Anyone have a Good Wear Bogen & Tenenbaum AN-6552?

[entertainment]

For an A-1, you might ask John for a sample of the leather he used on this jacket. It is sheep but somewhat thicker and tougher. In comparison, the leather on my ELC A-1 feels like glove leather. The GW leather feels like it would stand up to much more abuse.

Good Wear Leather Coat Company — Sale Good Wear Type A-1 Flight Jacket

www.goodwearleather.com

 

[mulceber]

Agreed - the stuff JC uses looks like it would stand up to much more abuse, and frankly is still probably pretty accurate to what was used on the originals: contrary to what some manufacturers say (some of whom are even members of this board), even by the 1920s-1930s, "capeskin" had become marketing jargon. While real, cape sheep capeskin did exist, mostly the term was used to refer to ordinary sheepskin and lambskin, much like how in the US we refer to paper tissues as Kleenex no matter the actual brand name, and in Britain they talk about "Hoovering" regardless of which company made the vacuum cleaner.

No way was the military paying to get fancy leather made from this special breed of sheep that's raised in South Africa. It was just sheepskin.

 

[entertainment]

Agreed - the stuff JC uses looks like it would stand up to much more abuse, and frankly is still probably pretty accurate to what was used on the originals: contrary to what some manufacturers say (some of whom are even members of this board), even by the 1920s-1930s, "capeskin" had become marketing jargon. While real, cape sheep capeskin did exist, mostly the term was used to refer to ordinary sheepskin and lambskin, much like how in the US we refer to paper tissues as Kleenex no matter the actual brand name, and in Britain they talk about "Hoovering" regardless of which company made the vacuum cleaner.

No way was the military paying to get fancy leather made from this special breed of sheep that's raised in South Africa. It was just sheepskin.

Jan is completely correct. JC sent me a long email one time on this subject which seemed completely conclusive to me.

I don't think the A-1 spec has been found, but the 37J1 spec says, "All leather used in the jacket shall be best quality chrome tanned sheepskin, the color of which shall be chocolate."

 

[mulceber]

And given the rivalry between the branches, no way was the Navy going to settle for a leather that was less fancy than the Army's. If they were demanding tanned sheepskin, the Army likely was as well.

 

[bseal]

And given the rivalry between the branches, no way was the Navy going to settle for a leather that was less fancy than the Army's. If they were demanding tanned sheepskin, the Army likely was as well.

And the next thing you know, someone would test the DNA of WWII flight jackets, self publish it in a book and go on to shock the VLJ world that not all A-2s had to be made either of horse or goat.