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Help ID'ing Navy aircraft window flak blanket?


easterneagle87
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easterneagle87

This is hanging in a local surplus store. The guy get's stuff donated or bought and is creating a mini-museum.

 

Rectangle panel with an over lapping slot - for a gun? It is heavy weight material. Thought it was Air Corps, but just got to read the tag and it says Navy. Is it a flak blanket?

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easterneagle87,

You are correct as to its purpose. It is a Navy flak curtain, made of layered nylon. This and a nylon flak suit were developed by the Navy late in WW2 as a lighter weight equivalent to the USAAF suits that used steel plates for protection. It continued in production after the war into the late '40s or early '50s, as shown by the contract number with an N383 prefix. As manufactured, it did not have the central slot, but did have cotton fabric tie tapes in the four corners.

Regards, Paul

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I can't speculate why or when it was done. These curtains could be installed anywhere it was felt they were needed in a multi-place aircraft. I would think cutting a slice in the middle of the layered nylon fabric would weaken its integrity and decrease its protective ability though.

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