WWII USAAF A-2 Flight Jacket, Unlabelled, Possibly Perry Sportswear, Conmar Zip, Leather AAF Insignia, Size 36

An unrestored wartime A-2 in thick, deeply pebbled hide, with its original knits, a Conmar zip and a painted leather Army Air Forces star sewn over the ghost stitching of earlier patches.

The Type A-2, 1931 to 1943

The Type A-2 entered service with the Army Air Corps on 9 May 1931, when it was made Standard after trials begun the previous September. The specification, 94-3040, called for seal brown horsehide with knitted wristlets and waistband, and the label, drawn to drawing 30-1415, became one of the most studied scraps of cloth in militaria. Sizes ran from 32 to 54, and the jacket was issued to officers and enlisted aircrew alike.

It was the badge of the flyer. In 1942 General Hap Arnold stopped further leather contracts in favour of cloth jackets, and on 27 April 1943 the A-2 was demoted to Limited Standard, but the men who had one kept it, wore it on every mission and personalised it until it was unmistakably theirs.

Within those twelve years more than a dozen firms made A-2s under contract, from Aero Leather in Beacon, New York, to Perry Sportswear, Rough Wear, Bronco and others. Their jackets share a pattern but differ in hide, collar shape, pocket cut, stitching and hardware, and those small differences are what collectors use to place a jacket when its label has gone.

Reading an Unlabelled Jacket

This jacket's contract label has been removed, which is common: labels wore out, were cut away, or were lost when a lining was repaired. Without it, a collector reads the jacket itself. The collar shape here has been taken as a pointer to Perry Sportswear, whose A-2 contract was W535ac23377, and specialist references also record an unmarked label numbered 1756 that may have been a Perry order. Collar shape alone is slender evidence, however, and patterns varied within makers as well as between them.

We therefore describe this jacket honestly: a wartime A-2 by an unknown maker, possibly Perry. Everything about its construction, from the hide and the knits to the zip and the hook and eye at the throat, is consistent with wartime manufacture; only the name of the factory is missing. For many collectors that is the appeal of an unlabelled jacket, which is bought on the strength of what it is rather than what it says.

Conmar, Talon and Crown

Three zip makers dominate wartime A-2s: Talon, the most familiar, Crown, and Conmar Products Corporation. Conmar zips appear on jackets from several contractors, and a working Conmar with its original slider is a period-correct detail valued in its own right. On this jacket the Conmar still runs cleanly, which after eight decades is far from guaranteed.

Zips are among the first parts to fail on any leather jacket, and many wartime A-2s were re-zipped in later decades with whatever was to hand. A surviving period zip is therefore one of the quieter markers of an untouched jacket, and one of the first details a specialist examines when judging how much of a jacket is still as it left the factory.

The other hardware matches: a hook and eye at the neck, snaps at the collar points and the familiar snap-flap pockets. The knits are original olive-brown, holed and frayed but present, and specialists increasingly prefer to conserve wartime wristlets and waistbands rather than replace them, because once they are gone they cannot be put back.

Leather Insignia from the Workshops

On the left chest is a painted leather disc bearing the Army Air Forces winged star, with an orange border and a crazed painted surface. Insignia of this kind were made in the United States and also locally, in theatre workshops, where leather was easier to obtain than embroidered felt and stood up far better to wear. Period A-2s show leather-printed aircrew wings, cut-leather rank bars and painted leather squadron discs, and theatre-made leather insignia are prized by collectors for exactly that reason.

Beneath the disc is the ghost stitching of a name tag and an earlier patch, sewn on and taken off again. That layering is typical of A-2s that moved between units or owners, and it is a small record of a working life. The epaulettes are said to carry leather rank insignia, which we have not been able to confirm from photographs and do not claim.

Worn, Swapped, Kept

A-2s were personal property in all but name. A man arriving in a new squadron would remove his old patch and sew on the new one, add a name tag, have his rank cut from leather, and sometimes have the whole back painted. When he went home the jacket often went with him, and it might sit in a cupboard for fifty years before anyone looked at it again.

This is one of those jackets: not identified, not painted, not restored, simply worn and kept. No unit, theatre or name can be attached to it, and we will not invent one. What it offers instead is authenticity of surface, the kind of untouched wartime leather that reproduction makers spend years trying to imitate.

Why Japan Collects the A-2

Japan's collectors and reproduction makers have long treated original A-2s as reference objects, measuring hides, counting stitches and recording every variation in pocket flap and collar. Within that culture an unrestored jacket with original knits and a period zip is valued precisely because nothing has been changed, and the smaller sizes, which fit modern Japanese frames well, are particularly sought after.

Original jackets of this kind have also become harder to find. As labelled, painted and identified A-2s have moved into museum and long-term private collections, honest unlabelled examples in sound leather have become the realistic way for many collectors to own a wartime A-2 at all. In Japan, where the reproduction market has trained an eye for the authentic, an untouched jacket like this one is respected for exactly what it is.

The Piece

The hide is thick and heavily pebbled, with a pronounced grain pattern and the soft, dry handle of old leather that has never been refinished; it may be steerhide or horsehide. The colour has mellowed to a mid brown with lighter wear at the edges. The Conmar zip works, the hook and eye and collar snaps are present, and the tan cotton lining is intact apart from damage around the collar.

The painted leather Army Air Forces disc on the left chest gives the jacket its character, sitting over the faint outlines of an earlier name tag and patch. The original knits remain, holed and frayed, and we recommend conservation rather than replacement. In size 36 or a small 38, it suits a slimmer frame and would sit well in a collection beside labelled contract jackets as an example of the A-2 as it was actually worn.

What sets this jacket apart is restraint. It has not been re-dyed, relined or re-knitted, and its repairs, when they are made, can be made sympathetically by a specialist without erasing its history. The thread breaks at the shoulders are the expected weak points of a well-worn A-2 and are straightforward to close. As found, it is a candid wartime survivor; conserved, it will wear for another generation.

Details

• Type: Type A-2 flight jacket
• Maker: Unknown; possibly Perry Sportswear (unconfirmed)
• Contract / label: Label removed
• Era: c. 1942-43
• Leather / shell: Thick, heavily pebbled hide (steerhide or horsehide)
• Hardware: Conmar zip, working; hook and eye at neck; collar snaps
• Lining & knits: Tan cotton lining; original olive-brown knits
• Decoration: Painted leather Army Air Forces winged-star disc on left chest, over ghost stitching of earlier name tag and patch
• Tagged size: No tag; approximately 36 or a small 38
• Measurements: Shoulder 41 cm · Chest (pit to pit) 49 cm · Sleeve 60 cm · Length 59 cm

Condition

• Leather in good, unrestored condition for its age.
• Thread breaks at the left shoulder and sleeve seam, and a smaller break at the right shoulder; both repairable by a specialist.
• Lining damaged around the collar.
• Original knits holed and frayed; conservation recommended.
• Contract label missing; maker unconfirmed.
• Leather rank insignia on the epaulettes not verified.

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. Store on a broad hanger away from heat and light, condition the hide lightly, and have the seams and knits conserved by a leather specialist rather than replaced.

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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