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)
You do not know your size, here is a table where you can classify your size.
Your chest circumference in cm | Your recommended size |
90-95 cm | S |
95-100 cm | M |
100-105 cm | L |
105-110 cm | XL |
110 - 115 cm | XXL |
115-120 cm | XXXL |
120-125 cm | XXXXL |
125-130 cm | 5XL |
130-135 cm | 6XL |
Over 135 = please contact customer service :-)
Very...
Very well made jacket.
I feel sad because you see I'm 44 years old and I have a feeling this jacket will really look good with use and age I wish I bought it at 24!
Very happy with it
I hope my son will wear it one day..........
Carlos Martins
Carlos Martins
Very happy customer ))
The only thing that wasn't top-notch is the finishing of the brass buckles. They are custom made (which is good) but very crudely cast and crafted, actually there were some pointy edges that I had to file away to prevent them scratching the inside of the sleeves. Nothing to worry about, 5 minutes of filing with a small file and the problem was gone. All in all a very good product, faithful to what you see in the pictures and sold at a very good price. Very recommended!