Bummer. We should build a thread with photos of all the cloth jackets to avoid including what to look for on the labels of these civilian jackets. I'm sure there are quite a few others that have been fooled by these and don't even know it. I know we seem to discuss them on the forum at least a couple of times per year.
Here's a current thread on the US Militaria forum concerning a Fitzwell B-15 for sale as part of a grouping. Our own member Stony gets a roasting for trying to be helpful. The seller appears to be a real jerk. http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ ... usherb-15/
Considering the jacket has quilted lining instead of the regular "mil-specs" alpaca fur lining, it was pretty obvious there was something quite fishy about it.
Yep, I got a roasting by the guy at first, but he appologized later via PM. However, after it was all said and done, he roasted the guy he bought the grouping from on those same forums and they were going at it the last time I looked. I learned the hard way many years ago about "original type".
Fitzwell Sportswear was indeed a government contractor in the War. This company had a contract in 1944 for B-15 jackets and A11 trousers, contract 44-6355 AF. They had a contract for B15A jackets and A-11A trousers in 1945, contact 45-8968 AF. However they made non- contract B-15s post war, which are often mistaken for Wartime examples.
