During the early months of U.S. involvement in World War II, there was an immediate and urgent need for suitable flying clothing and related articles to equip aviators engaged in the high-altitude strategic bombing campaign against the Third Reich, as well as other expanded worldwide operations. Our foundational commands’ technical and aviation medicine specialists devised a wide range of aeronautical clothing, equipment, and survival gear to outfit the wartime Army Air Forces that had expanded to 2.3 million active duty members, including 389,000 pilots, navigators, bombardiers, gunners. Among the specialized products developed during the war were improved oxygen masks, electrically-heated suits, body armor, life vests, life rafts, survival/evasion and rescue equipment, and even the first specialized survival rations.
To read the full story of the wartime development of aviator clothing and equipment and see many more additional photographs, visit Masters of the Air.