Technonut
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I recently had the good fortune to purchase an extremely nice GW Rough Wear W535–AC–18091 A-2 Jacket, and thought it worthy of some 'show-n-tell'... 
This jacket was purchased from the person who directly obtained it from John Chapman. It was JC's personal jacket, and lightly-worn before being offered for sale. JC constructed this masterpiece in 2012, after he just received new 'walking foot guides' for his sewing machines, and had a nice amount of his dead-accurate-to-the-period-looking vegetable-tanned / aniline-dyed Indian goatskin available. In fact, this was the 1st Rough Wear W535–AC–18091 repro made from this hide after JC sourced it.
I was also informed by JC that he feels the Rough Wear pattern is very comfortable, and is superior to most other A-2 contract patterns made. He has personally taken 2 Rough Wear originals completely apart, and handled 12... This jacket definitely reflects that knowledge. I told JC that if the devil is in the details, this jacket is possessed big-time..
JC had some leather patches made by the talented patch-maker, Sean Collins, available to use at the time, and decided to make this RW a Flying Tigers jacket by sewing on a 74th FS, 23rd FG patch (with Sean's exclusive 'scowling tiger'), which IMO is also a work of art, and highly compliments the jacket. The original RW contract for this jacket was awarded in the spring of 1941, and there was one famous Flying Tiger, John " Johnny" R. Alison, who wore one, but with one of the other patches used after the AVG (American Volunteer Group) was disbanded on July 4th, 1942, and transitioned into the 23rd Fighter Group of the USAAF. Here is a pic of Johnny Alison wearing that RW:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Alison
This RW features an original M39 triple-marked Talon zipper, and period United Carr snaps as well. I have owned more than my share of various A-2's over the years, including GW, but I must say that this one has 'ticked all of the boxes' for me in looks, extreme detail, and fit. JC and I share pretty close jacket measurements, and the fit is much like seen in his original sale page pics of it. It has still been roasting in the upper 90's in my part of the country, and I will not be including any fit pics with me wearing the jacket until I can get a cool morning to not soak the lining with sweat. I do like JC's take on sizing his personal A-2 jackets. Not extremely tight, while not extremely baggy. IMO, a good, comfortable fit, which one can actually move around without restriction in, and still manage to slide a medium-thickness sweater under to actually get some meaningful wintertime wear in, while still providing the desired period A-2 look.
I'll let the pics do the talking now.. Here are some I just took:
I received permission to post some pics from JC's original sale page of the jacket. The jacket is still pretty much in the same condition now with little wear since he sold it:
Note the 'trapezoid' stitching detail in the 2 pics directly below:
I still need to address having a new leather name-tag made. I asked JC about it, since I am hesitant to use my name, in case I want to sell or trade the jacket on later down the line. One of his suggestions was to have the tag done in my name with Chinese characters solely, since there were CBI pilots who did so on theirs, and even if sold, one would need the ability to read Chinese to know. I am also toying with using the Chinese characters / letters for 'Flying Tigers' on the tag, as well as their slogan, 'Ding Hao' (it roughly translates to the combined meaning of, “Number One”, “The Best” and “Top Good”.) I trust no one except JC to sew one on, since this will be the 3rd time a tag was applied, and was happy to hear that he would do so for me, despite his busy schedule when I source the tag (probably from MASH, Japan)...
This jacket was purchased from the person who directly obtained it from John Chapman. It was JC's personal jacket, and lightly-worn before being offered for sale. JC constructed this masterpiece in 2012, after he just received new 'walking foot guides' for his sewing machines, and had a nice amount of his dead-accurate-to-the-period-looking vegetable-tanned / aniline-dyed Indian goatskin available. In fact, this was the 1st Rough Wear W535–AC–18091 repro made from this hide after JC sourced it.
I was also informed by JC that he feels the Rough Wear pattern is very comfortable, and is superior to most other A-2 contract patterns made. He has personally taken 2 Rough Wear originals completely apart, and handled 12... This jacket definitely reflects that knowledge. I told JC that if the devil is in the details, this jacket is possessed big-time..
JC had some leather patches made by the talented patch-maker, Sean Collins, available to use at the time, and decided to make this RW a Flying Tigers jacket by sewing on a 74th FS, 23rd FG patch (with Sean's exclusive 'scowling tiger'), which IMO is also a work of art, and highly compliments the jacket. The original RW contract for this jacket was awarded in the spring of 1941, and there was one famous Flying Tiger, John " Johnny" R. Alison, who wore one, but with one of the other patches used after the AVG (American Volunteer Group) was disbanded on July 4th, 1942, and transitioned into the 23rd Fighter Group of the USAAF. Here is a pic of Johnny Alison wearing that RW:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Alison
This RW features an original M39 triple-marked Talon zipper, and period United Carr snaps as well.
I have owned more than my share of various A-2's over the years, including GW, but I must say that this one has 'ticked all of the boxes' for me in looks, extreme detail, and fit. JC and I share pretty close jacket measurements, and the fit is much like seen in his original sale page pics of it. It has still been roasting in the upper 90's in my part of the country, and I will not be including any fit pics with me wearing the jacket until I can get a cool morning to not soak the lining with sweat. I do like JC's take on sizing his personal A-2 jackets. Not extremely tight, while not extremely baggy. IMO, a good, comfortable fit, which one can actually move around without restriction in, and still manage to slide a medium-thickness sweater under to actually get some meaningful wintertime wear in, while still providing the desired period A-2 look. I'll let the pics do the talking now.. Here are some I just took:
I received permission to post some pics from JC's original sale page of the jacket. The jacket is still pretty much in the same condition now with little wear since he sold it:
Note the 'trapezoid' stitching detail in the 2 pics directly below:
I still need to address having a new leather name-tag made. I asked JC about it, since I am hesitant to use my name, in case I want to sell or trade the jacket on later down the line. One of his suggestions was to have the tag done in my name with Chinese characters solely, since there were CBI pilots who did so on theirs, and even if sold, one would need the ability to read Chinese to know.
I am also toying with using the Chinese characters / letters for 'Flying Tigers' on the tag, as well as their slogan, 'Ding Hao' (it roughly translates to the combined meaning of, “Number One”, “The Best” and “Top Good”.) I trust no one except JC to sew one on, since this will be the 3rd time a tag was applied, and was happy to hear that he would do so for me, despite his busy schedule when I source the tag (probably from MASH, Japan)...
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