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questions about USAAF flight gear


airborneaviator
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airborneaviator

Hey guys I'm new to the forum and relatively new to USAAF collecting

 

So first I would like to know what flight trousers are more appropriate A3 or B1 ? I've seen both in pictures and was wondering what was more correct.

Also, I would like to know how hard to find are AN6513 chutes and QAC harnesses? and are there any repros out there?

And last what is the going price of the f1 heated suits?

 

Thanks guys

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Firstly, welcome to the forum. Always nice to meet another AAF collector.

 

For early war (sheepskin period) the A3 & A5 Trousers were flight crew issue along with either a B3 jacket or B6 jacket respectively. The B1 trousers were actually issued to ground crews along with a D1 jacket. That being said many ground crews and flight crews would trade each other equipment to suit their personal tastes. So you actually will find a lot of mismatching of said items.

 

The harnesses and chutes for the AN613 and QAC are not extremely rare but do fetch a fair price on the market. As with most collectables there is a range of more commonly seen chutes and harnesses to rare and uber expensive variants. There are a fair number of reproductions of the QAC "red group" and A3 "yellow group" harnesses and even chute packs. The ones I commonly see are reproductions using deadstock webbing and vintage hardware that have been amalgamated into a harness (great for the re enactor). Watch for 'em and seek to find the makers marks on anything you purchase. As with anything, do your research and know what you are buying.

 

Lastly the F1 blue bunny suit is a coveted and rare item to find in any shape. On the low end I have seen really beat up examples sell for $200- $300. A pristine example may fetch up to 4-5 times that. But when they come up to market the are usually fought over.

 

Cheers

Rob

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airborneaviator

thank you for replying It does seem that there are a lot more B1s than A3s ( unless im not looking at the right time) so I may end up going for the b1s

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You could surely start by posting in the wanted section here on the forum. I see em come up fairly frequently on ebay as well.

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A3 pants ! that would be a good find especially if all the zips work , and are original as well ! i havnt a pair of those yet , sill looking for a decent pair !!!

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  • 4 weeks later...
aviationphotog

I actually stumbled across an incorrectly marked pair of A-3 AAF pants on ebay. Guy put them in the Vietnam category... scored them for $25. Pristine condition with little to no cracking and all zippers work! Crazy awesome find.

Are there any places with replica A-6 boots out there? I've found places with replica A-8Bs... and flight jackets are easy to come by. Pants you can get relatively easy, even if it's a B-1 pair... but the A-6 boots pop up only occasionally on ebay and often at smaller sizes. There's a few on there right now, but most are size 8-9. So I was curious if there is or ever was a place to get replica A-6 boots...

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aviationphotog

Oh! And forgot to ask... when having the choice between getting a A-3 Parachute harness or an AN6513 harness... which is the better choice when it comes to these stipulations:
1) I'm looking for whichever one might have been used by both pilots and crew.
2) One that was used longer throughout the war so it'd work with an early B-3 Jacket impression and B-15A impression.

I've scoured through my many books and it seems like the parachute harnesses really were just a random assortment. While I realize the difference between red and yellow groups in theory, and the main differences between the two harnesses, I've seen whole crews wearing the same harness, some mix and matched, some wearing RAF QAC, etc. But between the AN6513 and A-3... which would be a more compatible choice? Thanks!

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Probably with a B15A impression you would probably need a later type harness ?, but saying that there are photos of crewmembers wearing a real mix match of items , maybe just what they could get hold of, or just what was issued to them !

 

As you will know there was a lot of USAAF aircrew wearing RAF issue items Goggles, boots , flying helmets etc

 

A good reference book on the subject would be " FLIGHT GEAR 1942 -1945 " written by our forum member "BLUELEADER" it holds some fantastic photos of many different set ups , so should be of a great help !!

 

LB

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I would imagine that if you're going for a early and late war impression you would want the an6513

 

Would also depend on wether a single seat or bomber as well I suppose

 

LB

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WWII Parachutist

Oh! And forgot to ask... when having the choice between getting a A-3 Parachute harness or an AN6513 harness... which is the better choice when it comes to these stipulations:

1) I'm looking for whichever one might have been used by both pilots and crew.

2) One that was used longer throughout the war so it'd work with an early B-3 Jacket impression and B-15A impression.

 

I've scoured through my many books and it seems like the parachute harnesses really were just a random assortment. While I realize the difference between red and yellow groups in theory, and the main differences between the two harnesses, I've seen whole crews wearing the same harness, some mix and matched, some wearing RAF QAC, etc. But between the AN6513 and A-3... which would be a more compatible choice? Thanks!

As you noted, there was a large variation in parachute equipment...The AN6513 was the first pattern and was standard until 1944 when the A-3 starts being seen. By the third quarter of 1944 the AN6513 was largely replaced by the A-3. Interestingly, by 1945 about 35% of the A-3's were actually OD. Although the A-3 was developed well before 1944, it did not come into common usage until this time.

 

On a B-17/24, generally the pilots wore a B-7 or B-8 back parachute, while the rest of the crew wore the QAC AN6513 or A-3.

Here is a breakdown on the parachutes used by aircraft. This is from April 1943 -September 1944, ETO. Information is compiled from a USAAF 1945 study on parachute systems used during the war.

 

 

post-40412-0-54026200-1386435889.png

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aviationphotog

Wow! Incredible information! I really appreciate it. It sounds like the AN6513 might be the best way to go as it was used through just about the whole war, and probably was used even when the A-3s came in. I've seen some crazy combinations in photos like a photo of a crew member wearing a B-3 with A-9 pants. I suppose that's the nice thing about collecting AAF items, just about any combination was probably used by someone during the war!

And 'littlebuddy', thanks for the heads up on that book! I have Gear Up, Combat Flight Clothing, Osprey's AAF Book, and Gregory Pons' '8th Air Force Books' that I use as reference when collecting... but from the photos I've seen from that Flight Gear book it looks like a MUST HAVE. Too bad it's backordered on Amazon.

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Really ?? on back order ?? i knew it was a good book !! :D im fortunate to have had mine signed by the author , thanks Mathieu ! ;)

 

Carl

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Johan Willaert

If you decide to go with a later WW2 set-up you can pretty much combine whatever items of flying clothing and/or equipment...

 

As an example here's my Bomber Crew Captain as he COULD have appeared early 1945...

 

Here's a list of what's on the mannequin:

 

-A11 Flying Helmet & ANBH1 Earphones
-B8 Flying Goggles
-A10R Oxygen Mask & ANB-MC1 Microphone
-Officer's shirt w/ Capt Bars en AAF Insignia & Tie

-Complete F3 Electrically Heated Suit (not visible)
-ANS31A Flying Suit
-B3 Flying Jacket
-A6 Flying Boots
-A9 Flying Gloves
-A4 Parachute Pack
-RAF Observer's Type Harness (issued by the RAF)
-B4 Life Preserver
-Parachute First Aid Kit
-A11 Wrist Watch

 

post-92-0-15332700-1386508442.jpg

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