Need help recreating my grandfather’s ww2 jacket

[ZuZu]

The question is :

Is this jacket dark russet or light seal ?


View attachment 176455View attachment 176457

It's russet- in fact I bet in sunlight it's gonna look pretty light. This is ol' Stewie's jacket over at Lost Worlds.

 

[ZuZu]

Photo by @Lord Flashheart

For 1200 Pounds Sterling this Eastman Star is inaccurate and overpriced. The pocket flaps are way off, the pockets themselves are too high above the waistband, the collar snaps are too far away from the point, and the collar is not really the right shape. Also- contrary to the prevailing opinion here Stars were not "trim fitting jackets" and in fact often had droopy shoulders. The Star pattern had big wide shoulders and again contrary to opinion most Stars started out russet not seal.

 

[ZuZu]

Hello all, and thank you for taking the time to read my post. I’m here because I’ve been on a pretty long journey that started out as a search and rescue for my grandfathers A2, that turned into a research and rebuild situation. To make this as short and sweet as I can, here is a backstory.

My grandfather Clifford N. Ekstrom was in the 492nd also known as “the eager beavers bombing co” from 1943-1945. When my grandfather had passed back in 76 my father was in basic training for the navy and shipped out after graduating. While away, my grandmother wanted to have my grandfathers bomber jacket cleaned for display at the funeral and brought it to a local dry cleaners. I’m sure we’re all thinking that probably wasn’t the best thing to do but she meant well and was probably overwhelmed with the loss of her husband at the time. In the end the bomber jacket was “lost” (I call it stolen) during the dry cleaning process and was never returned. My father was unaware of the situation due to being overseas until months later. it has been a dream of mine to find the jacket but that dream was lost many years ago.

I’m currently trying to find someone that could help me replicate the jacket and have patches made for me. such as squadron, blood chit, cbi patch and bomber group for sleeves. I have contacted a member of this forum who has already replicated the 492nd eager beaver patch in hopes he might be able to reproduce another one for me, but I am not sure if he is still an active member or not. I have attached some photos of my grandfather as well as some photos of the jacket with the blood chit that was on the back.

If you or anyone you know with reputable skills in the business or on this forum that could maybe help me out on this journey that would be very much appreciated.

If you're going to do a tribute jacket and you want it perfect only a Good Wear will do- his is the most accurate Star pattern available- by far. If you don't care about this why bother paying top dollar? A generic Eastman or Aero or even a Gibson and Barnes or US Authentic will do just fine especially with the correct patches. IMO wait for the Good Wear or more logically just get a good generic A-2 that fits your dad.