The History of the Aviator Jacket
When the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk in 1903, their open-cockpit aircraft exposed pilots to wind, rain, and temperatures that dropped approximately two degrees Celsius for every three hundred metres of altitude gained. By the First World War, military pilots flying at altitudes above three thousand metres faced minus-thirty-degree conditions in open cockpits, creating an urgent need for specialised flight clothing.
The first standardised flight jacket was the Royal Flying Corps' 1915 leather flying coat, a long, fur-lined garment that resembled a motoring duster. By 1917, both the RFC and the US Army Signal Corps had developed shorter, waist-length jackets that allowed greater mobility in the cramped cockpits of Sopwith Camels and SPAD fighters.
The Type A-2, adopted by the US Army Air Corps in 1931, established the template that defines the aviator jacket to this day: horsehide or goatskin shell, knit wool waistband and cuffs, front zipper closure, two flap pockets, and a shirt-style collar. Manufactured by contractors including Rough Wear and Aero Leather, the A-2 remained standard issue through 1943.
The B-3 shearling bomber jacket addressed the extreme cold encountered at high-altitude bombing missions. Its sheepskin construction with the wool worn inward provided insulation sufficient for the minus-fifty-degree temperatures inside B-17 waist gunner positions over occupied Europe. The B-3's distinctive bulk and shearling collar remain instantly recognisable in contemporary fashion reproductions.
Post-war surplus flooding civilian markets made flight jackets affordable fashion items. The MA-1 nylon bomber, developed in 1949 for the jet age's enclosed cockpits, transitioned from military surplus stores to punk, hip-hop, and streetwear through successive subcultural adoptions — each generation discovering the jacket anew and claiming it as their own.
Today, Schott NYC produces faithful reproductions of the original A-2 and B-3 specifications alongside the MA-1 that the company has manufactured continuously since receiving the original military contract (https://www.schottnyc.com). Their Perfecto motorcycle jacket, while technically not an aviator style, shares the same heritage of functional leather outerwear designed for speed and exposure.
The aviator jacket endures because it solves a problem — protection from cold and wind at speed — with an elegance that transcends its utilitarian origins. Whether in horsehide or nylon, shearling or quilted satin, the proportions established in open cockpits over a century ago remain among the most flattering ever designed for the male torso.
