Please Help. Flight jacket. Military or Repro?

[anton67]

My friend came across this flight jacket. He wants to know whether its authentic military and if so what era is it from. Any help is greatly appreciated

[anton67]

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[anton67]

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[vintageproductions]

It's real

[anton67]

What era is it from?

[gwb123]

The label indicates a 1943 contract. The insignia for Army Air Forces indicates WWII or earlier.

[KASTAUFFER]

Its real, but dont wear it around. Those B-3 jackets are fragile and tear easily. Dont put it on a hanger.

 

Kurt

[tarheel1]

And probably one of the nicest ones I have seen in many years.

 

TH1

[phantomfixer]

Great jacket, WWII AAF, but not a B-3 it is the AN-J-4...a jacket designed to replace the B3 and be used by both the AAF and USN..a hard jacket to find in this condition...

[anton67]

Thank you all for the help. It is in such good shape I thought it may be a repro.

[Tiger]

Yep, absolutely nice and original, one of the finest ever!

 

Told to your friend to keep it lovingly!

[VMI88]

Beautiful jacket, but Kurt is right. There's something about the way the leather in those jackets was treated that makes them tear very easily. Your friend should store it flat and avoid the temptation to wear it!

[dmar836]

Nice. I have two and they both have tears. One, from a vet, was damaged when he tried it on for nostalgia. It would otherwise be excellent. That one looks like a great example of an ANj4! In a word, not a wearer! And please tell him to keep it off regular type hangars!

Dave

[Bob Hudson]

And please tell him to keep it off regular type hangars!

Dave

 

They addressed that on Antiques Roadshow this week: guy brought in an A-2 leather flight jacket (with an Airborne unit patch). The advice was to store it flat. These big heavy bomber jackets need that even more than the lighter A-2's do.

[PQD]

The label indicates a 1943 contract. The insignia for Army Air Forces indicates WWII or earlier.

 

Correct on the contract being a 1943 award. The AAF decal, however, indicates application between 1944 and until the advent of the USAF in 1947. The decal transfers were approved in Oct. 1943, but none were available until early 1944, and some of the earliest decals were monotone types in silver or black due to production issues with full-color types. Decals were applied at any of the base air depots by personnel of Air Materiel Command. Prior to the noted dates, there were no decals used on AAF flying clothing and gear.

 

This is very fine flying jacket, which is indeed more scare than the quintessential B-3 flying jacket, as production was well less than a year and for far fewer in number. Always a treat to see these in this condition!