Flight Nurse Attire
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Initially, flight nurses were required to
wear male flying clothes. However, male clothing items were unsatisfactory
for female wear because they did not fit properly, did not conform to feminine
military standards of appearance and were often too large for practical
wear. Therefore, several new types of special flying clothes for women
were developed during the war.
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Blue Flight Nurse's Uniform
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In June 1943, a blue woolen flight nurse's
uniform was standarized. It consisted of a blue-gray battledress jacket
Type F-1 which could be worn with matching Type A-1 aviation slacks or
Type A-1 nurse's aviation skirt. A Type C-1 garrison cap with maroon piping
completed the outfit. The uniform could be worn with a powder blue shirt
or with a white shirt, black tie, black shoes and black gloves.
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Note some jackets were closed like
men's jackets as shown in the left picture.
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.Front
View
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Back view
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Note the British made shoulder
patch which was worn by the flight nurse who owned this uniform
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Olive-Drab ETO Uniform
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In 1944, the blue flight nurse's uniform was
replaced by the dark olive-drab ETO uniform. Various different styles of
the ETO battledress jacket existed.
The picture below left shows a former service
jacket converted to a battledress jacket by shortening the jacket, adding
a broad belt at the waist and replacing the gilt Army buttons with simple
brown plastic buttons. |
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Type K-1 Nurse's Flight
Uniform
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In January 1945, a special lightweight uniform
made of tightly woven insect resistant khaki cotton twill was added for
wear in tropical regions. It consisted of a Type K-1 battledress jacket
with matching Type K-1 trousers. The jacket was buttoned at the front,
had adjustable waist straps, detachable shoulder pads, two breast pockets
with pointed pocket flaps and a pencil pocket on its left sleeve.
The K-1 trousers were equipped with a zipper
closure at the left side, an adjustable front waistband strap and two side
pockets. The uniform was worn with the Type K-1 flight nurse's garrison
cap which had a design slightly differing from the usual women's garrison
cap. (Compare under: miscellaneous/garrison
caps )
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Light-weight K-1 Nurse's Flying Jacket
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Intermediate Nurses' Flying
Suit
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The flight nurse's intermediate flying suit, standarized
in May 1944, consisted of a Type B-17 jacket and A-13 trousers. It was
very similar in design to the standard B-15 jacket and A-11 trousers combination
for male personnel. The flying suit was made of water and mildew-resistant
olive drab cotton-twill outer shell and was lined throughout with alpaca-
and woolpile fabric. The jacket had a zipper front closure which was designed
mirrowed to the male B-15 jacket closure. The collar was mounted and the
wristlets amd the waistband were knitted.
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Note: The pencil pocket on the
left sleeve has only one compartment while the pencil pocket of the men's
B-15 has two.
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Type B-17 jacket and A-13
trousers
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Collar closed with storm tab.
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The cuffs of the trousers were knitted. On
each leg, there was a zipper running the entire length. The trousers had
a pocket on each thigh. An oxygen-bottle pocket with zipper was located
in the outseam above the left knee. Unlike the men's A-11 trousers, there
were no middle zipper, no pockets below the knees and no hip pockets.
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Trousers, Intermediate,
Flying, Nurses
(Type A-13)
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Heavy Winter Shearling Flying
Outfit
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Flight Nurses wore the men's Type B-3 shearling
jacket and Type A-3 shearling trousers as a high altitude outfit.
The winter flying helmet Type B-6 was common
headgear with this outfit.
The nurses in the picture on the left probably
wear the A-16 shearling overshoes which were very similar to the Type A-6
men's shoes but were smaller in size. |
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Note: S-1 Seat-Type
Parachute
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In the picture
the men's Shoe, Flying Winter, Type A-6A is shown which replaced the Type
A-6 model in 1944.
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[
I. Development ]..[
II. Facts about the ANC ]..[
III. Uniforms ]..[IV.
Sources ]
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