A wonderful, and really rather rare flight jacket. These are essentially the precursor to the famous MA-1. As flight helmets become more common place, the fur collar of the B-15 became an uncomfortable hindrance to pilots, reducing their ability to turn heads. The permanent solution with eventually be the MA-1, but as a temporary fix many of the B-15D jackets in stock were modified by having their fur collars replaced with knits. To complete the mod, a white label saw added, replacing the earlier stock code with an updated version.
This particular example belonged to a Col Gottschall, flight surgeon with the Washington Air Nation Guard based out of Fairchild AFB. It's come to me from a friend of the family who still live in the Spokane area. Fully patched out, with the highlight being the very rare F-101 Voodoo "Witch Doctor" patch, one of the rarest of that set. ]
Condition
Used but solid condition. There are obvious signs of the modification being done around the collar and the waist band. There is a little wear to the shoulders where rank badges have been updated throughout the airman's career, and signs of the match chest patch being changed - both common on working flight jackets of the 1950s. I've repairs a popped seam on the back right below, and there is some moth damage to the left cuff - I'll supply a replacement USAF set and apply them if the new owner would like me to.
Size
- Tagged a 40
- Fits modern medium - large
- Pit to pit 25"
- Shoulder to shoulder 20"
- Shoulder to cuff 25"
- Collar to hem 23"