Private purchase jacket with painted patch on Navy pilot.

[Ken at Aero Leather]

https://picclick.com/Vtg-30s-40s-Leather-Jacket-Mens-L-Pilot-302965070974.html

If you think the PP is made by Desmonds Paddy Power would probably lay you 500-1

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

If I was making a book on the country of original it would go something like this

1-10 Australia
12-1 New Zealand
33-1 Canada
66-1 Holland
80-1 France
150-1 Elsewhere in Europe
500-1 USA

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

After spending far too much time looking on google I've now discounted the idea of a Lightning Zipper and gone back to my original suggestion of a Conmar

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Eastwood, if you fancy a bet on a 500-1 chance may I suggest a few bob on Kilmarnock to win The Premier Leauge this season, they shouldn't be more than 25-1

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

, I do not know what Kilmarnock is.

Sorry I slid off topic for a moment.........

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b&q=scottish+premier+league+table

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

I think we need some help from Otter............................

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

But I found 1930s Kilmarmock jackets on the Internet

Touche!!!!!!

 

[Otter]

We talking Killie pies here ?

 

[SuinBruin]

If I was making a book on the country of original it would go something like this

1-10 Australia
12-1 New Zealand
33-1 Canada
66-1 Holland
80-1 France
150-1 Elsewhere in Europe
500-1 USA

You've accounted for much less than 50% of the odds of where the jacket was made.

 

[unclegrumpy]

Hi
The only thing I would bring to your attention is that if he were a Commander the brim of his hat would have gold braid. The link you posted makes that very clear . This guys hat has no braid which once again according to your link makes him somewhere between an Ensign and a Lieutenant Commander. Just pointing this out as your post was attempting to eliminate inaccuracies and narrow down possibilities.

B-Man2 is spot on. The hat and lack of collar insignia is important. This photo was not taken in some wartime situation where there would be a reason to conceal one's rank.

This fellow could easily be a Navy Officer, but if he is, he is out of uniform. There would have to be a reason why he was allowed to wear a civilian jacket....which would be non regulation and make him out of uniform...and that would have been no small thing.

His wearing a Navy Officers hat is not that unusual. In the Navy in particular, the hat you wore clearly told who you were. That was important because naval uniforms were similar and the ranks hard to see...especially on working uniforms. What you could see easily see from the hat, is if a guy was a sailor, a Chief, a low ranking officer or a high ranking officer. The reason technical reps sometimes wore military hats was to instantly signify their relative position in the pecking order. In this case, this guy might be a pilot or engineer with an equivalent civilian job to an officer....a lower ranking officer as signified by his cap.

As far as the date, I think this is post war and likely in the 1948 to 1953 time range. I think the artwork on the jacket fits in that time range too. There is nothing in the design that is prewar. There are a few squadrons that had very late war designs that had some similarities, but this looks more like the immediate postwar designs that Patrol and Anti Submarine Squadrons used.

I don't know anything about the jacket itself, or when or where it was made. It is interesting how well if fits him, and how new it appears...both the jacket and the age of the artwork. This to me indicates it is contemporary to the time period of the photograph. I hope we find out the rest of the story...there will be some twist that explains it...maybe not a corporate (Consolidated) or civilian tech rep connection...but there will be something out of the ordinary.

 

[unclegrumpy]

The Consolidated logo from WW II has some similarities to the painted jacket patch. Below is their early war design...it would not be a stretch to see dropping the red meatball to update the design, and maybe that is a version of their eagle on the patch...hard to tell. Consolidated made PBYs...which the Australian's flew...so there might be a connection...again hard to exactly know.

 

[dinomartino1]

There where only a handfull of companies making leather jackets in Australia, the most well known are Stagg who made items for the military during ww2 and Mars, they started in 1946? both in Victoria.
Australian made zip front waist length jackets from the 40s and 50s are very very rare to find, 3/4 length are more common. I have never seen one with anything but a lightning zipper
until YKK , not to say something else was not used I have just not seen any and I have never seen in real life a 40's waist cut jacket.
I have no idea what brand zips where in use during the war US or British due to supply problems from overseas, after the war British for sure.
That style pocket flap was common on jackets I have seen made here right through to the 80s.
Anyone know what zip was on the Australian made V505 A2.
An Australian ad from 1944

Of course all just conjecture.

 

[dinomartino1]

Does anyone else see the CON the right flap pocket, if we have the timeframe right consolidated would have been called convair.

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Great Stuff dimomartino1

The odds on Australia have suddenly got a lot shorter!
I'll have to look at Lightning zipper pullers again they are VERY similar to Conmar and I'd agree it's far more likely they'd be used in a Made in Oz
I wish I could remember where the inspiration for this (Aero) pocket came from...........it would have been from a vintage jacket what I do recall is that when we first used it (Circa 1986-87) we put a stud fastening in the corner and I'm sure I've never seen this flap elsewhere since... except on a jacket from one outfit famed for copying all things Aero

 

[dinomartino1]

If you enlarge the photo of the painted jacket there appears to be seam for a cuff on left arm, it may be a crease but it looks pretty uniform and straight, I'm not saying that the jacket in the ad is the same jacket but it also has a waistband and the illustrator may well have left the snaps at the bottom off the drawing.

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Something like this.........?.

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

If you enlarge the photo there appears to be seam for a cuff on left arm, it may be a crease but it looks pretty uniform and straight, I'm not saying that the jacket in the ad is the same jacket but it also has a waistband and the illustrator may well have left the snaps at the bottom off the drawing.

What the Ad does show is Australian styling of the era, think how many US made immediate post WW2 4 pocket "Bomber" jackets there were by dozens of makers yet all closely resembling each other.

 

[dinomartino1]

I should have said seam on the painted jacket.

 

[unclegrumpy]

Looks like you nailed the jacket....what year was the advertisement from?

 

[dinomartino1]

Looks like you nailed the jacket....what year was the advertisement from?

1944