Production Update

Academy award winner Jimmy Stewart wearing his original A-2 flight jacket.

May 3, 2022

The other day I bumped into a friend I hadn’t seen in a while, and he was surprised when I mentioned the book. “You are writing a book?” 

“Yes, it’s about WWII “bomber jackets,” more properly known as A-2 flight jackets.” I suppose not everyone knows that just yet.

Good news keeps coming in about the work, so it’s time to provide an update.

We had an exhibition last fall at the Atlanta Art Institute, which came down in January, and the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach is now mounting an exhibition of select images, which will be printed 6.5 feet tall!

The test prints at that size proved to be excellent, and I’m really looking forward to attending the opening later this spring. Will deliver a lecture there too when the book is finally printed.

The production team had a Zoom meeting on April 21, which included my graphic designer (Daren Guillory), my partnership strategist (Lee Anne Patterson), and myself.

Daren showed off the progress to date, which is up to 83 pages, not counting the cover or inside spread…and he’s only part way through the European Theater images.

While those images make up the bulk of the work, we’ve settled on the book size at 12x12 inches and about 300 pages. Much more than that and it will cause the pages to pull out of the bindings.

What he’s done so far is spectacular, and I can’t wait to see the book as a whole.

A spread sheet has been created of all the jackets photographed for the project (over 150!), which has as much information as I can put in it about the manufacturer’s, the contract quantity and dates, the wearer’s name and unit, special markings, etc.

Unfortunately I didn’t pay much attention to the labels at first, so some jackets are lacking label images, and some are physically missing, but by and large, it’s a pretty complete list, and will go on the website when the book is through the printing phase.

I’m afraid we won’t make our hoped for Oshkosh deadline, but it will be out this fall, in time for Christmas orders. The printing alone is a three week process, and the indexer needs a couple of weeks to do her job. I feel creating an index is important, as other books on the subject have no index, which should allow it to be much more of a “resource.”

We’ve got to review it all and make corrections/adjustments too, so that will probably take up several weeks. Even if Daren finished the design today, it probably wouldn’t be finished in time for Oshkosh.

I’ve got a few more short narratives to write (about five), and then the task of creating the Bibliography awaits too…but it’s pretty much downhill from here.

Lastly, Lee Anne had a lovely conversation with Dr. Alex Spencer at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum last week. This was the first time they had been back in the office since COVID hit. Dr. Spencer is the Aviation Clothing Collection curator at the Museum.

Needless to say, they are trying to figure out how to resume “normal” activities there, and he mentioned that they want to redo their WWII exhibits.

The possibility was mentioned of using some of the portraits and jackets from the project for the exhibition, and a perhaps a speaking date as well.

To date, 85 books have been pre-ordered, including 30 by the 390th Memorial Museum in Tucson.

Once we reach 100, the price will go up to $129.95, which we think will be fine for a book of this size and scope.

In January, 10 jackets were photographed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, including Jimmy Stewart’s jacket, and several other notable aviators. The staff there was most helpful and enthusiastic about the work. One surprise was the fact that this was only the second time since 1968 that Jimmy Stewart’s jacket had been out of the display case. There is the possibility of a future lecture there as well.

We’ve had wonderful cooperation from several knowledgable people including my fashion historian, Laura McClaws Helms, John Mollison, a renowned aircraft illustrator and amateur historian/interviewer, and from the Director of the Command Heritage Programs at the Air Force Matériel Command, Jack Waid. 

I was just put in touch with Jack recently, and he’s searching the archives for the original drawings of the jacket that were supplied to the manufacturers. I’m told that others have spent a great deal of time in the past looking for them, but if anyone can find them, I think it’ll be Jack.

Work progresses, and we heartily Thank You for your support in bringing this work to life.

Please feel free to contact me, should you have questions.

John Slemp…Photographer