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Unknown patch on M-445A jacket

Pilot

Well-Known Member
BD91CD95-993A-4A09-ADA3-1C7B68051EEC.jpeg
Just found this jacket...wearable but butchered pockets...maybe salvageable...
The patch looks interesting but not sure whether original to the jacket nor original at all....maybe a later “fashion or decoration” only...Any idea?
Thx in advance.
 
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falcon_ib

Well-Known Member
Agreed!
etw00035v2.jpg

Lt Walter P. Guest (p), SSgt Ferdinand J. Campagna (eg), TSgt William Rhoades (rg), and SSgt Thomas F. Clougherty (ag) posing in front of B-25H "Wabash Cannonball" at Yangkai, China
 

Ken at Aero Leather

Well-Known Member
Shouldn't cost too much to get the pockets moved back to their original position and get a set of button closing pocket flaps made at the same time to replace the missing ones

USAAF patch on a USN jacket? Warning bells
 

unclegrumpy

Well-Known Member
The patch looks like a well executed reproduction...in a style that surfaced in many different squadron variations 15 or 20 or so years ago.
 

Pilot

Well-Known Member
Thx, fully agree with all.
Patch does not look WW2, just needed confirmation....besides its AAF and on an USN jacket...pity the jacket has been butchered like that.
Will have the M-445A put back in good order, because its a large jacket and can be worn.
Maybe I step into a legit WW2 USN patch soon, so I can put an original on it to close the stitching holes.
Thx to all for your help...this is real VLJ.
 
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unclegrumpy

Well-Known Member
Maybe I step into a legit WW2 USN patch soon, so I can put an original on it to close the stitching holes.

I actually think this jacket is a candidate for a reproduction patch. A real WW2 USN patch is going to be expensive, and it will be hard to match the holes. A lot of WW2 USN patches were 4" not 5" or oddly shaped...meaning not round.

At the time these reproduction patches came out there were 100's of designs to pick from, both AAF and USN. They all were on the same roughly 5" leather blanks, with the same high level of artistic execution. One problem as far as originality, is many patch designs were never originally painted on leather. They might have been decals, embroidered, made with layered leather, painted on canvas, embossed, and on it goes.

For your purposes, I think you need a Navy patch to cover the holes. It is not like you have a jacket that had the patch removed and you know what went there. That is sometimes the case with A-2s where you have a name or pictures and know exactly the patch that went there. In that case, you really do need the perfectly correct original patch to make a proper restoration.

Getting back to your M-445A...they most typically did not have patches on them. When they do, they tend to be from transport and patrol/bombing squadrons...but I don't see why you couldn't pick anything...though if I were having something made, I would look at some of the designs from the ETO patrol squadrons that flew out of England....not something from the Pacific Theater. Patrol Squadrons flew B-24s and its Navy variants...and other multi engine planes like PBYs, where the crews wore M-445As. It would take some research to find out which of these squadrons wore patches...most did not...but that is getting maybe too picky.

Anyway, there is some fun to be had researching, but I would not suffer over worrying about finding an original patch for this restoration.
 
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Pilot

Well-Known Member
I actually think this jacket is a candidate for a reproduction patch. A real WW2 USN patch is going to be expensive, and it will be hard to match the holes. A lot of WW2 USN patches were 4" not 5" or oddly shaped...meaning not round.

At the time these reproduction patches came out there were 100's of designs to pick from, both AAF and USN. They all were on the same roughly 5" leather blanks, with the same high level of artistic execution. One problem as far as originality, is many patch designs were never originally painted on leather. They might have been decals, embroidered, made with layered leather, painted on canvas, embossed, and on it goes.

For your purposes, I think you need a Navy patch to cover the holes. It is not like you have a jacket that had the patch removed and you know what went there. That is sometimes the case with A-2s where you have a name or pictures and know exactly the patch that went there. In that case, you really do need the perfectly correct original patch to make a proper restoration.

Getting back to your M-445A...they most typically did not have patches on them. When they do, they tend to be from transport and patrol/bombing squadrons...but I don't see why you couldn't pick anything...though if I were having something made, I would look at some of the designs from the ETO patrol squadrons that flew out of England....not something from the Pacific Theater. Patrol Squadrons flew B-24s and its Navy variants...and other multi engine planes like PBYs, where the crews wore M-445As. It would take some research to find out which of these squadrons wore patches...most did not...but that is getting maybe too picky.

Anyway, there is some fun to be had researching, but I would not suffer over worrying about finding an original patch for this restoration.
Thx for that...
The faked patch has precicely 9,5 cm in all directions, so a bit smaller than 4”.
Any original WWII USN if legit would cover these stitching holes...But yes, I am not realy worried about patching or not.
The pocket flaps replacement is an easy task to fix and so is the pockets repositioning itself.
Its a great roomy large wearable jacket and the fleece is in superbe condition. Looks very much like an AERO AN-J-4 fleece with a HWT...
Very happy with it.
 
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