1940's flyers' jackets

I know, a sunny day in London and I am dreaming about my winter wardrobe already. Its just that sourcing cool spring/summer vintage is no way as much fun as digging up killer outerwear treasures for those cold winter months. So, much as I enjoyed that cold beer in the sun at Portobello today, I was thinking about sharing part of our ever growing antique flying jacket collection. Three of my favourites....

Jacket above is an early pattern US Army Airforce A2 by Spiewak & sons North Bergen, NJ. Original zip is an early example of a spring back pull manufactured by Crown. Jacket is beautifully aged with an amazing look to the leather....


Not sure about the origin of this one, I bought it with a collection of English WWII flying jackets from a collector who wasn't sure either. Unknown flying jacket, with amazing patina, interesting hand repairs and paneling, zip has been changed at some time and I will get around to putting something more fitting on this amazing piece. Probably too far gone to wear this one, but a beautiful jacket for display or design inspiration....

My personal favourite, type D1 US Army Airforce shearling. This gets my vote as it sums up the US military's "only the best will do" attitude when it came to uniform and field gear in WWII. These beautifully crafted shearlings were for the ground crew rather than the pilots. I love it that the mechanics were rocking these! I guess that is why they come up so rarely, they just would have got trashed by the day to day wear and tear from the men working in them. Amazing example with alot of life left in it....
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