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An Original A2 with a cool history!

B-Man2

B-Man2

Well-Known Member
Today I got to spend some time with an old friend who now lives in Florida but grew up in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania area not far from where I grew up. He knew I was into flight jackets and WWII history, so he brought his fathers original A2 jacket with him. His dad was an enlisted soldier in the newly formed 14th Air Force, flying as a crew member of a C-47, flying over the hump delivering supplies in the China/ Burma/ India theater of operations. His father personally knew Claire Chennault . According to my friend, when his father was about to come back to the US at the end of his service, he wrote home to his mother and had her go to a very well know department store in Philadelphia by the name of John Wannamakers. He had his mother purchase a few clothing labels and send them to him. He then took the military contractors label out of his A2 jacket and replaced it with a Wannamakers label. He then had enough plausible denial to claim that the jacket was a private purchase jacket and brought the jacket back at the end of the war. I looked over the jacket and I believe it is a Cable Raincoat or a Perry based on the Conmar zip so take a look and please post your thoughts. Whatever it is, it has a great history!
For your enjoyment!
C2A7EFF4-AAEF-4168-8F48-A1188A205B59.jpeg


75DDE28A-EB97-4970-97CD-42D6D7CE1B6E.jpeg

480695A4-3154-4761-ACCC-4D97A509C137.jpeg
 
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Flightengineer

Flightengineer

Well-Known Member
This is an amazing jacket with an interesting story. One can only imagine what saw this jacket as witnessed how difficult the C-47s flight was with her owner. If this old lady would speak...Thank you very much for the photos, Burt.
 
2BM2K

2BM2K

Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing the photo's and history of the jacket.

All of the details of the jacket correspond to the Perry Sportswear 16175 contract.
 
Micawber

Micawber

Well-Known Member
What a wonderful background to a museum worthy jacket. Removing the label and replacing it with one from a store was a canny move and ensured he was able to retain what was obviously an item that he was very fond of and much attached to. The jacket has the salty look of a wise old warrior who has witnessed many things but keeps his own council. There is history, my kind of item. Thanks for the photos and sharing its story Burt, please pass on my thanks to your friend too.
 
Stony

Stony

Well-Known Member
The AN inspector's stamp gives it away as military, but hey, the person checking items back then probably didn't know that and really didn't care?
 
Lorenzo_l

Lorenzo_l

Well-Known Member
Silver Surfer said:
cable. not perry, as all perrys had collar stands. duh
Click to expand...

But does the jacket in question not have a collar stand? Looking at Gary's book, all of Perry's A-2 contract jackets had a collar stand, whereas none of Cable's had, so if this jacket has a collar stand, which I seem to discern from the pictures, it is not likely to be a Cable. The split in the wind flap, visible in the 5th picture from the top, is typical of Perry's 42-16175P contract, as are the square stitch box in the pocket's body upper corner (4th picture from top) and Conmar zipper. The collar's shape is also consistent with that contract.
 
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R

RB25

Member
Great post and what a great A2. You have to love the ingenuity of a GI to make sure his prized possession comes home with him.
 
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