Vintage D1/Repair advice

[dav3469]

I was visiting with my lifelong friend Travis today, and he showed me this recent purchase. Size large, appears to be vintage D1. As can be seen it has seen better days. There are already a couple patches with “some” type of leather. The jacket, other than the rips wears well, zipper is good. Any suggestions for repair, or techniques to use specific to sheepskin to be aware of?

Does anyone have a handle on the maker or vintage based on info under the collar?

 

[B-Man2]

Hi Dav
Any chance you could use the full size image option on these photos It would make it a little easier to see your photos and for us to help you out.
Cheers

 

[dav3469]

Hi Dav
Any chance you could use the full size image option on these photos It would make it a little easier to see your photos and for us to help you out.
Cheers

I will most certainly. I will try figure that out.

 

[dav3469]

 

[dav3469]

Sorry about the double ups. I just realized that there are no pockets. Maybe not so vintage as we thought?

 

[B-Man2]

Sorry about the double ups. I just realized that there are no pockets. Maybe not so vintage as we thought?

From what little I know about D-1 jackets I’m pretty sure yours is a very rare 1930s San Antonio Aero Depot ( SAAD)jacket made before WWII, the early models didn’t have pockets . The problem is that the hide is dried out and rotted in places . That happens to many WWII Sheepskin jackets due to the way the hides were finished , with an acrylic top coat . To repair the jacket the old sections of rotted or dried out splitting hide will have to be replaced and the jacket taken apart and those sections replaced and the jacket put back together . The cost of which would probably be pretty significant. You may want to think about finding a nice used repro before laying out all of that money . The last thing I can tell you is that there are probably other rotted sections that haven’t torn yet, so take a very close look at the entire jacket before you make your decision . The jacket is valuable as a rare collectors jacket as there aren’t many of them left, so that might influence your decision.

 

[Micawber]

Just like the ground crews who wore them D-1's were often subject to harsh conditions in use including being contaminated by lubricants, chemicals, paints etc. The jackets also inherited the hide rot syndrome as often seen on B-3's. I've had a few good, large size originals over the years but would not wear them now even if I still had them. There are plenty of strong repros available now.

Chances those rips will open up as soon as any tension is applied. When I collected seriously I used to use several repair techniques and had quite a lot of shearling from scrapped jackets and other leathers that I would use for patching.

With that one I would clean, remove / neutralise any stuff on the surface. Then bring the rips together and patch either from the inside or outside. Wartime rigger repairs were often rough and ready, after all they were work clothes. When finished place on a shaped mannequin for support.

Others might but I'm not going to recommend this or that cleaning product but unless that jacket has a known provenance to a well known unit or aircraft I would look upon it as a learning experience. It's worth saving but for preservation and display only.

Good luck

 

[dav3469]

Thanks for the replies! I will pass along to my friend. We both appreciate the jacket for “what it is”. He may just try and conserve it as is.

 

[Pilot]

Nice jacket.
Sure worth repairing.
If the shearling arround the tears is strong, its a challenge but not impossible.