Item Description
Original Items: Only One Lot of 11 Available. This is a fantastic opportunity to add a large amount of flight gear and US Navy deck gear. These items all vary in condition with rips, tearing and fraying but do appear to retain their original tags. It looks like they span from late WWII era to the immediate post war era.
Flying at extreme altitude in a B-17 or B-24 was physically demanding due to the un-pressurized nature of the planes and the resulting minus temperatures...sometimes as low as -50! Many casualties arose due to the effects of exposure and the fighting efficiency of the airmen could be severely compromised. As a consequence, the USAAF devoted huge R&D resources to the design and production of a range of electrically heated clothing in order to protect its airmen from the extremes of cold which they would otherwise have to endure for hours at a time. Developments in this field ran parallel with developments in the design of improved insulated flight clothing. The traditional B-3 and A-3 shearling flight jackets/trousers were warm but cumbersome. The advent of alpaca-lined gear such as the B-15/ A-11 combination were a quantum leap forward, when worn in combination with an electrically heated under-suit.
The items in this lot:
- (7) Type F-3 Heated Trousers with (20 F03 Jackets: The F-3 suits here was the culmination of this rapid technological development. The earlier F-1 blue "bunny suit" was only partially successful as it was found that the heating wires within the suit were prone to break due to the effects of repeated flexing. This was replaced by the F-2 suit, a two piece suit which could be worn in its own right, but this too proved to be unsatisfactory. The breakthrough came with the development of a new wire which could withstand multiple flexings without breaking like its predecessors.
The all-new F-3 was also a two-piece suit which comprised of a short bolero style jacket and bib/brace trousers in OD rayon interwoven with yards of heating wire. The suit was both lightweight and comfortable to wear. Integral components consisted of electrically heated F-2 leather with rayon inserts and Type Q-1 heated shoe inserts, as illustrated below.
- (2) US Navy N-1 “Deck Pants” Bibs: The full N1 system consisted of a few components: the deck jacket, a bib and brace overall, and a soft ‘helmet’ with a peaked front. These pieces were designed to be worn either individually or combined with other uniform items as needed. The bib and brace overalls were crafted in a traditional workwear fashion and heavily insulated, effectively shielding sailors from the biting wind and freezing temperatures. Due to the impracticality of overalls, a sailor couldn’t wear them 24/7. A waist-length jacket that offered warmth and comfort, on the other hand, became a second skin
A wonderful assortment of items that comes more than ready for further research and display.
- This product is available for international shipping.
- Eligible for all payments - Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AMEX, Paypal & Sezzle
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