917_k
Well-Known Member
Morning All,
With it being the Christmas holidays and having a bit of time on my hands, and in the spirit of contributing a little more, I thought I’d share some photos of the B-15 jackets in my collection, all of which have been acquired in the last few months.
The B-15 is one of my favourite US Air Force flight jackets and I find one of the more practical for wear today. They’re very warm, so ideal for autumn/winter wear and I prefer the look of them with the fur collar. Sizing can be a bit funny and they do sit quite high on the waist, but overall a really cool jacket and pretty key to my collection of late 40s-50s flight gear.
First up we have the original wartime B-15, this one manufactured by Dann Clothing Co. Sadly it’s a size 36, so no good for me to wear (especially not after Xmas....). I couldn’t find out too much online about the Dann Clothing, but it seems these are not especially common so the contract must have been a fairly small one. Initially I thought I might have bought a dud as the label is different to most others, only stating ‘Type B-15’, rather than ‘Jacket, Intermediate Flying’, but for whatever reason it seems a few jackets were produced without the full designation on the label.
Next is the 1945 dated B-15A, this one by Werber Sportswear Co and fortunately in a wearable size. The condition of this thing is very good, so I was chuffed to bits to add it to my collection, especially has most of these are badly worn.
Sadly I don’t yet own a B-15B (these are mega rare) or a B-15C, but am on the hunt, so for the moment we have to skip to the final B-15 iteration, the B-15D. The B-15D was I believe only manufactured in 1954, and phased out fairly quickly in favour of the various ‘mod’ jackets and eventually the MA-1. The jacket I have is by Lion Uniform Company and a wearable (just) size 38. There are numerous nuances between each manufacturer, but I rather like this one with the heavy duty Crown zipper and better quality oxygen mask tab.
Continued below.....
With it being the Christmas holidays and having a bit of time on my hands, and in the spirit of contributing a little more, I thought I’d share some photos of the B-15 jackets in my collection, all of which have been acquired in the last few months.
The B-15 is one of my favourite US Air Force flight jackets and I find one of the more practical for wear today. They’re very warm, so ideal for autumn/winter wear and I prefer the look of them with the fur collar. Sizing can be a bit funny and they do sit quite high on the waist, but overall a really cool jacket and pretty key to my collection of late 40s-50s flight gear.
First up we have the original wartime B-15, this one manufactured by Dann Clothing Co. Sadly it’s a size 36, so no good for me to wear (especially not after Xmas....). I couldn’t find out too much online about the Dann Clothing, but it seems these are not especially common so the contract must have been a fairly small one. Initially I thought I might have bought a dud as the label is different to most others, only stating ‘Type B-15’, rather than ‘Jacket, Intermediate Flying’, but for whatever reason it seems a few jackets were produced without the full designation on the label.
Next is the 1945 dated B-15A, this one by Werber Sportswear Co and fortunately in a wearable size. The condition of this thing is very good, so I was chuffed to bits to add it to my collection, especially has most of these are badly worn.
Sadly I don’t yet own a B-15B (these are mega rare) or a B-15C, but am on the hunt, so for the moment we have to skip to the final B-15 iteration, the B-15D. The B-15D was I believe only manufactured in 1954, and phased out fairly quickly in favour of the various ‘mod’ jackets and eventually the MA-1. The jacket I have is by Lion Uniform Company and a wearable (just) size 38. There are numerous nuances between each manufacturer, but I rather like this one with the heavy duty Crown zipper and better quality oxygen mask tab.
Continued below.....
