A-2 Type Leather Flight Jacket, 373rd Bomb Squadron Dragon Insignia, Col. Mickey Morrie Name Tape, Embroidered Lining

An A-2-type leather jacket with a painted dragon in boxing gloves on its chest, a red leather tape reading COL. MICKEY MORRIE, and a lining embroidered with the same dragon and the 373rd Bomb Squadron.

The Type A-2, 1931 to 1943

The Type A-2 was made Standard for the Army Air Corps on 9 May 1931, built to specification 94-3040 with its label drawn to drawing 30-1415, and remained the American aircrew's leather jacket until General Hap Arnold halted further leather contracts in 1942. It was reclassified Limited Standard on 27 April 1943. In those twelve years it became the most copied flight jacket in history, and it has never stopped being made, decorated and reinterpreted since.

That long afterlife matters here. An A-2-pattern jacket today may be a wartime original, a wartime shell decorated later, or a faithful reproduction, and telling them apart depends on the label, the stitching, the hardware and the decoration taken together. This jacket asks exactly those questions, and we set out the answers as candidly as we can.

The 308th Bomb Group in China

The 373rd Bomb Squadron belonged to the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy), a B-24 Liberator group of the Fourteenth Air Force that flew from China between 1943 and 1945 under Claire Chennault. The 308th's own emblem was an oak tree with the head of Medusa and the motto Percussus Resurgo, struck down, I rise again. Its war was fought in the China-Burma-India theatre, at the far end of the Allied supply chain.

A dragon suits a China-based squadron, and the decoration on this jacket clearly sets out to honour the 373rd. We have not, however, been able to confirm that the squadron's wartime insignia was a dragon in boxing gloves on a star, nor have we found a Colonel Mickey Morrie, or Morris, in the group's records.

The Fourteenth Air Force grew out of Chennault's earlier China Air Task Force, and its heavy bombers struck shipping, docks, airfields and rail targets across China and the South China Sea. A squadron insignia from this theatre carries the romance of the CBI, which is part of why CBI-themed jackets have long attracted decorators and collectors alike.

A Dragon in Boxing Gloves

The chest disc shows a grey-blue dragon or serpent coiled on a white star, wearing red boxing gloves and clutching a red bomb, painted on leather with a dark border. A painted Army Air Forces winged star sits on the left shoulder, and a metal colonel's eagle is mounted on a leather tab on the epaulette. The red leather name tape reads COL. MICKEY MORRIE.

Cartoon animals armed with bombs, guns or boxing gloves were a staple of American squadron insignia during the Second World War, many drawn in the lively style of the animation studios of the day. A pugilist dragon sits comfortably within that tradition, which is part of what makes the design convincing at first sight, and part of why its wartime use needs confirming rather than assuming.

Inside, the same dragon and star are reproduced at large scale in machine embroidery, with the words 373rd Bomb Sqd and Col Mickey Morr, the last letters lost in a fold. The match between the painted disc and the embroidery is exact, which suggests that one hand or workshop produced both.

Reading the Label and Lining

The label, blue with yellow lettering and a yellow chain-stitched border, reads Type A-2, Drawing No. 30-1415, A.C. Order No. 751, Property Air Force U.S. Army, with no maker's name. That order number does not match any documented wartime or pre-war A-2 order, and the chain-stitched border is unusual, although some genuine unmarked labels do exist. Large machine embroidery inside a lining is not a wartime USAAF practice we can document; wartime personalisation was painted or inked. A full colonel would not normally command a single bomb squadron, and the tape's MORRIE differs from the embroidery's MORR.

Taken together, these points lead us to describe the jacket as an A-2-type jacket with a label naming no known contract, decorated with 373rd Bomb Squadron insignia that is likely a later decoration. The shell may be a genuine 1940s jacket embellished after the war, or a later reproduction. We do not present it as a wartime colonel's jacket, and the age of its decoration remains undetermined.

Embroidery and the Souvenir Tradition

After the war, custom embroidery became a craft of its own in Japan, where tailors and embroiderers near American bases decorated jackets with unit insignia, dragons, tigers and names for servicemen to take home. The satin-stitch dragon inside this jacket belongs to that visual world, and to the Japanese reproduction and souvenir tradition that grew from it.

Seen that way, the jacket is an object of genuine interest: a tribute piece built around the CBI's Liberator squadrons, with skilled hand painting and dense embroidery, offered for what it is rather than for what it might be imagined to be.

Why Japan Collects the A-2

Japan's A-2 collectors are expert at reading exactly the details this jacket raises, from label weave and thread to zip markings and embroidery technique, and the country's makers have produced some of the finest decorated A-2s ever made. For a collector who appreciates the embroidered and painted squadron jacket as a genre in its own right, this is a characterful example with an unresolved story.

For that reason, honesty is the only sensible way to offer a piece like this. Collectors in Japan respond well to a candid description: they would rather know that an embroidered lining is likely later work, and judge the jacket on its leather, its painting and its craftsmanship, than be asked to believe in a wartime colonel no record can find. Presented that way, it is a striking and enjoyable jacket with a great deal to discuss.

The Piece

The leather has aged to a dark, glossy brown with heavy scuffing and pale wear at the pocket flaps, collar and cuffs, giving it a strong lived-in character. The painted dragon disc on the chest is bright and detailed, the red leather name tape crisp, and the colonel's eagle sits on its leather tab on the epaulette. Inside, the large embroidered dragon and squadron lettering dominate the lining, alongside a leather patch on the inside left facing stamped with an illegible name or number and a faded ink stamp.

There is a tear at the right side, the brass zip is broken at the bottom, and there is some thread loss; the size tab is illegible and the jacket measures roughly a 36 to 38. It is offered candidly as an A-2-type jacket of undetermined age with later-style squadron decoration, and we would welcome inspection by any collector who wishes to study the stitching and label in hand.

Practically, it is a smaller fit with a short, close cut that wears well on a slim frame. The leather is sound, and with the side tear closed and the zip repaired it would be entirely wearable. We would encourage anyone interested to ask for further photographs of the label weave, stitching and zip markings, which are the details that will tell the rest of its story.

Details

• Type: A-2-type leather flight jacket
• Maker: Unmarked
• Contract / label: Label reads 'A.C. Order No. 751' with no maker; matches no known contract
• Era: Undetermined; 1940s pattern, decoration likely later
• Leather / shell: Brown leather
• Hardware: Brass zip, broken at the bottom; metal colonel's eagle on epaulette
• Lining & knits: Lining with large machine-embroidered dragon and '373rd Bomb Sqd / Col Mickey Morr...'; brown knits
• Decoration: Painted leather dragon-and-star disc; red leather 'COL. MICKEY MORRIE' name tape; painted AAF winged star on left shoulder
• Tagged size: Illegible; approximately 36-38
• Measurements: Shoulder 42 cm · Chest (pit to pit) 46 cm · Sleeve 56.5 cm · Length 61 cm

Condition

• Tear at the right side.
• Brass zip broken at the bottom.
• General scuffing and some thread loss.
• Size tab illegible.
• Label matches no documented contract; age of shell and decoration undetermined.
• Name and squadron insignia unverified; embroidery likely a later decoration.

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 wooden hanger away from light, condition the leather lightly away from the painted disc, and have the zip and side tear repaired by a leather specialist.

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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