Pilot's Facemask Pictures

[Olham 164]

In our DiD Campaign, we recently get the wheather forecast "bitterly cold".

Still though, we have to make one or two sorties a day.

I often think, that those guys must have been frozen to their bones after return.

 

I cannot imagine, that flights could have been made in January, without wearing

a facemask with a fur inlay. So I kept searching for pics, and now found this one.

 

http://www.redpilot.com/museum/ww2/wfacemask.html

 

It is a Soviet mask from WW2, but that doesn't matter - I can hardly have been

much different in WW1. The guy writes, that he doesn't know what fur it is, but

that it is very soft and short-haired, so I guess it might be mole skin.

 

If anyone has a picture of a WW1 pilot wearing such a mask, please post it!

[Morris 2]

those face mask could be use for some weird sex fantasies..

[Rickitycrate 10]

"Bring out the Gimp!"

[Creaghorn 10]

"Bring out the Gimp!"

 

gimp's sleepin'

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Wear that, and you'll be on 'Germany's Most Wanted' TV Show!!

[Olham 164]

(God, it's almost impossible to get them into a serious discussion!

All they can think of is sex! No, they don't even have to switch "Thinking" on!)

[Hasse Wind 46]

Lately all threads seem to quickly go under the belt level, from flying porn stars to nasty mental images of Olham and Widowmaker.

[Flyby PC 23]

Doesn't sound like these masks were standard issue, so the possibilities of their construction are endless. Being Soviet, with Siberian winters and all that, I expect they might not even be specifically for airmen.

 

The Army used to have the expression 'any fool can be cold', meaning that if you knew the kit you were issued with wasn't up to the job, get youself to the Army Surplus Store and sort out something better. For example, the UK sleeping bags you were issued weren't very good, so the 'foolish' guys would sit and shiver all night, while the smart fellas would have bought themselves a US doss bag.

 

The other expression that tickled me was that all army equipment only had two sizes. - Too big, and too wee.

[Morris 2]

Whose motorcycle is it baby?

 

It’s Zet’s Baby.

 

Who is Zet?

 

Zet’s dead baby, Zet’s dead...

 

 

PULP FICTION

 

 

 

[Creaghorn 10]

Whose motorcycle is it baby?

 

It’s Zet’s Baby.

 

Who is Zet?

 

Zet’s dead baby, Zet’s dead...

 

 

PULP FICTION

 

 

 

 

you forgot some important part,

 

who's motorcycle is it?

 

it's a chopper, babe.

 

who's chopper ist it?

 

zed's.

 

who's zed?

 

zed's dead baby, zed's dead...

 

[Morris 2]

thanx Creaghorn,

 

i had the basics.

 

m

[Olham 164]

????????????????????????????????

 

(Sometimes you find yourself in a snowstorm over an unrecognisable terrain,

and the map doesn't seem to make any sence, since there is a Jack Daniels

advert printed right over the center section.

Then you feel, it's time to wake up...)

[ConradB 0]

Looks like Jason's WWII flying garb.

[Bullethead 12]

the map doesn't seem to make any sence, since there is a Jack Daniels advert printed right over the center section.

 

The center section of my upper wing has a Jack Daniel's logo on it

 

Topic save.......

 

This pic shows the parts of a German WW1 "face mask", but it's not all in position. Instead of WW2-style oxygen mask, they had a thing like hookah. Then they wrapped their heavy scarves around that, with the hookah stem going in between 2 wraps. IOW, 1 wrap around the neck, then 2nd wrap up to the mouth, then the 3rd wrap from there up to the eyes, covering the nose and overlapping the 2nd wrap a bit. This guy, however, has his excess scarf tied behind his head, no doubt because he's on the ground demonstrating the oxygen hookah, not demonstrating how to tie his scarf.

 

I've seen another pic of a guy with the scarf in place as described above, but I can't find it now.

Edited January 18, 2010 by Bullethead

[Olham 164]

Never seen this - very interesting! (Are you sure he isn't secretly smoking a water pipe with dope?)

 

Well, here is another pic showing, they actually did have oxygen masks for the D VII high alt. fighters.

Or is it the same tube thing?

 

 

Edited January 18, 2010 by Olham

[Bullethead 12]

Never seen this - very interesting! (Are you sure he isn't secretly smoking a water pipe with dope?)

 

That's why I called it a "hookah" .

 

But seriously, that's an O2 pipe. The photo I can't find shows the guy all wrapped up. He looks like a mummy wearing the typical WW1 German observer's helmet and goggles, plus with a hookah tube stuck in between the layers of wrapping over his face. I figure that they didn't wrap their faces up until they got up high enough (or it was cold enough at low level) to be worth the bother.

 

Well, here is another pic showing, they actually did have oxygen masks for the D VII high alt. fighters.

Or is it the same tube thing?

 

I think that's the same sort of hookah tube. AFAIK, that was the only type of O2 system used in WW1.

 

AFAIK, the type of mask used in WW2 and ever since was invented to allow people to talk and suck O2 at the same time. It's hard to talk while "smoking a hookah", but in WW1 planes had neither vox radios nor intercomms, so that wasn't a real problem.

[Bullethead 12]

In the first picture, we see what appears to be many empty shell loops, on the outside surface of the gunners ring opening. I can only guess as to the use of same, one being cartridges for a flare pistol, the other being Fleshetts of solid steel, to be dropped on unsuspecting personel. Or snack holders, bratwurst for those long flights. Any Ideas ?

 

In the captions of other photos, I've seen them called holders for signal flare cartridges. Seeing the number of such loops on most planes, I'm often miffed that OFF only lets me carry 1-3 flares. I STILL am intent on burning down the squadron office with a flare, and I need a lot of them for practice shots

[RAF_Louvert 101]

...but in WW1 planes had neither vox radios nor intercomms, so that wasn't a real problem.

 

Actually BH, that's not entirely true. All the air services in WWI played around with "talking tubes" in their B/R planes. It was nothing more than a length of rubber tubing with an ear plug fitted to one end. The pilot would pop the ear piece in and his observer could talk via the other end of tubing held in his mouth, (and vice-versa with a second set running the other way). It actually worked fairly well, but was just one more thing in the way when the observer had to act as gunner.

 

Now as to not having enough flares to burn down the squadron office, the trick there is to make several low passes over the building first with your fuel mixture set rich to the point of choking out the engine. After you have doused the roof well with all that unburnt fuel and oil, one flare should light it quite nicely...not that I'd know anything about that mind you.

 

.

[Bullethead 12]

Actually BH, that's not entirely true. All the air services in WWI played around with "talking tubes" in their B/R planes.

 

D'oh! I'd forgotten about them. They were just adaptations of the voice pipes that had been used in ships and office buildings for some time already.

 

It's my understanding that guys didn't wear these things on their heads continually, however. First, they were in the way even of the pilot, and second, using them required exposing sensitive flesh to the cold wind. So to get the other guy to put his on when you wanted to say something to him, you had to get his attention somehow. I believe in some planes they had sets of button-activated lights and/or buzzers in the cockpits to be the voice pipe's "ring tone", but I get the impression these didn't work very well. Thus, nudges and gestures seem to have been the norm. But this required the 2 cockpits to be adjacent, and it was one of the criticisms of the DH4 that they weren't.

 

But I could be wrong.

[MikeDixonUK 5]

Let's not forget the German Pilot with the metal face mask from Biggles: Adventures in Time!

 

Although I fear that historical accuracy may not have been one of the films strong points, what with the time traveling cook, the sound weapon and the helicopter.

[Olham 164]

Well, he looks like the people see the German soldiers: upright, determined and dark - just frightening.

 

Metal facemask where used though, but rather by snipers, to protect them from other snipers.

In the cold up there, I think it would be nasty to wear.

But if you want to frighten your opponent...

[Bullethead 12]

Well, he looks like the people see the German soldiers: upright, determined and dark - just frightening.

 

He looks like that von Kronin guy from the "Hellboy" movie .

 

Metal facemask where used though, but rather by snipers, to protect them from other snipers.

In the cold up there, I think it would be nasty to wear.

But if you want to frighten your opponent...

 

Maybe he was a Schlasta pilot? I know those guys sometimes wore infantry stahlhelms instead of the usual aviator helmet.