USAAF A-4 flight suit and officer shoe's
Article about: Hello All, On another forum I have been discussing what flight gear they are wearing in the photo I have of my Uncle Joe and my friend Phil posing in front of the B-17 Damned Yankee II. So I
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Congratulations on the pickups, I can't wait to see the displays! Just wondering was this worn during the summer as I'm only really familiar with the heavy leather flight suits.
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Politefaun
Congratulations on the pickups, I can't wait to see the displays! Just wondering was this worn during the summer as I'm only really familiar with the heavy leather flight suits.
Basically worn when not cold
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Phil would these be worn over a class A dress set or other? Clark Gable club now Mate
Last edited by reneblacky; 05-31-2020 at 08:00 AM.
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They often were worn over Class-A, early on, but crews soon didn’t bother with the tunic so much; sticking with wool shirt and a jumper.. sometimes with the bunny suit over the top.
You even see the bunny suit worn over the Class-A or flight suit occasionally (!)
A real mix & match..
Love the little wear-indicators on those shoes.. fabulous.
I take a UK 8/European 42!
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Stephen,
When I spoke to Phil about what he wore in that picture,(March 19th 1944) He said he put on longjohn underwear, then his full class A unform, Then the electrical heated Blue Bunny suit then his coverall. This is the same setup he wore when they were shot down on April 13th 1944. So just not in the summer.
On the other site it was said that my uncle is probably wore the same thing Phil did, Either coveralls or the A-4 flight suit under the A-2 leather jacket. Since I'm doing Phil's display with coveralls, I went with the A-4 for my uncle. Its hard to make it out in the photo, But Phil is clearly wearing M1938 coveralls in it.
I spoke with Phil on Memorial day and asked if he remembered what my uncle wore under the A-2 jacket. He looked at his pic, Which is this B&W one he sent me and said "We wore a hodge podge of uniforms at that time frame" and he could not remember what my uncle was wearing under that jacket. That pic is 75 years ago, I don't think I could tell you what my wife wore under her jacket last year!!LOL!!! But 10 years ago when I first spoke with Phil about this photo and their time together, He was very sharp and knew every detail about what he wore and even the conversations he had with my uncle. I should have asked about my uncle's flight gear then, But just went with what I could see in the pic. I recorded our converstion that lasted over an hour. Phil will be 100 in September!
I've posted this pic before ,but here is the B&W and the colorized version that the detail of the blue bunny suit was pointed out and corrected.
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Now here is the kicker, When I was talking to Phil about this ,He said "Well when it got cold, I would put on a leather jacket". So I asked what kind?
He said like what Fioretti is wearing. (The Pilot/ Back row center) So it looks like sometime in the future when I get deeper into this rabbit hole, I'll be picking up some leather gear!!!!
In that conversation on the other site(USMF). Which started because I was asking if B-1 trouser would be correct for a display, They are not!! This Photo was posted to show what is being worn in March of 1944.
A-2 jacket with A-4 flightsuit. This is what I'll do for my Uncle's display setup.
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This guy even looks a little like my Uncle with this Stache!!
Semper Fi
Phil
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Phil, don't want to crash your thread, but can you identify the type of flight suit these guys are wearing in this photo?
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