Rough Wear Clothing Co. A-2 Flight Jacket, Contract 42-1401P, Fan-Pull TALON Zipper, WWII USAAF, Size 36

Contract 42-1401P, read from a faint but legible label, ties this wartime A-2 to Rough Wear Clothing Co., one of the most admired names in USAAF jacket production. Worn, repaired and openly honest about both, it keeps its fan-pull TALON zipper and a snarling green dragon patch, its leather a record of real service.

The Piece

This A-2 is attributed to Rough Wear Clothing Co., contract 42-1401P. The contract label printing is faint but legible enough to support the attribution, which places the jacket within one of the more desirable contract lineages of A-2 collecting. Contract identification is one of the principal ways collectors anchor authenticity in the crowded field of wartime A-2 production, and Rough Wear patterns are admired for their balance of utility and character: an assertive collar line, a muscular chest and clean front proportions.

The jacket is cut in brown leather with the stand-collar (台襟, dai-eri) configuration consistent with wartime A-2 manufacture, and the collar still holds the stern profile of the period despite wear and damage. The front pockets anchor the familiar martial geometry of the type, and the knitted waistband still gathers the body in a disciplined military line. The leather shows decades of surface migration: high-point abrasion, darkened valleys, flexion lines, exposed underlayers and grain lift, varying panel by panel. The sleeves in particular show the lived-in collapse and tonal variance that modern makers try, and usually fail, to simulate, and the back panel remains handsome and attractively aged.

The main closure is a fan-pull TALON zipper. Period hardware is evidence in these garments, speaking to chronology and build era, and even with the deformation to the pull noted below, it keeps the jacket rooted in correct wartime material culture.

On the left chest sits a green crocodile or dragon-head patch, toothy and animated, worked in green embroidery on a cream ground. It belongs to the lineage of WWII squadron visual culture, where humor, cartoon language and heraldic bravado met on leather and felt, and where insignia served as morale devices, unit identifiers and expressions of esprit de corps. There is no back painting and no other decoration, so the single emblem gives the front its center of gravity. Its chronology relative to the jacket's service life is not established and should be treated as an open question; the jacket does not depend on it, as its significance rests on contract identity, shell integrity and the honest complexity of its wartime wear.

By the early 1940s the A-2 had become one of the most symbolically potent garments of the U.S. Army Air Forces, issued as equipment and then personalized, patched, painted, repaired and photographed by the men who flew in them. Repairs at the lining and underarm show that this jacket was once judged worth saving rather than discarding. It suits the collector who values contract and maker first, is comfortable with honest wartime damage and understands that shell quality can outweigh cosmetic injury; it is not a mint or museum-condition specimen.

Details

• Object: U.S. Army Air Forces Type A-2 flight jacket
• Maker: Rough Wear Clothing Co. (attribution)
• Contract: 42-1401P (label printing faint but readable enough to support the attribution)
• Era: 1940s, World War II
• Material: Brown leather shell, likely horsehide or steerhide pending in-hand evaluation, with pronounced wartime grain character and surface aging; knitted cuffs and waistband
• Collar: Stand-collar (台襟) configuration consistent with wartime A-2 manufacture
• Hardware: Fan-pull TALON main zipper
• Chest Decoration: Green dragon or crocodile-head patch on the left chest, green embroidery on a cream ground; age relative to the jacket not established
• Size: 36
• Measurements: Shoulder approx. 43 cm · Chest approx. 50 cm · Sleeve approx. 60 cm · Length approx. 58 cm

Condition

• An honest, worn and repaired wartime survivor: not a purity example and not museum condition, but a material-first collector jacket with real age, contract interest and visible survival history.
• Lining repair at the center and tag area; lining repair at the underarm area.
• Collar damage, with liner loss and distress around the collar, neck and shoulder zone.
• Sleeve cut damage.
• Zipper pull deformation.
• Damage to the knitted cuff and waistband rib.
• Loose thread and some stitch loss at the underarm.
• Widespread fading, abrasion, contact wear, surface loss and age wear.
• The full repair history cannot be confirmed, including whether any parts were changed previously.
• Some odor or age sensitivity should be assumed as possible, as with any true wartime leather garment.
• Strengths: contract and maker remain recoverable from the label, the fan TALON zipper is present, the front body remains structurally legible and the jacket reads immediately as a true wartime A-2.

Verification Notes

The most accurate description of the piece is an original WWII Rough Wear A-2 survivor with a period-style chest patch and visible historic repairs. Points held with high confidence: original WWII-period A-2 body; Rough Wear Clothing Co.; contract line readable as 42-1401P; size 36; stand-collar type; fan TALON zipper; heavy wear and repair history; original-style period chest patch; authentic survivor condition rather than a modern reproduction.

Points stated with care: the exact leather species without laboratory or archival verification; the originality of every component, given the unknown restoration history; any squadron attribution for the patch without further research; and whether all stitching, pocket parts and knit sections are factory-original. Collectors may wish to weigh label legibility, zipper originality and function, leather strength near the sleeve cut and collar, the age and sympathy of the repairs, and the patch chronology. Even if the patch proves nothing, the jacket still stands.

Authenticity & Care

Rough Wear Clothing Co. and contract 42-1401P are read from a faint but legible contract label; the original WWII-period A-2 body, stand collar, fan TALON zipper and size 36 are held with high confidence, while the exact leather species, the originality of every component and the patch attribution are stated with caution. Every piece is examined and documented in Japan before dispatch and is offered with the Japonista authenticity guarantee.

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. Returns follow our published policy.

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