Very short-bodied A2s- fill me in?

[BigBrother]

At a recent reenactment, I saw a troupe of AVG reenactors and their A2s were really solid. Very nice custom leather patches; I don't remember the maker but they did tell me. I noticed one guy had on a particularly short-bodied A2 on which the waistband came only to about his natural waist (think just below the navel), similar to an Ike jacket. I was in love. I already loved the short-bodied, elastic waistband look of the A2 but this just kicked it up to another level! A week or two ago I happened to see a vintage photo from the war and one of the pilots had on a similar jacket, while all his comrades had the normal-length ones with the waistband at about 3" below the navel.

I was curious if you could tell me A) which current manufacturers err on this side (or is it a specific original contractor reproduction that has this?), B) which of the original A2s were known for this apart from the others, if any, and C) just anything in general that might be of use to me to know when looking for these.

For reference, I have one A2, a Cooper, and that one is good but the waistband now feels low compared to what I saw. Again, am looking for Ike jacket-like proportions.

If I find a pic again of what I'm after, I'll edit this.

Thanks!

 

[mulceber]

Sorry, I just saw this. Bill Kelso and Platon are the ones that most think of when you talk about short A-2 jackets, but it sort of depends on your size, because the makers that run short tend to do so in the bigger sizes. Those two makers are reproducing a mistake of the original jacket makers: the contractors back in ww2 tended to assume larger sizes were for heavyset people, not linebackers. So sizes 44-48 "scale up" normally in the chest and shoulders, but each size bigger only gets a little bit longer in the back and sleeves, if that makes sense. The result is if you get an A-2 jacket from them and you're a tall guy, especially a tall guy who wears a big size, you'll find the jacket pretty short. You can probably enhance the effect if you order a contract from them that was known to be short even back in the day, like a Star Sportswear.

 

[ButteMT61]

^^ that's the truth right there. As a guy 6'-4", 230lbs, I have never had a non-custom jacket that isn't short.
Some are worse than others, but go by the numbers. Labels mean squat.