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Edwards AFB Flight Test Center flight suit


Bob Hudson
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Found this gem hanging on the rack at a local thrift store yesterday. The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards AFB was part of the AF Systems Command so those two patches date this to before 1992. The flight suit has a 1977 contract number. The right shoulder has a 6514th Test Squadron patch. The name patch from the left breast is missing. (:

 

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Wow, what a sight! I was in the 6514th Test Squadron at Hill AFB from 1985-86. I don't recall the orange flight suits, but the patches I do recognize. Great find!

 

The orange flight suits I have found before were late 50's, early 60's. But in doing some searches of the forum I found that a few Air Force pilots were still using these through the early 80's, but it sounds like they really started disappearing in the late 70's. So it's not surprising that even the test pilots did not wear them by the mid 80's.

 

I read somewhere that the 6514th was testing unmanned aerial vehicles and drones at the time this flight suit would have been worn. If you worked with drone programs, you might be interested in this http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=26802

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I was the NCOIC of contractor munitions (Supply Point Custodian), working on the DC-130, O-2A and HH-53. At the time the Drone program was on hold within the Squadron, however we were gearing up to start testing again. I then was transfered to the 81st TFW. We did however continue with the M.A.R.S. project catching cruise missiles after the engine had exhausted itself, then lowering the missile onto a large cushion so it could be refurbished.

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  • 10 years later...

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