Help to identify this AF jacket

[guscanoesp]

Gentlemen,

 

I just found this jacket while going through the boxes of my collection. I bought it a long time ago, but have never truly identified it, except that it belongs to the Air Force.

 

Any feedback would be nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Gustavo

[kammo-man]

I always thought these were some sort of para rescue jackets

 

 

 

owen

[pmshindy]

This is only a guess but it my be a shooters jacket. Plenty of time was spent shooting clay targets in the Air Corp getting the gunners use to shooting moving targets.

Are their any other identifiers in the jacket? Tags, contract #'s ect...?

 

I looked through all my Air Corp books and found nothing.

 

Let me know if you have any luck.

 

pmshindy

[vintageproductions]

I agree with Kammo-Man. It is a Para-rescue rough terrain jacket. It is made out of a heavy canvass like material.

[guscanoesp]

This is only a guess but it my be a shooters jacket. Plenty of time was spent shooting clay targets in the Air Corp getting the gunners use to shooting moving targets.

Are their any other identifiers in the jacket? Tags, contract #'s ect...?

 

I looked through all my Air Corp books and found nothing.

 

Let me know if you have any luck.

 

pmshindy

 

 

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

No tags, and the letters on the inside are illegible.

 

Anyway, a friend of mine has shed some light about the jacket. He is a fireman and remembered having seen jackets with the wide and big collars in some photos of one of his books about firemen of the world.

 

It seems that the jacket belongs to the smoke jumpers, firemen that jumped to reach fires in remote areas. I read that they were initially formed to fight the forest fires that the japanese ballon-bombs caused in the USA during the war.

 

I have made some research and actually the smoke jumper jackets do have a similar look. What still puzzles me is why this particular jacket has the Air Force patch on the shoulder.

 

 

 

 

 

Did the jacket belong to these first army trained airborne firemen? I guess it is worth researching in this direction. If any of you can help me shed a light as to the origin of this jacket, I will be grateful.

 

 

Regards,

 

Gus

[vintageproductions]

This jacket was worn all the way up and into the eraly 1960's, that is why the stencil is on the sleeve.

[giconceptsjw]

Thanks for your reply.

 

No tags, and the letters on the inside are illegible.

 

Anyway, a friend of mine has shed some light about the jacket. He is a fireman and remembered having seen jackets with the wide and big collars in some photos of one of his books about firemen of the world.

 

It seems that the jacket belongs to the smoke jumpers, firemen that jumped to reach fires in remote areas. I read that they were initially formed to fight the forest fires that the japanese ballon-bombs caused in the USA during the war.

 

I have made some research and actually the smoke jumper jackets do have a similar look. What still puzzles me is why this particular jacket has the Air Force patch on the shoulder.

 

 

 

Did the jacket belong to these first army trained airborne firemen? I guess it is worth researching in this direction. If any of you can help me shed a light as to the origin of this jacket, I will be grateful.

Regards,

 

Gus

 

As I understand it, the original “Smoke Jumpers” were the 555 PIR which they called the Triple Nickles. It was an all-black parachute regiment stationed in California & Oregon. They spent the last 2 years of WWII jumping into forest fires to help ground based firefighters fight fires. At the same time the US Forest Service also employed parachute qualified firefighters called smoke jumpers. They were not military people but Forest Service employees like park rangers. The jumpers in the above photos are US Forest Service people. The original jacket in question here is US Air Force. It’s not WWII or Forest Service or smoke jumper. I have seen them described as a padded para-rescue or P-J Jacket that were used from the mid or late 1950’s into the 1960’s.

[kammo-man]

Thanks for nailing that for us Jeff .

owen

[guscanoesp]

As I understand it, the original “Smoke Jumpers” were the 555 PIR which they called the Triple Nickles. It was an all-black parachute regiment stationed in California & Oregon. They spent the last 2 years of WWII jumping into forest fires to help ground based firefighters fight fires. At the same time the US Forest Service also employed parachute qualified firefighters called smoke jumpers. They were not military people but Forest Service employees like park rangers. The jumpers in the above photos are US Forest Service people. The original jacket in question here is US Air Force. It’s not WWII or Forest Service or smoke jumper. I have seen them described as a padded para-rescue or P-J Jacket that were used from the mid or late 1950’s into the 1960’s.

 

 

Thank you very much for your most informative answer. Your explanation has been clear and crisp and is highly appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

 

Gus

[Bluehawk]

Whatever the heck it is, I really like it.