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Original German Occupation made ‘Euro Tanker’ Jacket
SOLD
Code: 50598
A beautiful and rare 1940s German made tanker jacket, sometimes referred to as the 'Euro Tanker'.
At the end of the Second World War and during the subsequent occupation of Germany items such as this jacket were made on a local level using what materials were available at the time. Inevitably this meant a lot of materials from the various fighting forces which were brought together to create really interesting versions of issue items, and this jacket is no exception!
The design of the jacket closely follows that of the second pattern US Army tankers jacket featuring to slash pockets, knitted cuffs, collar and waistband and epaulettes. The outer is a green cotton like those made for the American Forces and the inner is made from a US Army OD Green blanket. It starts to get much more interesting though - the inside pocket is lined with German Army rayon lining material, the sleeves are lined with a German ticking material and all the zips are German 'Zipp' zippers. The inside has also had the letters 'JD' embroidered inside which is a nice period feature. The rear of the jacket features an 'action back' which is created by a pleat down each side and the lefthand sleeve features a small pocket, similar to those found on the B-15 flying jacket but positioned lower on the arm.
Like all tanker jackets, this is losely cut and will fit a number of sizes from a 36-38 chest, and possibly more. The waist will fit around 1 30-32" and again posssibly more.
The overall condition of the jacket is great as can be seen from the photographs. It doesn't appear to have seen to much wear as there are no visible signs of this. The zippers all work well but there is some fraying towards the bottom of the main zipper meaning that you need to take care when zipping the jacket up.
This is a very rare jacket and would make an excellent addition to any vintage clothing collection without a shadow of a doubt. The immediate post-war period is very interesting and very few original items like this which are so authentic survive today.
