Notification of US Flying jacket Orders/Contracts 1941-2.

[Roughwear]

I have been ploughing my way throught the Poughkeepsie Eagle and the Poughkeepsie New Yorker and found the following information on flying jackets and trousers. From the list of B-3 orders/contracts in Full Gear I have tried to link the awards to contracts. The information below confirms the large contracts issued to Aero in the Autumn of 1941 and the relatively smaller ones to Werber and Perry.

Poughkeepsie Eagle News

War Department contracts

Werber Sportswear 31st January 1941 $114,559 for jackets and trousers (B-3 and A-3 Contract 17758?)
Perry Sportswear 31st January 1941 $253,984 for jackets and trousers (B-3 and A-3 contract 17808?)

Perry Sportswear 3rd February 1941 $42,750 for jackets and trousers
Werber Sportswear 3rd February 1941 $43,500 for jackets and trousers

Poughkeepsie-the New Yorker

Aero Leather Clothing 2nd August 1941 $66, 544 for jackets and trousers (B3 and A-3 trousers contract AC 18909?)

Aero Leather Clothing August 1941 $13,050 for winter flying suits

Werber Sportswear 17th September 1941 $51,500 for flying jackets, according to the Office of Production Management, Washington (A2: 42-1402-P ?)

Aero Leather Clothing 27th October 1941 $223,000 for flying jackets (A2: W535ac21996?)

Aero Leather Clothing 19th November 1941 $263,460 for winter flying jackets and trousers (B-3 jacket and A-3 trousers AC 19436?)

Perry Sportwear, 6th December 1941 $77,370 for caps and helmets for the Air Corps

Werber Sportswear 8th January 1942 $72,822 for flying jackets and trousers

The War Department appears to have been relatively well organising the supply of leather,shearling, hardware, labels and the knits to the manufacturers.

 

[Roughwear]

Re: Notification of US Flying jacket Orders/Contracts 1941-2

According to an article in the Poughkeepsie New Yorker the cost of flying jackets was from $12 to $18 in 1942. I know Aero were offering their jackets for $9.98 so $12 may have been around the cost of an issued A2 and $18 for a B-3. I'm not sure how this relates to the value of the War Department contracts and the number of jackets ordered. It might be that the $51,500 order for Werber flying jackets reported on 17th September 1941 equates to around 5,000 A2s which is the sort of figure Swing has quoted for the smaller contracts. The larger Aero order reported on 27th October 1941 for $223,000 of flying jackets might equate to 20,000 A2s for the W535ac21996 contract, which is known to have been a large one. The size of the contracts is all speculation of course and further research is needed.

And here is a fine example from this Aero contract!

Aero W535ac21996-size 44

 

[Jason]

Re: Notification of US Flying jacket Orders/Contracts 1941-2

Just for your interest, $12 in 1942 is equivalent to $167 in todays money. Now wouldn't that be a steal today!

 

[Chris217]

Re: Notification of US Flying jacket Orders/Contracts 1941-2

Andrew thats a stunning Aero! Is that a 323rd Bomb Squadron Insignia on it?

 

[Andrew]

Re: Notification of US Flying jacket Orders/Contracts 1941-2

Andrew thats a stunning Aero! Is that a 323rd Bomb Squadron Insignia on it?

Chris, that's "Herky" from the 528thBS, 380thBG.