ORIGINAL WWII AERO LEATHER CLOTHING 18775P TYPE A-2 (3rd BG)

[Jorgeenriqueaguilera]

Gents,

Today I wanted to share a Pacific Theater A-2, made by Aero Leather Clothing contract 18775P. This is one example of 50,000 made under this specific contract awarded in 1942.

This jacket belonged to L.J. Barrow from 3rd Bomb Group, part of the 5th Air Force.

The leather is in superb condition, and it could even be mistaken by a modern reproduction.

The lining is spotless and this one has the AN stamp present from inspection.

Original M-41 Talon zipper working perfectly.

The knits have been replaced at some point with the correct type and unfortunately the contract tag is missing (only shows the size “46” which is very rare.)

Upper left chest depicts a leather name tag strip, embossed “L.J. BARROW JR.”

Left chest depicts a rare Australian-made 3rd Bomb Group “NON SOLUM ARMIS” patch.

Left shoulder depicts a color printed ARMY AIR FORCES decal in great shape retaining its original colors.

As a side note, this jacket has been published on the “ART OF THE FLIGHT JACKET” book from Maguire & Conway.

That being said, hope you enjoy it!

Regards,
Jorge

 

[Jorgeenriqueaguilera]

 

[Jorgeenriqueaguilera]

And last but least, the fit pic.

 

[mulceber]

Great piece as always, Jorge. It's interesting that it has the AAF logo on the sleeve, since those were mostly applied to re-dyes. Some of the re-dyes were actually not that dark, so it's possible yours was a depot re-dye. Is there any evidence of dye on the liner around the collar?

 

[B-Man2]

Ohhh Jorge................That 46 looks wayyyy to big on you.. ..
I wear a size 46 so I can tell........... just sayin.
(There's a subliminal message in there somewhere)

 

[Flightengineer]

I never thought flipping through this book a few years ago that I would know a guy who has more than one jacket from this book and that I would see detailed photos. Jorge, I have no words.

 

[Greg Gale]

Man...you seem to have an infinite resource of WWII originals. All of them in superb condition. What's even more infuriating, is that all of them - be it a size 40 or 46 - fit you perfectly!

Brilliant stuff, thanks a lot for sharing!

 

[Jorgeenriqueaguilera]

Great piece as always, Jorge. It's interesting that it has the AAF logo on the sleeve, since those were mostly applied to re-dyes. Some of the re-dyes were actually not that dark, so it's possible yours was a depot re-dye. Is there any evidence of dye on the liner around the collar?

Thanks, @mulceber! This one doesn’t have any evidence of a re-dye process. In fact the leather is clean and looks like it was issued last month, which honestly gets me wondering how this example has been preserved in this condition (the leather is not even dry).

 

[blackrat2]

Totally cool jacket again Jorge
Looks really nice condition for sure

 

[Greg Gale]

What I've read about this contract is that it's a roomy fit. Can you confirm this statement? What's it like compared to other contracts?

 

[Flightengineer]

Apparently not so roomy ...Or wrongly sewn size tag at the factory.
Jorge has A-2 size 40-42, and this jacket is 46 but looks like a small 44 at most ...

 

[Jorgeenriqueaguilera]

I never thought flipping through this book a few years ago that I would know a guy who has more than one jacket from this book and that I would see detailed photos. Jorge, I have no words.

Jajajaj thanks Dmitry! I have a couple more examples from these books that I’ll post eventually.

 

[mulceber]

I have a couple more examples from these books that I’ll post eventually.

If it was anybody else, I’d be shocked. But it’s Jorge, so par for the course.

 

[Jorgeenriqueaguilera]

What I've read about this contract is that it's a roomy fit. Can you confirm this statement? What's it like compared to other contracts?

That is a good question @Greg Gale. This example does fit a bit roomy for my taste. I would say it does fit like a 46 but being fair since my size is normally 42 on A-2s, and not having another 46 to compare, I could not say much on the fit of this contract.

 

[ausreenactor]

Amazing jacket, as always....

I am starting to think you wisely invested in negative COVID futures in December last year.

Your buys are the biggest and best to hit the forum in decades. THANK YOU for your sharing caring approach to the collaborative effort here on VLJ!

 

[Jorgeenriqueaguilera]

Thanks, Couchy! Some of these are way pre-Covid purchases. Honestly, I thought due to the lockdown more goodies were going to pop up on the market but I haven’t seen many interesting ones out there lately. Maybe the jackets are on lockdown, too....

 

[jeremiah]

Looks great. I’d bet money that is no re-dye.

 

[mulceber]

Yeah, giving it some more thought, the contrasting thread clinches it. Guess the pilot must have thought the decals were nifty and managed to get his hands on one.

 

[Grant]

Great Aero, Jorge! Also, very cool it's a 3rd BG vet. Any idea what squadron Barrow was assigned to? Interesting that the BG patch is sewn where normally a BS patch is sewn.
Also, given 3rd BG squadrons flew out of the steamy South Pacific, it makes perfect sense this A-2 saw little wear.
BTW, 3rd BG squadrons were total badasses perfecting low level skip bombing on Japanese shipping and retro fitting their B-25's by replacing the bombardier position with four forward firing 50 cals, adding twin 50's on each side of the fuselage and removing the top turret and tail gun positions.

FWIW, having an AAF decal on the sleeve is not really a mystery. I own several non-re-dyed originals with decals and have seen many others.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Jorgeenriqueaguilera]

Thanks for that story about 3rd BG @Grant! Honestly I have found only a Col. Leonard J. Barrow JR, he was Commander of the 349th Troop Carrier Group in 1943 but nothing related to the 3rd BG or Pacific Theater. Could be the same but haven’t found anything else.

https://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf