Item Description
Original Item: Only One Available. Now this is a spectacular grouping! This helmet and flight suit grouping belonged to career pilot Colonel LaVerne Griffin of Wisconsin. Colonel Griffin was actually inducted into the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame some time in 2012.
As operations officer, Griffin chose the pilots, planned, and led the flights over Siberia. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for each mission, then ordered to tell no one about them. It was an order he and his men obeyed for another fifty years.
LaVerne Griffin was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Wyocena, Wisconsin. He moved to Portage for high school, then enlisted in the United States Army Air Force in 1946. He completed pilot training and began his career as a reconnaissance pilot with the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron in 1948. He developed into one of the Air Force’s premier reconnaissance pilots in Korea, in Vietnam—where he flew 152 missions—and in Europe.
While in the military he flew the C-45, C-47, C-54, RF-80, F-84, RF-84F, RF-86, F2H-2P Banshee, and the RF-4c Phantom. He reached the ultimate for an Air Force officer in the early 1970s when he was assigned command of 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing in Alconbury, England.
The items in this lot:
- HBU-22/P Personalized Helmet: At the end of the 50's the HGU series introduced a new generation of flight helmets characterized by the external visor covered with a protective shield. Improvement of the communication system, internal liner and oxygen mask retainers was also made and in some versions the dual dark and transparent visors system was installed. These types of helmets were the USAF standard jet aircraft headgears during the 60's through the 70's. During the early 60's flight tests have been performed to verify the suitability of a full face "Clam Shell" helmet designed to eliminate the oxygen mask and to give better protection during ejection. In the middle 1970 a number of USAF pilots start to be equipped with custom fit HGU-2A/P based helmets procured from the supplier company like the Protection Inc. and Sierra, and applied on squadron level basis. These helmet based on modified HGU-22/P shell were normally updated with more confortable foam liner, new edgeroll and new visor cover. The holes previously required by the old headset fixation screw and adjustment drawstrings were not anymore used.
The helmet itself is in fantastic, service used condition with period added decals. The stickers present on the visor cover is for the 1st Tactical Recon Squadron, ?0th Tac Recon Sq and the 32nd Tac Recon Squadron as well as a small name sticker that reads GRIFFIN.
- 11th Tactical Recon Squadron Ball Cap: The 11th Attack Squadron is a United States Air Force unit assigned to the 432d Wing Air Combat Command at Creech Air Force Base near Indian Springs, Nevada. It flies General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper Unmanned aerial vehicles. In 1995 the 11th became the first Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) squadron in the Air Force.
- CWU-27/P Flying Coveralls: The CWU 27/P suit is made from a material called Nomex that is fireproof which provides aircrew with the optimal protection in case of fires or crashes. The numerous pockets on a flight suit are useful in holding glasses, pens, gloves, and notebooks. Lastly, the Nomex flight suit protects the crews’ uniform worn underneath from grease stains and dirt.
The flight suit does show use and wear but does not have any extensive damage present.
Approximate Measurements: 42R
- Thai Made Blue Flight Suit: The flight suit is in wonderful condition and is presented without any extensive damage.
Approximate Measurements
Collar to shoulder: 10"
Shoulder to sleeve: 9”
Shoulder to shoulder: 17”
Chest width: 22"
Waist width: 18"
Front length: 62"
A fantastic grouping ready for further research and display .
LaVerne H. Griffin
LaVerne “Griff” Griffin is an unsung hero of the Cold War. In the dark days of the free world’s struggle to contain Soviet communism, Griffin led pilots of the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron on three top secret over flights of Soviet air bases in far eastern Siberia. The photos they made with their specially equipped F-86F jets informed American defense strategists that the Tu-4 bombers in the photos were not capable of delivering nuclear bombs to targets in South Korea, Japan, or the United States. Detection by the Soviets would spark a crisis in a very tense international environment, but the intelligence gathered made the United States a little bit more secure.
As operations officer, Griffin chose the pilots, planned, and led the flights over Siberia. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for each mission, then ordered to tell no one about them. It was an order he and his men obeyed for another fifty years.
LaVerne Griffin was born in Milwaukee and grew up in Wyocena, Wisconsin. He moved to Portage for high school, then enlisted in the United States Army Air Force in 1946. He completed pilot training and began his career as a reconnaissance pilot with the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron in 1948. He developed into one of the Air Force’s premier reconnaissance pilots in Korea, in Vietnam—where he flew 152 missions—and in Europe.
While in the military he flew the C-45, C-47, C-54, RF-80, F-84, RF-84F, RF-86, F2H-2P Banshee, and the RF-4c Phantom. He reached the ultimate for an Air Force officer in the early 1970s when he was assigned command of 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing in Alconbury, England.
He left the Air Force in 1974, came home to Portage, and jumped into the local aviation community. He led his local EAA chapter, served on the Portage Airport Commission, and helped develop and maintain Gilbert Field at Rio.
He has owned Cessna, Piper, Citabria, Pitts, Cassutt, Beech, and Meyers aircraft, but it was in a borrowed Stearman that he used the aerobatic skills he learned in the Air Force and honed over Wisconsin to win the national Stearman Aerobatics Championship in 1993.
Recognizing his 6,000 hours logged in the Air Force and his additional 3,000 hours as a civilian, the FAA awarded Griff the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for fifty years of accident-free flying in 2010—an honor well-deserved for a hero no longer unsung.
- This product is available for international shipping.
- Eligible for all payments - Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AMEX, Paypal & Sezzle
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
