New purchase type D-1 jacket

[Joe the Jacket-man]

Hello folks!

Can anyone out there enlighten me about a Type D-1 jacket I recently purchased: It has one patch pocket on it – quite similar to the single pocket seen on B-3 jackets. No pocket on the left side. Remnants of an AAF Logo on the left shoulder and a small AAF Logo in white along the windshield near the zipper on the right side.

Spec tag at back reads:
Size .... Large, Spec. No. 94-3084, Order No. W535 AC- 1776, H.L.B. CORP N.Y.

I’d read or heard that some D-1s were made with no pockets, others with one. I’ve seen several originals and all had two zippered pockets. My questions: Was there a chronological progression to the different pocket configurations? Is it likely that the single pocket on this jacket was added later? What is the full name of “H. L. B. Corp.?

Any shared knowledge will be much appreciated!

Joe

 

[zoomer]

No knowledge of the D-1 (other than that it was designed for groundcrews) - but HLB may possibly have been affiliated with H&L Block of San Francisco, another military jacket maker.

These things are hard to tell sometimes - you have a very family-oriented industry interacting with the government, so they tended to be secretive and not leave much paper trail.

 

[MikeyB-17]

I believe HLB and H & L Block are the same company. Some D-1's had no pockets-the earlier ones I think-I wonder if this is one of those, field modified with a B-3 type pocket.

 

[T-Bolt]

I thought I remember someone posting recently that HLB was located in the New York area and H&L Block was in San Francisco. I might be wrong but I don't think so.


Ted

 

[shanghai joe]

I thought I remember someone posting recently that HLB was located in the New York area and H&L Block was in San Francisco. I might be wrong but I don't think so.


Ted

Ted,

I think you're right along those lines.

 

[Roughwear]

I believe HLB and H & L Block are the same company. Some D-1's had no pockets-the earlier ones I think-I wonder if this is one of those, field modified with a B-3 type pocket.

HLB Corp and H&L Block may have been linked, with possibly H&L Block being an off-shoot of HLB Corp, but I have yet to see any evidence to prove a link.

 

[MikeyB-17]

Oh well, there you go, talking out me arse again. H.L.B. were definitely a wartime AAF contractor though-they made B-3's-didn't they?

 

[T-Bolt]

Mike,

About two years or so I remember seeing an H.L.B. A-2 on the internet. I am pretty sure it was on ebay. I really wish I would have saved that photo for future refenence. Now a days when I see an unusual jacket, I always save it to "my pictures".


Ted

 

[zoomer]

If you search Google Images it might come up - I found pix that way a few months ago.
The HLB is super rare, as they only had one A-2 contract and that was in 1937.