Two Aero A2 questions.

[l'oreille]

Hi all! Long time since I posted here. I've got the Aero bug bad: I bought a Bootlegger back in October, which has since been around the globe and is finally starting to show a bit of wear (I'll post pictures one of these days), and ordered a LHB about 14 weeks ago. Both of these are in FQHH though, and I was starting to look at maybe getting a lighter hide jacket for summer nights. I like the look of the A2 (yeah, another newbie with an A2, I know), and having had such good experiences with Aero, I'd prefer to stay with them rather than look into ELC or Goodwear. I did have two questions on Aero's A2s though:

1) I'm a short guy (165 cm, 5'5), so I take a pretty small size (a 36). It seems, however, that the size of the pockets on the A2 stays the same across jacket sizes - meaning that while the pockets look "in proportion" to the rest of the jacket on, say, a size 42, they look huge on a 36. Is that right, or did I pick up a wrong bit of information there on other forums? It's hard to find pictures of smaller-sizes A2s, unfortunately, and I'm pretty sure that the huge-pockets-look wouldn't work for me.

2) as I mention, I'm interested in trying one of Aero's lighter hides this time. I was thinking about the smooth russet midweight HH originally, but now I'm kind of interested in their goatskin as well. I noticed that there's an option for russet goatskin on their website, but I can't find any pictures of the russet goatskin. Does anyone have an example of the russet goatskin?

As always, your help is much appreciated, gentlemen.

 

[JanSolo]

Go for the 1938 contract on Aero's site. It's the most trim fitting of all A2s and it does have very small but oh so beautiful pockets. It also features a collar stand and a riveted zipper.
Apart from that I would say that A2 pockets never look huge. G1 pockets are much bigger! In terms of civilian flight jackets: Have a look at the pockets of the 1950s bomber/ flight jacket. Those are big!

Re the hide: Aero's russet goatskin is a good hide that has the typical properties of a fully vegetable tanned leather. It's quite light but stiff, thick and very durable. But to be honest it's much too reddish (almost orange) for me. Best thing would be to request some samples. Don't forget to ask for jerky russet hh because I've got a feeling that you might like that best...

 

[l'oreille]

Excellent suggestion, thanks - I e-mailed Amanda last week asking her to include some samples when they send out my LHB. I never noticed that the pockets on the 1938 contract were smaller by the way, thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Edward]

When it comes to A2s, a lot depends on what you are looking for.... if what you want is a basic, early 1940s A2-style jacket, then Aero are probably the best deal of all the big name repro companies - especially the Aero Real Deal model. If you're looking for something as accurate as possible to the original jackets, Eastman are that bit closer than Aero, and Good Wear raise the bar further than anyone (the only potential drawback with a GoodWear, it seems to me, is the danger that some unscrupulous person might try and pass it off as an original - John's jackets really are that good). For just a regular wear jacket, though, Aero are hard to beat. I'm actually tempted, when the money comes together, to have them run me up a Real Deal with civilian, slash-style pockets instead of the patch pockets (as seen on the Aero Happy Days model).

 

[l'oreille]

I actually briefly mulled over the idea of going with the happy days model in midweight HH, but I think it's a bit too... generic for my liking. I mean, plain isn't bad, and you could argue that an A2 is pretty generic as well, but A2s are fairly thin on the ground here in Belgium. I have an older, very beaten up mall jacket which looks almost identical to the HD model, however. So I figured the A2 was the way to go.

I'm still waiting for my LHB and the samples Amanda is going to send me, but for now I have a feeling that I might go for the 1939 model in russet (HH or goatskin remains to be seen) with either midbrown or red (rust?) knits. I think the red knits add a bit of "flash" to the jacket, but I haven't quite figured out if I've got enough swagger to me to be able to pull it off or not.

 

[JanSolo]

Have you considered to go for olive B10 knits? Those look adorable especially when paired with a lighter coloured leather.

Here's a Real McCoy with olive knits. Aero's knit looks identical and they will gladly put it on any A2 model (but you will probably lose the contract label and get a generic Aero label instead).

 

[Edward]

I know exactly what you mean - my situation is different as I speak from the perspective of owning two A2s already; both of these are seal, though I am planning a Russett model which I'd like to badge up as a CBI theatre jacket based on the fighter group into which the AVG were drafted in the wake of the US entry into WW2. (Probably an Aero CBI Field Modified jacket.... yes, steer, and not the most accurate repro, but close enough for me, especially bearing in mind how many pp 'custom' jobs were worn in that theatre.... ). Funily enough, though, my favourite A2 knits from Aero are those red ones. To the best of my knowledge they were only put on a particular A2 contract from 1942 by the original Aero company, but if what you're looking for is a great civilian jacket to take out and wear rather than a near-as-dammit repro piece, I wouldn't consider that a problem. I love how they look with Russett. Actually, my ELC A2 (the other is an Aero in Seal Goat) has red knits - afaik not accurate to the original contract this particular jacket represents, but they were installed at request of the original owner. I love them - nice contrast with the dark leather finish.

 

[Edward]

Have you considered to go for olive B10 knits? Those look adorable especially when paired with a lighter coloured leather.

Here's a Real McCoy with olive knits. Aero's knit looks identical and they will gladly put it on any A2 model (but you will probably lose the contract label and get a generic Aero label instead).

Cool looking jacket. I assume it's one of those rare 'collector's edition' type Japanese jackets that does something alternative rather than replicating a specific contract? I've only seen two A2s before that had olive knits. One was the jacket worn by one of the lead characters in the original Inglorious Bastards film (not the same film as Tarrantino's Inglorious Basterds), the other a War-era, pp custom jacket that Andrew (ASWatland) briefly owned - still a thread here somewhere about it.