Can anyone help with info about the Eastman A2 color, "Havana Brown"?

[Tell Kathy I Love Her]

Hi, I'm a new member here. I feel like I know all of you all already since I've read every single page of this forum to gain information about the beloved A2 jacket.

Right now, I like the timeworn Eastman A2 USAAF jackets, the standard ones. However, although I love the "havana" color, I have not been able to find one reference to a havana colored A2 jacket, other than at the Eastman website.

Is this an authentic color? Does anyone have any pics of their havana Eastman A2's. Can anyone share any info about "havana" A2 jackets in history?

Thanks, and again it's nice to say hi to all of you.

 

[thor]

Welcome to the Lounge!

Most A-2 color references are to seal brown (the dark chocolate brown) and russet (a lighter milk chocolate brown). Havana brown may not be an "official" color but I think it refers to a more reddish-russet (mahogany) brown. I just bought a Made-in-China A-2 repro from Spearhead militaria of a Havana brown Roughwear A-2. It is a reddish-russet brown and on their website they referred to it being "havana brown". Personally, havana (reddish) brown is my favorite color choice for an A-2 (and I have owned many, many different colors and brands of A-2).

 

[Fletch]

Havana Brown is the shade Eastman uses for their Werber 33-1729.
It's as light a russet shade as I've seen in a high-end repro.

 

[442RCT]

I was curious about your post so I googled "havana brown" and came up with a lot of explainations of why that shade of brown was named havana brown...my favorite explanation was they named the color for a Cuban Havana cigar

A cat breed, leather furniture, holsters, saddles and paint were described as Havana Brown. So I'm thinking, Eastman just named the color of their A-2 Havana Brown, just because it sounded neat. As for it being an official color, I doubt if the military called specifically for a havana brown in any contracts. Were there jackets dyed the color Eastman calls havana brown ? I wouldn't doubt there were havana brown jackets since A-2s were manufactured by a lot of contractors who used leather in different shades of brown.

http://www.acmedepot.com/a2jacket/a2detail.html

A-2 color variations abound, even from the same contractor. While the spec called for a seal brown shade, it is clear that this was open to broad interpretation. Many jackets tended more toward the classic Army russet brown which itself had a broad range of shades and was found on shoes, cap visors, chin straps, trim on sheepskin clothing, etc. Overall, jackets can be seen to vary from a light almost tan color to a dark chocolate shade. There would appear to be no single correct or definitive color for an A-2 and yet the colors seen on originals are clearly distinguishable from most modern copies. The reasons for this are most likely related to dyes and tanning techniques. An interesting and little known fact is that it is not unusual to find jackets which were re-dyed a darker shade of brown, apparently done prior to re-issue to another owner. The original color shade can often be seen inside the pockets.

ps- Russet brown used to be my favored 'shade' of A-2 jacket, lately I've begun to prefer the seal brown color, I'd think Havana Brown would be somewhere in the middle.

 

[Tell Kathy I Love Her]

Thanks for the helpful responses. It appears that although "havana" was not a common designation for an original A2, any shade of tan to brown existed among original A2 jackets.

It's curious to me that Eastman does not offer a russet color on the standard, USAAF A2 jacket.

 

[aswatland]

"Havana" is an adjective adopted by ELC to describe the caramel colour of their leather. It was not a term used to describe the colour of wartime A2 leather. The technical order for A2s required jackets to be made from seal brown hh or goatskin, but this was interpretted widely to range from caramel to dark brown. Here are some caramel originals in my collection to give you an idea of the lighter shades of brown used by original cotractors.
Near mint RW 16159.

Rough Wear 42-1401-P-size 44

Monarch W535ac23378-size 44

Cooper W535ac23381-size 44. The original leather patch is from the 367th Fighter squadron, but is not original to the jacket and was sewn on where previous patch had been.

 

[Fletch]

teh kitteh

The Havana Brown cat is nowhere near caramel color. More like seal color.

 

[kampkatz]

I appreciate the education about the term "Havana" brown. Fletch, thanks for the pic of the cat. Us cat owners always enjoy seeing a pretty kitty.

 

[Fletch]

my cat is jealous. not of the Havana, but of me looking at other cats.

 

[L'Onset]

Wow! is this your rack?...:eusa_doh:

I'm saving for just one and, even worse, triyng to find a good justification when it arrives home

I might show this to my wife when she starts making the face...

 

[thor]

Ahh, yes. It always starts with one...and then two...and then you have a rack like the one in the pic posted by 442RCT! Very impressive collection, sir!

 

[apba1166]

ps- Russet brown used to be my favored 'shade' of A-2 jacket, lately I've begun to prefer the seal brown color, I'd think Havana Brown would be somewhere in the middle.

[/QUOTE]

I love this shot. I think I need to put it on film.

 

[442RCT]

Wow! is this your rack?...:eusa_doh:

I'm saving for just one and, even worse, triyng to find a good justification when it arrives home

I might show this to my wife when she starts making the face...

I dunno what happened [huh] After buying about 4 or 5 jackets, I stopped buying jackets for a long, long time, I met a guy who I was "helping" to buy his first A2 jacket off of eBay...I found a lot of jackets in my size on the Bay and... well ...I bid on them...:eusa_doh:. Shortly thereafter I joined the Vintage Leather Jackets Forum and this forum, and I now have over 50 leather flight jackets and about a half dozen nomex flight jackets.

My wife doesn't seem to care how many jackets I own, just as long as I keep them out of her space. She once told me she couldn't tell one jacket from another even when it had painted artwork on the back...they all look alike to her. Besides, she thinks it's a pretty harmless hobby as far as hobbies go.

 

[ButteMT61]

I suppose if you don't spend the rent money on hookers and booze, she's right
My wife is the same way. Of all the rat-like men out there, collecting things, even if they are expensive, doesn't bother her. Besides, her collections cost more than mine!

 

[Flightengineer]

Just I found this thread. This incredible collection, I'm impressed.

 

[Monitor]

Holy Mary Mother of God. . .

 

[Stand By]

Hello TKILH, and a warm welcome to the Lounge!
The first time I heard the term Havana Brown was when ELC released their two A2 jackets which were copies of the ones they made for the movie Pearl Harbor - and I always merely took it that they named it that as a way to associate that name with their jacket. (?)
For me, it's just a subjective matter of whether or not one likes it. And I do and I think it looks classic.
And if you haven't already, as buying any quality A2 is a tidy investment, I'd suggest that you give ELC a ping and ask for a swatch of the Havana Brown leather to get a tactile evaluation of it. They'll be happy to oblige and I'd also ask for a variety of the swatches available for the other A2 leathers too (and from other companies) so that, if you still end up with ELC and the Havana Brown, you'll feel totally assured and completely happy that you made the best choice for yourself.
Enjoy the hunt!