Original Item: Only One Available. Development of protective flight uniforms and equipment began with the advent of military aircraft in WWI and continued on into the Weimar and the Third Reich eras, resulting in three distinct one-piece combination pattern flight suits being approved before WWII and worn for the duration of the war. There were also numerous variations of privately purchased leather flight jackets, often custom made to order.

This lovely leather pilot's flight jacket is in very good condition, showing signs of moderate use during the war. It is a very high quality, German made, lightweight Luftwaffe regulation blue gray leather construction flight jacket, with a lovely purple colored velvet plush material lay down collar. It is the standard waist length, and the leather is in very good condition, showing no tearing, holes, or other major wear. We checked inside and out, and there are no maker markings or depot marks, but it definitely matches the standard Luftwaffe pattern. There is a Luftwaffe EM/NCO breast eagle sewn to the leather shell on the right breast.

The jacket features full length zippered front closure, and the slider pull tab on the zipper has a superimposed ZO marking. There is a button at the top of the collar to secure it, and there are also additional buttons on the underside to fasten it in the "up" position. The only pocket on the jacket is a vertical slash pocket on the left right next to the front closure, which gives the jacket a very streamlined look. The interior is lined with lovely light blue gray rayon, which shows moderate wear, and there is an adjustment belt inside the liner to give it a tighter fit.

The ends of the sleeves have button closed extensions on the interior, and each has a zipper closure, which are actually made using BAKELITE for both the teeth and the sliders! We have never seen zippers like this before, but they definitely are wartime, and are marked on the pull tabs by maker Ri-Ri, a known Luftwaffe supplier during the war. There is an additional button secured tab over the zippers to secure them.

The jacket is really in nice shape, with some very interesting characteristics. We did note that it has areas on the sleeves and on the interior that look to have had something removed, with the stitching marks still present, along with some repaired areas. It looks like this jacket was set up for electric heated gloves at one point, but that was later removed. It's possible that it was a post war modification, and that later the jacket was returned to the original configuration.

A lovely German Luftwaffe Pilot's Leather Flight jacket. ready to research and display!

Approximate Measurements:-
Collar to shoulder: 10.5"
Shoulder to sleeve: 25”
Shoulder to shoulder: 17.5"
Chest width: 21.5”
Waist: 21"
Front length: 27"

Regulations of July 4TH 1940 and April 24TH 1941 introduced two piece protective flight suits for fighter pilots designed to increase the wearer's mobility and not be as restrictive in the close confines of a cockpit. The two piece flight suits consist of separate jacket and pants and was commonly referred to as the "Kanalanzug", (Channel Uniform).

Officers and certain senior NCO’s were responsible for purchasing their own uniforms and were allotted a clothing allowance. Generally speaking officers bought nice quality, private purchase, uniform items but they could also choose to buy their uniforms directly from the military clothing depots. Besides the standard issue flight garments Luftwaffe personnel also utilized a wide variety of private purchase leather jackets in contradiction of regulations. These private purchase jackets appear to have been quite popular as they can be commonly seen in period photographs.