Well, against the counsel of all VLJ consigliere, I bid on an Aviation Leathercraft A-2. i kind of liked the Made In England cachet. :roll: Since I was the only bidder, I 'won'...or lost, depending on one's definition. :?
It is a moohide sz.42 A-2 style jacket. It pretty much fits like my house ELC 40. The sleeves are about 1-1.5" longer. The cowhide is very, very
thick and HEAVY, I guess it's for those English fall and winters...about twice the weight and thickness of the ELC horsehide. The surface of the steerhide was made to look like goat or lamb. It's pretty much styled like an Avirex mall jacket. Collar snaps, but no throat latch. The hardware, snaps and zip were pretty puny and tinny compared to the weight of the leather. They put a small superfluous snap at the bottom of the jacket where the zipper starts. I don't know if this jacket was customized for a female or what, but the zipper pull is on the opposite side of a 'male' jacket...it could get pretty annoying after a bit. I'll see if I can live with it, but when I was pointing out the zip was on the female side to my wife, she cast a covetous glance at it...which was fine with me...she can have it.
On a scale of 1-10, and mind you this is from a guy who actually likes Avirex jackets and gives them a 6,
in my opinion this Aviation Leathercraft A-2 would be a 4 for quality and finish and a 2 for authenticity...it's not worth anywhere near the 276 pounds they list it for...matter of fact, not even the $61 dollars I paid.
http://www.flying-jacket.com/product-details.aspx?id=10