Original Item. Only One Available. The Spruce Production Division was a unit of the United States Army established in 1917 to produce high-quality Sitka spruce timber and other wood products needed to make aircraft for the United States' efforts in World War I. The division was part of the Army Signal Corps's Aviation Section. Its headquarters were in Portland, Oregon, and its main operations center was at Vancouver Barracks in Vancouver, Washington. Workers in the division were members of the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, a union specifically established to support the army's wood production operations.

This is a lovely uniform jacket named to a W. Burke in the 404th Aero Squadron. The 404th was formed as an Aero Construction squadron, but in July 1918, the 404th, along with the 401st-461st, were converted into Spruce Squadrons.

The jacket has US & Aviation collar discs, one stateside service chevron on the left sleeve, and a gorgeous Enlisted 404th Aero Squadron patch on his left sleeve. The jacket has some staining, likely from service. A very nice example, ready for further research and display.

Approximate Measurements:-
Collar to shoulder: 10.5"
Shoulder to sleeve: 23”
Shoulder to shoulder: 17"
Chest width: 19”
Waist: 16"
Hip: 22"
Front length: 31"

From the beginning of World War I, wood products were in great demand for war production. Sitka spruce was the most important tree species because its combination of lightness, strength, and resiliency was ideal for aircraft production. In addition, its long, tough fibers did not splinter when struck by bullets. Even before the United States entered the war, the Pacific Northwest had become the main supplier of spruce for aircraft production in Great Britain, France, and Italy. Northwest lumber mills, however, were never able to meet Europe's demand for spruce. The government wanted a monthly production of 10 million board feet (24,000 m3) of spruce, but before the division was activated, only 2 million board feet (4,700 m3) were produced monthly.

When the United States entered the war in 1917, General John J. Pershing sent Brice P. Disque, a former army captain, to the Pacific Northwest to determine if local labor issues within the forest products industry could be quickly resolved. Disque met with mill owners and representatives of the Industrial Workers of the World, the union that was trying to organize loggers and sawmill workers in the Pacific Northwest. After studying the situation for several months, Disque determined that the long-standing labor management dispute could not be resolved without direct intervention by the army. Based on Disque's report, the United States Army Signal Corps was given the job of reorganizing the forest products industry in the Pacific Northwest to support United States war production.

On 29 September 1917, Disque was brought back into the army as a lieutenant colonel and was assigned to develop plans for an army unit to produce wood products for the war effort. On 6 November, Disque was promoted to colonel and given command of the newly formed Spruce Production Division, a part of the United States Army Signal Corps. The headquarters of the new unit were in Downtown Portland, which was "the centre of the great spruce area of the Pacific Northwest," while the division's induction, training, and operations center was established at Vancouver Barracks across the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, where it employed about 19,000 soldiers.