What happened to Aero Leather Clothing after the war?

[Roughwear]

Aero Leather Clothing were, as many people know, a massive company supplying vast quantities of garments to the USAAF and the USN. Yet did they just disappear at the end of the War?

John Chapman and I have been investigating this question. The last Aero contract was awarded in the 1945 fiscal year for a B-15A.

Aero were still in business in late 1946 as I have found an advert in the Newburgh News dated 17th December 1946 for experienced operators.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ut ... hing&hl=en

Aero had two addresses for their factory in the 1940s. In 1942 Aero was located at 79 Ferry St, Beacon, New York. At some stage before December 1946 they had moved to 143 Main Street, Beacon. After the War there would have been far less demand for their garments, so perhaps they moved to the 143 Main St. address to down-size to smaller premises?

John Chapman contacted me and mentioned that he had found the article below about Aviators Clothing Co who made USAF/USN gear in the 1950s, and they had one 55J14 Navy contract in 1949. John wrote: They were based in Beacon, NY, about four blocks from the Ferry Street factory of Aero. I wonder if they were Aero, in a new factory and with a new name? Look at the article below. The mentioning of them being a massive leather jacket contractor during WWII makes me think these two companies are related, not to mention the location...
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 75,2441008



I did further research and discovered an article dated 23/1/1945 for Aviator Clothing co. Although Aero was advertising for staff the following year I wondered whether this firm was an off-shoot of Aero. But references to Aero appear to cease after 1946.

In 1953 Aviator Clothing's address was the same as Aero's 1946 address-143 Main Street.


http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Vs ... pany&hl=en

The evidence points to Aero becoming the Aviators Clothing Co. In its early days it was run concurrently with Aero. Then for some reason the Aero name ceased to exist until it was revived in Scotland.



http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=cP ... pany&hl=en

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=P9 ... pany&hl=en


I’ll leave the final comment to John.

It was hard for me to understand how such a large company as Aero would just disappear after WWII, but it makes sense that a sub-lot of production with a different name would either survive or take on the workers. I'm sure the quantity of work went down, but through the Cold War, it would slowly pick back up. The heritage from the news article about the factory in 1983 was really interesting, especially that they were going to call the block Aviators Square. Wouldn't that have been cool?

 

[stevetfire]

Great work fellas, interesting to see that" Newburgh factory worker Lottie Tuthill of Perry sportswear also attended the event mentioned in the first article , I shall read on.....

 

[bjoy]

Aero Leather had a rather unwieldly ownership with multiple family members being partners. This at least once caused tax problems due to loose accounting. This also lead to the necessity of dissolving and re-incorporating multiple times due to family changes.

In 1941, the partners were Lous & Emily Kramer, John E. & Dorothy & Samuel H. Liebman, and Abe & Anna Wolkowitz.

In 1943, the partners were Louis & Emily Kramer, John E. & Samuel H. Liebmann, and Abe & Ralph Wolkowitz.

In 1946, the partners were Louis Kramer, John E. Liebmann, and Abe Wolkowitz.

(Random notes: Samuel died in 1944, John and Samuel were brothers, Louis Kramer was uncle to John and Samuel, Ralph was son to Abe.)

Given that background, it is possible they also ultimately decided to rename the company sometime after 1946 when they had to dissolve the partnership and re-incorporate with new ownership again.

Weakly supporting that, here are a couple of snippets found using Google from 1955 (though from a Hartford, Conn newspaper) indicating that a John E. Liebmann (perhaps the same one from Aero Leather?) worked for Aviators Clothing Co:

"Survival Equipment Corp. is a subsidiary of Aviators Clothing Co. which operates plants in Millerton and Beacon. NY Tlie Connecticut plant will manufacture life ..."

"Clothing Company Sullliiiry John E. IJebmann, president of the newest company which is a subsidiary of Aviators Clothing Co., said he would lie able to ..."

 

[Roughwear]

Aviators Equipment Corp, which had several contracts from 1959 was likely to have been a successor to Aviators Clothing Co.

Skyway Clothing - who made some USAF contracts and they're listed in one of the ads for operators, may well have been yet another sub-division of the Aero company.

 

[Roughwear]

Weakly supporting that, here are a couple of snippets found using Google from 1955 (though from a Hartford, Conn newspaper) indicating that a John E. Liebmann (perhaps the same one from Aero Leather?) worked for Aviators Clothing Co

I can't imagine it being anyone else than the same partner from Aero days!

 

[Jeff M]

Great digging guys!
Been one of those questions thats been popping up in the back of my mind for awhile now.

 

[GoodTimesGone]

Very interesting information. It's difficult to find much history on leather manufacturers of the past. I've always thought there was a similiar link between Dubow and Flying Equipment Co. of Chicago. I own one of the Flying Equipment Co. A-2s and it's not totally unlike a Dubow. Unfortunately on the one I have the goatskin has some rotted areas to it. There was a thread either on VLJ or Fedora Lounge that briefly discussed these. Maybe a couple of months back someone in the U.K. was selling a Flying Equipment A-2 on ebay in very nice condition.
_______________________________________________________________
Tom

 

[zoomer]

Very interesting information. It's difficult to find much history on leather manufacturers of the past.

That's because it was a business that ran in first generation families. Who owned what percent of what was nobody's business but the relatives'.

 

[bjoy]

Weakly supporting that, here are a couple of snippets found using Google from 1955 (though from a Hartford, Conn newspaper) indicating that a John E. Liebmann (perhaps the same one from Aero Leather?) worked for Aviators Clothing Co

Aviators Equipment Corp, which had several contracts from 1959 was likely to have been a successor to Aviators Clothing Co.

From 1959:

AVIATORS EQUIPMENT CORP. 143 Main St., Beacon, NY (Tel. BEacon 1570) Pres.: John E. Liebmann Purch. Agent: John H. Duffy

 

[bretron]

This is absolutely why I love this forum. Cheers to Andrew et al for the fantastic clothing archeology!

 

[bjoy]

I have been lucky in being able to exchange emails with both a daughter of John E. Liebmann (died 1966 at 63) and a daughter of Louis Kramer (died 1952 at 61).

Both fathers were partners and officers of Aero Leather Clothing Co, and Louis Kramer previously held similar positions at Werber Leather Coat Co.

Here is a summary of what I have learned from them so far:

Louis Kramer immigrated to the USA as child from Austria/Hungary. He grew up like an older brother with his nephew John Liebmann in the same multiple-family house.

Kramer left school in the 6th grade to help support the family. He was extremely bright and hard-working. He eventually became a buyer for a mail order company in Brooklyn. At some point while there he meet Max Werber and they decided to go into business together in the exciting new era of aviation.

Their factory moved from NYC to Poughkeepsie and then to Beacon as they tried to both avoid the unionization movement yet still have a pool of available workers.

In the late 1930s, both men left Werber to create Aero Leather Clothing Co.

(Neither lady knows why. However there had been a lawsuit between Werber Leather Coat and their insurance company over alleged fraud following the 1934 fire. Werber at first won in 1937, but that was reversed in 1938. Perhaps that had something to do with it.)

Aero's main business was making flying suits from "painted" sheepskin. Thanks to lend-lease in 1939, demand for their products took off. Sheepskin garments are rather fragile, especially when wet, and so many were needed. Demand increased again when the USA entered the war.

During the war, Aero ran into a tax problem which dragged on for some years. Around 1946, the problem was out of control and Aero was unable to meet its tax bill or come up with a satisfactory repayment plan.

I am not clear about this yet, but my current interpretation is that Aero was taken over by Aviation Clothing Co, with the previous owners of Aero receiving some equity in exchange.

Abe Wolkowitz, also a former partner at Werber Leather Coat, was involved (before or after the acquisition of Aero?) in starting the Aviation Clothing subsidiary Survival Equipment Co which had John Liebmann as its president.

Aviators Clothing was closed a few years after John Liebmann's death. Apparently he was the sole remaining business man at the company.

 

[ButteMT61]

Wow, great stories here. An excellent thread on one of my favorite makers.

 

[navvet]

Thankyou, bjoy, for your research and sharing. It never ceases to amaze me how dedicated the members of this forum are to searching out answers to relevant questions.
Good work everyone :!:

 

[Roughwear]

Thanks for the extra really interesting information bjoy. So it would appear that taxation problems were a major reason for the disappearance of the Aero name coupled with the reduced demand for flying clothing in peacetime.

 

[Jason]

Really good information... thanks JC, Andrew & Bjoy for sharing. Of course, I have to ask... wonder if this investigative bent could be turned towards Perry Sportswear next?

 

[bjoy]

wonder if this investigative bent could be turned towards Perry Sportswear next?)

I did do some research on Perry, read through the entire thread at

http://www.vintageleatherjackets.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9740

I never found much more than those snippets about their post-war plans and why they were forced to close down.

At least at the end it seems the company was just one unit of a larger corporation. No information about its origins appear to be online.