Star Sportswear Kurlan A-2 Flight Jacket, 866th Bomb Squadron Monkey Patch, 494th BG Pacific B-24, Size 40

A privately made Star Sportswear 'Kurlan' A-2 named to Johnston, carrying the painted monkey emblem of the 866th Bombardment Squadron, the B-24 unit that flew from Angaur and Okinawa against the Philippines and Japan.

Star Sportswear of Lynn

Star Sportswear Manufacturing Company of Lynn, Massachusetts, was one of the contractors that made the Type A-2 for the Army Air Forces. It held a single government A-2 contract, AC 28557, order 42-18245-P, issued on 18 May 1942 for 30,000 jackets at a production cost of $8.10 each. Star A-2s on that contract are well known to collectors and carry several celebrated painted backs.

Star also had a civilian life. Under the 'Kurlan' name, 'Styled by Kurlan', it sold leather and suede jackets to the public into the 1960s, and this jacket carries that civilian label with the company's crown-and-shield logo, together with a paper style and size ticket. It is not a government-issue A-2, and we present it as what it is: a civilian A-2 by a government A-2 contractor.

That distinction matters to collectors in two directions. A civilian Star jacket lacks the government label that defines an issue A-2, but it was made by the same firm, in the same seal brown leather tradition, to a pattern that deliberately echoed the military original. Some collectors who already own issue A-2s seek out a private-purchase jacket precisely because it shows how airmen chose to dress when the choice was theirs.

The Private-Purchase A-2

Airmen did not always wait for issue. Officers bought their own uniforms, and many fliers bought A-2-pattern jackets privately, from department stores, from the makers' civilian lines or from tailors, either because issue jackets were scarce or because they wanted something better. The government A-2 was made limited standard on 27 April 1943, after which issue jackets became harder to replace, and private purchase filled some of the gap.

The civilian Kurlan pattern is close to the issue A-2 but distinguishable. The clearest difference is under the arms: three small grommet vents, absent from the government pattern. A civilian A-2 of this kind could have been bought during the war or immediately afterwards, and we cannot confirm which. What we can say is that the jacket was worn with the insignia of a Pacific bomber squadron.

Kelley's Kobras, 494th Bomb Group

The 494th Bombardment Group, widely known as Kelley's Kobras, was constituted on 14 September 1943 and activated on 1 December 1943 at Wendover Field, Utah, with the 864th, 865th, 866th and 867th Bombardment Squadrons. It flew the B-24 Liberator, receiving B-24Js at Mountain Home in May 1944, and went to the Pacific that autumn.

From 30 September 1944 to 24 June 1945 the group was based on Angaur in the Palau Islands. Its first elements arrived on 16 October 1944, while Japanese forces still held out in the fighting for Bloody Nose Ridge on neighbouring Peleliu, and the island was still subject to attack. The group flew its first combat mission on 3 November 1944 against the airfields at Yap and Koror, then struck the Philippines: Corregidor, Caballo, Clark Field, Mindanao and the supply dumps around Davao Gulf. From 24 June 1945 it flew from Okinawa against Kyushu, China, Korea and the Inland Sea. It received the Philippine Presidential Unit Citation and was inactivated on 4 January 1946.

The 866th and Its Monkey

The 866th Bombardment Squadron's emblem, officially approved on 17 May 1945, is a caricatured black monkey in a turquoise flying helmet and goggles, giving the O.K. sign and holding a smoking machine gun. It is one of the more characterful Pacific squadron insignia, in the cartoon tradition that ran through American unit heraldry during the war.

The squadron's war came close to Japan. On the July 1945 raid on the battleship Haruna at Kure, the 866th lost two aircraft to flak, and airmen captured from that raid died in the Hiroshima area. The squadron flew aircraft such as B-24J-175-CO 44-40668 'Pious Plunderer'. For a Japanese collector, the 866th is a direct thread back to the last months of the war in home waters, and to a history shared, at terrible cost, by both sides.

The Liberator crews of the 494th flew long overwater missions from coral strips, navigating by dead reckoning across hundreds of miles of open sea to small island targets, and back again with fuel to spare only if the weather allowed. Their war is less often told than that of the great Eighth Air Force bomber stations in England, which makes surviving squadron insignia from the group all the more valuable as a record of it.

Painted leather patches like the one on this jacket were made in theatre and fixed to jackets by the men themselves, and few survive with their colour as fresh as this.

Patch Versus Paint

On painted jackets, collectors weigh each element separately, and so do we. The painted leather squadron patch on the left chest, with the name tape 'Johnston', is the historical heart of this jacket. The back panel, with a script word in yellow, crossed B-24 silhouettes and '866th / Bombardment Squadron', is lettered partly in stencil and partly in a clean sans-serif typeface that looks more modern than most wartime work. The back lettering may therefore be later than the patch, and we describe it that way. Japanese collectors, who have long studied the difference between period and later decoration, will recognise the distinction and value the jacket for the patch.

The Piece

This is a Star Sportswear civilian A-2, labelled 'Styled by KURLAN / Star Sportswear Manufacturing Company / Lynn, Massachusetts', with a paper ticket reading 'Style 4...' and a size that appears to be 40; it runs slightly small. The hide is heavy and supple seal brown, probably steerhide. The Talon zip and wire collar hook are present, the russet-orange lining is in fine order, and the three grommet vents under each arm identify the civilian pattern.

On the left chest, a leather name tape reads 'Johnston' beside the painted leather patch of the 866th Bombardment Squadron: the black monkey in aviator helmet and goggles on a yellow disc. It is a lovely, well-preserved piece of squadron art and the reason the jacket stands apart. Marks of earlier, removed patches on both chests suggest the wearer served with another unit before the 866th, though that is an inference.

On the back, a yellow script word that may read 'Talon' or 'Tulsa' (we cannot read it with certainty) sits above two crossed B-24 silhouettes and '866th / Bombardment Squadron'. As noted above, the typeface suggests that this back lettering may be later. The jacket overall is in excellent condition, among the cleanest painted A-2-pattern jackets we have handled. For the collector who already owns issue A-2s, this jacket adds something different: a privately chosen jacket, a named wearer, and the emblem of a Pacific bomber squadron that took the war to Japan's home waters. We recommend it primarily for the patch, and we price and describe it on that basis.

Details

• Type: A-2-pattern leather flight jacket, civilian private-purchase
• Maker: Star Sportswear Manufacturing Co., Lynn, Massachusetts ('Styled by Kurlan')
• Contract / label: Civilian Kurlan label with crown-and-shield logo; paper ticket 'Style 4...', size 40(?); not government issue
• Era: 1940s; wartime private purchase or immediately postwar, date unconfirmed
• Leather / shell: Heavy, supple seal brown hide, probably steerhide
• Hardware: Talon zip; wire collar hook; three grommet vents under each arm
• Lining & knits: Russet-orange lining in fine order; knits in good order
• Decoration: Left chest: painted leather 866th Bombardment Squadron monkey patch and 'Johnston' name tape. Back: yellow script word (uncertain reading), crossed B-24s, '866th / Bombardment Squadron' (lettering possibly later). Removed-patch marks on both chests
• Tagged size: 40 (runs slightly small)
• Measurements: Shoulder 47 cm · Chest (pit to pit) 53 cm · Sleeve 61 cm · Length 60 cm

Condition

• Excellent overall condition for its age
• Leather heavy and supple
• Lining in fine order
• Faint marks of removed patches on both chests
• Back lettering may be later than the squadron patch
• Civilian jacket; not government issue; date unconfirmed

Condition grade A 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 out of direct light, keep conditioner away from the painted patch and back, and avoid heat and damp.

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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