WWI Era Summit Aviation Flying Suit

[mammut08]

Hi All,

 

Here is an artifact some might find interesting. This is a WWI era flying suit with a Summit Aviation maker's mark. It came out of a flooded basement along with an RFC, broad arrow marked Sidcot flying suit (is it ok to post non-us items here?) and was covered with mold when it got to me. The suit is named to "Underhill," Which is written on the outside at the top of the map pocket in faded ink. A search through the list of USAS aviators found five Underhills, two or which are listed in New England Aviators. So, a bit of a dead end chasing down this pilot.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Dave

[JDK]

Very cool looking flying suit. How did you manage to clean it up, it looks great for a 100 year old flight suit.

 

JD

[mammut08]

JD, I tossed it in the washing machine, crossed my fingers and held my breath. It was in such bad shape that I really had nothing to loose. The name written on the map pocket was not even visible until after cleaning. I still need to work on the rust stains around the snaps a bit. The first pass was with lemon juice and it cleaned up much of the staining. Just for fun, attached is a Library of Congress photo of a WWI era aviator wearing a similar flying suit.

 

Best,

 

Dave