the Air Force’s newer jackets because his A-2 wasn’t nearly warm enough. That likely would have been true of any A-2, but I can especially see why he would do that with a Monarch. It really is just a windbreaker.

Nevertheless, the jacket is a slim yet comfortable contract. The design is smart and it oozes style.

I’m particularly fond of the pocket flaps on this particular jacket, which don’t look quite like most of the repros I see out there.

Defects:
One of the things I find particularly interesting in looking at originals is how not perfect they were. It can be so easy to forget when you’re looking at repros that these jackets were rushed, rushed, rushed! Each worker had to sew the same stitch hundreds (or even thousands) of times each day. This meant they were really good at it, but also that they would start to develop their own shortcuts, and when they made a mistake, they weren’t about to throw a jacket out if that mistake didn’t impede it from being worn. From what I can see, this jacket shows three signs of slapdash work on the part of the folks at Monarch Mfg. Co.:

1. misaligned pockets. This one is slight, but if you look at the photos, the pocket on the right appears to be about half a centimeter higher than the one on the left. This is a commonly-seen feature of originals. Getting the pockets perfectly aligned took careful work and did nothing for the functionality of the jacket.

2. A bad stitch sewing in the zipper. This one clearly is not a short cut, as the jacket is actually a bit difficult to zip up as a result of this meandering stitch. I almost wonder if the sewer didn’t get distracted (or fall asleep) while sewing this stitch. Regardless, it’s unlikely that anybody but the sewer and the eventual recipient of the jacket noticed the error, and it obviously didn’t stop the jacket from getting used.

3. The sizing: this jacket is listed as a 44, but has the dimensions of a small size 42. Vic opined to me that it was simply mis-labeled. I actually think there’s a bit more to it than that. The normal way that factories operated was that on a given week (or day), a company would only be making one size. This limited the possibility of mistakes (say, putting size 48 sleeves on a size 38 jacket). I've heard stories through the grapevine from people who worked at some of these factories, however, and they said that if the government didn’t deliver enough leather in a given week for the size of jacket they were making, their numbers guy would simply calculate the largest size jacket they could make with the provided leather, and make the whole week’s orders in that size, using the labels for the size they were supposed to be making. So if they needed to provide 5,000 size 46s by the end of the week, but only had enough leather to make 5,000 size 44s, they’d just make that, and label them all as 46s. We can’t say for sure, but it’s very possible that’s what happened here.

Clues about the Owner:
The jacket has a name plate, which is obviously the best indicator of who the pilot was, but the Army Air Force had hundreds of thousands of personnel during World War 2. Any extra clues help. So it's time to play Sherlock and do some sleuthing:

1. Stitch holes from rank insignia on the epaulets. The owner of this jacket was an officer, but probably not a very high ranking one, since there’s no indication that the insignia were ever replaced with the insignia of a higher rank.

2. The cuffs: one of the first things that I noticed in the pictures was how short and loose the cuffs were. This suggests that the knits were bunched up when being worn, and therefore that they were too long for the pilot. He was small enough to be wearing a size 42 jacket (he would normally be wearing several layers underneath the jacket, so his chest measurement was probably no more than 38 inches), and the sleeves on that were too long for him, so he was probably rather short.

3. Monarch contract: he had to have completed flight school after December of ’41, and probably before the Army started phasing out the A-2 in mid-’43.

Taken all together, we should expect M.L. Hyman to be a short junior officer who joined up sometime in 1942 and completed flight school by mid-’43. (As you've probably guessed, I've already identified him, but I thought I’d walk you all through the logic that brought me there ).

 

[MikeyB-17]

Cor, that’s some heavy duty creasing on those pocket flaps! Gorgeous.
‘Better living through chemistry’. Love Queens of the Stone Age.

 

[B-Man2]

Jan
Outstanding review!. I’ve been hoping to see some more original jackets with accompanying research done on them . This was great.
Your Monarch is pretty cool and I hope you post more about the owner after you complete your research . I love reading about these jackets and the people who owned them.
Thank you .

 

[Flightengineer]

Amazing review, waiting for the end of story.

 

[scwells]

This might be the guy: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39686912/marshall-l-hyman

 

[mulceber]

This might be the guy: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39686912/marshall-l-hyman

Spoiler warning.

 

[P-47 thunderbolt]

I love this stuff, the leather looks beautifully soft. Amazing

 

[tjoenn]

Enjoyed seeing and reading this review very much!! Thanks!!

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Ahh, the much awaited review of Jan's original Monarch, and you certainly delivered, my friend! It is another time capsule (and a wearable one at that) and one with a mystery (but likely identified) owner. Seeing one of these originals, and one so well reviewed, is like seeing history unfold right before your very eyes - the contract itself, the manufacturing defects that seem to be so prevalent in original A-2s due to manufacturing time pressures typical of wartime (the story whereby a manufacturer built jackets on a given day by optimizing the amount of leather received, but labeling them as per the day's manufacturing schedule, is quite interesting), the idiosyncrasies and details of a given contract, the insignia, patches and artwork applied to each jacket, it is just plain fun and educational at the same time. Thanks for the detailed review, Jan, and wear that original in good health! You are now the rightful custodian of another piece of wartime history.

 

[Brettafett]

Fantastic jacket, very special. Im glad it found a good home.
Great review

 

[blackrat2]

Wow Jan, you sure did get a great jacket there
As usual a great write up and some fantastic photos, the colour looks gorge and interesting how it feels so much lighter than you imagined
Thanks for a great post, oh and fits very well

 

[London Cabbie]

Brilliant photos, write up and review of an original. Personally I may never buy an original due to slight ocd tendency’s and a mis-aligned pocket would bug the hell out of me. However without these originals been lovingly cared for and reviewed there would be no standard set for reproduction jackets. Thanks @mulceber

I wonder which factory produced the least mistakes in there runs..?

 

[Edward]

Great review and write up with a wonderful catch! This is amazing and fun!

 

[Edward]

I own two originals and its these errors and minor misalignments that make them interesting and fun to own. Authentic Character and charm with a WWII era story to tell!

 

[P-47 thunderbolt]

This is why a repro just isn't quite cutting the mustard for me at the moment. In search of a nice original

 

[Pilot]

Buy cheap, buy whatever one may value or want to afford… but originals are still something and top notch repros are just still the best possible, to give justice… all others are a more or less happy “ Ersatz “..,
I am also speaking about my “babies “… in all ways.

 

[London Cabbie]

Are the collars on Monarchs slightly larger than other contracts..?

 

[P-47 thunderbolt]

Are the collars on Monarchs slightly larger than other contracts..?

They have very pronounced characteristic points or lobes, however I'm not sure if they're larger than say a star sportswear?

 

[Flightengineer]

Jan, did I understand correctly that the link posted by @scwells is the story of the pilot who owned your jacket?