Schott – A-2 Brown Leather Flight Jacket

• Schott Coat
• Available color: Brown
• Size: Small-2XL
• Waxy Natural Pebbled Cowhide
• Classic Men’s Fit
• Two Front Patch Pockets
• Made in the USA

The jacket was awarded to an Army Air Force AAF officer upon the completion of basic flight training making the jacket a treasured item to the airman.  As airmen were stationed in different locations, squadron patches were added or removed and even artwork of the aircraft would adorn the back of the jacket creating a unique piece to the airman and the unit to which they belonged.  A way to number the missions of the airman would be to add a bomb design to the jacket for every mission flown.  Unlike Navy pilots, who often wore the patches of every squadron they had ever flown with, AAF airmen could only display their current assignment.

A Wisconsin Veteran’s Story…

Frank Schaffer, from Milwaukee, WI, wore his A-2 flight jacket when he served with the 44^th Bombardment Group, 506^th Bomb Squadron, known as the “Flying Eight-Balls” in the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II.  Schaffer enlisted in the Army Air Corps in September 1942, and he went on to serve as the Engineer/Top Turret Gunner aboard the B-24 “My Peach”.  In 1944, Schaffer’s plane lost two engines and a third caught fire forcing the crew to bail out 60 miles east of Paris.  With the help of the French Resistance, S/Sgt. Schaffer evaded the German Army for twenty days hidden in the woods near Orbais-l’Abbaye until they were rescued by the 3^rd Army on August 28.  Schaffer’s A-2 flight jacket can be seen in the Collection of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.