The Story Behind Callum Turner’s Striking ‘Masters of the Air’ Jacket—and Where to Buy It
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There’s no shortage of shearling in Masters of the Air, the epic new Apple TV+ series that follows the exploits of the U.S. Air Force’s 100th Bomb Group, known as the Bloody Hundredth, during WWII. But amid the hundreds of brown bombers that appear on-screen, one unicorn steals the show: an off-white Type B-3 sheepskin jacket worn by Callum Turner in his role as Major John C. “Bucky” Egan.
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It’s easy to imagine that the distinct outerwear is a Hollywood contrivance, concocted to distinguish a lead character. But Egan’s jacket is not only fantastic—it’s historic.
The jacket used in the production (yours for £950, or about $1,200—so long as you’re willing to wait the 8 to 10 weeks it takes to make) was made by Aero Leathers, a family-owned manufacturer in Scotland. The company specializes in military reproductions and had previously outfitted such films as Captain America and Empire of the Sun. According to Aero Leathers director Denny Calder, early prototypes of the B-3 jacket were made in 1937 from unsealed sheepskin that retained its natural, off-white color. But with experience, flyers realized that the jacket needed a protective coating to withstand the condensation present at high altitudes. And on an aesthetic level, the lightly colored jackets started looking grubby quickly.
To solve both issues, the Air Force began applying a polyacrylic coating to the jackets, making them more resistant to weather and dirt. But Egan bucked the trend and decided to keep his worn-in white jacket even after the dark brown B-3s were introduced in 1942.
MASTERS OF THE AIR JACKET
Major John C Egan's Type B-3
“He got the mickey taken out of him for keeping the white one,” Calder tells Robb Report. “They were saying he was making more of a target of himself, but he just shrugged it off and said he wanted something different.”
In 2021, a team working under Masters of the Air costume designer Colleen Atwood approached Aero to produce a white B-3. After reviewing photos of a jacket that had been loaned to the costume department, Calder recognized it as the same rare model that several clients had brought in for restorations over the years, which he had subsequently photographed. Armed with these references and intel from internet message boards focused on vintage military jackets, Aero made 10 white B-3s to be worn by Callum Turner.
While the white B-3s made by Aero—which you can now buy on its website—are made from an untreated sheepskin white as snow, the iterations worn by Turner onscreen appear a shade darker. That’s because the jackets supplied by Aero were distressed by the costume department, to reflect the wear that Egan’s B-3 would have at various points in the series. Civilian wearers of Aero’s made-to-order model may encounter a similar effect—if on a less dramatic timeline—on both the jacket’s untreated sheepskin body and unfinished horsehide leather trim.
Those looking to model the style of Masters of the Air more generally have no shortage of options. The series’ chief outfitter was Eastman Leather Clothing, a U.K.-based maker that produced over 400 leather and sheepskin jackets for the production. According to its founder, Gary Eastman, the business attired nearly every other character in the series, producing the brown B-3 jackets worn by Austin Butler, Barry Keoghan, and others, as well as the Type A-2 horsehide and Type B-10 cotton jackets that also feature throughout the series. In addition, Eastman also produces an iteration of the off-white 1937 B-3.
As the demonstrates, it requires a particular kind of courage to take to the skies during the primitive, early days of military aviation—and to rock an off-white shearling jacket while doing so. (“The white one is great, but I think not everyone is brave enough to wear it,” Calder says.) But should you wish to incorporate such a look into your winter wardrobe, you’ve got options.
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