A-2 jacket

The Type A-2 leather flight jacket is a military flight jacket closely associated with World War II U.S. Army pilots, who often decorated their jackets with squadron patches and elaborate artwork painted on the back. Sometimes casually referred to as a "bomber" jacket, its original designation was "Jacket, Pilot's (summer)," and its wartime usage was limited neither to pilots nor to bomber crews.The Type A-2 flying jacket was standardized by the U.S. Army Air Corps as the successor to the Type A-1 flying jacket adopted in 1927. The Type Designation Sheet lists the dates for Service Test as September 20, 1930, and Standardized (adopted as standard issue) on May 9, 1931. The military specification number for Type A-2 is 94-3040. The Drawing Number was given as 31-1415, but the spec. labels found in the jackets themselves show this to be 30-1415.On April 27, 1943, Type A-2 was declared Limited Standard, meaning that only replacements for in-service units could be ordered. New units would now be supplied with cloth-shelled jackets such as Types B-10 and B-15The U.S. Army Air Forces Class 13 Catalog listed the garment as "Jacket, Flying, Type A-2," with Spec. No. 94-3040. It describes the jacket's construction as "seal brown horsehide leather, knitted wristlets and waistband (skirt)." Broadly similar in construction to the A-1, it replaced the A-1's buttoned front and pocket flaps with a zipper and hidden snap fasteners (although some very early A-2's retained the pocket buttons). The A-1's stand-up knitted collar, which buttoned closed, was supplanted in the A-2 by a shirt-style leather collar, with hidden snaps at the points and a hook-and-eye latch at the throat. Stitched-down shoulder straps were also added to the design. Sizes were listed as ranging in even numbers from 32 through 54.