About Us

A2 JACKET

The Type A-2 leather flight jacket is an American military flight jacket originally invented and developed for and closely associated with World War II U.S. Army Air Forces pilots, navigators and bombardiers, who often decorated their jackets with squadron patches and elaborate artwork painted on the back like. Sometimes casually referred to as a bomber jacket, its original designation was “Jacket, Pilot’s (summer)”, and its wartime usage was limited neither to pilots nor to bomber crews.

B3 Bomber jacket

The B3 flight jacket was designed for aircraft bombers who needed to go up high altitudes. Thus it could be rightly referred to as the ‘bomber jacket’. The material composition are a combination of sheepskin and very thick sheep fur.

Nose Art

The army air forces insignia was approved on March 21, 1942. The original army insignia for its planes was the basis for the Army Air Forces shoulder sleeve insignia. The insignia for the planes was a blue circle with a white star on which was superimposed a red disk. For the shoulder sleeve gold wings were added to the design. In the plane insignia, the red disk was dropped in 1942 because it was confused with the Japanese plane insignia, but the original design was maintained in the sleeve insignia. The ultra marine disk represented the sky and air. The golden wings surmounting the star are an indication of victorious operation.

The artwork for aircraft insignia, known as nose art, became popular during World War II. It was funny, grim and youthful. It stemmed by the desire to personalize an object and make it unique. A thousand B-17s, identical in every way, rolled off the assembly line and flew into an uncertain fate, and each one was different. The difference was the nose artwork painted on the cockpit which expressed the personalities and imagination of the fighters. The images painted on their planes personified their missions into stories about their fights and their victories. Few crews would talk about 247613 or 34356, but many tales would be told about “Sack Time” or “The Dragon Lady”

The ideas for nose art came from girlfriends, wives, posters, calendars, the comics, and events to the history of the aircraft. The majority of the artwork was inspired by the artwork in the magazines and calendars of the time. This included Disney characters and the Vargas girls. These recognizable designs can now be found on the back of our nose art bomber jackets.