It’s Time To Get Back To Our Roots.

[warguy]

Burt, here is a plain jane jacket but in nice condition. I just found this one a few months ago locally. It is named to a Captain out of Oklahoma who served as the flight surgeon for the 34th Bomb group 8th AF in England. Original knits, zipper, lining, etc, all pretty nice shape.

 

[warguy]

Here is another in my collection. This pilot flew P-51's in the 353rd fighter group 8th AF. He is credited with one air to air Me109, and four aircraft on the ground. He arrived in England in October 1944 and flew through the end of the war. His B-15 is in nice shape and looks like he had a local artisan do the unique 353rd patch incorporating his name. The grouping cosists of two flight helmets named to him, a musette bag he used for personal stuff, his A14 oxygen mask photos and some other smalls.

 

[B-Man2]

Burt, here is a plain jane jacket but in nice condition. I just found this one a few months ago locally. It is named to a Captain out of Oklahoma who served as the flight surgeon for the 34th Bomb group 8th AF in England. Original knits, zipper, lining, etc, all pretty nice shape.



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That’s a great find and it means that they’re still out there popping up from time to time.
I love that you’ve got the history and provenance with many of your jackets. That really does make them special and gives them an attachment to real people. Unfortunately with the exception of two of my jackets, most of them don’t have that.

 

[B-Man2]

Here is another in my collection. This pilot flew P-51's in the 353rd fighter group 8th AF. He is credited with one air to air Me109, and four aircraft on the ground. He arrived in England in October 1944 and flew through the end of the war. His B-15 is in nice shape and looks like he had a local artisan do the unique 353rd patch incorporating his name. The grouping cosists of two flight helmets named to him, a musette bag he used for personal stuff, his A14 oxygen mask photos and some other smalls.



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Man another great collection . Thats outstanding . You even have his Cattaragus Q-225 sheath knife .
They’re almost impossible to find these days

 

[B-Man2]

So I found some interesting information about this jacket from Gary Eastman’s A2 Manual Book . If you guys haven’t picked one up I’d suggest you grab one before they run out of print . They will be very expensive in years to come.
The Star jacket was made in 1942 at a cost of $8.10 US. The contract was for 30,000 jackets at a total cost of $243,000.00 US . By DNA testing the jackets is ……….Cowhide!!

 

[Chandler]

US . By DNA testing the jackets is ……….Cowhide!!

Huh. So my ELC Star being Steerhide isn't so inauthentic. Thanks Burt!

BTW -- just how much is Gary's book now?

 

[B-Man2]

Huh. So my ELC Star being Steerhide isn't so inauthentic. Thanks Burt!

BTW -- just how much is Gary's book now?

Last time I saw one on eBay the seller was in the $225.00 range but he may very well have been dreaming . On the other hand I don’t think it’s being sold by Eastman Leather any longer, so who knows .

 

[Chandler]

Last time I saw one on eBay the seller was in the $225.00 range but he may very well have been dreaming.

dreaming for sure.

 

[Thomas Koehle]

More to come Jan … it’s a shame to have them just sitting in a chest and not sharing them to the extent that I can on VLJ . Hopefully others will join in .

You set the bench pretty high @B-Man2 Burt - i don't have anything comparable in my collection ...

 

[Thomas Koehle]

Here is another in my collection. This pilot flew P-51's in the 353rd fighter group 8th AF. He is credited with one air to air Me109, and four aircraft on the ground. He arrived in England in October 1944 and flew through the end of the war. His B-15 is in nice shape and looks like he had a local artisan do the unique 353rd patch incorporating his name. The grouping cosists of two flight helmets named to him, a musette bag he used for personal stuff, his A14 oxygen mask photos and some other smalls.



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Most impressive - both jackets you introduced ...

 

[warguy]

Thanks Thomas!

 

[Micawber]

Burt, here is a plain jane jacket but in nice condition. I just found this one a few months ago locally. It is named to a Captain out of Oklahoma who served as the flight surgeon for the 34th Bomb group 8th AF in England. Original knits, zipper, lining, etc, all pretty nice shape.



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The patina on that jacket is great. The 34th BG were at Mendelsham, just down the road from my place.. there again a whole lot of ex 8th AF bases are literally just down the road from here.

 

[warguy]

I am envious you live so close!

 

[caddyd]

All original Dubow 27798 sporting some very heavy patina.

 

[B-Man2]

Great looking DuBow !!
Let’s start encouraging you guys to start threads in the Vintage section telling us about your jackets and posting full size photos of them .

 

[johnwayne]

Re Eastmans manual and the actual contracts, I’ve often wondered how they divided up say a 50k order into size batches? We know our forbears were generally smaller and why the larger sizes are harder to come by but wonder what was smallest and biggest sizes an order might contain? Would imagine bulk being 38” and 40” range! I certainly know when I first knew what an A2 was and how much I wanted one, if you found one they was nearly always for the small guys at places like Ken Calder’s (Aeroleather) Thrift Shop in London.

 

[B-Man2]

Re Eastmans manual and the actual contracts, I’ve often wondered how they divided up say a 50k order into size batches? We know our forbears were generally smaller and why the larger sizes are harder to come by but wonder what was smallest and biggest sizes an order might contain? Would imagine bulk being 38” and 40” range! I certainly know when I first knew what an A2 was and how much I wanted one, if you found one they was nearly always for the small guys at places like Ken Calder’s (Aeroleather) Thrift Shop in London.

The smallest original I’ve ever seen was a size 36. The largest was a size 50.

 

[mulceber]

The smallest original I’ve ever seen was a size 36. The largest was a size 50.

A couple other thoughts:

• The average size seems to have gone down over time - All the SATs I've seen were in the 44-48 range. The one Werber 1729 I saw posted on the VLJ was a size 50. The later contracts seem to have averaged 38-42, and the last three contracts made in 1943 were mostly 36-40.
• The standard method of production in the factories was that they would make one size per week. Last thing they want is to have chest panels from different sizes floating around the factory at the same time. If the AAF had multiple companies making jackets at the same time, then one week, Rough Wear would be making 42s, Dubow would be making 38s, Aero would be making 40s, etc. The next week, they'd rotate. (All this is courtesy of JC.)
• I'm not sure if we know the ratios of sizes for A-2s, but iirc, Dave Sheeley has the numbers for Navy jackets.