D-Pocket leather jackets

[Dinerman]

It depended on the maker.

 

[Monitor]

Does anyone perhaps know, what exactly was the idea behind the design of the D-pocket? There obviously is some intention behind the configuration, as not only the left hand-warmer had to be sacrificed, but the size, shape and the configuration of the whole thing looks very specific.

I've read somewhere that it was supposed to hold a gun, with the smaller pocket with a flap being used for a magazine or ammo. Then again, those Sears ads call it a map pocket or a cigarette pocket but I'm not so sure that was the intended purpose of it, so does anyone know for sure?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Pack of cigs & lighter...map or more than likely gloves.
HD

 

[nick123]

I'm rattling off a theory here, but was it possible the "D" leather piece including the horizontal zipper and the little cargo pocket were all put together in one go before being placed on the jacket itself? Maybe this was a time/effort-saving idea instead of doing all of the work on the jacket panel? Perhaps someone decided the D shape looked pleasing enough when added to the front of the jacket? Maybe the D shape was the only shape that would fit/work within the jacket's lines?

 

[nick123]

http://vintageleatherjackets.blogspot.com/2009/06/mysterious-d-pocket-myths-and-legends.html?m=1

 

[Monitor]

HD; I don't know - I mean, it sure looks convenient for a pack of cigs and a lighter, but I'm not so sure they would base pretty much the entire design of the jackets front around it. I'm thinking that keeping your hands warm has got to have some priority over smoking.

Nick123; I was thinking that too but it's just so... peculiar, like it's really meant for something. Pistol really does fit well inside the thing, and the cargo pocket can hold two magazines of a 1911, but was it really based around a weapon?

 

[oneterrifichog]

HD; I don't know - I mean, it sure looks convenient for a pack of cigs and a lighter, but I'm not so sure they would base pretty much the entire design of the jackets front around it. I'm thinking that keeping your hands warm has got to have some priority over smoking.

Nick123; I was thinking that too but it's just so... peculiar, like it's really meant for something. Pistol really does fit well inside the thing, and the cargo pocket can hold two magazines of a 1911, but was it really based around a weapon?

I am guessing Maps and Cigarettes. Not so much the Zippo because most folks always carried those in their jeans. I think the gun thing is not a good idea as it would imprint the weapon over time. Personally that would be a leather lined inside pocket, I would suspect but I am not positive that wouldn't imprint either..

I use mine for maps etc and since I don't smoke the little pocket is not used at all as an I Phone won't fit.

 

[armscye]

The origin is lost in the mists of time, but here are a few facts:

These jackets started out as patrol jackets for motorcycle cops, at a time when the revolver was standard police issue.

A six shot revolver runs dry very quickly in a gunfight, so many police departments either sanctioned or mandated a second compact pistol. Officers under fire practiced what was called a "New York Reload":

"The fabled New York Reload is a technique attributed often to Jim Cirillo, famed member of the NYPD Stakeout Unit and one of the most experienced LE gunfighters in history. This technique was favored back when the revolver was the flavor of the day, and rather than deal with thumbing loose rounds into the cylinder, one would drop the first gun and simply draw the second one."--modernerviceweapons.com

The best known and most common of these compact revolvers up through the mid Seventies was the Colt Detective Special, built on Colt's "D" frame, which gave six additional shots of 38 special in a highly compact package.

A Schott Perfecto D-pocket will, as verified personally, accept a Detective Special, or Colt's other compact revolvers such as the Banker's Special, or indeed the 5-shot S&W 36. A map is a poor fit by any standard, however.

Reloading in the era before speedloaders involved what were called speed strips, rubber straps with pockets that held the base rims of six shells, which could be quickly pressed into an opened revolver cylinder two at a time.

A standard Safariland speed strip fits into the snapped pocket of a Perfecto.

The placement of the D-pocket is ideal for a right-handed officer bent over the handlebars of a Fifties motorcycle to reach his back-up piece.

 

[oneterrifichog]

The origin is lost in the mists of time, but here are a few facts:

These jackets started out as patrol jackets for motorcycle cops, at a time when the revolver was standard issue for cops.

A six shot revolver runs dry very quickly in a gunfight, so many police departments either sanctioned or mandated a second compact pistol.

The best known and most common of these up until the mid Sixties was the Colt Detective Special, built on Colt's "D" frame, which gave six additional shots of 38 special in a highly compact package.

A Schott Perfecto D-pocket will, as I have verified personally, accept a Detective Special, or Colt's other compact revolvers such as the Banker's Special, or indeed the 5-shot S&W 36. A map is a poor fit by any standard, however.

Reloading in the era before speedloaders involved what were called speed strips, rubber straps with pockets that held the base rims of six shells, which could be quickly pressed into an opened revolver cylinder two at a time.

A standard Safariland speed strip fits into the snapped pocket of a Perfecto.

The placement of the D-pocket is ideal for a right-handed officer bent over the handlebars of a Fifties motorcycle to reach his back-up piece.

Wow that's pretty interesting. I wonder if anyone out there has any 40"s or 50's photos of LEO's wearing D-Pockets???

 

[Monitor]

armscye; That was really interesting and the pocket config being based around a gun now makes lot more sense! Thank you! Picturing an officer reaching for a gun while riding toward a threat makes for one helluva scene.

I wasn't really buying into the map business anyway as these come in all shapes and sizes, and a cigarette packaging is perhaps too thick for the snapped pocket - but a gun indeed fits well inside the pocket and like you said, the pocket is placed very conveniently for one to quickly grab on to it...

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Interesting story...but...
I grew up in the '50s and don't ever remember Cops wearing D-pockets. The leather Cop jackets(even MC Cops) in my locale were entirely of different design with a much less hardcore civi MC style.
Kinda difficult using handwarmers to warm your hands while riding a bike. Gloves are better at doing that.
A pack of unfiltered luckys or Camels fit nicely in the cig pocket in those days. Never saw anyone carrying a gun in the D pocket..especially a revolver..although one could..but anything larger than a small flat semi auto would 'print'. Many of my friends back in the day had their gloves stuffed in and partially hanging out of the Zippered D pocket..cause they were 'cool'..Man..!!
HD

 

[oneterrifichog]

Interesting story...but...
I grew up in the '50s and don't ever remember Cops wearing D-pockets. The leather Cop jackets(even MC Cops) in my locale were entirely of different design with a much less hardcore civi MC style.
Kinda difficult using handwarmers to warm your hands while riding a bike. Gloves are better at doing that.
A pack of unfiltered luckys or Camels fit nicely in the cig pocket in those days. Never saw anyone carrying a gun in the D pocket..especially a revolver..although one could..but anything larger than a small flat semi auto would 'print'. Many of my friends back in the day had their gloves stuffed in and partially hanging out of the Zippered D pocket..cause they were 'cool'..Man..!!
HD

Agreed, and I would add that I have put my 9mm in there as well as small 45 and they will fit but would definitely print over time.

Personally I think the gloves are more cool.

Like I mentioned I would like to know if any photos are out there showing LEO's with D Pocket Jacket maybe they did but like HD I never saw any.

 

[nick123]

No doubt they look like they'd accomodate a pistol perfectly, but looking at some of the advertisements on the vintage leather jacket blog, they may have been around in other variations/locations (such as higher on the chest or even reversed), which would make it improbable for ease of access for a firearm. The very first one could have been made for this function and the others may have been stylistically influenced, but I get the gut instinct the very first D probably had a pocket configuration not as we know it today.

 

[Monitor]

Well, one thing's for sure - the D-pocket config as we know it has been around since the 20's. At least! Supposedly, the first jacket Schott ever produced was actually a D-pocket (they're still making it, under the 629 name) and it was that jacket that carried the name Perfecto. The style that is attributed with the name appeared later and its origins are also shrouded in mystery, but that is beside the point... Police departments have just started using motorcycles at the time, but I've no idea whether or not officers wore leather jackets. Either way, the D-pocket was definitely already there and so was whatever the configuration was intended for...

I've been going through all the ads I could find but I haven't discovered much... Buco is calling it a change pocket while Sears, which also produced the style, is referring to it as a cigarette pocket. Cigarette package would also print over time, true?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Buco is calling it a change pocket while Sears, which also produced the style, is referring to it as a cigarette pocket. Cigarette package would also print over time, true?

Maybe...but what would be so revealing about a cigarette pack print..?? Who would care that you were carrying a pack of cigs..!! It's a little different than concealing a weapon that then eventually prints and stands out in the crowd for everyone to see. I think this D-pocket thing is being made more a mystery than it actually was. The zip D-pocket was just a more handy and safe way for storing various things than a hand warmer pocket while riding a motorcycle.
HD

 

[tropicalbob]

When I think of all the guys I've known who've worn anything like a d-pocket, I can't imagine any of them caring, or even noticing, whether or not their cigs were showing. You would have ignored it.

 

[armscye]

Re cops not wearing perfecto-style patrol jackets:

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I don't quite see a D-Pocket in the early Cop pic. Am I missing something?
HD

 

[armscye]

No, just a Lancer-fronted, waist-length, waist-belted, snap-collared, epauletted black jacket with a mid-chest slash pocket and a snapdown small auxiliary pocket. In other words, sharing all the attributes of a Schott, Buco, Lewis Leathers, Langlitz, or H-D "civi" jacket.

 

[IXL]

Maybe...but what would be so revealing about a cigarette pack print..?? Who would care that you were carrying a pack of cigs..!!
HD

Sister Elaine, at Our Lady of Fatima school, that's who. The scariest nun I've ever known!

We were always told that the D-pocket allowed WWI pilots to carry a handgun in a quickly accessible location. I do know that my nephew carries one in his flight suit, in about the same place relative to a D-pocket. He doesn't fly a biplane, though......