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Yellow Flotation Seat from old Air Force Aircraft, WWII era?


Steve Brannan
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Steve Brannan

Recently acquired this floatation seat from a US military aircraft. Size is 16x16x4 with two handles on it. Has a stock number and "Do not remove from aircraft". On one side says US and the other side "Air Force". Is this a WWII item or later?

post-1848-0-51065700-1395699221.jpg post-1848-0-31542000-1395699233.jpg

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littlebuddy

AIR FORCE ?? could be post 47 , even though I know some wartime items were stamped US AIRFORCE , typically the Bailout bottle bag was stamped US Airforce not PROPERTY AIR FORCES US ARMY

 

Just my 2 cents

 

LB

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Steve Brannan

It's not my fault. I did not take it out of the plane. It was already out when I got it :)

I don't know exactly what it is made of, some sort of waterproofed canvas. Obviously made to be soft enough to sit on and also waterproof if needed.

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WW2 seat pad / life preserver from a B-17. They sell on eBay from time to time. It is missing some of the regular markings, but that's what it is.

 

JD

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littlebuddy

Well ill be !!! that has turned it inside out then hasn't it !!!! :lol: I think a zero has been added to the resale price now !!! :lol:

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Actually it is odd. These seat cushions were developed and standardized in the 1930's. I do have some documents from the era discussing them but will need a little time to find them, maybe something will turn up. They were in service for many years hence the US Air Corp (pre June 1941) and US Army Air Forces (post June 1941-1947) marked cushions this helps with a basic timeline but your just being US Air Force is a bit of a quandary. Now these are just rules of thumb as wartime manufactured pieces can be found marked Air Corps. I will see what the drawing number says in my docs.

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Interesting to see the documentation. Thanks for sharing Dustin.

 

For interest sake, here is a couple more photos of these in use with the B-17.

 

 

Slightly visible from a cockpit photo:

 

B-17cushion2_zps1ae44ec8.jpg

 

 

Model cut away showing the B-17 cockpit:

 

B-17cushion_zpsa4bc0445.jpg

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