OV-1 Mohawk Rigid Seat Survival Kit

[mohawkALSE]

After many years of searching for bits and pieces of equipment, my Rigid Seat Survival Kit (RSSK) for the OV-1 Mohawk aircraft is near complete. The RSSK is a component of the Martin Baker Mk-J5D ejection seat that was used in the OV-1 Mohawk from around 1974 til its retirement from the Army n 1996. The RSSK supplemented the OV-1 aircrew survival vest which was another unique piece of life support.

 

The OV-1 RSSK came in 3 formats: Hot Climate, Cold Climate and Overwater. The kit I have is the Hot Climate kit. Currently the only pieces that are missing but soon to be filled are the survival fishing tackle kit, GP Knife Sharpener and a bottle of Presun SPF-15 sunscreen. Not shown due to being in storage 600 miles away are the thigh pads which also house the Personnel Lowering Device. These thigh pads would zip and snap to the cushioned seat pad attached to the RSSK lid. Once those are sent to me I will post an updated pic of them attached. Now for the pics:

 

The kit open showing the dropline which is to be laced into the 2 black "boots" The middle of the dropline has 2 loops, 1 small, 1 large. Those would be used for the 1 man life raft and its CO2 inflation bottle which are part of the Overwater kit.

 

Equipment bag open showing its layering. At the top is the packing list and -10 operators manual.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[dustin]

Very interesting thanks for sharing. is the paulin a Size77 ?

[mohawkALSE]

Very interesting thanks for sharing. is the paulin a Size77 ?

 

Size 2, 84" x 132". That is actually the same tarpaulin as the size 77 I believe. The 77 is from the Vietnam era with a FSN and the Size 2 is from the post nam era with an NSN. Both end in 3012, with the same stock # but the NSN has the 00 code after the first 4 digits. I have both, a 1967 contract Sz 77 and the Sz 2 is a 1991 contract.

[dustin]

It seems most of these kits contained the Size77/Size 2. The Size77 and I suppose the Size 2 can trace its linage to 1942 when the AAF introduced the Size77.

Cool stuff!

[mohawkALSE]

I didn't even realize those tarps went back farther than the Vietnam era. What sort of kit did they carry them in back during WW2?

 

Here are a few more pics now that I had my PLD/thigh pads sent to me:

 

Inside view of the LH thigh pad showing the lowering line:

The small strap that snaps to the seat cushion is a pull tab to remove the snap hook and brake device from its pocket inside the thigh pad. The rest of the LH and RH pads have the tubular nylon webbing, I believe 120' total.

[dustin]

Interesting set up!

The Size77 was initially adopted for multi-person life rafts but then made its way as a component to E series sustenance kits like the E-10, E-11, E-12 to name a few.

[mohawkALSE]

Thats interesting that they originally put it with an overwater/raft kit. They certainly dropped that idea, especially with later kits such as this OV-1 RSSK kit and other Army aircraft kits. Only the Hot Climate kits had the paulin, the Cold Climate and Overwater kit lacked it. I saw your ERE room topic, looks like we both have survival equipment as our interest. Hopefully one day I can have my own dedicated room like that to display all my equipment. You certainly have a lot of interesting items of that era.

[dustin]

Well get on it! kick a kid out or bunk beds in a room....once you get it all out and displayed its fun. Don't be afraid to show more