Good Wear Leather Coat Company: Sale Rough Wear 16159 A-2 Flight Jacket

This item has been sold.
Rough Wear 16159 Type A-2 Flight Jacket
Price: $1,400.00 (almost new condition) — note shipping costs below
Fit: this jacket has comfortable fit in the correct size
Leather: russet veg-tanned Italian horsehide
Lining: correct pale brick cotton
Knits: mid-brown wool
Snaps: vintage United-Carr Anzo
Thread: light brown cotton
Zipper: reproduction M-41 Talon with vintage Talon slider
Size: 44

This Rough Wear is our new web site example of the first contract made by this company. The W535-AC-16159 contract opened the door to many more A-2 contracts, and Rough Wear obviously worked long and hard supplying flying gear for the Army Air Corps. We were able to borrow a wonderful example from Jorge Aguilar back in 2020, and our pattern comes from his original, shown below.

Rough Wear's first A-2 contract has a few details to note. First, and most obvious, is that when they made the pocket flaps, the internal leather edges (seam allowance) were cut out of the three points on the lower flap edge. This makes the corners much more accute than later Rough Wear flaps in which the seam allowances weren't cut out. At some point, they figured cutting the allowance out was a waste of time, and the flaps of later Rough Wears have their very distinctive rounded shape.

The collar stand is a bit taller than later A-2s they made. This will always have a bit of variation among originals, but generally, the collar stand of the 16159 jackets is taller.

The collar, torso, and sleeve shape seem to be consistent with the next Rough Wear A-2 contract, W535-AC-18091. Later 1401-P, 23380, and 27752 A-2s have a few differences in the collar, torso, and sleeve design. We made the sleeves of this particular jacket 1/2" longer than the original, still within variation of originals. Otherwise, the dimensions of this jacket match the original.

This jacket is made with Italian horsehide, and we did a little work to it. This is something of a pre-aged format of horsehide, where the finish has been burnished a bit, giving it a gentle worn look. This was all done before the jacket was sewn together, and it's quite subtle. The epaulet photograph shows it best. We really like this effect.

All other details are consistent with original 16159 Rough Wear jackets. They were made with mid-brown cotton thread, mid-brown knits, and as with the full line of Rough Wear A-2 contracts, a pale brick cotton lining. We used NOS vintage United-Carr Anzo snaps in the pockets. The zipper is a reproduction M-41 Talon with vintage correct straight-bar Talon slider, and vintage sunburst bottom stopper.

The original shown in the comparison photos was over-dyed to light seal brown. Originally, it had been a typical russet color.

This jacket has had 20 minutes of wear to get the photos done, but is otherwise a new jacket.

The jacket would ideally fit someone in the range of 5'11" to 6'2", with a chest of 41" to 43", and a weight of about 185-205 pounds. The jacket is shown with a wearer who is 6 feet tall with a 41.5" chest.