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Experimental small arms protective bouyant vest


Ethanm
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Hi everyone, this is my first time posting, I collect very rare experimental garments, and other things,   and I wanted to show this baby off.  I will be providing pictures and information ,  I have a document on this vest, so if you have any questions, ask!  This vest belonged to Pierre,  a friend of mine, on here,, he had it since 2010. 

 

Right off the bat, this Is a 1972 vest, only two were made from what the document says, the OTHER one sold in 2012 on ebay for well over 1200 dollars.  Imagine a chicken plate, flak vest, and life preserver in one. 

 

 

The Navy Clothing and Textile Research Unit (NCTRU) has developed two,
experimental, Buoyant, Anti-Fragment, Bulletproof Vests which provide low-velocity
protection against mortar shell bursts and scecondary fragments (spall), provide
protection against 30-caliber AP, small-arms fire and provide emergency, inherent buoyancy.
Each model consists of a carrier which has front and back panels that contain a 30-
caliber-ball, body-armor plate, a combination of and/or woven ballistic materials
and layers of buoyant, unicellular foam. 
The vests were developed to replace a "standard ensemble" worn by Navy personnel in Southeast Asia for protection against wounds caused by shrapnel and rifle
fire and to provide emergency buoyancy in water. 

 

There are only two known in existence.  

 

I will be posting my believed,  T65-2 1966 experimental chicken plate later. 

 

 

Immersion Time Positive Buoyancy*
Initial 35 lbs.
10 minutes 27 lbs. 8 oz.
30 minutes 27 lbs. 13 oz.
1 hour 20 lbs. 0 oz.
1 hour,30 minutes 19 lbs. 12 oz.
18 hours 19 lbs. 12 oz

 

Ask questions if you want to , this is a really heavy vest. Check out the " My collections tab," in my profile to see what I have. 

 

Thanks

Ethan 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
1 hour ago, Homer J said:

Do you have any more scans of the paperwork you could share?

 

I have the whole document. I can show some of it. What would you like to see?

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17 minutes ago, Ethanm said:

I have the whole document. I can show some of it. What would you like to see?

I'd actually love to see the whole thing. Could you possibly e-mail it to me, or is the file too large for that? 

 

I currently work for NAVAIR as an equipment specialist for Aircrew Survival Vests and Aircrew Body Armor. I would love to have this as a historical reference. 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Homer J said:

I'd actually love to see the whole thing. Could you possibly e-mail it to me, or is the file too large for that? 

 

I currently work for NAVAIR as an equipment specialist for Aircrew Survival Vests and Aircrew Body Armor. I would love to have this as a historical reference. 

 

 

I'll Message you

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  • 1 year later...

I have this same armor but produced and tested in 1970, distributed by the NCTRU to brown water navy units in 1971 as experimental. This makes me believe I have the 1st model. I never knew there was a second model.

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1 hour ago, River Patrol said:

I have this same armor but produced and tested in 1970, distributed by the NCTRU to brown water navy units in 1971 as experimental. This makes me believe I have the 1st model. I never knew there was a second model.

 

Wait. You have the other one?!?!  You're the one that bought it from ebay years ago? I thought the other one was lost

 

May I see it please? I'd love to!

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I'm not sure what total numbers were produced, 2 seems awfully low since some were needed for testing.

20221203_150640.jpg

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2 minutes ago, River Patrol said:

I'm not sure what total numbers were produced, 2 seems awfully low since some were needed for testing.

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That's beautiful. 

Also they did only make two, read the document picture attached please!

 

Is yours a size medium? May I see the label?

 

Screenshot_20221204_104927_OneDrive.jpg

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So, this "abstract" was written by a government employee and not indicative of total production.....that is a supposition on my part, but two probably filled a quota that was needed for a certain time period.

 

Mine did not come from Ebay.....it was a private sale.  Baystate Militaria sold one years ago (don't remember when exactly), so that's another to add to the count. That means we are up to 4 now. See what I mean?

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I see what you mean. How long have you had yours? Did yours come with type 3 plates (boron carbide)? I would assume it's probably a size medium? 

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I would suggest not showing the tag, as there are reproducers that need good images of the tags and contract numbers to make reproduction tags (believe it or not), then they get slapped on 80s armor and considered Vietnam period pieces.

 

I've had mine for some time. I don't think mine has a size but it is 1971 dated. These were produced in late 1970 and 1971 for the first model, I guess.

 

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You're fine!  I'd like to see the main white tag, the bigger black inked tag, pictures of it open/rear, the plate pockets, please!  Thank you again.

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Now that I re-read the abstract, the two (2) may be referring to the Types......the image you posted of Figure 3. shows the Type II, which means there is most likely a Type I.

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