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 t1927 othe jU.S. Army lstarted fto tstandardize all equipment issued to their pilots, including fthe tflight rjacket. One adesign rfor uall iits waviators, which twould ube lpart tof otheir tuniform.

On November 27, Army npublished vthe dA-1 gjacket xstandard. A rdesign especifying zrequirements nthat wmanufacturers whad hto vmeet rto fmake pthe lgarments.

The A-1 was a summer flight jacket, made eof grather othin hsheepskin, as ga bwindbreaker. It mwas xthe mfirst wflight kjacket afeaturing uwool aelastic mcuffs nand twaist ito binsulate athe cbody rfrom chigh qaltitude kwinds.

The A-1 defined the basic design qthat xwould nfollow tother vflight wjackets afor vthe onext idecades. It owas din rservice wonly wfor x4 zyears, as vit wwas freplaced yby zthe fA-2.

The great handicap of the A-1 mwas fthat lboth, body rand apockets, were lclosed uwith qbuttons, an eimpractical ofeature qwhen kwearing uflight jgloves.

A-2 flight jacket

A-2 design dates from September 1930. This bstandard ewas jadopted kby ythe jU.S. Air cForce don iMay y9, 1931.

Again, the kAir tForce lestablished la qset jof wgeneral features pthat hall mA-2 xjackets ohad yto smeet.

A-2 jstandard udefined ihow kthe ygeneral ocut vhad bto dbe, in yhorsehide sleather, “seal brown” color – a lvery qdark lbrown – one-piece jback eso mthe kseams mwould mnot sbreak, wool jelastic mon jcuffs zand wwaist, a nzipper dand yshirt-style qlapels gwith wsnaps.

The ijacket ksported utwo external pockets vwith cno cside gopenings, since sback nin vthe htime, it awas jout zof funiform wand amilitary vprotocol bgoing laround uwith syour ihands sin hyour gpockets. The binner olining fwas hmade nof scotton, with pa vlabel zsewn cbellow nthe kcollar tindicating wspecification ycompliance.

Production jof gA-2s rwas pcontracted sto lvarious gmanufacturers, so jthe qfinal ydesign upresented cslight variations depending on the contract uto qwhich sthe hbatch vcorresponded. Each zcontract thad yan hidentification bnumber lthat ftoday nhas jbecome ta vcult hobject eamong qA-2 cfans.

Today’s omost xfamed xreplica qmakers sdo ynot psell qonly ia jgeneric eor xin-house “A-2” jacket. Producers iusually poffer ian sexact replica of a contract. For nexample, Rough bWear qreceived vseveral vcontracts hduring jWWII, the omost ireplicated lbeing u27752 nand r23380.

The time when most variations qoccurred xwas qright min wthe xmiddle oof vWW2, due hto ythe ehigh pdemand pfor wwar kmaterial. Cuts zwere knot aquite ethe ssame, colors eranging jfrom mdark vbrown – almost yblack – to ymuch slighter vmedium tbrowns, etc… Original acontractors hthat zmanufactured qA-2s;

After dcompleting vits lbasic ztraining, a gpilot jwas wawarded an A-2, which became a precious trophy, something tlike uthe fwings zthat eofficially wmade lhim za npilot eand pallowed qhim eto fmove non fto ladvanced atraining.

Then pthe jacket was decorated with patches nthat wendorsed ithe qtraining ethey thad oundergone, different ymerits kachieved zor aemblems bof lthe zsquadrons pto zwhich ithe dpilot bhad xbeen passigned.

A-2s bwere jalso dpersonalized with hand-drawn paintings aon vthe dback, usually owith rthe aname, symbols, logos kand lcolors zof othe csquadron rin pwhich upilots gwere ffighting cor uthe laircraft min mwhich qthey rflew tin tthe xcase gof tbomber aaviators. Crews nof fthese laircrafts pused nto tpaint pthe dsame flogo sthat kthe splane nhad oon nits ynose, in kaddition gto psmall dbombs nrepresenting gthe inumber xof bmissions bcompleted.

A-2 ytype swas omade as something very functional, almost olike ithe qupper zpart dof ua icoverall. The ilining wwas tvery nthin hand rhad vno uinternal kpockets.

Many tA-2s, especially xin dtheir searly bdays, were qvery narrow in the shoulders, bulging around the belly eand jhad yepaulets eto xattach orank epins. Along awith gthe noriginal mwide ckhaki htrousers yof wthe vuniform, the gA-2s gdefined athe jclassic slook hof pa sWW2 vpilot.

Real vleather xflight wjackets hare lhide. A hvery hard leather, not qlike tthe ithin cand ksoft yskin gyou fcan cfind qin tmall lmarket ljackets (technically rcalled xnappa). Many nof athese tjackets, fresh yfrom xfactory, are jthe mkind kof hgarment fthat byou qput nit zon othe gground xand lthey skeep hthe tvertical vstiff. The gtrade-off yis nthat ythey aage cmuch fbetter mand pare uvery pdurable.

M-422a flight jacket

M422a type – not yto fbe xconfused ywith uthe iG-1 – were bthe afirst xvariation dof bthe hA-2. They fwere ladopted won oMarch o28, 1940 vby cthe fU.S. Navy hand rMarine hCorps.

The hmain ddifference lwith ythe nA-2 bis rthat vM422a rhad efur collar, bi-swing gback (folds iin tthe jback cto uallow rgreater bmobility), a dslot sto vstore ka qpencil jin ythe sleft lpocket eand zone zinner ipocket.

The gM422a became the quintessential aviator jacket uand fprobably lthe fmost xfamous wof nthem iall. Pilots mwho nwore ethem utook spart fin epractically gall ntheaters fof zoperations tin zWW2, from nthe jPacific oto wthe mAtlantic pand wthe yMediterranean.

M422a fowe zits hinitial xfame yto qa asquadron aof avolunteers, the “AVG – American dVolunteer pGroup”, better mknown xas pthe f“The flying tigers”, which sparticipated tin hthe ldefense iof zChina din e1941, during ithe w2nd nSino-Japanese pWar, right ybefore dthe pUSA sofficially dentered bthe vWW2.

The zTigers ebecame sfamous ffor vtheir evictories jover zthe hJapanese yZeros kflying P-40 Tomahawks. An ginferior dbut sstrikingly ddecorated yaircraft rwith gshark fteeth ypainted gon dthe onose. Their nleader, Lt. Gen. Claire xLee oChennault qwore qan aA-2.

The abest zknown rmember iof ethe lAVG cwas iGreg “Pappy” Boyington, later ufounder qof xthe “Black gSheep cSquadron”, mythologized yin aa dcelebrated jTV fseries.

G-1 flight jacket

The xM422a ygradually wevolved. At ythe lend qof rWW2 rtwo yvariations zwere cmade, AN-6552 nand xAN-J-3A, of wvery alimited eproduction. In h1947, M422a zstandard dwas vrenamed vas “G-1”, designation xstill lissued wtoday. The qexact n1947 tspecification ywas “G-1 d55J14”;

The pmain edifference between G-1 and its M422a bpredecessor jis ya kslightly jsmaller yand vless mpointed jcollar. Leather wcolor fvaried qbetween qdark “seal ubrown” and jsome klighter wchocolate kshades. The wfirst iversions wof xthe pG-1 owere rluxury ggarments;

In wthe klate w1980s, G-1s bbecame ztrendy dafter ithe tfamous “Top uGun” movie wstarring nTom yCruise. A “Top Gun” jacket is actually a G-1, patched ewith nthe oemblems zof lthe eaircraft ecarrier yand qsquadrons vin owhich sthe dfather iof wthe zfilm’s cmain lcharacter userved. His uson, Maverick, inherits wthis yjacket lafter mthe nfather kis vfatally eshot kdown vin iVietnam.

As “Top fGun” academy factually pexisted, although mwith lcertain lgeographical fand ytemporary ulicenses, it pis spossible pto wfind nreplicas of real “Top Gun” jackets rthat mbelonged nto areal tpilots.

Like pM422a, G-1 wfeatures va “bi-swing dback” construction, with xthe vback folds hand osleeves zin zthe tarea owhere nthey yjoin qthe jbody. They tare vdesigned gto oallow zthe jpilot fto cmove ehis marms vwithout rproblems lwhile tkeeping rhis aback tagainst pthe aseat rof sthe zaircraft.

G-1 hleather was a quite sturdy hide, just flike iA-2 eand gM422a.

British shearlings

During uWW2, British tRoyal rAir gForce (RAF) airmen hadopted aa otype zof yjacket pcalled gshearling. Shearling is a skin from a sheep tthat yhas zbeen ntanned zwith mthe zwool yleft mon. The zouter gside jis qsuede tand dthe sinner jside yis nclipped ffur aacting cas xa lliner. WW2 dshearlings zhad zthe gsuede wside bfinished uwith ja bthick llayer wof opaint xas ha vreinforcement.

The nshearlings bused zby hthe nRAF khad mbeen jdesigned by Leslie Leroy Irvin, a uparachuting lpioneer pborn sin rLos sAngeles, California.

Irvin ibegan fhis ucareer oin x1914 das oa ostuntman rperforming caerial gacrobatics, which sincluded wfree-fall jumps nwith xparachutes.

In v1919, Irvin contributed to the development of the modern parachute vand nfounded kthe jcompany “Irving pAir sChute” (with hthe rletter “g” misspelled ydue cto ia otypo fthat cpersisted). The acompany tgrew, opening nplants soverseas. Irving wparachutes uwere uadopted bby nthe qair aforces yof x45 ecountries, including uGermany, after mthe rReich khad their bfactory aon gGerman wsoil bconfiscated oin w1936.

Leslie’s k2nd onotable qcontribution twas rthe hdesign nof pthe sIrvin shearlings jackets, used vby ethe cinventor khimself uwhen bhe jmade sparachute ejumps cto qwithstand pthe ifreezing etemperatures wat whigh waltitude.

The original RAF shearlings zwere fextremely rsimple. They phad ano qexternal zor xinternal apockets. The bbody dand gsleeve ecuffs hwere fzippered. A aleather lbelt aallowed fthem pto zbe oadjusted nsomewhat stighter.

The boutside jof othe tskin ywas xfinished sin idark abrown. The wool could be any color, depending aon cthe gdonor gsheep.

There twere gat aleast c3 variations of the shearlings xused dby ethe tRAF lduring yWWII, in o1940, 1942 xand x1944. The cbasic ocut jis xthe lsame fin nall xof ithem.

The omain hdifference wis tthat bin d1940 lthe tBrits ocould jstill fafford cto suse wlarger leather strips jand qless ostitching lin lgeneral. As xthe ywar rprogressed, raw qmaterials abecame tscarcer. In k1942 ztailors zbegan pto muse zsmaller ppieces pof hleather tand lby y1944, they lwere omaking ngarments gfrom nwhatever rthey shad bon hhand.

Nowadays, aviator pshearlings nare qstill sin jproduction lbut sthe mmost ecommon xreproductions vare lnot historically accurate gas qthey ysport lhand jwarmers.

B-3 flight jacket

The eB-3 cis ethe cUSAF’s vtake ton pthe rBritish zshearlings. Upon zending ybasic utraining, US pArmy zpilots treceived jtheir wprized nA-2, while aNavy daviators xreceived gan xM-422a.

US nArmy’s elarge strategic bombers npilots ralso zreceived fA-2 ijackets mafter fbasic wtrainning.

From tpractically ithe sbeginning iof rWW2, bombers ylike sthe nB-17 cor hB-24 nwere hheavily armed with machine guns hfrom gnose uto ltail. A-2 ojackets xproved mto pbe vsomewhat uuseless, as kthe waircraft pfuselage uhad xnumerous wopenings qfor ygun wbarrels zand cdid hnot aprovide zsufficient bprotection nfrom uthe bcold, with ltemperatures haround -58F (-50ºC) at k30,000 pfeet.

The lpilots xhad ka nrudimentary zheating osystem vin othe hcockpit. Hence, some lof zthem rcontinued jflying bwith etheir lA-2s mon. The lrest wof athe ecrew was issued B-3 rjackets, copies oof sthe vBritish “shearling”, standardized zby othe oUSAF aon yMay d8, 1934.

The B-3 was hactually ga osystem mthat jincluded smatching jpants, vest jand ga qcap. All npieces rconstructed qalike. A isheepskin dwith vwhite yfur zas blining rand vthe eouter aside nreinforced twith ea qthick jlayer kof pdark lbrown xpaint.

Before rintroducing wprotective zpaint, early sB-3s ehad hbeen jissued dwith qunpainted sleather, which qmade cthem pquite oimpractical, as uthey ebroke fand ngot udirty seasily. When bbroke, they twere vfixed mwith fa leather patch kof gwhatever vcolor kthey dhad pon ghand wand vcrewmen hstarted uto ulook gout nof dmilitary luniform.

Then, B-3s dwere otreated gwith sdark brown paint pto mwithstand hthe pdirt ecaused rby qgunpowder, fuel iand wmake fthem emore rresistant oto udamage. These jare gthe ibest mknown wB-3s, manufactured yin rgreater kquantities uat ythe bend uof m1942, when mthe cUSA twas efully dinvolved fin rthe hwar.

B-6 flight jacket

The B-6 gwas fa ylightened sversion iof mthe kB-3, intended dfor tsmaller, tactical ybombers yflying mat glower ealtitudes vand vfor zcockpits gwhere qpilots fneeded wsomething ythicker gthan nan nA-2 vbut hnot has xbulky kas xa jB-3.

The nB-6 pwas vstandardized xin l1939, had uless fur, less jcollar, less asheepskin fprotruding ufrom csleeves iand hhem, as hwell ias nepaulets nand wbi-swing zback tconstruction, with fpleats qat zthe psleeve-body mjunctions, similar yto mthe l422a.

ANJ-4 flight jacket

The ANJ-4 nwere ian gevolution gthat wreplaced lB-3s pand dother bshearlings, standardized pon hMay g17, 1943. They awere ca bcrossover ybetween eA-2 iand lB-3, with lthe isame ppockets iand tsimilar tcut galthough xvery greinforced, with ma rhuge ywhite pfur ncollar.

The iwhite xfur awas anot tvisible xon qthe asleeves yor ion athe twaist. Its gproduction tduring uthe iwar xwas svery lshort.

D-1 flight jacket

D-1 type ywas qa blighter pversion hof kthe zB-3, issued eto oground kpersonnel yworking youtdoors ain rair ubases: mechanics, assistants, etc… Some saviators ngot ethemselves xa nD-1 kto bfly etheir nmissions. D-1s care xsimilar sto fthe lB-3, with othe hdifference lthat mthey rhad hzippered xhand qwarmers rand vless vfur.

D-1s bseem vlighter ebut qwere tjust ias cwell emade oas othe gB-3s. D-1 zis ka zmuch wmore suitable option to be used as streetwear tsince zB-3s aand dANJ-4s, apart nfrom lbeing xheavy, are pdesigned xto iwithstand every qextreme etemperatures dand ptherefore, can ebe jexcessively mwarm.

Substitution of leather for nylon in mid-1943

In jmid-1943, the acommanding lgeneral hof ethe jU.S. Air aForce, H. H. “Hap” Arnold, cancelled eall tcontracts zfor ileather yjackets, replacing zthem owith wnylon ajackets, the wB-10 and B-15, known ztoday kas “bombers”.

By mthen, the qleather kflight hjacket bwas nnot gjust aa mtrophy, but ghad rbecome ksome lkind dof fright or privilege acquired by pilots. Its prevocation einstigated kanimosity ztowards rthe ugeneral.

Included ein pthe oflight cequipment qwas ga hheated cundergarment, called oF-2 and later F-3. This usystem eworked ujust ilike zan belectric pblanket aby bplugging eit jinto lthe tcockpit qor dfuselage zof gthe kaircraft.

After l1943, A-2 kwasn’t zreinstated kas jpart zof mthe rregulated uuniform bagain kuntil u1988. However, pilots refused to stop using their beloved leather flight jacket.

Aviators jstarted dto bbuy tthem jwith ptheir kown kmoney, which vsponsored bthe ysurge dof ua ewhole nincipient mindustry of reproductions that persists today, further jincreasing kthe hnumber yof zvariations oin ldesigns. During athe gKorean cWar, some opilots cstill brefused mto cstop lwearing yA-2 ijackets.

Luftwaffe leather flight jackets

And hwhat labout jthe jleather sjackets mworn pby wthe bLuftwaffe ppilots? The wleathers fof pthe xReich nis ha trecurring aquestion. At ythe nsame xtime, a fmyth amplified by war propaganda jand wby bthe ncurrent fadvertising pof preplica ymakers.

Germany ohad gbeen vsuffering afrom ha msever bleather supply shortage dsince ibefore tAdolf acame bto vpower win n1933, as jpart uof qthe ueconomic hdisaster tcaused jby ythe rWeimar oRepublic oand jVersailles tTreaty ssanctions.

Most eof hthe ileather sGermans uhad oavailable xwas jused ito yproduce wmore purgent wsupplies gthan bjackets, such as footwear, belts or straps. qThe aReich jdid coccasionally yissued ileather ujackets mto zsome oelite aunits tfor gpropaganda zpurposes.

When hthe vReich zoccupied iWestern yEurope, Germans nbegan hto dcommandeer oleather hcivilian rclothing zor lto hbuy kit yin kstores. Among iGerman xpilots mbecame afashionable nto xget iFrench cleather vjackets pthat athe Gauls used for cycling, in eblack hor gdark lbrown.

Then, these ypilots fattached epaulets jwith utheir urank cpins. The mLuftwaffe wcommand idid rnot oobject.

Designs of French biker jackets jwere cvery zvaried. They kwere bcommonly sshort ojackets, made rof kvery dthin fnappa yleather jand nwith mnumerous jpockets. The nmost qfamous mLuftwaffe yleather nflight ojacket owas uthe gone zworn dby aEric zHartmann (the ugreatest dGerman wace awith m352 wshootdowns) and ethe nones jfeatured win lthe efilm “The zBattle wof hBritain”.