flight suit and equipment pilot P-51 mustang WW2

[deRaf2ndranger]

Hi everybody,

i am a collector of US ww2 and fascinated by the P-51 mustang, a true wonderful airplane.

Besides my ww2 ranger and my ww2 paratrooper i want to collect the flight suit of a pilot flying the P-51 during ww2.



Was it a flight suit in one piece or did he wear trousers and jacket separately, what kind of boots did he wear, what kind of helmet,..?

Can somebody help me with the right clothing or a link where i can find them?

thank you

Raf

[evangilder]

Uniform standards for flight crews was pretty loose in WWII. For the most part, I think the mustang pilots wore the trouser and jacket. Here is a shot of some of the Mustang pilots of the 4th Fighter Group after returning from a shuttle mission to Russia and back. You can see the uniforms that they wore.

[Erich]

heres kit of friend and Me 262 killer, Joe Petersburs from the 20th fg. hope the pic works and it will show you some of the kit....

[deRaf2ndranger]

thanks guys,

that's something i can work with.

greetz

Raf

[wessel]

HI

I AM PAINTING A MODEL PILOT OF A P 51 MUSTANG PILOT AND WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THE COLOUR SCHEME OF THE CLOTHING HELMET ETC

WESSEL

[Airframes]

Hi Wessel. as you will have seen from the earlier posts, the clothing and equipment varied. The attached images should give you an idea, but note that the one piece flight suit, and the 'lighweight' dralon-type jacket, was also produced in an olive green fabric, and the suit also in a lighter, brown/olive colour. Some Mustang pilots, particularly those that had served with the R.A.F., preferred certain R.A.F. equipment, especially the flying boots, and often the 'Mae West' type life-jacket.
In the first plate, the pilot in the centre, with the sunglasses, is also wearing one of the very early Gerber 'G' suits, which were worked by a by-pass from the aircraft's vacuum system. The very first experimental ones were water filled!
Note also that the pilot on the left, 'Kit' Carson, is shown wearing a seat-type parachute; generally, Mustang pilots used a B4-Type, back-pack parachute, and a dinghy pack would hang where the parachute is shown, fitting into the seat pan as a cushion. I believe the illustration is incorrect.
These descriptions and illustrations are for E.T.O. pilots, there would be marked differences for M.T.O. and Pacific areas.
Hope this has helped some.
Terry.

[wessel]

Terry

Thanks for the info .I will send you a phote of my project once it's finished

Wessel

[Airframes]

You're welcome. I look forward to the picture, many thanks,
Terry.

[Erich]

hmmmmmmmmmm think I need to find a colur pic or two for this thread real soon

here is a fine sample from the friends at the 364th fg

[Messy1]

Cool pics guys! Thanks for posting!

[Erich]

well the colour photo I presented shows the US uni's quite nicely with the artists renderings in the Osprey title