Description
This is a well loved jacket of the
WWII Luftwaffe pilots, and known mostly to be worn by the highly regarded Luftwaffe
pilot Eric Hartmann.
Eric Hartmann, known as the "Blonde
Knight of Germany", was accredited with 352 aerial victories during his
service with the Luftwaffe in WWII (which made him the highest scoring ace of
all time).
Hartmann received many awards and decorations, and was eventually
bestowed with the highest decoration for combat in the German armed forces,
"The Knights Cross", with oak leaves, swords, and diamonds.
In most archive images of Eric Hartmann,
he can be seen wearing this leather jacket. These jackets were purchased comercially
by many Luftwaffe pilots (they were not military issued, and often referred
to as cyclist jackets).
What made them so popular with the pilots? The jackets
were lightweight, close-cut, and could be comfortably worn in the tighter confines
of the closed cockpits in fighter planes such as the Me109 and FW190.
Since
this jacket style was so suitable for many of the pilots purposes, it soon became
adopted by a wide range of military personell such as day fighters, dog fight
flyers, night flyers, observers, and stuka pilots.
In the 1930's and early 1940's, the
jacket was produced in black and brown. It is hard to tell which color was preferred
since the archive pictures are in black and white.
To put a unique touch on
this great jacket, this version of our reproduction of the "Hartmann"
jacket is in a nice brown color. The jacket is still as accurate to the original
as is feasible to be,
including the one detail that stands out- the special
shaped buckle which closes at the bottom front. In short, this is as close to
the original jacket of Eric Hartmann as one can get.
Details:
- hand picket argentinian Steerhide
- brown color
- plaid wool inner lining
- 4 outside pockets… two zippered breast pockets and two flapped lower
waist pockets
- 2 inside pockets, of which one can be closed by a zipper
- original "Ritsch" zippers
- true detailed reproduction of the front buckle
- sizes: S - 4XL (other sizes on request)
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