A vintage WWII B15?

[johnnyzhuang823]

Hi all, 

Greetings! This is my first post on this forum, and I hope y'all can help me take a look at this old B15 jacket. Much appreciated, and thanks in advance!

I recently picked up this vintage B15 jacket from a reputable local surplus store. The store owner claimed it was a WWII original, and because it was a good fit, I dropped $600 without thinking too much. After I got back, I did some research and began to suspect whether this was the real deal or not. 

Things that look right:

1. Off-center zipper
2. Talon zipper looks old to me 
3. Color & texture of the fabric 
4. Pocket snaps

Things that do not look right:

1. It does not have a tag (or perhaps it was taken off a long time ago?). I came across a couple of other threads that briefly discussed this issue. Some claim that virtually all B15s come with tags, while others seem to think that some of the very early ones do not.
2. The lining is green, in contrast to the grayish color that you usually see in a B15
3. Cuffs and waistbands seem too perfect to be true
4. The decal on the outer sleeve is almost faded out and does not quite match the overall great condition of the jacket. Perhaps exposed to sunlight? Bad dry washing?
5. There is no decal on the inner side of the jacket next to the zippers

Things that I don't know if it's a good/bad sign:

1. There's a heavily worn small white tag in one of the outer pockets that say "Lot Size 44"(see picture)
2. On the inside of the jacket, I found the following texts handwritten by someone. It has almost faded out, but I was able to identify some of it—"Maurice A. Garbell, 17[something] Lake Street, San Francisco [something], California, U.S.A." Intrigued, I did a little research online about Mr. Garbell and found the following:

"Maurice A. Garbell, 75, a pioneering aviation consultant who helped design major airports around the world. Garbell was one of the first to propose a plan that saw noisy jetliners climb steeply in order to avoid residential neighborhoods near airports. During World War II, he was a top aerodynamicist for Consolidated Vultee Aircraft, now General Dynamics in San Diego. There he designed aircraft wings and wrote the first book on tropical and equatorial meteorology. After the war, he moved to San Francisco and worked as an aviation consultant. On Feb. 24 he passed away in San Francisco after what was described as a short illness."

That's all the information I have for now. Assuming that the jacket indeed belonged to Mr. Maurice, together with the fact that (1) he was an aerodynamicist during the war, not a pilot, and (2) he moved to San Francisco post-war and that a San Francisco address was written inside of the jacket, I guess the most likely conclusion would be that it was a post-war civilian B15? But then it seems pretty rare to see a civilian version with the off-center zippers, pocket snaps, and the decal on the outer sleeve.

Let me know your thoughts!

 

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[phantomfixer]

Try the pics again, but the description sounds like a great jacket, if the bio pans out

[johnnyzhuang823]

1 hour ago, phantomfixer said:

Try the pics again, but the description sounds like a great jacket, if the bio pans out

Thanks for the heads up! I changed the image format from HEIC to JPG and let me know if the images work this time 

 

[phantomfixer]

Not be this time 

[phantomfixer]

 

[dmar836]

Welcome Johnny. Why not introduce yourself in the New Members area.

I'm sure you'll get plenty of info here.

Dave

[johnnyzhuang823]

On 2/20/2023 at 9:12 PM, phantomfixer said:

Not be this time 

Thanks for the tips and sorry for the late reply—it's been quite a busy week for me! I managed to compress the pictures (am I the only person complaining about the 250kb limit for 2023?) and hopefully they work this time. If there's any weird discoloration/color leaks its probably due to the compression.

 

 

[johnnyzhuang823]

On 2/21/2023 at 8:18 AM, dmar836 said:

Welcome Johnny. Why not introduce yourself in the New Members area.

I'm sure you'll get plenty of info here.

Dave

Thank you! Will do

[dmar836]

Johnny, Unfortunately, I'm leaning civi on this one.

Dave

[warguy]

18 minutes ago, dmar836 said:

Johnny, Unfortunately, I'm leaning civi on this one.

Dave

I agree

[dmar836]

I know we all want to keep secret our sources until we exhaust them but it's always a good idea to ask here first before laying down market value or higher on a jacket you aren't sure about.

Dave