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LPU-10/P underarm USAF inflatable floatation unit - 1961


Titanium
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Got this yesterday. Appears to never have been used.

 

Born-on date of 1961.

 

It has a light dusting of sand particles inside lol. Vietnam sand perhaps?

 

I'm not a collector per se, what I am is an enthusiast of survival gear, specifically 'clever' survival gear.

 

And this underarm Life Preserver Unit was just the right price on ebay.

 

I manually inflated one side and it did hold air.

 

I fully intend to jump in the pool and pull the handles to see if this 57 year LPU will:

 

1. Inflate

2. Inflate both sides

3. Hold inflation

 

Anyone have a packing procedure / repack manual for an LPU-10/P ? :D

(I've repacked the side I opened, I'm just looking for the fine details; talc, safety thread, etc)

 

 

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What gives you that 1961 date? Is the label still attached on that little pad of the harness where the packing card would go? If its really 1961 that should be a LPU-2 life preserver (harness and bladders) but would have been updated probably in the late 60s or 70s over to a LPU-10 (changing the manual inflators). It looks like they are the LPU-10 type which if memory serves me added a breather clip to the inflation unit which is that second set of strings you see besides the one with the nylon pin. That clip was attached to the oral inflation tube right below the little rubber mouthpiece which on yours looks to have a yellow sleeve over it in the packed pic. If you looked at the deployed pic you can see the metal piece of the oral inflation tube it came off of below that mouth piece.

 

I do have the USAF TO/Army TM regarding LPUs and rafts but its the actual published manual. Might take me a few days to dig out as I'm dealing with some medical issues but I can scan the packing details for you. It covers the LPU-2, 3 and 10. On that note as well, Ive been getting together the NAVAIR stuff for you as well and transferred the files over to the computer.

 

Edit: Just dawned on my looking again, Id say that was a LPU-2 originally as is has a snap hook and probably D ring on the other bladder that would be attached together after inflation. The LPU-10s had straps with velcro.

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There is a print label on the 'underside' of the orange bladder, between itself and the green harness/pocket.

 

I can untie the white nylon cord in order to get a pic. There was no other documentation, the sleeve pocket on the shoulder straps was empty.

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Technically as I said it was updated to a LPU-10 with the inflator change so its all good. Wonder year it was actually last inspected and packed. USAF LPUs usually have inspection dates and the inspecting activities info stamped when they are inspected all over the bladder so that one might have been Army used.

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