Please help to identify the A2 (with art)

[robrinay]

Please help to id a friends latest find. The label is so worn the writing can't be read. The zip pull is missing and the stop box is unmarked but the zipper looks a modern US style - fastens opposite to UK style. Does anyone know who made it - and or who painted the art?
Cheers
Rob

http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/robrinay/library/Painted A2

 

[tomtom42]

Hi,

I can't help with the jacket, but the artwork might be a reference to a Glenn Miller recording - he did a song named "Pistol Packing Mama" with the Army Airforce Band...

br,
T°M

 

[andyfalzon]

Nah, it isn't.
The label is from a perry 23377 but the rest is something different

 

[robrinay]

Not good news then?

 

[robrinay]

Nah, it isn't.
The label is from a perry 23377 but the rest is something different

The label appeared to be machine stitched rather than hand stitched.

 

[cloudylemonade]

Jacket is an Aero, from around 1986/87. The painting was done by one of our artists

There were three slightly different backs done to replicate a wartime photo of three 8th AF crew wearing their PPM jackets. Most went to Japan. I'm afraid we've no idea about the label tho, its unlikely we fitted it.

Hope that helps!

 

[robrinay]

It sorts it completely, thank you so much Holly. I posted in VLJ too and in that post pointed out its similarity to my old Aero.
Rob

 

[Edward]

Sounds like somebody might have fitted an older label to a repro jacket, for whatever reason?

 

[Hide'n'seek]

Here is the original pic of the 3 8th AF Crew in their PPM jackets .



After further inspection we are confident that that is the original label Aero fitted and not a later added Perry as suggested

 

[robrinay]

Brilliant thank you - I'm sure my mate will be really pleased with the info on the jacket when I see him.
Rob

 

[Edward]

Cool. Looks like a nice find. Any idea what the hide is? Looks like it's survived really well. Couple of new knits and it'll be very wearable.

 

[robrinay]

To my untrained eye it looked and felt like goat but I don't mind being corrected.

 

[Hide'n'seek]

The leather is Connolly steerhide .

The zip could easily be fixed with a new puller , if you contact me denny@aeroleatherclothing.com we can send a new puller to you ( Bell Shaped Talon ) free of charge , that should have the zip functioning properly again .

 

[Edward]

Interesting on the hide - I'd have guessed goat too. Murray showed me some Connolly hide in the factory, I think - lovely stuff.

 

[robrinay]

Thank you Hide'n'seek' I'll do that - brilliant service!

 

[Stand By]

I can't tell you much/anything about the jacket - except I like it. Looks like a nice jacket to wear to me.

What I can tell you about the subject of the art - the B-17 and where the name comes from - is that the Triangle-G on the tail tells us that it's the 305th Bomb Group, and the name of the B-17 tells us that it was part of the 422nd Bomb Squadron; one of four that served within the 305th BG.
There were many B-17s called Pistol Packin' Mama, but this is what the nose art looked like on this particular one:
http://www.usaaf-noseart.co.uk/plane.php?plane=pistol-305#.U_X930tBTHg

The 305th served out of RAF Chelveston just outside Northampton up the A45 (5 miles E of Wellingborough) - and I have a 364th patch on both my C3s (initially chosen as it looks a bit like my dog! The one shown is one that I painted) and as a result, I then took a serious interest in them over the years - and their history is quite something. They were some of the very first squadrons to show up in England in late 1942 and learned their warcraft the hard way, becoming an illustrious outfit.
I was in the UK last month and visited my pal in Northampton and had wanted to visit the memorial in Chelveston for years - and there wasn't much to glean from the web, and I thought I'd be hunting for a little plaque tucked away somewhere obscure, by an old gate or something ...
It turns out that the airfield is now a wind-farm - and the memorial is slap-bang in the centre of the village - you cannot miss it. And it's very nicely done too, with each squadron represented. The weather vane too is a nice touch - a properly marked B-17 in chrome, so depending on how it catches the light, it looks either very silver or very grey.
And the poem that is dedicated to the personnel of the 305th says it all.
It was also very nice to see a couple of wreaths of poppies there too, so they are still remembered.

And after that, it was only proper to step in to the adjacent village pub, The White Hart, for a pint. I wonder how many pilots and crew were in there ??? If only those walls could talk ...

)

 

[Monitor]

That is one fantastic painting on that jacket...

 

[Worf]

Stand By, thank you so very much for that report. Well done mate!

Worf

 

[Stand By]

Thanks, Worf. My pleasure.

And it reads "Proud to be part of the 8th Air Force of the United States of America"

 

[bn1966]

Nice one 'Stand By'......much appreciated. Where's that L2A then? Expecting photos when it arrives.