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Aero Quartermaster A-2's

Dany McDonald

Well-Known Member
Hello,

I am looking at what looks like a nice A-2 tagged AeroFlightManf contract 30H1415 for sale.

Since Aero web site has offline the Quartermaster page, I'd like to get your opinion on those jackets?
How do they differ from the regular A-2's beside different hides...

Many thanks in advance,

D
 

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
I believe the Aero A2's with the Aero Manufacturing label were made in India but please don't rely on this information as fact.
Ken from Aero Leather can give you exact information on this subject and I would suggest you contact him. He is a member of this forum.
Cheers
 

Dany McDonald

Well-Known Member
Hi,

Wow thank you for the fast reply. How can I contact PM him from this board? Sorry for the profane question.....

Thanks,

D
 

robrinay

Well-Known Member
Fwiw from memory of when this has been discussed previously, the first batch were well made and were accepted and sold by Aero and as intended were good ‘everyman’ Aero jackets and that persuaded Aero to give the maker a further contract. Sadly the Indian maker then outsourced that order (standard Indian practice at that time), and the next batch were substandard and were refused by Aero and the contract was cancelled. If this is one of the first contract see above. I’m sure others will chip in to correct me or otherwise.
 

robrinay

Well-Known Member
Ps if you use the search feature at the top of this page you’ll dig up stuff on them from earlier threads.
 

Dany McDonald

Well-Known Member
Hi Robrinay,

I did search for Quartermaster, but no info on the provenance of the jacket itself...

Are saying that maybe all AeroFlightManf contract were actually outsource in India? The seller said he acquired the jacket from Aero this summer.

I will gibe it another try!

Thanks,
 

Dany McDonald

Well-Known Member
Yeah I did that search with ''Aero India'' as keyword and found that the hide is from India but not necessarily HH...

Will keep digging!

Thank you,

Dany
 

Smithy

Well-Known Member
I think the recent (think last year sometime) Quartermaster sale jackets at Aero were trainee made jackets. There was an Aero A-2 made in India under the instruction of Aero back in the very early 2000s? but the recent Quartermaster ones were separate.

I'd really like to see Aero have a Quartermaster A-2 type offering on it's books permanently as it's a very fair price for a not too shabby at all A-2 jacket and would be a way for them to get some more business from some of us older hands who have reached the point where the prices for their other A-2 jackets are now a little beyond the pale and just want a reasonably accurate A-2 in a good pattern for an everyday jacket.

Ken, is there any chance of you guys doing something like this? At the moment SM Wholesale seem to have the market on a 500 buck nice but not stitch for stitch perfect A-2. For my next A-2 it's either going to be 2nd hand or maybe even a SMW. I'd rather put my money Aero's way if I could as I've got a few things from you lot and for that reason alone I wouldn't mind supporting you guys. So is something like this possible or is it whizzing in the wind?
 

robrinay

Well-Known Member
Hi Dany,
can I suggest that you contact Aero Leather by email and include the eBay link to the auction. I’m sure someone will tell you what you need to know about that specific jacket hopefully before the auction ends.
 
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Dany McDonald

Well-Known Member
Hi,

I do not want to start something that isn't there as I fully respect what repros do and especially Aero, but communication doesn't seem their forte, well in my experience.

The actual jacket looks nice and the hide (from photos) has nice grain. The seller is honest and says it's Aero jerky. I just want to know more about that contract and provenance.

Since Aero is a top tier maker, in my opinion, I am intrigue about what makes that contract different from the official production.

Again I really respect Aero and plz do not see an attempt to put them down in my comment.

Thank you,

D
 

robrinay

Well-Known Member
Here you go - read Zeb1435’s comments towards the bottom of Page 1 of the thread, wherein he refers to a letter from Ken explaining the Aero Manf inc label
It’s from a discussion on various Aero labels on The Fedora Lounge. It explains that 500 of these A2 jackets were made in India under a licence from Aero and passed their standard for an affordable economy A2. The ‘blazer’ type jackets also mentioned in this comment were rejected. This corrects my earlier comment in this thread.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/aero-labels.88549/
 
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Ken at Aero Leather

Well-Known Member
Hi,

I do not want to start something that isn't there as I fully respect what repros do and especially Aero, but communication doesn't seem their forte, well in my experience.

D
I'm dissapointed you've had that experience as we are well known for our exemplary customer service
Despite the huge volume of emails in this ,"the modern age" , Holly is rarely more than a day behind with incoming mail
 

Ken at Aero Leather

Well-Known Member
I think the recent (think last year sometime) Quartermaster sale jackets at Aero were trainee made jackets. There was an Aero A-2 made in India under the instruction of Aero back in the very early 2000s? but the recent Quartermaster ones were separate.

I'd really like to see Aero have a Quartermaster A-2 type offering on it's books permanently as it's a very fair price for a not too shabby at all A-2 jacket and would be a way for them to get some more business from some of us older hands who have reached the point where the prices for their other A-2 jackets are now a little beyond the pale and just want a reasonably accurate A-2 in a good pattern for an everyday jacket.

Ken, is there any chance of you guys doing something like this? At the moment SM Wholesale seem to have the market on a 500 buck nice but not stitch for stitch perfect A-2. For my next A-2 it's either going to be 2nd hand or maybe even a SMW. I'd rather put my money Aero's way if I could as I've got a few things from you lot and for that reason alone I wouldn't mind supporting you guys. So is something like this possible or is it whizzing in the wind?

Hi Smithy

We do intend to offer more Aero Flight Quartermasters A-2s later this year, we have a really talented young machinist ready to learn the style but our main A-2 machinists are too busy with orders to teach her right now.
Meanwhile, if anyone wants one now, we do have another machinist who we could put on one or two. She made some of last year's Quartermasters so she's properly trained on wartime A-2s (No stand collars) but hasn't made any for a few months. It would suit us to give her a few "refreshers" , we could do a few of these for no more than £400, exact price would depend on the leather
 

Smithy

Well-Known Member
Hi Smithy

We do intend to offer more Aero Flight Quartermasters A-2s later this year, we have a really talented young machinist ready to learn the style but our main A-2 machinists are too busy with orders to teach her right now.
Meanwhile, if anyone wants one now, we do have another machinist who we could put on one or two. She made some of last year's Quartermasters so she's properly trained on wartime A-2s (No stand collars) but hasn't made any for a few months. It would suit us to give her a few "refreshers" , we could do a few of these for no more than £400, exact price would depend on the leather

Ken, that's great news!
 

Dany McDonald

Well-Known Member
I'm dissapointed you've had that experience as we are well known for our exemplary customer service
Despite the huge volume of emails in this ,"the modern age" , Holly is rarely more than a day behind with incoming mail

Hello ken,

I think you cleared that out this ''morning''... Thank you for opening a channel of communication !!!

Really appreciated!

Dany
 
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