warguy
Well-Known Member
On the long holiday weekend, my wife and I drove to her hometown about three hours away. A mid sized city here in the US, it has a large retiree community and I have always had some modest luck at antique stores in the area. On Saturday, we went into a new one I found on the internet. The owner does a lot of estate sales, etc. We looked around, didn't see much, and I introduced myself and left him a card asking that he call if he finds old militaria. As we were walking through the door, a small framed 5X7 photo caught my eye. It was a group of aviators wearing B3 jackets standing in front of an old trainer. I bought the picture after asking the price and the owner commented the photo came from a local estate and that he had the owners B3 jacket at home. He said the jacket was in pretty poor shape. I indicated I had an interest in flight jackets, and it looked like a light bulb went off. He said he had another jacket without fur on it belonging to this same man at the store in the backroom and asked if I would like to see it. When I responded with an energetic yes, he retrieved an A2 flight jacket from the back. Here is what he presented.
Fortunately the original contract label is hanging onto one of the remaining pieces of the original lining. That made identification simple of course, but this contract is so peculiar, with a resource in hand it would not have taken long to identify it as an Ostermann. This contract is described in detail in Eastman's book, plate 16. All of the peculiarities are present...russet goat, M29 Talon zipper, no seam at rear of collar, epaulettes folded over and top stitched twice, the wide leather tabs at bottom, etc. The jacket leather is really pretty nice, with obvious signs of age basically in a patina to the original russet finish. The jacket is quit soft, with cracking to the finish pretty limited. I see no tears or holes to the leather itself. There is no stitching to indicate any patches or name tag was ever sewn on and no evidence of a shoulder decal or paint on the jacket. Basically, it looks exactly as it might have been issued. The lining is shot with large pieces missing, but again fortunately, the original tag remains. All knit is worse for wear and the cuffs especially are tattered. It is a large size, though I cant find a size tag anywhere. There are two Union maker labels stitched inside each pocket but no other tags present. I wear a size 42 which can be a tad big sometimes. I swim in this jacket and think it is at least a 44 maybe even a 46, but I am leaning toward a 44. I will share measurements when I get a chance. The jacket is identified and the original owner is standing second from left in the photograph.
The seller was a nice guy and said he had $10 into this jacket!!! He definitely passed his good fortunate on to me as we agreed to a price.
So my question to you fine folks is what to do with this? I have never worn original jackets before and in any case this one is too large. I have a large collection of original AAF material, but most of my collection consists of artifacts in much better condition than this (although again the leather shell is very nice). I would like to hear from others their thoughts on refurbishing the jacket by adding new knits and lining and throwing it in the collection, refurbishing it to market to others to wear, or leave it alone and market it that way. I really haven't decided what I am going to do with it. Thanks in advance. Kevin
Fortunately the original contract label is hanging onto one of the remaining pieces of the original lining. That made identification simple of course, but this contract is so peculiar, with a resource in hand it would not have taken long to identify it as an Ostermann. This contract is described in detail in Eastman's book, plate 16. All of the peculiarities are present...russet goat, M29 Talon zipper, no seam at rear of collar, epaulettes folded over and top stitched twice, the wide leather tabs at bottom, etc. The jacket leather is really pretty nice, with obvious signs of age basically in a patina to the original russet finish. The jacket is quit soft, with cracking to the finish pretty limited. I see no tears or holes to the leather itself. There is no stitching to indicate any patches or name tag was ever sewn on and no evidence of a shoulder decal or paint on the jacket. Basically, it looks exactly as it might have been issued. The lining is shot with large pieces missing, but again fortunately, the original tag remains. All knit is worse for wear and the cuffs especially are tattered. It is a large size, though I cant find a size tag anywhere. There are two Union maker labels stitched inside each pocket but no other tags present. I wear a size 42 which can be a tad big sometimes. I swim in this jacket and think it is at least a 44 maybe even a 46, but I am leaning toward a 44. I will share measurements when I get a chance. The jacket is identified and the original owner is standing second from left in the photograph.
The seller was a nice guy and said he had $10 into this jacket!!! He definitely passed his good fortunate on to me as we agreed to a price.
So my question to you fine folks is what to do with this? I have never worn original jackets before and in any case this one is too large. I have a large collection of original AAF material, but most of my collection consists of artifacts in much better condition than this (although again the leather shell is very nice). I would like to hear from others their thoughts on refurbishing the jacket by adding new knits and lining and throwing it in the collection, refurbishing it to market to others to wear, or leave it alone and market it that way. I really haven't decided what I am going to do with it. Thanks in advance. Kevin
Last edited:
