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Black B-3 The Few

m444uk

Active Member
I rather like this. The black will wear thin on the horsehide facings giving a good patina with the brown underneath.

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Pics from https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp

There always seems to be tons of used Rickson, McCoy and The Few shearling for sale there but little Eastman
 
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Steve27752

Well-Known Member

Roughwear

Well-Known Member
It is certainly different. I know black fleece Irvins were produced in the War, but have never seen a black fleece B-3. Were any ever made?
 

stanier

Well-Known Member
It is certainly different. I know black fleece Irvins were produced in the War, but have never seen a black fleece B-3. Were any ever made?

I have no idea what the truth of this is, but would not be surprised if it was a response to the Buzz Rickson William Gibson black everything trend for your trendy customer. Of course I could be wrong, but possibly not!
 

Dubpynchon

Well-Known Member
Not my cup of tea, I like the black fleece Irvins so I should probably like this, but to me it just looks wrong.
 

m444uk

Active Member
I don't think black fleece B-3 existed. When shearling production was really ramping up the fleece seems to of been universally dyed shades of yellow. You can't do that with really dark brown or black wool.

Plenty of dark shearling was used by the Germans as coat linings.

Here's German ace Hannes Trautloft with a private purchase black shearling jacket

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blackrat2

Well-Known Member
Perhaps being black throughout as opposed to black fleece Irvins might account for it looking more “extreme” than say Andrews black fleece Irvins
I have no idea how many B-3 were made in comparison to Irvins and perhaps maybe as there weren’t so many restrictions to manufacturers in the US during the war, they could discard having to use darker fleece that the equivalent UK makers had no choice but to use??
 

Miles

Active Member
It is certainly different. I know black fleece Irvins were produced in the War, but have never seen a black fleece B-3. Were any ever made?

B2 had a black shearling collar. This is a beautiful jacket but I have the same question about a B3.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

MikeyB-17

Well-Known Member
I agree I don’t think black ones were ever issued. I think Stanier’s right, the William Gibson effect is at work here. The Japanese have shown on numerous occasions that they will tolerate a bit of inaccuracy if it looks cool.
 
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