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Period photos : Jackets and flight equipment during the ww1

Kermit3D

Well-Known Member
The photo John Lever just posted gave me the idea to create this thread.
Share here photos from WW1 showing pilots in flight gear.

I'm starting with the Lafayette Squadron (French airmen) :

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Enigma1938

Well-Known Member
Well that's a point I miss here in this forum. Here's all about vintage and repros and leather and cloth... but all the stuff discussed here dates from ww2 era to our times. There's almost nothing discussed from previous times like ww1 or earlier. We all know from military aspects there were no standards in ww1 pilot jackets on all involved parties but the jackets they wore back then are pretty much interesting, at least for me.
I just wish we could see, discuss and adore more stuff from those times here....
 

Kermit3D

Well-Known Member
Washington, D.C., circa 1917. "Allied aircraft demonstration at polo grounds. Avro training plane designed by A.V. Roe of England. Lieut. Stephen Bonsal Jr., one of the young Army flyers who have entered the newest profession, that of airplane mail carrying, is the son of the former war correspondent and veteran newspaperman who is now a major attached to the general staff of the Army." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

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Kermit3D

Well-Known Member
1912. "Navy aviation. Commodore J.C. Gillmore in Curtiss headless plane, dual control, at College Park Army flying field. Lieutenant Milling, right." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress.

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Kermit3D

Well-Known Member
No airman this time. I'm taking occasion of November 11 to post a picture of my great grandfather, my mother's grandfather (I love his mustache :)).

I don't have much information about him, but from what I understand, he fought in the French infantry (7th infantry regiment) from August 1914 to June 1918.
He seems to have been wounded :
- December 20, 1914 : left foot, right arm, head.
- November 24, 1916 : near Verdun by a shrapnel (left elbow).
He also breathed gas, without gravity at the time, but I was told that he suffered from it all his life.

On my father's grandfather's side, they were 4 brothers in the French infantry. Only one survived.

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Click to zoom in :

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ausreenactor

Well-Known Member
No airman this time. I'm taking occasion of November 11 to post a picture of my great grandfather, my mother's grandfather (I love his mustache :)).

I don't have much information about him, but from what I understand, he fought in the French infantry (7th infantry regiment) from August 1914 to June 1918.
He seems to have been wounded :
- December 20, 1914 : left foot, right arm, head.
- November 24, 1916 : near Verdun by a shrapnel (left elbow).
He also breathed gas, without gravity at the time, but I was told that he suffered from it all his life.

On my father's grandfather's side, they were 4 brothers in the French infantry. Only one survived.

View attachment 68946

Click to zoom in :

View attachment 68947 View attachment 68948
Très bien!
 

Kermit3D

Well-Known Member
The German air crewman of a Rumpler C.VII puts on his gloves while a ground crewman adds an electrically heated face mask. The Rumpler reconnaissance planes used altitude as their main defense during their missions deep into enemy territory, the C.VII being able to reach 24,000 feet, beyond the capabilities of most Allied fighters. The air was thin and the temperature low at such heights, however, requiring oxygen respirators and electrically heated suits to keep the crew at maximum efficiency.

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Kermit3D

Well-Known Member
Lieutenant Kirk Booth of the U.S. Signal Corps being lifted skyward by the giant Perkins man-carrying kite at Camp Devens, Ayer, Massachusetts. While the United States never used these kites during the war, the German and French armies put some to use on the front lines.

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