Genuine Rough Wear 27752

[gruvi]

For those interested, I wanted to share I am expecting a real RW I just won off ebay. The most amazing part is that the seller is the son of the gentleman that wore the item during WWII, and he offered me photographs of his Dad in uniform, in 1945!
I will share photos once I get permission from the seller and once jacket is here. Anyone one here with an extra display torso they want to sell?

 

[atkins]

Congrats, Gruvi!

 

[Roughwear]

Well done. I'm glad the jacket is going on display. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

 

[gruvi]

Well done. I'm glad the jacket is going on display. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

Thanks Andrew. Im slowly getting it. It and my 1401P will be left as is and maybe worn carefully if I ever see a get together near me
I want to buy one of those old school cardboard mache torsos for them. Any tips where to look? There was a set on ebay but the seller was a weirdo when it came to buying. I think he was just using ebay as a gauge for price because he wrote me after I commited to buy, his wife told him they could get more money selling locally. What a puss!

 

[dmar836]

Looking forward to pics!

 

[gruvi]

Jacket came in today. I looked it over before work and found it belonged to a Lieutenant. It has the single bar outlines stitch holes clear on the epaulettes

 

[Roughwear]

Please post some pics when you have time.

 

[gruvi]

Here are some quick photos I just made showing some aspects of interest of this jacket, such as the lining which demonstrates a possible war period relining (note the collar snaps are clothed over) and missing Lieutenant bars. I added photos of the man that owned the jacket (his son was the seller on ebay and wanted me to own the photos).

When I saw the stitch holes in the epaulettes, I wrote the gentleman and he told me his father was a NCO, and was friends with many officers. His dad was a E-5 in the 3rd AAF in Germany in '45. The Sargent was a radar operator, bombing photo analyzer, and flew several times, even in a B17 that was having mechanical trouble. The story was the crew had two options; bail out or hang tight with the plane. In the end no one bailed and plane was successfully landed. So I and seller hypothesized how his Dad got a Lt. jacket, and it may be an officer friend gave it to him, or it was simply a matter of a turned in jacket that the man was able to grab up after it was depot'd.

Another thing of curiosity is how well preserved the waistband is, with zero tears and zero holes. The color is a perfect match to the worn out cuffs. I do notice the typical stitching normally seen in the waistband near bottom zipper area, is missing. This is another clue it may have been a hasty period correct depot repair, but of course this is all guessing on my part. Overall the jacket is pretty worn out looking, but leather is not as bad as it appears in the photos. There seems to be a lot of tensile strength left in the old leather and its' stitching. Alright, onto some photos now

And here is the Sargent. The photo on the right that he is looking at something in his hands was taken in 1945 Weisbaden. It says so on back of the picture. The other posed photo is somewhere unidentified in Europe.

Thanks for looking. I would be happy to look closer at the jacket for any questions anyone has about this 27752.

Gerard

 

[Roughwear]

What an interesting 27752! It has a Crown zipper, which is rarely seen on this contract and is made from spray finished rather than aniline dyed hh. Most jackets from this contract had Talon zips.

 

[gruvi]

What an interesting 27752! It has a Crown zipper, which is rarely seen on this contract and is made from spray finished rather than aniline dyed hh. Most jackets from this contract had Talon zips.

These clues, and the way the lining was put in (no cloth covered collar snaps on liner side) is why I surmised it was depot'd after a lieutenant owned it.

 

[Roughwear]

The spray finished hh must have lost enough of its original finish to warrant re-spraying in a USAAF depot. The leather appears to be quite thick. Looking again at your pics I'm wondering if the Crown zip is a replacement. Are there any unused stitch holes in the leather where the zip is stitched on?

 

[gruvi]

Andrew I will look at that area later. I'm at work right now. I don't recall any unusual zipper stitching. I did see the leather hangar was re-box stitched back in place because I see the old stitch holes where is was originally. This further tells me it was likely relined.

 

[Roughwear]

Unless the lining has dramatically changed colour over the years it is not the the colour usually associated with RW jackets. So I guess it may well have been replaced in the War or for the Korean War in a USA(A)F depot.

 

[gruvi]

I looked closer at the zipper today and it does have missed stitch holes down the length. Sometime in its life the original jacket got repairs for sure. Was there ever a yellow brass triple signed talon zipper in these, or were all zipper used for this jacket the nickel plated version? I guess the crown zipper was a bonus due to scarcity

 

[Roughwear]

All the RW 27752s I have seen have had nickel Talon zips, either double or triple marked. It looks as if your jacket was extensively refurbished before being re-issued.

 

[gruvi]

I think its an ideal candidate to refurbish it so I can make it a more daily wearable garment then, seeing how its been incorrectly repaired already. What I find cool about it is how the original label was reused after repair.

 

[Peter Graham]

Really nice. Great patina. Congrats.

 

[gruvi]

Really nice. Great patina. Congrats.

Thanks Peter.
And today a B-10 came in my post. I have sellers pictures but want to make my own to share later. The owner of that jacket is 94 and the last living member of his regiment. He was a navigator and the story I got about him was he was in Brazil, and they had a choice to fly over or around a mountain with low fuel or something...anyway the nephew said this was a story he recalls, and needs to wait until his Mom returns from Florida to locate a story letter her brother wrote regarding his war experiences. I hope he finds it and sends it to me so I can share it

 

[gruvi]

Here is my B10. It has its wear and tear but this one is mine
Airing out the old cloth smell right now and hope the temperature drops like its supposed to, so I can enjoy it while walking at night at my beach

I am using a seller picture for now. I really love the pale urea buttons. I just need to put correct button thread in the left pocket button, and its all set!

 

[Anonymous]

What an interesting 27752! It has a Crown zipper, which is rarely seen on this contract and is made from spray finished rather than aniline dyed hh. Most jackets from this contract had Talon zips.

The most interesting thing about it is the winning price. $324
Never seen a RW fall so low.