20s Navy Leather Jackets

[Stearmen]

I am trying to find photos of late 20s early 30s U.S. Navy Leather aviator jackets. I have found plenty of the WWI long leather jackets from the early 20s and the Navy high pocket version of the A1. There must be some in between jackets. I know that the so called G8 jacket was never a real issue jacket, they would look nice with some changes though! Thanks for any help.

 

[Stearmen]

Navy

Still not much luck! Are U.S. Navy Aviator jackets from the 20s that rare? Even photos seem to be far between.

 

[bleujacket34]

Yeah they really are. Because of the post WW1 military reductions the militaries of the world got alot smaller. The US Navy in the 20s and into the 30s was still not very large at all. Alot of experimenting going on with planes, the first carrier (USS Langley CV-1), and etc. The number of Naval Aviators was pretty tiny. Sadly finding any material culture from the US Navy in the 20s and 30s is rare let alone Naval Aviation. I will dig through my records to see what I can find for pictures.

Andrew

 

[Fletch]

It's my impression that the Navy stopped issuing leather entirely - at least as jackets - after the intro of spec 37J1A (the Bedford Cord jacket) in 1932, and did not supply a leather flight jacket again until the M-422 in 1940.

37J1A was meant to replace the leather A-1-like jacket, known as 37J1.

 

[aswatland]

The M69 coat was first issued in the 1941 fiscal year (July 1940-June 1941) with the first contract to Willis and Geiger. Your G&F coat is a 1943 contract. I hope this helps.

 

[Treetopflyer]

A-1?

I always thought that the A-1 was used by the Navy in the 20’s and into the 30’s. That is one beautiful M-69! Is it an original or repro?

 

[aswatland]

I would say its 100% original, with the paper pocket tag being the clincher!

 

[Fletch]

I always thought that the A-1 was used by the Navy in the 20’s and into the 30’s.

It was their own spec - BuAer 37J1 - based largely on the A-1, but with the mid-chest pockets and several different knit collars. These were varsity style (non-buttoning); single button; single snap; and double button.

That is one beautiful M-69! Is it an original or repro?

Original beyond doubt. These would be impossible to repro for under $1,000 a throw.

The goatskin is in huge panels - no piecing like leather coats today - and the lining is pure alpaca. The finished coat weighs as much as a pre-scuba deep-sea diving suit - naval aviators wearing them had to be lowered into their cockpits by deck crane. lol

OK, I'm kidding about the last part. But they're pretty darn heavy, especially considering they're all small. Dinerman's is the only known size 44 in captivity - and that's probably garment measure, not a chest size.

 

[jack miranda]

Hi, Dinerman: I have one of these coats, sans wool collar

or identifying label. I acquired it from another leather jacket enthusiast, who in turn got it via his Russian wife from the family of a WWII Russain flyer. My version of the coat is apparently lend-lease stock, given or sold to the Russians during the days before we entered the war. The grain is goat; the lining is intact. I just had brand new buttons put on.

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[Fletch]

37J1 Pix

I seem to have left the big question unanswered. Yes, there were pictures, but they tend to be small ones of large groups.

Here are some visiting dignitaries (wearing the jackets and helmets!!) with VP-4 at its Pearl Harbor base sometime in the early 30s. It's been suggested that Floyd Gibbons, globe-trotting correspondent, is at far left.

Unknown devil dog of the air, late 20s.

Cmdr. Alger Dresel, skipper of USS Macon ZRS-5, in his control cabin in 1934.

Lieut. Richard Burke, USCG, air-sea rescue pioneer, 1935.

Chow time aboard Akron ZRS-4, 1931.

Lindbergh with airedales, September, 1928.

Unidentified group, probably pre 1930.

Finally - a pic from a far east collector-type, who has craftily erased any clues as to its origin, but which seems to show a 37J1A - the zippered Bedford Cord spec - but in leather. Possibly olive drab leather!
Color shot and yellow plane, plus 1pc goggle rubber, indicate a stateside trainee in the early war years.

 

[Fletch]

20s? Navy? Leather? I assume all three.
Anyway, it's Lieut. Burke USCG again, wearing a B-1 over his greens tunic. About 1935.

(I love this look - sorta proto-Battle of Britain.)

 

[Fletch]

Hell Divers (1931)

Clark Gable and Wallace Beery as Chiefs in VF-1 (the famous Top Hatters).
They gear up at about 2:20 into the clip.
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Gable and screenwriter Lt. Cmdr. Spig Wead between takes in San Diego.

 

[Fletch]

Devil Dogs of the Air (1935)

James Cagney and Pat O'Brien as Marine aviators wearing the 37J1A.
But what's it made of???

Poster shot for comparison. Keep in mind it's hand-colored!

 

[fishmeok]

I prefer the higher Navy style pockets- I had thought the USN A-1's had a varsity style collar, but I see in the Akron pic one of the men has an AAC style knit collar. I'm more authentic than I thought
Cheers
Mark

 

[AlanC]

^Lookin' sharp!


This is a fantastic coat.

20s? Navy? Leather? I assume all three.
Anyway, it's Lieut. Burke USCG again, wearing a B-1 over his greens tunic. About 1935.

(I love this look - sorta proto-Battle of Britain.)

 

[BellyTank]

James Cagney and Pat O'Brien as Marine aviators wearing the 37J1A.
But what's it made of???

Jungle Cloth/Bedfrod Cord.

The Japanese repro makers do a 37J1.
I have an older repro by Willis & Geiger but it is made from a lighter cloth,
pretending to be the real thing.


B
T

 

[Stearmen]

20s Navy

I'm starting to see a pattern, it looks like the Navy started to issue leather jackets in the late 20s, in the short style culminating in there version of the A1. I think before that, it was like WWI, the pilots purchased their owen jackets. The enlisted crew and flying Petty Officers may have used issued cloth deck coats! If we could just find the Navy directives for the 20s!

 

[Fletch]

1941 in color

The film Dive Bomber - yet another screenplay by Spig Wead, who apparently had first crack at naval aviation pictures - was shot on location at NAS San Diego and aboard USS Enterprise in spring 1941.

Stars Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray, and others are kitted out in the 37J1B jacket - the second generation green cloth garment. This one is not visibly ribbed like the Bedford cord 37J1A, so it might have been a tighter weave of Jungle Cloth, which was stout, windproof, and often wax-finished for extra water repellency. Perhaps the jackets worn by Cagney and O'Brien in 1935 were the same.

Also seen is a 2pc flight suit much like the B-2 jacket/A-2 trouser combo used by the Army in the early-mid 30s.

The goatskin M-422 had been put into production late in 1940, but might not have been available or okayed by the production folks.

37J1B

MacMurray, Ralph Bellamy, and Flynn on the flightline. Aircraft unidentified (why is it green?).

MacMurray with the Grumman F3F he will use to test the aerial diving helmet(!) and pressure suit.

MacMurray and Flynn (showing his stencil).

B-2 Suit

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Enterprise's ready room in soundstage facsimile.

MacMurray and Regis Toomey report to the flight surgeon.

Louis Jean Heydt and Toomey in the 1092 helmets and B-7 goggles.

 

[BellyTank]

Just wait 'til you discover that there'a a Bedford Cord/Jungle Cloth jacket
very close to a B-3... then you can get really excited.


B
T

 

[BigHairyFinn]

The film Dive Bomber ....

The goatskin M-422 had been put into production late in 1940, but might not have been available or okayed by the production folks.

Except in the start scenes on the carrier, I guess those ain't "actors"...