Flowers McColgan A-2 Reproduction Flight Jacket, Flying Tigers CBI Leather Blood Chit Back, Made in USA, Size 40

An American-made reproduction A-2 by Flowers/McColgan of Newport Beach, California, factory-aged and unworn, its back carrying a large hand-made leather blood chit with the US and Nationalist Chinese flags and CBI rescue text.

The Blood Chit

The idea of a blood chit, a message asking local people to help a downed airman, is traced to a Royal Flying Corps squadron in India in 1917. Claire Chennault is thought to have adopted it for the American Volunteer Group after contact with the RAF in Burma in 1941. The official chits were silk, 7½ by 9½ inches, serial-numbered and stamped in red with the ivory chop of the Commission for Aeronautical Affairs; Chennault himself wore No. 0001.

A second printing added the character for "American". Locally made versions added the US flag, because some Burmese villagers mistook the Chinese characters for Japanese. AVG pilots first wore their chits on the backs of their jackets and later sewed them inside as map pockets. At the end of the war the Army banned wearing chits on jackets, while making the chit itself standard issue.

Reading the Chit

The chit on this jacket is a hand-made leather reproduction, not a wartime original. Beneath a 48-star US flag and the Nationalist Chinese flag, it is hand-lettered with the CBI wording. In English: "This foreign person (American) has come to China to help in the war effort; soldiers and civilians, one and all, should rescue and protect him. Commission for Aeronautical Affairs. No. ___", with the serial number left blank. The stars of the US flag are cut out of the leather one by one, and the flag leather is said to be kangaroo.

Every element of the chit has been made by hand: the flags pieced from leather, the stars cut out individually, the characters lettered rather than printed. That is where the jacket's value lies. A wartime chit was a printed silk document; a leather chit sewn to the back of a jacket recalls the early AVG practice of wearing it outside, made in the materials of the local craftsmen who decorated so many CBI jackets.

The A-2 over Burma and China

The American Volunteer Group, the Flying Tigers, flew for Nationalist China from late 1941. It was absorbed into the US Army Air Forces in July 1942 as the 23rd Fighter Group, which served under the 14th Air Force from 1943. Pilots flying over the Hump between India and China, and fighter pilots over Burma and China, wore their A-2s decorated with locally made leather patches, CBI shields and chits. CBI A-2s with that leather work are among the most collected jackets of the Second World War, and they are the inspiration for this piece.

The Type A-2 was adopted by the US Army Air Corps on 9 May 1931 under specification 94-3040 and drawing 30-1415, the same drawing number that appears on this jacket's label. It is a waist-length leather jacket with a shirt-style collar, shoulder straps, two snap-flap patch pockets, knitted cuffs and waistband and a front zip. Cowhide was approved for the A-2 in 1940 and goatskin in 1941, widening the leathers in service as production grew. A replacement, the AN-J-3, was named on 24 May 1943 and the A-2 was declared Limited Standard, yet contracts ran on into December 1943. By then it had become the jacket most closely associated with the American airman, in China and Burma as much as in England.

Flowers/McColgan of Newport Beach

Little has been published about the maker. Steve McColgan was an American maker who sold A-2s under the name SM Wholesale, usually in cowhide with reproduction Talon zips, and who made jackets for films; by 2020 he had stopped making them. A Steve McColgan CBI "Hump" A-2 of 2020 had hand-sewn leather patches and a leather blood chit very much like this one.

This jacket's label reads "FLOWERS/McCOLGAN CLOTHING CO. · NEWPORT BEACH, CA." The label also reads Type A-2, Drawing No. 30-1415 and Order No. 42-3777-P. The order number is a period-style detail, not a WWII A-2 contract.

What the jacket itself shows is a maker with a deep feeling for the CBI style: all-leather appliqué on the chest, shoulders and back, a hand-lettered chit and a heavily aged finish intended to evoke a jacket that has already seen service. It is the work of a small American workshop rather than a large factory, and it is presented here on those terms.

An Honest Reproduction

It should be said clearly that this is a reproduction, made decades after the war, and that the chit, the patches and the label are all of modern manufacture. Its appeal lies in the scale of hand work rather than in any claim of wartime service. The insignia on the right chest, a winged tiger diving through an "N", has not been identified with a unit, and we do not attribute it to one.

For a collector who wants the look and story of a Flying Tigers jacket without wearing a wartime original, or who appreciates the work of small American makers of the 1990s, it offers an unusually complete expression of the CBI theme on a single A-2.

Its condition reflects the same honesty. The jacket has not been worn, but time in storage has left fraying under both sleeves, and one pocket button is missing; both are disclosed in full and reflected in the grade.

Why Collectors Want the CBI Look

Japan is the deepest collector market for American flight jackets, and the CBI A-2 is among its most loved themes, because it combines the romance of the Flying Tigers with the hand work of local craftsmen. A small American workshop making all-leather CBI appliqué in the 1990s belongs to the same story: it shows how widely the reproduction culture that flourished in Japan was shared, and how much hand labour a single jacket in this style demands.

The Piece

The jacket is cut from full-grain leather that has been heavily distressed and sea-water washed at the factory to give it the look of long wear. The hide is cowhide, as on Steve McColgan's other A-2s. It closes with a vintage Talon zip and has olive knits.

The decoration is extensive. On the left chest is a round Flying Tiger insignia; on the right chest a black shield with a winged tiger diving through an "N", which we have not been able to link to any unit; above it, a leather name strip. The left shoulder carries leather USAAF wings and star and the right shoulder a leather CBI shield. The back is dominated by the leather blood chit with its cut-out stars and hand lettering.

Although unworn, the jacket shows some fraying under both sleeves, and the lower right pocket button is missing. Tagged 40.

Details

• Type: Type A-2 flight jacket, American reproduction
• Maker: Flowers/McColgan Clothing Co., Newport Beach, California
• Contract / label: Type A-2, Drawing No. 30-1415, Order No. 42-3777-P (period-style, not a known WWII contract); AN stamp
• Era: 1990s small run
• Leather / shell: Full-grain cowhide; factory-distressed, sea-water washed
• Hardware: Vintage Talon zip
• Lining & knits: Lining with spec label; olive knits
• Decoration: Hand-made leather blood chit with US and Nationalist Chinese flags (flag leather said to be kangaroo); round Flying Tiger insignia; winged-tiger "N" shield (unit unidentified); leather name strip; leather USAAF wings and CBI shield
• Tagged size: 40
• Measurements: Shoulder 46 cm · Chest (pit to pit) 53 cm · Sleeve 58 cm · Length 58 cm

Condition

• Unworn; factory-aged finish.
• Fraying under both sleeves.
• Lower right pocket button missing.
• Minor scuffs from storage.
• Leather chit and appliqué intact.

Condition grade AB on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.

Authenticity & Care

The label, contract and size tags, leather, stitching, zip and hardware, paint and insignia are examined together and documented in Japan before dispatch; anything that cannot be confirmed is stated plainly in the description. Every piece carries the Japonista authenticity guarantee. Condition the leather lightly and only on the body, keep the hand-lettered chit dry and out of strong light, and store on a broad hanger.

Delivery from Japan

Packed by hand in Japan and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything before you buy, and see our published policy.

Every figure above is taken by hand with the garment laid flat, in centimetres. Lay a shirt or jacket you already love beside them and allow a centimetre or two of margin, the quiet safeguard on a final sale. Our size guide to tops and jackets turns pit-to-pit figures into US, UK, EU and Japanese sizes, and for anything it leaves open the curator team replies within one Tokyo business day.

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