USAAF Type A-2: Aero Contract No. 42-15142-P 'Real Deal'

This is the jacket that would have been thrown at the raw cadet by the quartermaster. This A2 has been cut just like they would have been at times of maximum leather shortages such as experienced midway through WWII. Manufacturers would have tried to squeeze as many jackets out of their leather as possible and marks and scars would not have been avoided, and no care would have been taken as to the matching of grain, panel to panel. Back then all available horsehide was used, not just the prime front quarter. This meant rougher horse skins, leaving on all the scars, natural marks, and not trimming off the jerky shank- there was a war going on, every bit of horse went into the jacket, and the same goes for the 'Real Deal'.

No“pre-aging” or faking up of combat wear will be needed, just wear this jacket and watch the patina pop up with every outing. Once cut and constructed by one of our military specialist machinists, the end result is probably the nearest to a WWII A2 made since 1943. Obviously we save on the hides when making such a jacket, and that saving is being passed on to the customer despite the fact that we think this is probably the most truly authentic A2 on the market. We've taken the most classic A-2 of them all, the original 42-15142-P contract from Aero Leather Clothing, Beacon New York, had one of our tanneries copy the original tanning technique, lightly spraying a Seal Brown or Russet coating onto a reddish Horsehide base hide, drumming just enough to bring up the grain without unduly softening the hide.

Styling, detailing, stitch pattern and label are facsimiles of the original Aero Leather Clothing, Beacon, NY Contract 42-15142-P. This Type A-2 is fitted as standard with a high grade Japanese made WW2 replica Talon zipper, a zipper identical in even the tiniest detail to the original WW2 Talon. Possibly the most famous of all the A-2 contracts, the first Aero contract to be produced in the iconic and eye-catching combination of Rust Wool jersey teamed with Seal Brown Horsehide.

Our most up to date incarnation of this famous jacket is cut from the original WW2 patterns made by Aero Leather Clothing of Beacon NY and benefits from a complete overhaul of our A-2s that we completed after months of sampling and checking of even the tiniest of details - bottom line, after checking and amending the entire grading from 34" to 48", we can guarantee that our current 42-15142-P fits identically to the equivalent WW2 issue jacket.