USAAF service shoes

[Miek]

Hi all,

I was looking around for some shoes to add to my WWII USAAF mannequin (to put under the dress uniform)

and I came across these shoes (see pictures),

What do you guys think, are these original WWII shoes and would an USAAF vet have worn these under his dress uniform?

I have a dress uniform of a 8th USAAF corporal.

 

Could you please check out the pictures and give me some advice?

Thank you!

 

Miek

 

 

[Miek]

more pictures:

[Miek]

more pictures:

[Miek]

last picture:

[Miek]

I also found a pair of brown officers low quarter shoes (without a toe tip, plain shoes with leather soles),

but would a corporal have worn 'officers' shoes (would he be alowed to wear them?)?

[Gregory]

Could you please check out the pictures and give me some advice?

Thank you!

 

Take a look at WWII era USAAFers' shoes at historical images and do close-up. Everything is good for such a servicemen. Observe cerefully how many civilian shoes they wore. Try to indicate two USAAFers wearing two identical pairs of their shoes...

[Gregory]

Here is theory only.

 

 

[Miek]

Hi Gregory, Thanks for the reply, that was my thought also (tons of different shoes),

I couldn't find a guideline on the internet for USAAF shoe wear (unlike the shoe wear of f.e. the infantry).

That's why I'm asking if the shoes above would be period shoes and suit the USAAF vet.

 

Do you think officers would mind corporals to wear regular officer shoes? Or were there absolutely no rules to follow?

[Gregory]

One picture is worth a thousand words.

 

Here is one small example -- one group of the AAFers but try to find the same shoes on them. They wear shoes in the styles called:

- Blücher / Blücher Oxford

- Brogue

- sewn a la moccasin

 

I could post hundreds, if not thousends of similar photos and close-up frames. You may buy any 1940s shoes for your impression. What you can see in the Roblee ad are the shoes in the styles of:

- Monk Front Buckle Oxford

- Blücher Oxford

- Jodhpur Buckle Oxford

 

 

[Gregory]

ctd

 

 

[Gregory]

I would risk a theory that even black shoes were worn by the AAF personel. Below you have the legs of two AAF pilots.

 

 

[Gregory]

Here is Maj. Claiborne (Clay) Holmes Kinnard, Jr. and his shoes. They are like modern trekking shoes.

 

 

[Johan Willaert]

Officers would indeed have worn whatever they liked and bought as long as it was acceptable...

 

However EM had less money and less slack on uniform regulations. Until 1947 the AAF was an integral part of the US Army and EM would have been issued the same shoes as men from any other branch. A Waist Gunner Sgt for example would have worn standard Service Shoes with the Service Uniform.

I'm sure there were exceptions and there are photographs illustrating them, but that would not have been the norm..

[Sabrejet]

Regulation WW2 officers' russet low quarters.

 

[Sabrejet]

WW2 period civilian style favoured by USAAF officers, of the Roblee brand as in the ad posted above.

 

[Miek]

I got inspired by a photo of USAAF aircrew on a planes' wing (see photo), one of them was wearing jump boots, so I bought recently a pair of early war para boots (dating somewhere 1941-1942, without ancle re-enforcements) and placed these under the uniform, and it looks awesome.

 

I will also post a photo of the boots as sold and a picture of the cleaned up and polished shoes under the mannequin (I used colourless shoe polish, now they are richer in colour and aren't as sturdy as before, they also smell a bit better now...).

 

I think they look great under the early war uniform...

 

 

[Miek]

photo of the boots before clean up:

[Miek]

photo of soles... in the middle (on the leather part) it's marked USA No 055

 

 

[Miek]

And the cleaned up boots under the uniform:

 

 

[Phfly1010]

I've been eyeing up the usaaf Army service mid-high above ankle but not jump boots (nine lace holes) for my pilot outfit and just cannot spring the usual $275 or more for them (at least!). I have everything but the shoes. The bill for the rest of the gear was high enough (not a reseller, just a guy hooked on thinking I would have been in the sky during WW2). Guess I will wait until the itch to complete the whole outfit from head to toe gets stronger. Was this type really made only from 1941-42 as one person selling a pair said?