Airplane factories A-2s

[bombs away]

Hello,

Just found this intersting picture on Footnote :

Close up :

I'm surprised to see civilians looking like military airmen so much (flight jacket, side cap, US on the collar shirt, ...).
The first man on the left wears a nice A-2 without epaulets and buttoned pockets (specialists here will surely know who's the maker ).
I like the North American patch.

Tim

 

[Persimmon]

That looks like a Goodwear SAT Mr Clark is wearing !!
Has JC gone back in time and supplied this non airman.

So for us non WW2 airman is this where the jacket sickness we all have began ?

 

[Dr H]

SAT A-2s have epaulettes, so would this be private purchase? Pockets also look on the small side (to my eye), more in line with A-1 styling if not position.

 

[better duck]

That looks like a Goodwear SAT Mr Clark is wearing !!
Has JC gone back in time and supplied this non airman.

It might have been a SAT (save for the epaulettes) and it might have been a GW, but the appaling fit of the jacket on this gentleman betrays that it could not have been provided to him by our J-GW-C: look at how poorly that jacket fits: drooping shoulders, even so sleeves too short: jackets provided by John in most cases fit like they were made for you. this one doesn't.

The jacket on the gentleman on the right really fits well. Is that a Dubow 27798 we spot there?

 

[zoomer]

Hey, it was 1944 and A-2s without bodies in them were pretty scarce. Even that one probably cost him quite a few cartons of cigarettes. Or else - look at the others - he was just unusually tall.

I wish I could see that North American patch for real. One of my heroes, Frank Trumbauer, the jazz saxophonist, test piloted for them and even broke in new B-25 crews.

 

[jack aranda]

Jacket, left: I'm looking at the small nicks along the sleeve, and drape of the hide. To me, it looks like cheap lambskin, the kind we'd see in a poor-quality 'mall jacket' today. The other three look like good quality A-2's. Also, the wearer of the jacket, left looks like a 'pimple-faced kid', literally. So, he may be a lad trying to fit in with the 'big boys'. Ah, well, now I'm just creating a story. Great pics. Thanks.

 

[SuinBruin]

Great shot. The jacket on the left also looks like it may not have a storm flap, further distancing it from issued A-2s.

As for the North American patch, it would be very cool to see an example up close. NA was one of our greatest aerospace contractors... they built the B-25, the P-51, the F-86, and the X-15, among others. Now they're just another forgotten subset of the Boeing empire. Oh well.

 

[Weasel_Loader]

Doubt it's a SAT with epaulettes removed. Looks like it also doesn't have a windfalp and has an exposed zipper. I say private purchase. Still a nice jacket.

 

[Willy McCoy]

Thanks for posting! That patch is great!

 

[Jaydee]

Wow those are some seriously stretched out waist knits!

 

[dmar836]

Anyone have a pic of that patch? I Googled them but didn't search too hard. Some of the factory insignia were cool. My grandfather was a machinist for Wright aircraft engines during the war, then Mac afterwards. Maybe I'd like to paint a few of those!

Found it.

Dave

 

[zoomer]

I forget who had a patch painted with the plain NAA logo in a roundel - he posted pix of it a year or 2 ago.

But this has some kind of cartoon over it...bird? animal? who knows?

 

[SuinBruin]

Looks like Donald Duck riding the NAA bird logo.

 

[dmar836]

Yeah, I wondered what the variation is. That won't an easy one to find a good shot of.

 

[CBI]

I've got Donald Duck riding the bird photo but Photobucket is giving me trouble! :twisted:

 

[dmar836]

Really? I've just used it.
Shoot it to me in an email if you can.
Dave

 

[asiamiles]

Jacket, left: I'm looking at the small nicks along the sleeve, and drape of the hide. To me, it looks like cheap lambskin.

It could be a pre-war civilian flight jacket. When you see films about fliers set in the 30's they often can be seen wearing this type of jacket. Cape is certainly a possibility as we know it was used for A-1's but I wonder if deerskin might have been used?

 

[CBI]

 

[asiamiles]

Spoiled by the duck! The original art deco-ish NAA design is very striking though.

 

[dmar836]

That's a neat variation. As with all of those patches it appears different than the one in the original post pic.
I guess that should be a lesson not to be so anal about the details!
Thanks,
Dave