In Tribute to my Uncle Joe the B17 Gunners headgear

**AZPhil** · 01-03-2015, 01:07 AM

Hello Gent's
First off after seeing some of your great collections posted, I feel like I'm walking into Fort Knox bragging about a nuggets I have. Here is my humble addition.

My Uncle flew with the 8th AF 384th Bomb Group, 545th Bomb Squadron . He was a tailgunner on the B17 "Mrs Geezil". He was shot down on April 13th 1944 on a mission to Schweinfurt and captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW in Stalag 17B. He passed in 1972 and never spoke about those times. To my great fortune the left waist gunner is still alive and he lives up in Portland. I speak with Phil every month or so. I asked Phil what were they wearing the day the were shot down and this what he said they wore that day. I have put this together to Honors these Men. The flight helmet is a AN H 15, the O2 mask is a A14 dated 9/44, the goggles are a 1065 model and the throat mic is the T30 model.