Toys McCoy A-2 Reproduction Flight Jacket "THE BODY", Hand-Painted Back by Hiroshi Okamoto, Unworn, Size 38

A Japanese reproduction A-2 in seal-brown horsehide, its back brushed by hand with a pin-up, a six-bomb tally and the name of Captain Buzz Rickson's Flying Fortress from The War Lover, signed by Toys McCoy founder Hiroshi Okamoto.

The War Lover, 1962

Columbia's The War Lover reached American cinemas on 25 October 1962. Directed by Philip Leacock and loosely drawn from John Hersey's 1959 novel, it casts Steve McQueen as Captain Buzz Rickson, a brilliant and reckless B-17 pilot flying out of England, with Robert Wagner as his co-pilot, Lieutenant Ed Bolland. Rickson's Flying Fortress is called "The Body", and the aircraft is as much a character in the film as either man.

The production assembled three flyable B-17s: two ex-US Navy PB-1W airframes, N5229V and N5232V, and a B-17G, N9563Z. Both PB-1Ws were painted as "The Body", and all three wore markings in the style of the 324th Bomb Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, with invented serial numbers. Location work at RAF Bovingdon and RAF Manston, with interiors shot at Shepperton, wrapped in December 1961. The two PB-1Ws were scrapped soon afterwards; N9563Z survived and still flies in California.

It matters to be precise here: "The Body" is a film aircraft, not a real Eighth Air Force bomber. This jacket is a tribute to a screen pilot and his screen Fortress, which is exactly what makes it such a characterful piece of reproduction culture.

A Stencil Named Rickson

Open the jacket and the tribute continues. Alongside an AN M62 stamp and a large Army Air Forces wing-and-star stencil, the lining carries the stencilled name "C.A.P.B. RICKSON 25-121953". The number has not been explained and may be a mock serial; we do not claim to know its meaning. The name, however, is unmistakable, and it rhymes with a wider story in Japanese menswear, where the character's name was later adopted by a separate Japanese flight-jacket brand.

The neck label is in the house's period style: "A. CONTRACT W535-ac-1012 · PROPERTY Air Force U.S. Army · TOYS McCOY Mfg. Co. · ISOLA, N.Y." Both the contract number and the New York address are Toys McCoy's own invented details, written in the language of wartime spec labels rather than copied from any real WWII contract. It is the kind of playful, deeply informed detailing that collectors of Japanese reproductions look for.

Nose Art Carried onto Leather

During the Second World War, squadron artists painted aircraft names, pin-ups and mission tallies, one bomb per completed mission, onto the noses of bombers. Crews often asked for the same artwork on the backs of their A-2 jackets, so that a man carried his aircraft with him on the ground. Painted A-2s are among the most sought-after pieces of American militaria for that reason: each one is a small, personal canvas.

This jacket reproduces that tradition for a fictional aircraft. A blonde pin-up in sheer drapery hurls a green bomb, a white scarf trails behind her bearing "THE BODY" in blue, and six bombs line up at lower left as a mission tally. The composition is Okamoto's own interpretation of the idea; we make no claim that it copies the nose art of the film aircraft exactly. What it does capture is the spirit of a hand-painted bomber jacket, rendered with an illustrator's control.

Hiroshi Okamoto and Toys McCoy

Hiroshi Okamoto is a Japanese illustrator and painter, a collector of military leather and the founder of Toys McCoy, which a World Photo Press publisher's note dates to 1996. In his own account, his fascination began with the A-2 Steve McQueen wore in The Great Escape. He moved to Tokyo in 1977, built a career in commercial illustration for clients including Coca-Cola, KFC and McDonald's, and first travelled to America in 1978 to hunt for genuine military clothing.

Okamoto was involved early on with The Real McCoy's and, by his own telling, lost heavily when that company went bankrupt around 2001; his company took on former staff and carried on making clothes. Toys McCoy is today independent of The Real McCoy's and holds film and personality licences including Steve McQueen, Taxi Driver and Marilyn Monroe. Its art pieces carry the tag "This Product is Directed by H. Okamoto", and collectors report that he hand-paints limited editions, usually on the A-2.

According to the original purchase in 2017, a member of Toys McCoy staff said that only about twenty hand-painted pieces of this kind were expected to be made, in view of Okamoto's age. That figure is anecdotal and we present it only as reported. What can be said is that most Toys McCoy pin-up backs are printed; a brushed, signed back is a different kind of object.

The Type A-2, 1931 to 1943

The Type A-2 was adopted by the US Army Air Corps on 9 May 1931 under specification 94-3040 and drawing 30-1415: 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. Horsehide was the original leather; cowhide was approved in 1940 and goatskin in 1941. 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. In barely twelve years it became the most recognisable garment of the American air war.

Why Japan Collects the A-2

Japan has the deepest collector market for American flight jackets in the world, and the reproduction houses grew directly out of it. Dealers and illustrators of Okamoto's generation crossed the Pacific from the late 1970s to buy original military clothing, studied it seam by seam, and then began to remake it with period zips, correct hides and labels written in wartime language. Toys McCoy's particular contribution was to bring film, popular culture and the illustrator's hand into that world, so that a jacket could honour McQueen's screen pilots as faithfully as it honours the airmen who inspired them.

A hand-painted Toys McCoy A-2 is therefore two stories in one leather shell. It is a record of the Japanese reproduction movement at its most personal, made under the direction of a founder who began as a boy watching McQueen on screen; and it is a homage to the painted bomber jackets of the Eighth Air Force, filtered through Hollywood's memory of them. Few pieces carry both stories so directly.

The Piece

This is a Type A-2 reproduction cut from seal-brown horsehide with dark brown knitted cuffs and waistband. The hide has the rich, glassy surface and natural grain variation that Toys McCoy's horsehide is known for, and the jacket is unworn, with only small scuffs from storage. Current Toys McCoy A-2s are made with a War Time Talon zip; the zip on this example has not been photographed close up, so we describe it simply as the house's original hardware.

The back is the reason to own it. The pin-up, the trailing scarf lettered "THE BODY", the green bomb and the six-bomb tally are applied by hand rather than printed, and a brushed green signature sits at lower right. Inside, the AN M62 stamp, the Army Air Forces stencil and the "C.A.P.B. RICKSON" name complete the film tribute. The attribution to Okamoto's own brush rests on the purchase account and the signature; no certificate, paper tags or care guide accompany the jacket, as Toys McCoy does not normally supply them with special-order pieces.

Tagged size 38, it fits roughly a US or European small to medium. For a collector of Japanese reproductions, McQueen memorabilia or painted bomber jackets, it is an unusual meeting point of all three.

Details

• Type: Type A-2 flight jacket, Japanese reproduction
• Maker: Toys McCoy, Tokyo (founded by Hiroshi Okamoto)
• Contract / label: House period-style label: A. CONTRACT W535-ac-1012, TOYS McCOY Mfg. Co., ISOLA, N.Y. (invented, not a WWII contract)
• Era: Purchased new in 2017
• Leather / shell: Seal-brown horsehide
• Hardware: Original house zip (not photographed close up) and collar hook
• Lining & knits: Lining with AN M62 stamp, AAF wing-and-star stencil and "C.A.P.B. RICKSON 25-121953" stencil; dark brown knits
• Decoration: Hand-painted back: pin-up with bomb, "THE BODY" scarf, six-bomb tally, brushed signature attributed to Hiroshi Okamoto
• Tagged size: 38 (fits roughly US/EU S–M)
• Measurements: Shoulder 43 cm · Chest (pit to pit) 50 cm · Sleeve 62 cm · Length 58 cm

Condition

• Unworn.
• Small scuffs and marks from storage on the horsehide.
• Knits free of tears and moth damage.
• Hand-painted back clean and intact.
• No paper tags, certificate or care guide (not supplied with special-order pieces).

Condition grade S 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. Keep away from heat and direct sun, condition the horsehide sparingly while avoiding the painted panel entirely, and store on a broad-shouldered 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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