RAF Irvin Sheepskin Flying Jacket by Aviation Leathercraft

Twenty thousand feet over Kent, the summer of 1940. On the ground it’s a warm July afternoon. Up here it’s thirty below, the cockpit has no heating, and frost is creeping across the inside of the canopy. The only thing keeping the pilot warm is a sheepskin jacket with a collar he can bury his face in. That jacket had a name stitched inside it: Irvin.

Leslie Irvin, the American who made the first free-fall parachute jump, designed it in the early 1930s for the RAF. It went on to become the jacket of the Battle of Britain. When production ended, the pattern might have been lost for good. Then, in 1977, a pilot named Simon Green went looking for one and couldn’t find it. With the help of Irvin GB and the RAF Museum at Hendon he rebuilt it from the originals, and the Irvin company gave his firm, Aviation Leathercraft, the right to use the name. This jacket comes from that line, and carries the brown woven Irvin label of Aviation Leathercraft’s later production.

Nothing about the design has been softened for comfort’s sake. It’s built from many panels of heavy sheepskin, pieced together the way the wartime jackets were, and every seam is bound in dark brown cowhide. The YKK brass front zip runs on a slight angle, so it closes tight at the neck. The huge collar turns up and fastens with a D-ring throat strap. The cuffs zip shut over gloves, and the original leather belt still carries its brass buckle.

Open it up and the fleece is the thing. It’s dense and even and a warm honey colour, the shade Aviation Leathercraft is known for, and it still has all its bulk. On the outside, the hide has taken on a deep, natural surface that varies in tone from panel to panel and creases softly through the body and sleeves. It’s the character of a jacket that has been worn, not one that has been finished to look that way.

Turn the collar up on a cold morning and you’ll understand why nobody has bettered the design in ninety years.

Condition & Restoration

Excellent condition. The sheepskin is strong and supple, with natural tonal variation and soft creasing from wear, and only light marks. The shearling is dense and full throughout. The seams and cowhide binding are sound, and all the hardware works as it should: the brass zips, the D-ring throat strap and the belt buckle.

Professionally cleaned and conditioned.

Key Features

• Genuine Irvin sheepskin flying jacket by Aviation Leathercraft
• Later Aviation Leathercraft production, brown woven Irvin label
• Heavyweight sheepskin, with fleece and hide as one piece
• Classic multi-panel body with dark brown cowhide seam binding
• YKK brass front zip on the traditional angled closure
• Wide collar with D-ring throat strap
• Zipped cuffs
• Original waist belt with brass buckle
• Dense honey shearling throughout

Size & Fit

• Chest, armpit to armpit: 22" / 55.9 cm
• Shoulders, seam to seam: 20" / 50.8 cm
• Sleeve, shoulder seam to cuff: 23" / 58.4 cm
• Underarm seam to cuff: 18" / 45.7 cm
• Back length, base of collar to hem: 24" / 61 cm

Best suited to: 38" chest, regular / Size Small

Fit: The classic Irvin cut is short in the body and broad through the shoulders, and the thick fleece takes up a good deal of room insid