M422, M422a and AN-J-3 contract value ,award /completion dates

[Carl]

I hope that this is of some interest and help to all you USN jacket collectors

ARNOFF AN-J-3 N288xsa 24248 awarded 6/44 completed 11/44 contract value $62k

BLOCK HL M422a NXS 5134 5/42 8/42 $820k

CHURCH EDMUND M422A NXS5133 5/42 11/42 ( estimated) $356k

FRIED ,OSTERMAN M422A NOS1406 3/42 1/43 (estimated) $812k

M422a NOS1405 3/42 7/44 $1729K

GORDON FERGUSON M422a NOS 88860 6/41 1/42 $107K

M422a NOS 416 3/42 5/42 ( ?) $1270K

MONARCH AN-J-3 N288S 20570 2/44 8/44 $228K

AN-J-3a 288XSA 28665 1/45 5/45 $187K

M422 NOS 79633 12/40 2/41 $54K

WILLIS GEIGER M422a NOS 290 3/42 10/43 $3140K

AN6552 N288S 28628 1/45 5/45 $188K

AN6552 N288S 32357 5/45 10/45 $355K

 

[Carl]

Any contract that is not shown could well be down to the fact that the contract did not exceed $50k in value . Any contract below that figure was deemed unimportant to the records

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

I hope that this is of some interest and help to all you USN jacket collectors

ARNOFF AN-J-3 N288xsa 24248 awarded 6/44 completed 11/44 contract value $62k

BLOCK HL M422a NXS 5134 5/42 8/42 $820k

CHURCH EDMUND M422A NXS5133 5/42 11/42 ( estimated) $356k

FRIED ,OSTERMAN M422A NOS1406 3/42 1/43 (estimated) $812k

M422a NOS1405 3/42 7/44 $1729K

GORDON FERGUSON M422a NOS 88860 6/41 1/42 $107K

M422a NOS 416 3/42 5/42 ( ?) $1270K

MONARCH AN-J-3 N288S 20570 2/44 8/44 $228K

AN-J-3 288XSA 28665 1/45 5/45 $187K

M422 NOS 79633 12/40 2/41 $54K

WILLIS GEIGER M422a NOS 290 3/42 10/43 $3140K

AN6552 N288S 28628 1/45 5/45 $188K

AN6552 N288S 32357 5/45 10/45 $355K

Very interesting, especially the volume of AN-J3s, I'd always assumed 300 or 400 tops had been made.
We've been buying, or trying to buy, as many of these as we could lay our hands on for nearly 40 years.
Despite this I doubt if more than 30 or so have passed through our hands, we've got three in at the moment awaiting restoration.
Of those that had a lining or most of a lining intact, not a single one had a military label, very few had any label 3 or 4 maybe one MacGregor, an Abercrombie & Fitch that I recall, most had military label size and shape stitch holes marks in the lining

Why so few, considering the contract numbers?
Why so many with the labels removed? (even back in the 1970s when they were dirt cheap)

 

[Nickb123]

That is pretty remarkable, given I always assumed the ANJs to be rarer beasts. Perhaps they took off the labels to recycle for use as G-1s? Not sure how nitpicky they’d be about tags but I could see it happening.

 

[Skip]

Hey, thanks Carl. Been looking for something like this. Need to get somebody in the know to do a book on USN flight jackets like Gary did with the A2.

 

[Carl]

Hey, thanks Carl. Been looking for something like this. Need to get somebody in the know to do a book on USN flight jackets like Gary did with the A2.

I think you might be pleasantly surprised in the future Skip !

 

[Lorenzo_l]

Many thanks for posting the info Carl. Much appreciated.

 

[Technonut2112]

Very interesting, especially the volume of AN-J3s, I'd always assumed 300 or 400 tops had been made.
We've been buying, or trying to buy, as many of these as we could lay our hands on for nearly 40 years.
Despite this I doubt if more than 30 or so have passed through our hands, we've got three in at the moment awaiting restoration.
Of those that had a lining or most of a lining intact, not a single one had a military label, very few had any label 3 or 4 maybe one MacGregor, an Abercrombie & Fitch that I recall, most had military label size and shape stitch holes marks in the lining

Why so few, considering the contract numbers?
Why so many with the labels removed? (even back in the 1970s when they were dirt cheap)

I have a blurry pic of an AN-J-3 which appears to show a military nomenclature label... Just wish I could sharpen-up the pic, or find another of better quality somewhere:

 

[Carl]

Was this contract on that original list ?Bogen Tenenbaum AN6552 .

 

[Carl]

That is pretty remarkable, given I always assumed the ANJs to be rarer beasts. Perhaps they took off the labels to recycle for use as G-1s? Not sure how nitpicky they’d be about tags but I could see it happening.

Not being a USN jacket collector , thats a very plausible idea about changing labels over !

The AAF were prone to it !

 

[Dr H]

I have a blurry pic of an AN-J-3 which appears to show a military nomenclature label... Just wish I could sharpen-up the pic, or find another of better quality somewhere:

View attachment 6442

I have a blurry pic of an AN-J-3 which appears to show a military nomenclature label... Just wish I could sharpen-up the pic, or find another of better quality somewhere

Fascinating Carl, I have owned three AN-J-3 originals (one is now in Ken's possession) and I recently sold a near mint size 48, patched AN-J-3 from the Korean era that had been retailed by Abercrombie and Fitch, but none had mil spec labels.

Where did this image come from please?

 

[Technonut2112]

Where did this image come from please?

I have well over 2000 WWII leather military jacket pics I've saved over the years, and can't recall where it came from. I'm pretty sure it was from an exhaustive Google image search of AN-J-3 jackets.

 

[Carl]

Fascinating Carl, I have owned three AN-J-3 originals (one is now in Ken's possession) and I recently sold a near mint size 48, patched AN-J-3 from the Korean era that had been retailed by Abercrombie and Fitch, but none had mil spec labels.

Where did this image come from please?

My image of the Bogen ??

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

I have a blurry pic of an AN-J-3 which appears to show a military nomenclature label... Just wish I could sharpen-up the pic, or find another of better quality somewhere:

View attachment 6442

This one was restored by Aero back around 1998? I remember it well. We'd had the jacket for maybe 10 years, it had never been touched or offered for sale. The jacket was sold to a visitor, forget who, as it was, he found it in a rack of jackets awaiting repair.
The buyer requested full restoration and asked us to put one of our repro labels in the new lining.I didn't think that was the right way to go with such a rare jacket. instead I found a WW2 military label I think from a pair of scrap trousers, we lightly sanded the clarity off one (or two?) digits from the spec, and fitted that. I did the restoration myself.
The label looked perfect I must admit. It was sold for £1000 (1998)
The jacket was bought back/traded in maybe 12/13 years later, sold very quickly the second time, I think for £1250
I've had a look back through sold listings on our site but they seem to have been deleted...............shame!

 

[Technonut2112]

This one was restored by Aero back around 1998? I remember it well. We'd had the jacket for maybe 10 years, it had never been touched or offered for sale. The jacket was sold to a visitor, forget who, as it was, he found it in a rack of jackets awaiting repair.
The buyer requested full restoration and we put one of our repro labels in the new lining.I didn't think that was the right way to go with such a rare jacket. instead I found a WW2 military label I think from a pair of scrap trousers, we lightly sanded the clarity off one (or two?) digits from the spec, and fitted that. I did the restoration myself.
The label looked perfect I must admit. It was sold for £1000 (1998)
The jacket was bought back/traded in maybe 12/13 years later, sold very quickly the second time, I think for £1250
I've had a look back through sold listings on our site but they seem to have been deleted...............shame!

DAMN!... Thought I had at least a blurry pic of an original contact label... Interesting info nonetheless, and finally solved the mystery for me. Thanks Ken.

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Update, just completed a search on our invoices

The AN-J-3 was resold in 2012 to a gentleman from Middlesbrough so it's probably still in The UK

 

[Roughwear]

Thanks for posting this Carl. The Arnoff and Monarch contracts are listed in Full Gear. They were actually for AN-J-3A jackets, not AN-J-3 ones.

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Thanks for posting this Carl. The Arnoff and Monarch contracts are listed in Full Gear. They were actually for AN-J-3A jackets, not AN-J-3 ones.

That would go some way to explaining how few we've been able to locate considering the time we've spent looking, did you check if there could be another contract (or two) with the "A" missing?
On the other hand, re numbers of AN-J-3 there were other contracts that Carl hasn't listed, I assumed that along with the possible fact that he hadn't found the full date/$$$ info, these fell into the "under 50K$ bracket? Carl?

 

[Carl]

Thanks for posting this Carl. The Arnoff and Monarch contracts are listed in Full Gear. They were actually for AN-J-3A jackets, not AN-J-3 ones.

I just looked to match the contract numbers that were posted in another thread Andrew . Its a bloody minefield this USN stuff , i have noticed the same number but different prefix on some items

 

[Carl]

That would go some way to explaining how few we've been able to locate considering the time we've spent looking, did you check if there could be another contract (or two) with the "A" missing?
On the other hand, re numbers of AN-J-3 there were other contracts that Carl hasn't listed, I assumed that along with the possible fact that he hadn't found the full date/$$$ info, these fell into the "under 50K$ bracket? Carl?

If i havnt listed it Ken , then yes , it could easily have been under that 50k cutoff point .
I will go through thrm again , if possible id like the m455 ( shearling manufacturers ?)
As well just to clarify some of the contracts .