Jacket, Mess Dress, Summer, M-1958: Officer's, US Air Force

Short-waisted double-breasted jacket of white lightweight fabric, featuring a deep shawl collar with narrow lapels, a pair of loops to each shoulder for the attachment of epaulettes, two decorative rows of three buttons to the front, a front fastening of two chain-linked buttons and plain cuffs decorated with off-white officer-grade mohair braid. All external buttons are of the oxidised silver USAF pattern. Internally, the jacket is fully lined in white viscose fabric and has a vertical slash pocket to the right side.

The Mess Dress uniform was introduced for wear by officers and warrant officers of the United States Air Force in 1958, at first optional but made compulsory in July 1963. The jacket came in both winter and summer varieties, black and white respectively, and in both varieties was worn with a white shirt, black bow tie, black trousers with a black stripe on either side, a black silk cummerbund, black leather shoes and a black peaked cap which could be worn with a white cover for the summer wear. These two styles of Mess Dress were worn until 1981, when an all-season Mess Dress uniform was introduced, almost identical in cut but dark blue in colour.

Donald S Lopez Sr (15 July 1923 – 3 March 2008) was a U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force fighter and test pilot and until his death the deputy director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Lopez had already learned to fly while at college, and volunteered to join the Army Air Force in early 1942. After graduating and earning his Pilot's wing badge, Second Lieutenant Lopez saw early combat in China with the 23rd Fighter Group, later shooting down five Japanese fighters (four in a P-40, and one in a P-51). Returning to the United States in 1945, he flew as a test pilot, mainly in early jet fighters, at Eglin Field (Florida). In 1948 he married Glindel Barron, sister of Florida State Senator Dempsey Barron. Following this assignment he served two tours in the Pentagon, earned a B.S. and M.S. in aeronautical engineering, and was an associate professor of thermodynamics at the United States Air Force Academy. Lopez retired from the USAF in 1964 and spent eight years in engineering before joining the staff of the National Air and Space Museum. His publications include two personal memoirs: 'Into the Teeth of the Tiger' (Smithsonian, 1997, ISBN 1-56098-752-9), and 'Fighter Pilot's Heaven': Flight Testing the Early Jets (Smithsonian, 2001, ISBN 1-56098-916-5).

Hand Tailored by CAREY Baltimore