Original Item: Only One Available: Olive drab rayon one-piece flight suit, as introduced in 1937 to aviators of the Imperial Japanese Navy. It has a zippered vertical front closure, with a hook and eye to its top, and a four-buttonholed fly to the left side the zipper. The latter mates with four large wooden buttons to the right side of the closure. Its lay-down collar has two smaller wooden buttons to its left underside through which a horizontal tab is attached which, when unfastened from the farther button, swivels forward to mate with an identical button to the right underside of the collar. An approximately 8cm x 6.5cm patch is sewn to the left breast. Underneath it is a roughly oval-shaped patch pocket whose vertical closure is fastened by a button identical to those found under the collar. A vertical belt loop is to each hip and the center of the back. Vertical slashes are to each hip, each with small wooden button closures, allowing access to the interior. A two-button vertical fly is beneath the zippered front closure. To the front of both thighs are pleated patch pockets with scalloped flaps, again with small wooden buttons. The cuffs of each sleeve and to the base of each leg have zipper closures with wind flaps.

All original wooden buttons are intact. Original tag is present with the interior, showing two Japanese characters. The interior is fully lined in black quilted cotton. Waist belt is missing, but displays nicely without it. Overall, shows signs of honest wear and age from storage over the decades.

A very good example for the collector of Japanese Militaria or of WWII aviation!

Approx. Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 9”
Shoulder to sleeve: 21”
Shoulder to shoulder: 17”
Chest width: 22”
Waist width: 21"
Hip width: 21”
Front length: 56"

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War.

The Japanese military acquired their first aircraft in 1910 and followed the development of air combat during World War I with great interest. They initially procured European aircraft but quickly built their own and launched themselves onto an ambitious aircraft carrier building program. They launched the world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier, Hōshō, in 1922. Afterwards they embarked on a conversion program of several excess battlecruisers and battleships into aircraft carriers. The IJN Air Service had the mission of national air defense, deep strike, naval warfare, and so forth. It retained this mission to the end.

The Japanese pilot training program was very selective and rigorous, producing a high-quality and long-serving pilot corps, who were very successful in the air during the early part of World War II in the Pacific. However, the long duration of the training program, combined with a shortage of gasoline for training, did not allow the IJN to rapidly provide qualified replacements in sufficient numbers. Moreover, Japan, unlike the U.S. or Britain, never altered its program to speed up the training process of its recruits. The resultant decrease in quantity and quality, among other factors, resulted in increasing casualties toward the end of the war.

Japanese navy aviators, like their army counterparts, preferred maneuverable aircraft, leading to lightly built but extraordinarily agile types, most famously the A6M Zero, which achieved its feats by sacrificing armor and self-sealing fuel tanks. Aircraft with armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, such as the Kawanishi N1K-J would not enter service until late 1944–1945, which was too late to have a meaningful impact. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service was equal in function to the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA).