A-2-Type Leather Flight Jacket, 'Cocktail Hour' Pin-Up Back Paint, Night Mission Bombs, Unlabelled, Size 36-38

An A-2-type leather flight jacket with 'Cocktail Hour' pin-up back paint and a 'Night Mission' bomb tally; the name recalls a famous 43rd Bomb Group Liberator, but the aircraft link and the jacket's wartime issue are both unconfirmed.

What We Can and Cannot Say

We begin with the honest position, because it shapes everything else. This is an A-2-type leather flight jacket in seal brown with a painted back. It carries no woven specification label. Inside is a faded ink stamp reading approximately 'U.S. GOV'T ... ISSUE / CONTRACT NO. QM-8530', with a large 'US' hand stamp. Wartime Army Air Forces A-2s were marked with a woven label naming Drawing 30-1415 and an Air Corps contract or order number; a Quartermaster-style contract stamp is not what an issue A-2 normally carries.

The back art reads 'COCKTAIL HOUR' with '43 Night Mission' below a row of about twenty bombs. That name belongs to a real B-24 of the 43rd Bombardment Group, and it has been offered in the past as the aircraft behind this jacket. Our research does not support that link. We therefore present the jacket as what it demonstrably is, an attractive A-2-type jacket with 'Cocktail Hour' pin-up back paint, and we state plainly that both the aircraft connection and the jacket's wartime issue are unconfirmed. The history that follows is offered as context for the name, not as provenance.

The Liberator Called 'The Cocktail Hour'

The best-documented aircraft of the name is B-24J-160-CO serial 44-40428, Consolidated construction number 4364, 'The Cocktail Hour'. It served with the Fifth Air Force in the 43rd Bombardment Group, in the 64th Bombardment Squadron, and was presumed scrapped after the war. Its recorded nose art is a dragon holding a nude woman, not a cocktail pin-up. A wartime painted B-10 jacket belonging to the aircraft's flight engineer, Russ Burnett, shows a B-24 with '428' on the tail.

Two details separate that aircraft from this jacket. A B-24J in the 44-40xxx serial block was built in 1944, so a tally dated '43 cannot belong to it; the apostrophe before the numerals reads as a year rather than a group number. And the jacket's art does not match the aircraft's. It may refer to another aircraft of the same name, it may be a postwar tribute, or the paint may be later than the jacket. We cannot say which.

The 43rd Bombardment Group's Liberators carried some of the most celebrated nose art of the Pacific war, and their names were repeated, borrowed and paid tribute to long after the aircraft themselves were gone. A name shared between a famous aircraft and a painted jacket is therefore a starting point for research, never a conclusion. Any future buyer who can trace a 'Lt Lucey' or a second aircraft named 'Cocktail Hour' may yet add a chapter to this jacket's story, and we would be glad to hear of it.

Ken's Men in the Southwest Pacific

The 43rd Bombardment Group, the context for the name, was known as 'Ken's Men' in honour of Brigadier General Kenneth Walker, lost over Rabaul in January 1943 and awarded the Medal of Honor. The 64th Bombardment Squadron was one of its original squadrons, activated at Langley on 15 January 1941. It flew B-17s and later B-24s; accounts differ on the date of the conversion, with most group histories placing it in 1943.

The squadron's road across the Pacific reads like the campaign itself: Port Moresby from January 1943, then Dobodura, Nadzab in March 1944, Owi in July 1944, Tacloban in November 1944, Clark Field in March 1945 and Ie Shima in July 1945. The group pioneered skip bombing, used at the Battle of the Bismarck Sea from 2 to 4 March 1943, and earned Distinguished Unit Citations for Papua and the Bismarck Sea and the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation. The 64th was inactivated on 29 April 1946.

Behind those dates lies a hard war. The 43rd's crews flew long overwater missions from rough jungle strips, against shipping and airfields across New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago and the Philippines, in weather that could be as dangerous as the enemy. The group's progress from Port Moresby to Ie Shima traces almost the entire arc of the Allied advance in the Southwest Pacific, which is why its name still carries such weight with collectors of Pacific painted jackets.

The Night Mission Pun

Pin-up nose art with a drink in hand was a favourite of American bomber crews, and 'cocktail hour' was a natural joke for crews who flew at dusk or by night. The phrase 'night mission', with its double meaning, has a long life on painted jackets. It has also been taken up by modern Japanese reproduction makers; one well-known hand-painted reproduction for the 460th Bomb Group carries a 'night mission' line. That is one more reason we do not treat the wording here as evidence of wartime origin.

None of this diminishes the appeal of the art itself. The cocktail pin-up, the skyline, the moon and the bomb tally belong to a well-loved visual tradition, and they are painted here with confidence and charm. The question is simply when, and by whom, and on that the jacket does not yet give an answer.

Collecting the Painted Jacket Honestly

Japan has been one of the most important collector markets for painted flight jackets for decades, and with that interest has come a mature understanding that paint and jacket must be judged separately. Genuine wartime jackets have been painted later, and later jackets have been painted in period style. The serious collector looks first at the label, the construction and the hardware, then at the paint. We have done the same here, and we would rather a buyer acquire this jacket knowing exactly what is and is not established than be told a story the evidence will not carry.

The Piece

The jacket follows the A-2 pattern in seal brown leather, with a Talon zip on brown tape, a shaped wire collar hook and eye, and brown knits. Its tagged size is unknown; it measures roughly as a 36 to 38. There is no maker's label. The liner bears a faded ink stamp, approximately 'U.S. GOV'T ... ISSUE / CONTRACT NO. QM-8530', and a large 'US' hand stamp, which we record but cannot reconcile with wartime A-2 marking practice.

The back is handsomely painted. 'COCKTAIL HOUR' is lettered in red and white above a nude pin-up lounging on clouds with a cocktail, set before a city skyline and moon. Small lettering reads 'US ARMY AIR FORCE' and a name that may read 'LT LUCEY'; the wartime service was the Army Air Forces, though the singular was common in everyday speech. Below are about twenty bombs and '43 Night Mission' in script. The paint shows rubbing, lifting, cracking and fading consistent with age, and the composition is lively and well drawn.

As a display piece, the jacket has real presence, and it hangs well framed. As a historical document, it is unproven. We offer it on that basis, with every point of doubt set out above, and we would welcome expert examination by a buyer. For a collector of painted jackets who values art and atmosphere, and who is comfortable with an unresolved attribution, this is an engaging and decorative piece. For a collector who requires a confirmed wartime issue jacket, we would recommend one of the labelled A-2s offered alongside it instead, and we say so without hesitation.

Details

• Type: A-2-type leather flight jacket
• Maker: Unknown; no maker's label
• Contract / label: No woven specification label; faded liner stamp approx. 'U.S. GOV'T ... ISSUE / CONTRACT NO. QM-8530' and 'US' hand stamp
• Era: Unconfirmed; wartime issue not established
• Leather / shell: Seal brown leather
• Hardware: Talon zip on brown tape; shaped wire collar hook and eye; zip and snaps working
• Lining & knits: Lining and brown knits with light soiling and age wear
• Decoration: Back: 'COCKTAIL HOUR', nude pin-up with cocktail on clouds before a skyline and moon, 'US ARMY AIR FORCE / LT LUCEY(?)', about 20 bombs, '43 Night Mission'
• Tagged size: Unknown (measures approx. 36-38)
• Measurements: Shoulder 44 cm · Chest (pit to pit) 52 cm · Sleeve 63 cm · Length 57 cm

Condition

• No maker's or specification label; authenticity as a wartime issue A-2 unconfirmed
• Leather with rubbing, uneven colour, marks, soiling and creasing; leather itself in good order
• Back paint with rubbing, lifting, cracking and fading
• Lining and knits lightly soiled with age wear
• Zip and snaps working
• Liner stamp faded and partly illegible

Condition grade B 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. Hang on a broad padded hanger or display flat, keep the painted back away from sunlight and heat, and do not condition over the paint.

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.

Collectors also search: Cocktail Hour B-24 jacket · Cocktail Hour pin-up flight jacket · 43rd Bomb Group A-2 jacket · Ken's Men flight jacket · 64th Bomb Squadron jacket · pin-up cocktail nose art jacket · B-24 Liberator nose art jacket · night mission painted A-2 · vintage leather flight jacket pin-up