MarcW
Member
The year was 1990. I had recently begun indulging my interest in WWII and the 8th Air Force through books and magazines, and being naturally drawn to all those A-2 clad young men in so many photos. I was probably aware of the jacket to some degree, certainly from seeing war movies over the years, but the thought of having one to wear was only now taking hold.
I remember getting an advertising insert with a credit card bill, and it was for the Cooper A-2. I thought that, even as cool as it looked, $250 sounded like a lot of money for a jacket. But I set it aside for future consideration. Some time after that I came across a small but persuasive ad in Air Classics magazine for A-2 reproductions being sold as the most authentic you could buy.
I sent a check for $5 to Nose Art Unlimited (now History Preservation Associates) for a catalog and samples, which I still have. The images in the color brochure for those early Eastman A-2's widened my eyes for how close they looked to the historical images I had been studying. The thought of a $250 Cooper was jettisoned for good from my mind and replaced by a $425 Eastman that I just had to have.
In April 1991 it arrived, and I couldn't have been more impressed. Now, these were the days before Eastman began producing original maker models with NOS or period copy zippers, so it was the house model bearing some design cues from Bronco and what might be called an interpretive Talon zip design.
Today the jacket is over 30 years old, as if a WWII example had made it to the early 1970s. The surface of the leather is loaded with individual character, with the back panel being smooth and paint-ready. Compared to similar original examples, though, the finish obscures the natural fine detail of follicles and the sharp foundations of all those wrinkles. But there's something in the way the leather feels, moves, and drapes which is so authentic to originals I've handled, and it just feels right and more so than any other repro I've had.
The jacket is a little snug on me now, and I've got other later reproductions which fit me better, but I can't let go of this, the first.
- Marc
I remember getting an advertising insert with a credit card bill, and it was for the Cooper A-2. I thought that, even as cool as it looked, $250 sounded like a lot of money for a jacket. But I set it aside for future consideration. Some time after that I came across a small but persuasive ad in Air Classics magazine for A-2 reproductions being sold as the most authentic you could buy.
I sent a check for $5 to Nose Art Unlimited (now History Preservation Associates) for a catalog and samples, which I still have. The images in the color brochure for those early Eastman A-2's widened my eyes for how close they looked to the historical images I had been studying. The thought of a $250 Cooper was jettisoned for good from my mind and replaced by a $425 Eastman that I just had to have.
In April 1991 it arrived, and I couldn't have been more impressed. Now, these were the days before Eastman began producing original maker models with NOS or period copy zippers, so it was the house model bearing some design cues from Bronco and what might be called an interpretive Talon zip design.
Today the jacket is over 30 years old, as if a WWII example had made it to the early 1970s. The surface of the leather is loaded with individual character, with the back panel being smooth and paint-ready. Compared to similar original examples, though, the finish obscures the natural fine detail of follicles and the sharp foundations of all those wrinkles. But there's something in the way the leather feels, moves, and drapes which is so authentic to originals I've handled, and it just feels right and more so than any other repro I've had.
The jacket is a little snug on me now, and I've got other later reproductions which fit me better, but I can't let go of this, the first.
- Marc
