Hopefully a Willis & Geiger AN-J-3?

[expensivelypoor]

Hi guys, i recently purchased a jacket online here in Australia in a low price and need help to figure out if this is the real deal.
It got "ADS" stencils all over the jacket, collar, half belt, shoulder straps. Also, tag has been cut. With Talon mil spec zipper. And a snap button. Cheers.
The first thing to be fixed will be the cuff which has been poorly replaced with ugly material.

This is the place i bought from

 

[mulceber]

Could we see a shot of the liner, with the jacket open?

 

[expensivelypoor]

Pic from the website i bought

 

[mulceber]

Looks legit to me. I have one with the snap as well. It's hard to say whether those jackets are private purchase, military issue, or what, but it's Willis & Geiger and it's from about 1943.

 

[expensivelypoor]

Yeah, i studied a lot of your post and you jacket, and they looks identical to me thank you @mulceber

Looks legit to me. I have one with the snap as well. It's hard to say whether those jackets are private purchase, military issue, or what, but it's Willis & Geiger and it's from about 1943.

 

[Abyss]

Great looking jacket! Welcome to the forum!

 

[Saint-ex]

Hello Nice Jacket,

What does "ADS" embossment means ?

 

[expensivelypoor]

Hello Nice Jacket,

What does "ADS" embossment means ?

I would love to know if anyone can tell me about the embossment. I cant find anything on Google. But i believed the jacket has been issued to some department (may not be military) as uniform jacket(?)

 

[Pilot]

Hello Nice Jacket,

What does "ADS" embossment means ?

Possibly Air Demonstration Squadron…

 

[Nickb123]

A lot of private or commercial aviation companies will emboss their logos on leather flight jackets.

 

[33-1729]

Searching for military issued AN-J-3 jackets without a label will be tough. An ad from Flying Equipment below for private purchase Navy intermediate jackets shows how hard. They, among others, contracted to the government for jackets so when they make private purchase jackets, how could anyone tell them apart? (Note: "celanese lined" means cellulose acetate instead of the spec'd rayon.) Looking through flying-related magazines at the time there were a ton of ads, so they must have made a ton of private purchase jackets. A few of the companies advertising didn't place a name on the label, so who knows who made them. To the point, the key will be to look for military-issue AN-J-3 details, such as an inside pocket (more will be in the USN sticky when it comes out). Wouldn't doubt it's a Willis & Geiger, but not a military issue.

As an oddity - In "Hell Bent for Leather" (HBfL) they mentioned almost 30,000 AN-J-3 jackets were made before Oct '43 and the introduction of the mouton collared AN-J-3A. There are so many errors in HBfL it's best to enjoy the pictures and scratch all the text (they had no references, bibliography, or any other sources listed). Still, this doesn't appear to be a random number. If true (big ? mark), I wonder if the shipment to the Front didn't make it.

I tracked down the Air Force AN-J-3 file, like the A-2 file I had declassified earlier, so hopefully that will tell use more when it arrives. It will probably take a few months at this rate - I know what the "box" number is, but NARA has to find the building it's in first (And they are trying.).

 

[mulceber]

There are so many errors in HBfL it's best to enjoy the pictures and scratch all the text

You aren’t alone in thinking so.