Combat Flying Equipment

Ref: 4266

SOLD In stock

Price: £18.00

sadly, flyingbooks is now closed.

{detailed description}It takes more than a flight jacket to outfit an aviator. Parachutes, G-suits, oxygen equipment—all these and more are important life-supporting gear. In wartime combat, a crewman's equipment is even more crucial for his efficiency and survival. Combat Flying Equipment is the first book to describe the development and characteristics of virtually every item of personal equipment used by the Army's airarm from the First World War through World War II.
C. G. Sweeting spent over ten years obtaining and examining obscure documents (many never available before because of wartime secrecy), photographs, and actual examples of original equipment. Over 160 photographs, most published here for the first time, illustrate the myriad types of oxygen equipment, parachutes, armor, pressure suits, and other flying and survival gear.
Personal anecdotes give immediacy to the absorbing background story of research, testing, laboratory work, and combat experience. Discover:
Why parachutes were issued to German airplane crewmen in World War I while none were available to Allied pilots.
Who really was responsible for the design of the first modern, free-fall, back type ripcord-operated parachute.
What the secret wartime anti-gravity developments were that gave American fighter pilots an advantage over Axis flyers.
What caused the failure of the AAF full pressure suit program in 1943 and what ingenious alternative was successively introduced.
A detailed glossary, comprehensive index, and extensive notes make this book a definitive reference work packed with facts and information. Flyers, historians, aviation buffs, veterans, and aviation-memorabilia collectors will find Combat Flying Equipment an indispensable source.
{Author / Publisher / Date}by C. G. Sweeting
Published by Airlife 1989 1st UK edition. 244pp illustrated, index, notes, glossary 21x26
{condition}boards slightly damp stained otherwise very good, including d/j.
{delivery info}