Flight jacket painting

[Pathfinder]

That is an excellent question and one that all of us artists neglected to address....

A-2s are generally Cow (Modern USAF issue A-2s are goat)

G-1's are generally Goat

B-3s are generally Sheep

All three type leathers are different, and sheepskin, while the bulkiest of the three types (of jacket), is the THINNEST leather of the bunch. You can tear sheepskin like a sheet of paper.

You have to be very careful prepping sheepskin or you can easily punch through it or dry it out so much that it will crack. Cracking and crazing are two different things. Sheepskin and cow are prone to "craze" because that is the way the leather grows. The crazing through the design is IMHO one of the cool features of a really good jacket painting. It's supposed to craze. I used to tell my customers...when they asked how to keep it perfect....don't wear it!

[whistlingdeath77]

Anybody in ma. Or ct. That can do mine?

[p51]

I used to tell my customers...when they asked how to keep it perfect....don't wear it!

Yep. I actually used to refuse to paint shearling jackets for people when they'd ask, back in the day.
Anyone ever seen the ending of the movie, "Stalag 17"? Check out when they wrestle the fake American/Nazi spythrough the hole and out into the open, they've ripped his B-3 to shreads. And that was a relatively new jacket at that point!

[jtramo]

What about patches on the shoulders and squadron patches on the front? Leather always? Source for material to make them? I had an older jacket I experimented on but just painted straight onto the jacket.

[bdk]

The artist that painted most of the jackets at Chino Airport used to wipe down the area to be painted with MEK as I recall.

[Pathfinder]

As far as patches go...

I always recommended sew-ons for A-2 and G-1. The leather could take the punches....but I always sent them to the customer so he could decide where HIS chest was.

Again, punching holes in sheepskin weakens the sheepskin. If you gotta have a patch then I'd have the customer make a patch shape out of paper and place it exactly where he wanted it and them I'd paint direct on the jacket. Didn't do many B-3s, but I recall a few B-3 back designs for gunners, etc.

I see way too many painted meatball patches on A-2s...the fact is that they were mostly decals back in the war.

I always thought the rendition of Heavenly Body from the 401 BG was the most beautiful girl ever rendered on leather. It is also one of the very few jackets signed by the artist. He was copying Varga's 12/44 and IMHO actually out-Vargased Vargas! His name was Hall.

I spoke to the 401 historian who told me that Hall only painted a few crew's jackets. One crew had all the guys but one with the exact same design--and one guy wanted something a little different....when the plane was hit everybody got out safe except the guy with the different design.

Just wanted to clarify the T-shirt designs....I painted the girls and suggested the names....the shirt guy did his own layouts. He has changed the fonts and backgrounds over the years. My original Navy girl sitting on the Eagle is now sitting on a pair of Navy wings. He also replaced my original giant painted 8th patch in For the Boys with a graphic version.

[p51]

I see way too many painted meatball patches on A-2s...the fact is that they were mostly decals back in the war.

Heck, you see very few meatballs on A2s of any type in period photos. But yeah, the painted ones today all gotta have them. They're just like the paintjobs on warbirds today, all slick and with every bell and whistle, and often nothing like the original paint back in WW2 looked...

[Firebird]

Original flight jackets were painted with whatever was readily available...at the time, that would have been hobby enamels, artists oils or aviation paint liberated from the supply pool. My guess is that hobby enamels would have been the most popular, because they were cheaper and dried faster than oils.

Hobby enamels and artists oils would have to have been US sourced and shipped over to be available on US bases in UK, as these items would have been in very short supply and very difficult to get hold of here in the UK during the war with rationing and manufacturing of 'luxury' items being stopped in favour of wartime needs.