Good Wear Leather Coat Company: Sale David D. Doniger A-2 Flight Jacket

Acme 21996 'Combat Clone' Type A-2 Flight Jacket
Price: $1,499.00 (new condition) — note shipping costs below
Fit: this jacket has comfortable fit in the correct size
Leather: veg-tanned seal brown Italian horsehide
Lining: mustard cotton
Knits: Aero red wool
Snaps: vintage United-Carr Line 24s from 1943
Thread: olive cotton
Zipper: vintage NOS M-41 Crown
Size: 44

We have a special line of military jackets which we call Combat Clones. These are made to look as close as possible to original jackets, from the cutting, sewing, and then aging process. This jacket is a test sample we made several months ago, and it was the first jacket we've made using an airbrush to color the leather. The results were exactly what we hoped they would be.

As with may original Aero 21996 original A-2s, the tannery contracted then used russet finished horsehide which had a thin second finish of dark seal brown sprayed over it. This is how the leather was finished before Aero received it. Over time, this horsehide would fade on all the high points and areas of friction to the russet color below. This look is a wonderful variation to the many types of finishing seen on vintage A-2s.

We've always colored by hand, rather than with an airbrush before this jacket, but we thought it would be good to try. This makes for a finish as even as we'd like, and also allows for some thickness variation to mimic the effect of quick, 'lowest bidder' coloring which originals had.

This jacket is sewn with a vintage effect. A huge factory turning out so many A-2s per day had everyone sewing as fast as they could, but with as much skill as this kind of repetitive work would allow. Every worker had their one stitch to do over and over, and they were paid per-piece, so they would be extremely fast, but not wonderfully uniform in how they sewed. We have slightly wonky stitching on this jacket, just like originals. It's not obvious at a distance, but up close, it can be seen. The aging of the leather is obvious, and consistent with many originals we've handled.

The parts used are all superb, from the Italian horsehide, to the lining, and the knits. The snaps are vintage United-Carr Line 24 originals from 1943, and the zipper is an NOS M-41 Crown. We always suggest that anyone using a vintage Crown be as careful as possible with them, and they will last just fine.

A Combat Clone jacket isn't for everyone, but for those who prefer this kind of construction and aging, the happiness factor is quite high, as feedback goes. These look so much like a vintage WWII original, but one isn't stressing an original jacket. It's taken quite a lot of experimentation to learn the techniques to age our jackets, and we're very happy with the results.

The jacket would ideally fit someone in the range of 5'10" to 6'1", with a chest of 41" to 43", and a weight of about 180-200 pounds. John, in the photos, is 6'1", 178 pounds, and has a 42" chest.