What Is a Bomber Jacket?

Where does the bomber jacket come from?

The bomber jacket comes from the flying jackets issued to United States military aircrew from the late 1920s onwards. MoMu, the fashion museum in Antwerp, traces it to the US Army’s first aviator’s jacket, made in 1927. Later versions were made in leather, cotton and nylon.

The A-2: leather, a zip and knitted bands

The Type A-2 is the first model the sources date precisely. According to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, the US Army Air Corps ordered an update of the Type A-1 flight jacket in 1931. The resulting A-2 swapped the A-1’s front buttons for a zip and its knit collar for a leather one. Air Force Magazine’s 1993 history gives a slightly earlier start: it says the first A-2 was wear-tested in September 1930 and production was officially approved on 9 May 1931.

Horsehide was the specified leather, and the A-2 had knitted cuffs and a knitted waistband. The Smithsonian’s example belonged to a navigator on a B-26 Marauder bomber at Midway in June 1942. That year General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold cancelled the A-2 order. Its replacement, the B-10, was made of olive-drab cotton twill with a fur collar, according to the same 1993 history.

The MA-1: nylon and the orange lining

The nylon MA-1 is dated differently by different sources. Dazed says the US Air Force first designed it “around 1949”. MoMu says a tricot (knitted) collar replaced the original fur collar from 1953, so pilots in helmets could turn their heads. In MoMu’s account the orange lining and “MA-1” designation then followed in the early 1960s.

Both MoMu and Dazed explain the orange lining as a rescue aid. MoMu says a pilot who had crashed could turn the jacket inside out to be found more easily.

From surplus store to runway

MoMu says MA-1 production increased during the Vietnam War and the jackets reached army surplus stores. There they were taken up by subcultures ranging from hippies, skinheads and punks to the LGBTQ+ community and gabbers. Dazed links the MA-1 to the second wave of skinheads in the late 1970s. From the late 1990s, designers including Issey Miyake and Helmut Lang reinterpreted it, according to MoMu. That path from issue kit to street clothing is the same one traced by military-inspired fashion more widely.

What makes a bomber jacket a bomber jacket?

A bomber jacket is defined by three features together: it stops at the waist, it closes with a front zip, and its cuffs and waistband are knitted. Merriam-Webster’s definition centres on the zip and the knitted bands: “a zippered usually leather jacket with front pockets and knitted cuffs and waistband”. The rib knit band is what gives the jacket its blouson shape, with the body gathered in at the hem rather than hanging straight.

Collar, pockets and lining vary by model. The Smithsonian’s A-2 has a stand-and-fall collar with snaps and two front flap pockets. The MA-1 has a knitted collar and, according to Dazed, a pen pocket on the sleeve.

What are the main types of bomber jacket?

The main types are the leather A-2, the cotton B-10 and the nylon MA-1, plus the many fashion versions cut from other cloths.

How do you tell a well-made bomber jacket?

A well-made bomber jacket has a flat, unpuckered zip, straight topstitching with secured ends and evenly joined ribbing. On a textile bomber sold in the US, the label must also list the shell and any lining or filling added for warmth.

Read the label section by section

Under US rules, a lining, interlining, filling or padding added for warmth needs its fibre content disclosed as a separate section. That is the FTC labelling guide’s rule. A padded bomber should therefore read like “Shell: 100% Nylon / Lining: 100% Polyester”, with the filling listed too. Collars, cuffs and waist or wrist bands count as trim and are exempt from fibre disclosure, so the label may say nothing about the ribbing. Leather goods sit outside these textile rules, so for a leather bomber ask the maker which hide is used.

Check the zip

Close the jacket and look down the front. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension’s clothing quality standards say a zip should lie smooth “without stretching or puckering of the fabric”. Its stitches should be even and evenly spaced from the edge. The zip’s weight should suit the fabric: light with light, heavy with heavy. A lightweight zip on a heavy leather shell is a red flag. Run the slider up and down once; thread ends should be hidden so they cannot catch in the teeth.

Check the seams and topstitching

Under the same standards, topstitching should be a straight line or smooth curve with its ends secured on the wrong side. Seams should be smooth, even in width and free of puckers inside and out. On a bomber, look along the shoulder, the pocket edges and the seams where the ribbing joins the body. The standards also call for reinforcement stitches at points of stress; pocket corners are the place to look.

Check the ribbing and the fit

Turn back a cuff and look at the join: the knitted band should be stitched evenly all round, with no pleats or skipped stitches. Put the jacket on with the zip done up. The waistband should sit at your waist and the cuffs at your wrists. If the band rides up over the hips or the cuffs end mid-forearm, the proportions are wrong for you.

Red flags

• Fabric rippling beside the zip when it is closed.
• Wavy topstitching or loose thread ends at pocket corners.
• A label giving one fibre for the whole of a padded jacket, with no separate section for the filling.
• Ribbing attached with uneven or puckered stitching.

How do you wear a bomber jacket?

Wear a bomber jacket as a short, casual outer layer whose rib hem lands at the natural waist, over clothes that do not hang far below it.

• Keep the layers short. A shirt or knit that stops near the hip lets the waistband do its work; a long hem sticking out below the rib band breaks the shape.
• Balance the volume. The gathered hem makes the body blouse out, so straight or slim trousers give a clean line. Wide trousers work best with a cropped, close-fitting bomber.
• Match the cloth to the occasion. A nylon MA-1 reads as streetwear; a leather bomber can stand in for a blazer in a casual office.