AZPhil Posted June 8, 2020 Share #1 Posted June 8, 2020 Hello Gent's, Well today I won an set of A-9 trousers from ebay for $33 + shipping for a total of $53. These started a $20 and then I sent the seller a message about these and after finding out the leather tabs were in great shape, It had all its buttons and the zippers all worked and the olny damage not seen in the pic was a small stain on the lower right leg and the left knee was a little worn I bid $40. It sat at $20.50 for 2 days and at the last second somebody else bid and brought it up to $33 . These are the sellers pic and I should have these by Saturday, I got these because my Buddy Phil said he wore the Green shiney material trouser with the alpaca lining. I thought possibly A-8 but since the A-9 were standardized in in July 22, 1943. I thought it would be the A-9 for Phil's time frame of March of 44 when that pic was taken and what he always reference for when they were shot down. Semper Fi Phil The AAF stamp is faint but there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1canpara Posted June 18, 2020 Share #2 Posted June 18, 2020 Very nice, great price! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZPhil Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share #3 Posted June 19, 2020 Thanks 1canpara, I got these in last week and am very happy with them. The leather tabs for the suspenders is soft and very pliable. I was afraid they would be dry and brittle. The suspender elastic still has stretch to them. All the zippers work perfect and have no corrosion on them. They were well kept. These will work great for my display. I just have to start getting mannequins now. Take care Semper Fi Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1canpara Posted June 19, 2020 Share #4 Posted June 19, 2020 Have a look at the tall plastic ones on eBay for around $57, I have a couple and they’re really great for the price! I can’t seem to attach the link Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZPhil Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share #5 Posted June 19, 2020 I looked at the 6' ones and they will be to tall for the items I have. I need the 5'8'ish size ones. These guys were of a smaller frame. Are those adjustable in height? SF Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmar836 Posted June 19, 2020 Share #6 Posted June 19, 2020 With the right tools everything is adjustable! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1canpara Posted June 19, 2020 Share #7 Posted June 19, 2020 8 hours ago, AZPhil said: I looked at the 6' ones and they will be to tall for the items I have. I need the 5'8'ish size ones. These guys were of a smaller frame. Are those adjustable in height? SF Phil no, these ones aren’t adjustable...I kinda forgot that WWII guys were significantly shorter than we are these days...I’m 6’5” so I never could have been an aircrew guy or a tank crewman in WWII 😉🤣 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmar836 Posted June 19, 2020 Share #8 Posted June 19, 2020 Minimum for B-24 pilot was 6' so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pararaftanr2 Posted June 19, 2020 Share #9 Posted June 19, 2020 19 minutes ago, dmar836 said: Minimum for B-24 pilot was 6' so... Just curious, where did you get that piece of information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmar836 Posted June 19, 2020 Share #10 Posted June 19, 2020 From a B-24 co-pilot. IIRC, he said 180lbs was required as well but I'm not positive. His explanation was that the B-24 was a much more difficult airplane to horse around (in unusual attitudes I presume) than other bombers. I read or saw it elsewhere, maybe an Okerstrom book. He told the story of a night training flight where they somehow entered a spin. Both the instructor and he fought the controls and it took both of them to pull it out, pretty low as I recall. Secondary stall be darned! No documentation but worthy of research. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pararaftanr2 Posted June 19, 2020 Share #11 Posted June 19, 2020 Thanks for that information, but I'll remain skeptical. Those height and weight requirement, in the 1940s, would have been very hard to fill in any large numbers. As an obvious example, consider Jimmy Stewart, who flew B-24s. At 6' 3", he was only 138 lbs., so had to put on weight to even pass his Army physical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmar836 Posted June 20, 2020 Share #12 Posted June 20, 2020 My quotes are true but we’re from 90yo guys so... I do think there might have been such things considered when assigning pilots but have no proof of that. Similar to the shortest gunners getting choice of tail or ball turret - not an AAFHQ mandate (that I’m aware of) but a commonly told expectation due to convenience. My comment was really more of a follow up joke to 1canpara’s 6’5” comment above. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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