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bomber pants


sgt_carbonero
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TheCrustyBosun

AN-6554 Winter Flying Trousers, Spec # AN-T-35. Used by the USAAF flyers. They were among the last of the shearling flight clothing and were standardized in mid-May 1943. This type is documented as being used only stateside until 1945. Shearling flight clothing was replaced when the B-10 jacket and the A-9 trousers were standardized in July 1943. 

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Ok, This is from C.G. Sweetings book. "Combat Flying Clothing"

"In 1943 shearling clothing similar to the AAF issue was standardized for use by both Army and Navy and then placed into production an example is the winter flying jacket, spec AN-J-4. Sometimes marked AN6553 or 6553-AN-J4. ...........  It was worn with the AN-T-35 shearling trousers"

 

I hope that help and those are a cool set you picked up.

 

Semper Fi

Phil

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sgt_carbonero

Thank you all, I noticed the map pocket was removed at some point and the leather added at the bottom as foot straps? Thanks again!

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TheCrustyBosun
11 minutes ago, sgt_carbonero said:

Thank you all, I noticed the map pocket was removed at some point and the leather added at the bottom as foot straps? Thanks again!

Just noticed the foot straps. They appear to have been added later, most likely to keep them from riding up. Could have been done by a rigger upon the request of the wearer. 
 

Resources I consulted were Rottman’s US Army Air Force (1) from Osprey Publishing and USAAF Illustrated Catalog Class 13, dated 30SEP43, revised 01APR44. They can also be found in Maguire’s ever popular Gear Up!

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48 minutes ago, TheCrustyBosun said:

Just noticed the foot straps. They appear to have been added later, most likely to keep them from riding up. Could have been done by a rigger upon the request of the wearer. 
 

Resources I consulted were Rottman’s US Army Air Force (1) from Osprey Publishing and USAAF Illustrated Catalog Class 13, dated 30SEP43, revised 01APR44. They can also be found in Maguire’s ever popular Gear Up!

 

.......or added in civilian life for skiing, ice fishing etc. 

You would be surprised at the amount of the shearling pants I have seen over the years here. I spoke to the man here in town that owned the surplus store after WW2. He said he could always get the shearling trousers but never get the jackets. He mentioned the trousers were popular with the area farmers as they wore them at harvest time (no cabs or heated cabs on tractors and combines then). O also worked with guys who said they wore the Navy bib deck coveralls or the flight pants for sledding and for their paper routes in the 50s when it was cold. 

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Yeah, pretty positively this mod was not done during the war. The type of leather is pretty obviously modern with a modern pen line on it.

Realize that these were worn, as mentioned above, by so many civilians after the war. My redskin A-3s I bought in upstate NY in the 90's had come from a hardcore biker.

I had a mint pair of AN-T-35s that a dog tore the hind end out of when it got into my "war room". Not my dog but I was NOT happy. The dog did live but the replacement pair of trousers I sourced weren't quite as mint.

IMO, that pair is pretty rough. Always liked that red woven label.

 

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Remaining true to my character I must remind you that there is really no such thing as "bomber" pants, jackets, gloves, or otherwise. Nor are there "Fighter" jackets, pants, etc. That term became popular in the 80s with all the Top Gun patched fashion jackets in mall stores. The term continues to evolve ever further from what it implies to the collector or vet of the time. We know what you meant but it was all AAF issue depending on roll so we generalize those things actually used in flight as "flight trousers" or "flight jacket".

For fun, Google bomber jacket and see the variety of fashion jackets, patterns, materials, and colors that the non-collector fashion world refers to as a "bomber jacket".

Do you collect or is this just a one-off find of the 90s?

Dave

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8 hours ago, sgt_carbonero said:

whats interesting about that added leather is it appears to be pigskin.

reminds me of goat/kidd leather. Thin and pliable. Often used for gloves. See a lot of the CBI patches made out of a similar leather.

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sgt_carbonero

Hi Dave, I do collect. I have a sporadic collection, mostly ww2, but some ww1 and civil war. I am mostly interested in Propaganda posters of ww2, but I pick up things as I find them, as I'm sure most of us do. I just picked up a ww1-era E-Tool from an estate sale.

Cheers.

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sgt_carbonero

 

9 minutes ago, doyler said:

reminds me of goat/kidd leather. Thin and pliable. Often used for gloves. See a lot of the CBI patches made out of a similar leather.

indeed, I think you are right, more like goat than pigskin, also reminded me of deerskin.

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