I am such a fan of what
Ralph Lauren has created in his vision of Double RL! The store has the perfect ambiance and the clothes are either really authentic vintage iconic pieces or designated to look really authentic!
It was a pleasure to work with Ralph Lauren when he called me in 1978 to manufacture and design his first
A-2 style leather jacket. We were both perfectionists sharing the same values about the significance of iconic clothing and its inspiration to clothing design around the world.
Little did I know that eight years after my design and manufacturing experience with Ralph Lauren, I would end up producing the REAL
A-2 leather jackets for the United States Air Force. My company would be the prime mover in 1986 working with F-16 Thunderbird Pilot Lt. Colonel "Hoss" Jones, the lead contact to the Airforce Joint Chiefs and the Uniform Board, who would be instrumental in getting the U.S. Air Force to re-adopt the leather A-2 as regulation uniform wear as it had been from 1931 to the end of WWII.
I was a perfectionist myself as well as a Warbird pilot who actually flew and flies WWII fighters (P51 Mustangs, P-40 Warhawks, Navy and Marine Corps F4U Corsairs and Airforce P-47's) in air shows.
We are fortunate enough to be able to offer authentic versions MADE IN THE USA to the General Public through our company,
Cockpit USA Inc. website, our retail Cockpit General Store at 652 Broadway in New York City and in our printed mailorder
Cockpit USA Catalog.
Made of supple government specification seal brown goatskins, the authentic currect issue A-2 jacket is second to none -
Style Z21V41 has all the features of the U.S. Air Force jacket except (unless specially requested) special Velcro patches which the Air Force pilots use to display their rating and their rank and unit identification or squadron insignias...and sometime just sport their "call sign" or nickname like: "Maverick", "Iceman", "Goose" or "Razor" on a custom embroidered name patch.
Today's A-2 has side and top entry pockets so there is actually somewhere to put your hands instead of the top entry pockets of the WWII versions (see later blogs).
But don't just read this, SEE this 20th century piece of "Revival"TM clothing in our catalogs or on our website:
www.cockpitusa.com. Once you put it on you will be scouring the streets of Tribeca in NYC, the Vista in Columbia South Carolina or the slopes in Colorado looking for that P-51 Mustang fighter to strap on and take to the skies. This is the jacket our fighter pilots wear today! It's living history...
Jeff Clyman
Check Six and Keep 'em Flyin'
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