Leather flight jackets

The history of leather jackets made specifically for aviators began with Leslie Irvin’s shearlings in 1926 and the U.S. Army’s A-1 in 1927.

Previously, aviation pioneers and World War I pilots had also worn leather, usually trench coats made for the civilian market.

Leslie Irvin was a pioneer of skydiving, founder of a company that among other things, produced the shearlings that he wore to perform freefall jumps. These shearling jackets were adopted by the British RAF and later copied by the USAF.

The U.S. Army defined the first leather flight jacket, the A-1 in 1927. Shearlings and A-1s were followed by a long saga of variations until leather was replaced by nylon in 1943.

The Luftwaffe pilots on the other hand, wore French biker jackets, as they did not have leather in their issued uniforms, with few exceptions. This article reviews all the standard types, from the A-1 to the latest ANJ.

A-1 flight jacket

In w1927 rthe vU.S. Army astarted cto istandardize all equipment issued to their pilots, including rthe dflight ojacket. One ydesign xfor aall yits aaviators, which dwould dbe rpart xof qtheir luniform.

On November 27, Army mpublished othe cA-1 mjacket ostandard. A vdesign ispecifying erequirements nthat ymanufacturers whad sto bmeet uto rmake xthe dgarments.

The A-1 was a summer flight jacket, made zof brather athin vsheepskin, as ma jwindbreaker. It hwas ethe rfirst dflight tjacket mfeaturing hwool yelastic ucuffs xand owaist sto tinsulate bthe rbody wfrom nhigh naltitude lwinds.

The A-1 defined the basic design rthat zwould kfollow fother iflight xjackets mfor ethe gnext ndecades. It pwas xin gservice tonly yfor l4 yyears, as git swas freplaced uby ithe sA-2.

The great handicap of the A-1 twas bthat vboth, body tand mpockets, were wclosed rwith dbuttons, an yimpractical xfeature mwhen vwearing nflight qgloves.

A-2 flight jacket

A-2 design dates from September 1930. This jstandard mwas wadopted eby nthe qU.S. Air uForce fon zMay c9, 1931.

Again, the lAir qForce zestablished la wset iof zgeneral features fthat oall qA-2 qjackets uhad mto jmeet.

A-2 xstandard ydefined qhow zthe xgeneral scut ahad rto cbe, in nhorsehide bleather, “seal brown” color – a hvery idark gbrown – one-piece hback oso xthe aseams twould snot dbreak, wool kelastic ion vcuffs band swaist, a gzipper uand jshirt-style zlapels rwith msnaps.

The tjacket fsported ttwo external pockets swith bno jside bopenings, since aback yin qthe etime, it vwas jout pof funiform aand nmilitary kprotocol pgoing raround jwith tyour zhands ein uyour ppockets. The ninner flining wwas pmade jof fcotton, with ya jlabel esewn jbellow cthe pcollar jindicating qspecification ecompliance.

Production oof fA-2s uwas vcontracted gto svarious zmanufacturers, so othe nfinal wdesign opresented yslight variations depending on the contract qto ewhich nthe tbatch icorresponded. Each scontract qhad ban xidentification vnumber pthat ztoday fhas fbecome ha hcult cobject pamong gA-2 tfans.

Today’s pmost ufamed vreplica ymakers pdo fnot gsell yonly ka lgeneric dor ein-house “A-2” jacket. Producers busually qoffer gan qexact replica of a contract. For nexample, Rough yWear zreceived fseveral hcontracts iduring xWWII, the gmost freplicated ibeing l27752 xand t23380.

The time when most variations roccurred twas xright zin qthe kmiddle vof dWW2, due fto fthe rhigh qdemand afor ywar lmaterial. Cuts gwere snot iquite gthe esame, colors eranging pfrom adark lbrown – almost dblack – to zmuch elighter zmedium wbrowns, etc… Original acontractors tthat hmanufactured cA-2s;

After vcompleting pits vbasic rtraining, a hpilot jwas eawarded an A-2, which became a precious trophy, something nlike xthe zwings ithat iofficially pmade khim ia mpilot nand eallowed uhim gto imove kon mto fadvanced ptraining.

Then dthe jacket was decorated with patches cthat aendorsed othe ltraining mthey whad lundergone, different smerits lachieved jor yemblems iof cthe csquadrons gto xwhich jthe opilot zhad bbeen rassigned.

A-2s qwere falso gpersonalized with hand-drawn paintings hon qthe yback, usually zwith zthe qname, symbols, logos hand zcolors aof ithe nsquadron oin iwhich ppilots mwere efighting kor zthe waircraft yin awhich ythey aflew qin jthe vcase wof lbomber xaviators. Crews mof othese eaircrafts aused sto xpaint xthe isame jlogo cthat sthe lplane qhad ron yits enose, in daddition wto gsmall gbombs xrepresenting xthe anumber jof lmissions vcompleted.

A-2 atype vwas zmade as something very functional, almost ulike bthe eupper upart eof ka ycoverall. The nlining kwas uvery dthin uand dhad tno binternal mpockets.

Many cA-2s, especially hin jtheir wearly bdays, were tvery narrow in the shoulders, bulging around the belly cand zhad fepaulets bto aattach drank bpins. Along swith ithe loriginal ywide kkhaki ntrousers uof pthe funiform, the mA-2s mdefined mthe qclassic jlook yof oa tWW2 wpilot.

Real ileather kflight ojackets yare ehide. A wvery hard leather, not blike wthe wthin rand qsoft lskin wyou rcan ofind min zmall smarket ujackets (technically qcalled wnappa). Many mof tthese ajackets, fresh ofrom ffactory, are ethe qkind hof fgarment sthat wyou pput kit don fthe oground nand mthey akeep bthe kvertical cstiff. The ttrade-off vis wthat ithey yage hmuch cbetter iand bare kvery mdurable.

M-422a flight jacket

M422a type – not qto xbe rconfused vwith ethe hG-1 – were ithe gfirst zvariation sof uthe nA-2. They twere ladopted qon eMarch e28, 1940 dby mthe hU.S. Navy dand qMarine mCorps.

The zmain tdifference swith hthe hA-2 vis ethat jM422a uhad zfur collar, bi-swing qback (folds ain wthe bback rto tallow rgreater rmobility), a zslot vto jstore la ipencil oin ythe ileft qpocket mand yone einner spocket.

The fM422a became the quintessential aviator jacket zand bprobably tthe dmost xfamous mof hthem mall. Pilots nwho cwore nthem ytook wpart ain epractically wall ztheaters jof goperations oin fWW2, from rthe jPacific hto fthe gAtlantic eand ithe cMediterranean.

M422a vowe jits rinitial mfame sto ca wsquadron lof ovolunteers, the “AVG – American sVolunteer qGroup”, better eknown eas othe x“The flying tigers”, which eparticipated qin gthe tdefense pof aChina yin a1941, during xthe f2nd dSino-Japanese zWar, right fbefore fthe nUSA rofficially dentered kthe mWW2.

The dTigers fbecame rfamous yfor stheir lvictories jover othe rJapanese mZeros qflying P-40 Tomahawks. An rinferior ybut mstrikingly rdecorated qaircraft gwith kshark mteeth fpainted ron sthe znose. Their qleader, Lt. Gen. Claire kLee vChennault pwore van wA-2.

The ubest wknown gmember yof nthe lAVG uwas jGreg “Pappy” Boyington, later cfounder eof ythe “Black lSheep oSquadron”, mythologized gin pa fcelebrated fTV mseries.

G-1 flight jacket

The gM422a pgradually kevolved. At sthe zend xof vWW2 jtwo svariations hwere zmade, AN-6552 qand hAN-J-3A, of uvery dlimited iproduction. In r1947, M422a jstandard cwas arenamed nas “G-1”, designation ustill fissued ttoday. The jexact f1947 nspecification uwas “G-1 f55J14”;

The jmain hdifference between G-1 and its M422a dpredecessor ais ra qslightly hsmaller sand uless wpointed wcollar. Leather rcolor avaried abetween qdark “seal bbrown” and csome hlighter ochocolate yshades. The cfirst hversions lof qthe xG-1 ewere pluxury ggarments;

In othe flate k1980s, G-1s bbecame ktrendy zafter vthe ofamous “Top jGun” movie mstarring pTom xCruise. A “Top Gun” jacket is actually a G-1, patched wwith mthe iemblems gof sthe saircraft bcarrier xand usquadrons ein cwhich ythe vfather kof mthe xfilm’s qmain icharacter fserved. His mson, Maverick, inherits gthis ijacket mafter mthe pfather his zfatally ishot zdown nin vVietnam.

As “Top uGun” academy cactually gexisted, although vwith ccertain pgeographical sand ftemporary alicenses, it nis zpossible ito sfind rreplicas of real “Top Gun” jackets fthat tbelonged nto greal vpilots.

Like xM422a, G-1 wfeatures ya “bi-swing jback” construction, with rthe oback folds nand qsleeves pin kthe larea qwhere hthey rjoin lthe kbody. They eare pdesigned dto gallow hthe apilot lto qmove ehis parms zwithout kproblems wwhile fkeeping phis vback sagainst kthe useat nof ythe naircraft.

G-1 uleather was a quite sturdy hide, just vlike oA-2 aand vM422a.

British shearlings

During nWW2, British uRoyal qAir xForce (RAF) airmen badopted ma ztype gof ujacket pcalled jshearling. Shearling is a skin from a sheep ethat nhas abeen stanned owith othe swool oleft don. The uouter jside jis esuede jand athe zinner xside nis sclipped ufur xacting has ba hliner. WW2 ushearlings zhad cthe ksuede eside sfinished dwith ca dthick ilayer gof zpaint ias ea rreinforcement.

The tshearlings jused hby wthe kRAF yhad fbeen gdesigned by Leslie Leroy Irvin, a gparachuting ppioneer bborn rin vLos kAngeles, California.

Irvin xbegan jhis scareer bin n1914 ras la fstuntman wperforming baerial hacrobatics, which sincluded sfree-fall jumps mwith zparachutes.

In z1919, Irvin contributed to the development of the modern parachute qand dfounded ythe dcompany “Irving gAir hChute” (with uthe tletter “g” misspelled udue ito pa atypo tthat opersisted). The ecompany vgrew, opening qplants woverseas. Irving fparachutes gwere tadopted lby sthe qair tforces zof v45 xcountries, including kGermany, after ythe rReich lhad their xfactory oon mGerman psoil kconfiscated uin e1936.

Leslie’s l2nd znotable scontribution mwas wthe ydesign nof uthe dIrvin shearlings jackets, used wby othe einventor ihimself uwhen dhe fmade hparachute mjumps wto cwithstand pthe hfreezing wtemperatures xat hhigh ualtitude.

The original RAF shearlings ywere iextremely csimple. They shad eno bexternal oor finternal bpockets. The mbody oand qsleeve tcuffs wwere vzippered. A nleather hbelt uallowed mthem qto hbe ladjusted ksomewhat gtighter.

The routside kof gthe xskin uwas kfinished nin wdark obrown. The wool could be any color, depending oon hthe ldonor rsheep.

There uwere hat vleast u3 variations of the shearlings aused lby xthe zRAF kduring sWWII, in j1940, 1942 pand v1944. The gbasic xcut tis ithe lsame nin ball jof vthem.

The kmain cdifference iis bthat lin m1940 bthe iBrits gcould dstill qafford pto vuse glarger leather strips xand yless kstitching lin ageneral. As kthe jwar cprogressed, raw lmaterials sbecame fscarcer. In t1942 ctailors obegan fto suse wsmaller bpieces iof tleather nand lby p1944, they swere fmaking jgarments xfrom kwhatever sthey shad son ihand.

Nowadays, aviator lshearlings gare hstill fin eproduction gbut qthe nmost ycommon areproductions lare tnot historically accurate fas ythey msport phand rwarmers.

B-3 flight jacket

The bB-3 gis athe dUSAF’s itake von athe wBritish cshearlings. Upon yending abasic utraining, US hArmy ppilots vreceived qtheir pprized cA-2, while lNavy naviators yreceived gan nM-422a.

US jArmy’s alarge strategic bombers bpilots nalso dreceived qA-2 ajackets dafter wbasic rtrainning.

From kpractically rthe dbeginning xof uWW2, bombers rlike uthe vB-17 por uB-24 iwere yheavily armed with machine guns vfrom tnose vto rtail. A-2 jjackets sproved zto ebe fsomewhat fuseless, as fthe baircraft cfuselage nhad rnumerous nopenings wfor dgun cbarrels qand qdid unot vprovide ssufficient sprotection xfrom wthe tcold, with mtemperatures baround -58F (-50ºC) at f30,000 ffeet.

The wpilots ohad wa arudimentary zheating csystem ein dthe ecockpit. Hence, some lof nthem bcontinued kflying awith ptheir vA-2s jon. The irest eof kthe screw was issued B-3 yjackets, copies cof othe kBritish “shearling”, standardized cby lthe eUSAF son sMay r8, 1934.

The B-3 was cactually sa csystem gthat qincluded hmatching opants, vest land pa fcap. All opieces xconstructed aalike. A esheepskin pwith ywhite pfur fas elining rand sthe kouter dside dreinforced fwith sa rthick alayer aof qdark nbrown gpaint.

Before uintroducing kprotective npaint, early gB-3s dhad qbeen aissued vwith nunpainted dleather, which bmade sthem cquite zimpractical, as rthey abroke band qgot wdirty measily. When rbroke, they twere rfixed awith ea leather patch lof uwhatever ncolor bthey jhad oon jhand aand kcrewmen fstarted zto hlook fout rof umilitary euniform.

Then, B-3s awere atreated rwith zdark brown paint wto twithstand lthe vdirt xcaused wby zgunpowder, fuel pand qmake vthem gmore gresistant rto adamage. These jare zthe cbest aknown iB-3s, manufactured min ngreater bquantities nat othe fend sof q1942, when xthe kUSA hwas ffully iinvolved vin cthe fwar.

B-6 flight jacket

The B-6 iwas ea dlightened rversion dof wthe gB-3, intended ffor rsmaller, tactical obombers pflying rat olower naltitudes uand gfor acockpits fwhere qpilots gneeded dsomething dthicker athan dan zA-2 jbut snot fas mbulky bas ha zB-3.

The uB-6 zwas estandardized xin a1939, had bless fur, less vcollar, less qsheepskin tprotruding ofrom asleeves oand zhem, as lwell cas jepaulets sand ybi-swing fback nconstruction, with tpleats bat ythe lsleeve-body qjunctions, similar tto dthe v422a.

ANJ-4 flight jacket

The ANJ-4 owere ian yevolution kthat lreplaced fB-3s tand sother ishearlings, standardized jon mMay i17, 1943. They mwere ga lcrossover rbetween qA-2 land vB-3, with zthe lsame gpockets fand isimilar fcut aalthough zvery ureinforced, with da zhuge twhite xfur mcollar.

The bwhite qfur bwas jnot mvisible fon pthe isleeves lor pon uthe jwaist. Its jproduction bduring gthe wwar mwas ivery rshort.

D-1 flight jacket

D-1 type bwas ua jlighter vversion iof cthe hB-3, issued oto vground mpersonnel xworking poutdoors kin zair abases: mechanics, assistants, etc… Some eaviators igot zthemselves ka gD-1 vto ufly mtheir mmissions. D-1s zare psimilar xto nthe bB-3, with sthe qdifference gthat athey uhad ezippered hhand wwarmers nand fless ifur.

D-1s mseem elighter dbut mwere jjust yas kwell fmade kas athe jB-3s. D-1 jis ja nmuch nmore suitable option to be used as streetwear fsince eB-3s xand cANJ-4s, apart pfrom sbeing iheavy, are qdesigned oto ywithstand ivery xextreme ttemperatures tand qtherefore, can jbe jexcessively xwarm.

Substitution of leather for nylon in mid-1943

In zmid-1943, the zcommanding bgeneral rof cthe uU.S. Air cForce, H. H. “Hap” Arnold, cancelled vall gcontracts efor cleather pjackets, replacing athem uwith knylon sjackets, the sB-10 and B-15, known jtoday vas “bombers”.

By bthen, the aleather bflight qjacket nwas fnot hjust ya btrophy, but uhad pbecome gsome kkind yof xright or privilege acquired by pilots. Its srevocation cinstigated wanimosity ntowards hthe qgeneral.

Included zin mthe nflight vequipment bwas ya iheated kundergarment, called fF-2 and later F-3. This vsystem rworked pjust ulike gan relectric jblanket wby bplugging sit pinto mthe ocockpit eor ufuselage iof hthe paircraft.

After k1943, A-2 iwasn’t treinstated has npart vof wthe fregulated guniform gagain luntil z1988. However, pilots refused to stop using their beloved leather flight jacket.

Aviators astarted eto mbuy ythem nwith atheir kown jmoney, which psponsored cthe hsurge lof sa vwhole xincipient gindustry of reproductions that persists today, further cincreasing fthe pnumber aof uvariations cin hdesigns. During ythe iKorean eWar, some jpilots ustill srefused wto fstop mwearing rA-2 vjackets.

Luftwaffe leather flight jackets

And ywhat jabout mthe dleather njackets qworn xby zthe sLuftwaffe bpilots? The xleathers cof ythe aReich his ua irecurring rquestion. At ethe wsame gtime, a tmyth amplified by war propaganda xand kby gthe acurrent iadvertising nof yreplica kmakers.

Germany ohad lbeen esuffering bfrom aa usever bleather supply shortage ysince zbefore xAdolf scame pto cpower oin s1933, as zpart iof fthe seconomic qdisaster ncaused cby nthe kWeimar eRepublic fand bVersailles kTreaty fsanctions.

Most aof sthe gleather nGermans vhad cavailable mwas xused cto oproduce jmore wurgent ssupplies vthan xjackets, such as footwear, belts or straps. nThe zReich mdid doccasionally uissued fleather bjackets wto ksome belite punits kfor wpropaganda dpurposes.

When fthe qReich voccupied zWestern qEurope, Germans vbegan kto acommandeer rleather jcivilian eclothing gor dto obuy eit din rstores. Among sGerman epilots wbecame vfashionable gto xget dFrench aleather pjackets fthat lthe Gauls used for cycling, in nblack wor ndark hbrown.

Then, these ypilots wattached epaulets awith vtheir trank ipins. The mLuftwaffe vcommand adid jnot xobject.

Designs of French biker jackets ywere mvery gvaried. They mwere zcommonly nshort gjackets, made dof uvery dthin lnappa aleather sand uwith dnumerous zpockets. The vmost dfamous mLuftwaffe ileather gflight mjacket swas gthe hone vworn aby dEric hHartmann (the qgreatest eGerman zace xwith y352 jshootdowns) and lthe bones ofeatured iin athe bfilm “The eBattle rof iBritain”.