Item 2019.88 - B-15D Modified USAF Flight Jacket

Short green nylon jacket featuring two front slash pockets with snap closures and two internal slash pockets. It has a green wool ribbed collar, cuffs, and hem, showing some wear with holes. The left sleeve includes a zipped pen pocket with a leather puller. The jacket fastens with a 1952 metal Crown zip, alongside a zig-zag stitch internal placket on the right side. Faded remnants of the US Air Force wings and star insignia are visible on the left shoulder sleeve.

The jacket includes back shoulder darts and two front snap-closure tabs under the arms, designed to secure headset and microphone wiring leads and a heavy parachute harness. A nylon tab sewn onto the left chest allows the attachment of an oxygen mask retainer clip. These design features were later omitted in the MA-1 flight jacket model.

Invisible Men exhibition label:

B-15D MODIFIED USAF FLIGHT JACKET
Rolen Sportswear Co.
1954

At first glance, this may look like a classic MA-1 Flight jacket. However, the B-15D Mod flight jacket was developed into the MA-1. The ‘mod’ designation is for modified, as the jackets were recalled in the 1950s by the United States Air Force so that the original fur collar, which was a flammable fire hazard, could be replaced with jersey ribbing.

Nylon
Archive no. 2019.88

From Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive:

B15-D MOD FLIGHT JACKET
Rolen Sportswear Co.
1950s
This jacket may appear to be a vintage MA-1 flight jacket at first glance. It is, however, a B15-D Mod flight jacket, the last revision of the B15 flight jacket, which was issued from the 1940s until 1952. The designation ‘Mod’ indicates that this jacket was modified after its initial issue. In the late 1940s, the US Air Forces began a major recall of this item of uniform because the mouton (sheepskin processed to look like beaver) fur collar interfered with the hard helmet issued to air crews flying advanced jet aircraft. The B-15 jackets were returned, and the fur collar was removed and replaced with a knitted wool rib; the adaption recorded on new labels oversewn in the jackets as B-15D (MOD).
Nylon, Wool
Archive no. 2019.88