Original Item: Only One Available. A fateful conversation inspired the creation of Johnson & Johnson’s First Aid Kit, which was released in 1888. Aboard a train heading to Colorado for vacation, company founder Robert Wood Johnson struck up a conversation with the Denver & Rio Grande Railway’s chief surgeon. The doctor explained to Johnson the dangers of railroad construction and the lack of medical supplies to treat the unique industrial injuries that were often incurred great distances from hospitals. From this exchange, Johnson saw an opportunity to both advance the field of healthcare and build his young business. And from this modern need, the commercial First Aid Kit was born.

In 1913 the U.S. Army developed a medical belt to be used on the battlefield. The belt had ten pockets which contained a tourniquet, adhesive plaster, safety pins, iodine, gauze, field dressing, bandages, ammonia, pins and diagnosis tags. A canteen hanger and ax carrier were also a part of the belt, along with various other accessories.

But during WWI, it became evident that the medical belt design was not effective. It did not withstand the trials of war. Both the packaging and the contents were considered utterly useless in the field, and the medical belt was no longer used by the U.S. military.

By World War II, medical corpsmen wore just two medical pouches at the waist, which wouldn’t interfere with mobility – a lesson learned by the failure of the medical belt. Johnson & Johnson continued evolving the first aid kit for widespread use by every individual and industry.

As technology continues to advance, the contents of the medical kit continue to advance as well. But many of the original items have stood the test of time. Although tourniquets, dressings and other items have changed throughout the years, the general concept of the medical kit remains the same – to save lives.

This kit was located inside of the A-1 Lifeboat. The A-1 lifeboat was a powered lifeboat that was made to be dropped by fixed-wing aircraft into water to aid in air-sea rescue operations. The sturdy airborne lifeboat was to be carried by a heavy bomber specially modified to handle the external load of the lifeboat. The A-1 lifeboat was intended to be dropped by parachute during Dumbo missions to land within reach of the survivors of an accident on the ocean, specifically airmen survivors of an emergency water landing.

The Contents In This Kit:

- x2 Dressing, First Aid, Individual Troop, Camouflaged, Small
- Dressing, First Aid, Field, Individual Troop, Camouflaged: “4 by 7 inches”
- Tourniquet - Scissors - Forceps Set: Only the tourniquet remains in the set.
- Bandage, Gauze, Compressed Camouflaged: 4 inches x 6 yards with 2 safety pins.
- First Aid Kit, Eye Dressing, M-2
- Ammonia Inhalant, Aromatic, Ampuls ⅓cc: All present.
- Iodine Swab, 1 ½ cc., 4s: All 4 tubes are present.
- x4 Bandage, Muslin, Triangular, Compressed Camouflaged: 37x37x52 inches.
- All Purpose Salt Water Soap
- x2 Bandage, Gauze, Roller: 2 inches x 6 yards.
- Plaster of Paris Bandage: 3 inches by 5 yards.
- Bandage, Gauze, Roller: 4 inches by 10 yards.
- Bandage Gauze, Compressed, Camouflaged: 3 inches by 6 yards.
- Bandage, Gauze, Compressed, Camouflaged: 2 inches by 6 yards.
- Roll of Medical Tape
- x2 Benzalkonium Chloride Tincture, Tinted
- Pin, Safety, Curved 1 Card: All 12 safety pins are present and without oxidation.

The inside lid of the box still retains the original “Instructions For Use, First Aid Kit, Airborne Lifeboat” sticker and is fully legible. The outside lid still retains the Airborne Lifeboat First Aid sticker but is partially detached from the surface. Almost all of the original OD green paint remains intact and all clips, buckles and handles are present and fully functional.

This is a fantastic and seldom seen first aid kit from WWII. Comes more than ready for display.

A-1 Lifeboat

The first airborne lifeboat was designed in the United Kingdom by Uffa Fox in 1943 and used from February 1943. In the United States, Andrew Higgins evaluated the Fox boat and found it too weak to survive mishap in emergency operations. In November 1943, Higgins assigned engineers from his company to make a sturdier version with two air-cooled engines. Higgins Industries, known for making landing craft (LCVP) and PT boats, produced the A-1 lifeboat, a 3,300-pound (1,500 kg), 27-foot (8 m) airborne lifeboat made of laminated mahogany with 20 waterproof internal compartments so that it would not sink if swamped or overturned. Intended to be dropped by modified Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, it was ready for production in early 1944.

The yellow-painted vessel was supplied with enough food, water and clothing for 12 survivors to last for about 20 days in the ocean. It was provided with sails kept relatively small so that inexpert operators could use them. A "Gibson Girl" survival radio was aboard with an antenna to be lifted up with a kite. Its two engines propelled the boat at 8 miles per hour (13 km/h); if just one were used the speed was 5 miles per hour (8 km/h). The effective cruising range was about 1,500 miles (2,400 km) with some 100 to 150 miles (160 to 240 km) made per day.

Higgins also produced a smaller 18-foot (5.5 m) version of the A-1 for the US Coast Guard that could be dropped by PBY Catalinas. This version was half the weight of the A-1. Unlike the larger version for the USAAF, the smaller Higgins air dropped lifeboat was designed to rescue only eight or fewer persons. While a November 1945 Popular Mechanics article states it was in USCG service there are few public references to this smaller version of the A-1.

The Higgins A-1 lifeboat was to be dropped by an SB-17 traveling at an airspeed of 120 miles per hour (190 km/h) and an altitude of about 1,500 feet (500 m). Precisely as the aircraft passed directly over the rescue target the boat was to be released. The boat dropped free for a short distance, then static lines attached to the aircraft's bomb bay catwalk drew taut, pulling out three 48-foot (15 m) parachutes of a standard U.S. Army design. Under the open parachutes, the boat took on a 50° bow-downward angle and descended at a rate of 27 feet (8.2 m) per second, or about 18 miles per hour (29 km/h). In a manner similar to Fox's airborne lifeboat, upon contact with seawater, rocket-projected lines were automatically sent out 200 yards (180 m) to each side to make it easier for survivors to reach the Higgins lifeboat. The parachutes settled into the water to create a sea anchor holding the boat steady while survivors worked to reach it. Inside the boat, the crew of the aircraft that dropped the lifeboat would have placed a map giving the approximate position of the boat and a recommended compass setting to take in order to facilitate rescue.

The first Higgins airborne lifeboat used in an emergency was dropped on March 31, 1945, in the North Sea, some 8 miles (13 km) offshore of the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog. In the evening of March 30, a PBY Catalina landed in six-foot (2 m) swells to save the pilot of a downed P-51 Mustang, but one of the Catalina's engines lost its oil in the process, rendering the flying boat unable to take off. Darkness, distance, and poor visibility prevented the Catalina men from making contact with the Mustang pilot who drifted in a raft and was eventually taken prisoner of war. The next morning, a Vickers Warwick located the Catalina and dropped a Fox-designed airborne lifeboat nearby, but after being retrieved the lifeboat began to break up from repeatedly smashing against the Catalina in the increasingly heavy seas.

Instead, the six aircrew lashed three of their own inflatable rubber dinghies together and abandoned the aircraft in ten-foot (3 m) swells. Another Warwick dropped another Fox airborne lifeboat some distance away, but its parachute didn't open and it was destroyed upon striking the water. An SB-17 flying in the 35-mile-per-hour (56 km/h), 40 °F (4 °C) breeze dropped its load—Higgins Airborne Lifeboat No. 25—from an altitude of 1,200 feet (370 m) to land about 100 feet (30 m) from the men. As it hit the water, one of the lifeboat's tethering rocket lines snaked out over the junction of two of the dinghies, making an ideal shot. The six airmen transferred to the Higgins lifeboat where they huddled down and waited for three days in the worst North Sea storm of 1945 before two more Fox airborne boats were dropped with gasoline and supplies on April 3, the lifeboats either swamping or breaking up upon hitting the water. On April 4 in continuing rough seas, the airmen were picked up by two Rescue Motor Launch (RML) boats, and the Higgins A-1 lifeboat, unable to be towed, was intentionally sunk by gunfire.

In the last eight months of World War II, Dumbo operations complemented simultaneous United States Army Air Forces heavy bombing operations against Japanese targets. On any one large-scale bombing mission carried out by Boeing B-29 Superfortresses, at least three submarines were posted along the air route, and Dumbo aircraft sent to patrol the distant waters where they searched the water's surface and listened for emergency radio transmissions from distressed aircraft. At the final bombing mission on August 14, 1945, 9 land-based Dumbos and 21 flying boats covered a surface and sub-surface force of 14 submarines and 5 rescue ships.

Idiot Clause - the contents of this kit are pre-1945 manufacture and are NOT suitable for use. They are being sold as novelty collector pieces only.