I wore one of these in the Army from 81-97. We eventually were issued an upgrade version that included a reinforced seat for SAR recovery. The small upper left empty pocket did have the compass. There was a standardized setup for all the Army vests, and although not perfect, you hit about 98%. Well done sir. Thanks for the memories
A pilot survival vest I bought at a flea market as a kid is what got me into military Gear and survival stuff . Great video . Amazing to see all the gear and the vest
Very cool to see the original gear. I can get a vest locally but none of the gear is in it. That would be ok as I'd add my own gear. i do wish I could get the water bags, but not going to bother trying eBay. No gun carry in Canada though. Have you seen the movie "Bat 21"?
My vest had a lensatic compass in the top right small pouch. The Gill net would also be strung between trees for small birds. The side arm holster was no longer sewed on and was replaced with the knife sheath and a leather shoulder holster for the pistol was used. Basically, it all depended on your units Aviation Life Support and Equipment as to how the vests were set up. They should have had identical TO&E in the kits, they just varied as to their placement.
Amazing to have a complete vest. Only seen a few complete examples and many ones that are missing everything. Alot of parts are a pain to find. Glad I found a complete Vietnam Era example
9:00 The pen flares aren’t too ubiquitous anymore and many of the flares are duds too. Which is a bummer cuz they’re not cheap. For those building a modern survival vest, PSK or simply cross loading critical survival gear into their available pockets I recommend going very heavy on signaling capabilities. In CONUS, with a proper itinerary filed with a loved one, help will come looking. In order of priority this is my personal signal kit: -charged phone -new chem light w/ para cord (buzz saw) -laser pen (Amazon) SOS is ••• - - - ••• -Cree light -SOL pocket signal mirror -whistle -two folded up 18 inch sheets of heavy aluminum foil -one 50g blaze orange contractors bag -20 feet of Dayglo blue survey tape All of these items can be placed in a Food Sealer bag and vacu-sealed down to the size of a VHS tape or smaller (depending on size of Cree light & chem light) If my adventure is open water I add an Orion flare kit, couple sea dye bombs and an IPRB
10:57 I’ve read that the idea behind Air Crews carrying a revolver was so they could be ready to fight one-handed. It would be very tempting to sub out a “6-gun”’for a semi auto (whether an issued 1911 or something from home) Personally I’d either roll a 1911 and 4 loaded mags or if I did go w/ a revolver I’d have my ammo in speed loaders or moon clips. And I’d carry more than 18 rounds too. I assume the strippers are to keep the vest profile as svelte as possible? Were I on a Vietnam air crew my cargos, boonie and breast pockets would be carefully gigged out too (including small denominations of precious metals-1/10th oz gold coins) Many locals could be persuaded to ferry downed crew back to friendly forces and gold was the coin of the realm across both sides of the conflict. Imagine a couple 1/10th ounce coins being the difference between a killer canteen/drinkin story versus 6-7 years slowly dying in the Hanoi Hilton
Air Force switched to the Smith & Wesson .38 revolvers in the 1960s. I am not sure but some Colt revolvers may have been used in the Vietnam War era. But Air Force pilots - and the Air Force police - were issued the S&W revolvers in the 1970s into the 1990s.
my Air Force pilot buddy told me that you can put anything you need that you would think is important to the mission environment - you can also eliminate things not needed- so if you were operating in a hot temperature zone, you would not need stuff to keep you warm, and pack more water packets instead.
Not sure if this will be seen but I now have three of these lol. One was my first and its a medium and had nothing with it, the other two I bought at the same time, both suspected to be large. One of them is a normal SRU-21 which had most of the vest contents but I still need a few to complete the vest. The other is a possibly Apache or 160th SOAR modified SRU that has a built in harness, kts a very cool vest. I also got an early 2000s maybe limited run Gen 1 M81 Air Warrior survival vest. What other pilot stuff do you have?
That's really sweet! I don't have too much pilot stuff, but I have an APH-5, SPH-4, vietnam aircrew body armor chicken plate and the BUAER flak upper and torso and a flak curtin. But that's it.
The most sought after items from this set is the radio, especially if it is still functional, and the flashlight if it too is functional, the knife if it's of Camillus OG made in US is also a golden find, there tailors who did make these and can make them on order, they look nearly the same save the smell of old,
My dad had the shoulder holster or a similar one he picked up in Vietnam, 66-68. He carried a Lama .38 in it. Unfortunately he passed in 1996, and a bitch step mother kept his guns, that holster, and some of my tools that I left for him to use. Nice collection
That's too bad! My dad had a coworker who was a paratrooper in the 60s and 70s. Kinda the same thing. He lost it all in a divorce in the 90s and never saw any of his service items ever again. He's since passed away but that sort of thing should be illegal.
United States Combat Aircrew Survival Equipment World War II to the Present: A Reference Guide for Collectors (Schiffer Military/Aviation History) a good reference. also, branch and time made different items available as they got improved and updated on a constant basis
Do you have any idea where I can sew the knife on or how to attach it with the vest? I have the vest and knife separately and want to have them together.
Correction I'd make is the fire starter from the war wasn't a magnesium bar. It was a cylindrical butane lighter. Also the radio was usually a URC - 68 or RT-10.
