Vintage Sheepskin Shearling Flying Bomber Jacket RAF Irvin Pattern - Made in England

Stand the collar up on this jacket and it reaches your ears, then buckles shut across the throat with a short leather strap. Turn it down and it falls open into broad lapels of honey fleece. Run your hand down the front and you feel how dense the skin is. The leather and the wool are one piece, about as thick as a good blanket. This is a British-made RAF Irvin from the 1990s, by Blackbird Leather, and it’s a serious jacket.

The design is older than the jacket by more than half a century. Leslie Irvin’s real business was parachutes. Anyone who bailed out and survived because of one was sent a small gold caterpillar pin, and by the end of the Second World War more than 34,000 airmen had earned one. But parachutes only mattered once things had gone wrong. Before that, the enemy every crew faced was the cold. Bomber cabins weren’t insulated, and above 25,000 feet the air could fall to fifty below. So Irvin made a jacket from sheepskin, the warmest material available, with the leather outside and the wool turned in against the body. The RAF made it the main flying jacket for most of the war. Orders came in so quickly that other workshops were brought in to help, and that’s why no two wartime Irvins are quite alike.

Blackbird kept to that pattern almost seam for seam. The jacket is built in panels, divided by raised, double-stitched seams that run across the chest, along the back yoke, down the spine and diagonally round the sleeves. Those seams are there to take the strain of a thick, stiff hide, and they give the Irvin its unmistakable look. Look closely and you’ll see each seam is lapped and topstitched twice, which is slow work and the reason a jacket like this lasts.

Every detail has a job. The forearms zip open so the sleeves can be closed over gloves, and the deep fleece cuffs turn back over the wrist. The two hand pockets are cut at an angle and edged with leather welts, so they’re easy to reach while seated. The belt is a proper piece of leatherwork, with rows of stitching along both edges, brass eyelets, a brass buckle and a pointed tip held in a leather keeper. Pull it tight and the wind can’t get under the hem. Under each arm sits a small triangular panel set with eight metal eyelets. It’s an easy detail to miss, and it lets out the heat that would otherwise build up inside a jacket this warm. Inside the collar, a small chain lets it hang properly instead of stretching on a hook.

The leather is a dark brown, and it has aged nicely. There’s a low shine across the shoulders and back where it has been handled most, soft creasing at the elbows and through the sleeves, and a grain that has loosened just enough to show it has been worn. The fleece is thick enough to sink your fingers into and clean from collar to hem, with no thin patches and no matting.

Jackets like this are getting harder to find. British sheepskin garment making has shrunk dramatically since the 1990s, and much of the Irvin-style jacket market has moved to lighter, cheaper versions made abroad. A full-weight sheepskin Irvin, made in the UK and still in this condition three decades on, is something you see less and less often.

The original label is still sewn into the lower half of the jacket: a blue tag with a blackbird in flight, reading “Quality Sheepskin Leather Garments, Made in U.K.”, size 48 L.

Condition & Restoration

Excellent vintage condition. The jacket has been specialist cleaned and conditioned in-house.

The sheepskin is strong and supple, with natural creasing to the sleeves and body and a soft sheen from wear. The seams are sound throughout, with no cracking or panel weakness.

The fleece is thick and even across the body, sleeves and collar. Every zip has been refurbished in the workshop. They’ve been cleaned, polished and waxed, and they all run smoothly. The throat strap, belt and brass buckle are original and in good order.

Key Features

• Blackbird Leather RAF Irvin pattern flying jacket, made in the UK
• Circa 1990s
• Original Blackbird label, size 48 L
• Full-weight brown sheepskin, worn fleece-side in
• Thick honey-coloured fleece
• Panelled construction with raised, double-stitched seams
• High shearling collar with leather throat strap
• Full leather belt with brass eyelets and buckle
• Zipped forearms and turn-back fleece cuffs
• Underarm ventilation panels with metal eyelets
• Two angled hand pockets with leather welts
• Hanging chain inside the collar
• All zips refurbished: cleaned, polished and waxed

Garment Measurements, Laid Flat

• Chest, armpit to armpit: 26" / 66 cm
• Shoulders, seam to seam: 24" / 61 cm
• Sleeve, shoulder seam to cuff: 26" / 66 cm
• Underarm seam to cuff: 22" / 56 cm
• Back length, base of collar to hem: 26" / 66 cm

Best suited to: 48" chest, long, as stated on the label

Fit: A classic Irvin cut. It’s broad through the chest and shoulders to allow for the thickness of the sheepskin, and short in the body so it sits at the waist with the belt fastened. Please compare the measurements above with a jacket you already own.