Leather Jacket Identification

[Sergey65]

Hi all,

can anyone attribute this jacket? Unfortunately, at the moment I only have these photos.

Best regards,
Sergey

 

[Richard W.]

Aero Leather of Beacon, N.Y. Was a big supplier during the war, but that looks like a commercial postwar work/moto jacket

 

[mulceber]

Not positive, but I think this is the present-day Aero Leather of Scotland. The use of a mil-spec Talon zipper likewise suggests it's a modern jacket.

 

[Chandler]

Not positive, but I think this is the present-day Aero Leather of Scotland. The use of a mil-spec Talon zipper likewise suggests it's a modern jacket.

I was wondering about that zip too, but I'm not familiar with vintages.

 

[Richard W.]

I didn’t know if the two companies have anything to do with each other.

Does Aero Scotland use tags with the NY address?

 

[mulceber]

I didn’t know if the two companies have anything to do with each other.

Does Aero Scotland use tags with the NY address?

Yep, it's an homage to the NY company.

 

[Sergey65]

Hi guys,

thanks for your comments. I think this is an US WW2 flight jacket IMHO. These US summer flight jackets were supplied to the USSR during the WW2 under the Lend-Lease program along with American aircraft. I will try to find photos of Soviet pilots during the WW2 wearing similar leather jackets.

 

[Chandler]

I think this is an US WW2 flight jacket IMHO.

But, it's really not. It's nothing like anything approved by the Army Air Corp/forces and is closer to civilian jackets seen from the 30s thru the 50s.

Anything similar you see on a Soviet pilot during WW2 was probably a personal jacket purchased privately -- not something sent over lend lease.

 

[mulceber]

But, it's really not. It's nothing like anything approved by the Army Air Corp/forces and is closer to civilian jackets seen from the 30s thru the 50s.

Anything similar you see on a Soviet pilot during WW2 was probably a personal jacket purchased privately -- not something sent over lend lease.

Yeah, agreed.

 

[mulceber]

Huh, well I'll be damned, looks like @Sergey65 is right: https://www.vintageleatherjackets.o...ero-leather-of-beacon-ny-ever-received.21194/

 

[Chandler]

Huh, well I'll be damned, looks like @Sergey65 is right: https://www.vintageleatherjackets.o...ero-leather-of-beacon-ny-ever-received.21194/

Color me skeptical from the source, but either way it sounds like Aero Scotland was making repros of these "lend lease" jackets.

The Talon zip is still a reddish flag -- ol' Kenny mentions some source for the correct zip.

 

[Marc mndt]

This is Aero Schotland's version of the label

 

[B-Man2]

I remember when Ken first presented this information and photos of this lend lease jacket referenced in the link posted by Mulceber.
He made a point of saying that these jackets would be reproduced sometime in the future but that never happened . I was interested in a repro but Ken used to talk a lot shit but never followed up with this to the best of my knowledge.

 

[mulceber]

He made a point of saying that these jackets would be reproduced sometime in the future but that never happened . I was interested in a repro but Ken used to talk a lot shit but never followed up with this to the best of my knowledge.

Sounds savvy - milk the history for all the PR that you can, without having to go out on a limb and offer something new.

 

[PeterShiao]

 

[Flightengineer]

But, it's really not. It's nothing like anything approved by the Army Air Corp/forces and is closer to civilian jackets seen from the 30s thru the 50s.

Anything similar you see on a Soviet pilot during WW2 was probably a personal jacket purchased privately -- not something sent over lend lease.

I must tell you for sure that in the USSR there was no practice of private purchase of jackets by pilots, as was the case with American pilots. None of the pilots bought anything from gear for themselves.
The jackets were issued to the crews by the Soviet Air Force.
The design of the jacket is very similar to the jackets that came to the USSR under Lend-Lease. According to various sources from open sources, the United States supplied several thousand long leather raincoats and about 600 short pilot jackets with a design like in Sergey’s photo. I'm not saying that the jacket in his photo is from the WW2 era, I'm just talking about the cut.
Soviet pilot jackets after WW2 (in 50s) had very similar design, with some additions in the form of chest pockets, etc., but that's another topic.

 

[Sergey65]

They sent me another photo.

 

[Flightengineer]

They sent me another photo.

Have you seen this, maybe it will help?

The biggest contract Aero Leather of Beacon NY ever received

About 20 years ago we bought what we believed to be an immediate post war Civilian jacket made by Aero Leather Clothing of Beacon, New York. What was intriguing was the design, knitted cuffs on a Half Belt is unique to this jacket, the style of the wind flap is very rare for a US made jacket of...

www.vintageleatherjackets.org

 

[Chandler]

...but Ken used to talk a lot shit...

Caveat emptor.