RAF Flight Suits
 

Anyone know the difference between the MK14(A) MK15 and MK16A(A) flight suits?
I know the 'A' series includes the knee pockets and the MK16 is nomex, but some seem to believe the 14 and 15 are also nomex?

Thanks in advance for any light shed on this very important and engaging matter!

Try this thread

Don't know about the Mk16 but the 14's are nomex. I think the 15's are too.

I think the last non-nomex flying suit was the Mk 7 lightweight suit for tropical climes. I had 2 in FEAF - they were great as no matter how much you perspired, as soon as you landed it was straight under the shower and then leave it on the hangar in the locker room and it was dry in next to no time. Despite the best efforts of supply (?) wing I still had them for a tour in Cyprus inthe 70's, but even though almost everyone else on the Sqn wanted one they were no longer 'in stock'. Eventually had to change them and only nomex suits (ISTR Mk 11) were available.
For interest there was a film at the Survival School at Mountbatten (then St Mawgan) showing the fire retardent properties of the nomex suit and what happened in fires etc - after seeing that I never wore anything else for flying, with the appropriate kit underneath as well!

Thanks very much for this. Very interesting.

people moaning about being too hot in cockpits in the summer and wanting to wear T-shirts forget how vital the cotton layer underneath the nomex suit is to prevent burns.

I still wear the roll-neck and long underwear every flight - you only have to see one victim of burns for it to convince you that a little discomfort is much better than a lot of pain and scarring.

Is the 15 not a supersized 14 to go over an aircrew NBC kit?

The 16 never seemed much of an improvement - a slight colour change, different shaped shoulder tabs was all I remember. Certainly the contract for 16's moved about, some made in Ireland, some in Germany - the German ones were very inconsistently sized - often too short between the neck and crotch - not comfy at all.

They were all beautifully tailored too, with a Jetta boot that made us look right numpties compared with our USAF colleagues.

Flightspanner

The Royal Air Force have flying suits.

Crab there's a newer film showing what happens to those bits of leg and arm only covered with flying suit vs those bits with long underwear. I saw it at CAM on a visit, most enlightening.

And one from maybe 10/12 years ago that showed what happened to the non-aircrew Soldier 95 when it burned. Wasn't so keen to wear it after that.

Crab,

Having played the Weeny Roast Scene as the Weeny....I can support exactly what you say.

We did not wear Long Johns as they were not even considered but in my case....everywhere there was double or triple Nomex (as in leg pockets for example) I receive fairly minor burns and where there was but a single layer the Burns were more serious. The worst of my burns were above the Knee where the single layer of the Flight Suit was stretched fairly tightly and on my hands after the Nomex/Leather Gloves burned away.

Keeping the Nomex clean and free of dirt, oil, and grease also improves its ability to protect.

My Problem was that I had to stay in the fire as we were airborne and someone had to mind the store.

sasless - in Singapore in the late 60s a USAF general who had been in a crash and been badly burned came around to talk to RAF aircrew to push the absolute necessity of having the right clothing and wearing it correctly. In his case he had been wearing his flying gloves turned down and his flying suit rolled back at the wrist to allow some ventilation up his arms.

Result - 100% deep burns on both his wrists, and he very nearly lost one of his hands due to loss of circulation. Some very clever surgery saved his hands and he eventually got back to flying , but with some very impressive scars!

I always remembered that guy before takeoff as I made sure my sleeves were fastened down well over the tops of my gloves. Later on doing some private flying I used to cringe at the sight of guys flying in shorts and tee-shirts.

Actually the only flying suits in the RAF are the cold weather ones. The growbags are properly Coveralls.

On fire proof under layers on the late 60s we were issued with the Lyle and Scott cotton long pants and vests for summer use but atrocious wool/nylon ones for winter. Where cottons tended to go baggy the winter ones tended to shrink and were also very itchy.

I guess the acrylan pile thermals would not have been to good as next-to-skin items.

I remember being issued with underwear on joining Dartmouth as potential aircrew in 1966. Included were very fetching blue/white gingham "boxer" shorts, which went by the nomenclature "shorts, aircrew, anti-flash". Some blanket-stacker obviously had a sense of humour!

Acrylan pile bunny suits - so elegant..................bet real fighter pilots did not wear them!

On arrival at RNEFTS at Leeming in March 1979 I was issued with, amongst other things, two pairs of long johns. The date stamp on the label was from 1953. Only six years before I was born :\

I've still got one pair :cool:

And don't forget the string vests: made of string and some sort of webbing shoulder straps :cool:

Re the boxer shorts, they weren't consumable and required to be returned when leaving. I only found one pair and was charged £1.25 for the lost pair; meanwhile I left with my flying grip full of Mk 2A helmet, three baggy green skins, flying boots, many gloves, etc etc :ok:

The acrylan bunny suits seemed to die out in the nineties to be replaced by the knitted version.
I think the bunny suits were often cut down?
Mk 15 coverall was the bigger one for NBC. Jogged my memory.