For those who love the B-58 Hustler!

[oose]

Hi all,

Great site in Texas with Lockheed pics. Lots of stuff, I know there a few fans of this one out there, so here is a small selection from the site.

http://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?q=l ... t=fulltext



























yours stu

 

[watchmanjimg]

Great pics! Looks like some of the crewmembers are wearing Dehner tanker boots .

 

[oose]

OK I can't resist, added few more, such a great site, I could spend hours there.









and Jimmy Stewart



and one for Dean loving those CAN DO hats

 

[Weasel_Loader]

A few civilian test pilots in the mix too! Thanks for posting these and the link. Great stuff.

 

[greyhound52]

My fav plane and fantastic photos this is a great site and thanks for posting the pics.

 

[Tim P]

common use of tanker boots by the flyers.

 

[watchmanjimg]

common use of tanker boots by the flyers.

Interesting. I guess all this time I've been too busy looking at the jackets. An early quick-donning strategy, later replaced by lace-in zippers?

In any case this discovery is better late than never. I'm fortunate to have recently acquired two pairs of Dehners from the estate of a deceased Army officer who served in the Pacific during WW2 and Germany in the 1950s. Sadly, the boots were originally russet and were overdyed per the 1956 mandate. It would have been nice to have a russet pair, but then again it appears the black ones can pull double duty as private-purchase flight boots.

 

[dujardin]

splendid plane, good link many thanks

marcel

 

[Peter Graham]

Amazing aircraft and some great jacket shots. What are the jackets with the high slash zipper pockets ? I want one !

 

[oose]

Hi Peter,

I think I've found one a ljmilitaria.com made by Fruhauf Sw Garment co. they don't know what its called either! Any ideas out there?
From what I can gather its fully revisable with even the arm pocket, you can see the stitching on the left arm.



stu

 

[Tim P]

acetone should strip the black dye enough for you to polish up the boots to their original brown, I would leave one pair and resurrect the other.

 

[watchmanjimg]

I'll consider your suggestion, Tim. Unfortunately both pairs have surface cracking due to long-term storage under less than perfect conditions, so there's no big loss if it doesn't work out.

 

[Willy McCoy]

I have two of those type jackets. They do not have a contract/DSN numbers, but on the tag it states "CONTRACTORS TO THE U.S. AIR FORCE". Cotton, identically reversible (right down to the color of the zipper tapes and O2 clamp pad). They are well built and comfortable. I just call them test pilot jackets or civilian contractor jackets. They may well have beaten the military jackets to the Indian Orange lining spec as witnessed by the clamp pad.

 

[USMC_GAU-21]

Wow, two of them! Awesome. I have been looking for one of those for years.

Oh, well I will keep at it. Great looking jacket.

r/Gy Dan

 

[oose]

Hi Willy,

Any chance of posting some pictures as there seems to be nothing out there and it would be nice to have some reference material.

yours stu

 

[Willy McCoy]

At this writing I am unemployed and registered for school, so when I had enough money set aside for a camera I got a compooter virus and all the money went to McAfee online virus removal. One thing I can say about these jackets is they fit a lot like an actual flight suit would fit. If you think that L-2Bs are short you'll be rethinking that thought as these jackets are meant for use with a flight suit and gloves. The body of the ones that I have fit a 44 chest well but the waist fits slightly tight (I wear a 34 waist). I found them from a seller on eBay that had them listed as an civilian MA-1. The first one I bought from him was the shabbiest of the lot (and my personal favorite). I asked him to send photos of the nomenclature tag. He said that the tag was cut where all the tech. info. was but he had two more with the tags in tact and offered them to me for a great price. I bought them straight away. I bought them around four years ago and posted my findings in the old forum. I would like to thank the author of this thread for posting the pictures and link to the website that shows them being worn. I would be tempted to sell the nice one for the right price and to the right person THAT IS A MEMBER HERE ON VLJ. The interested party should be smoke friendly (I have a one eyed dog that smokes). If this jacket is to be worn by the purchaser as opposed to a static display, take into consideration, I am 6'2" and require a 44 or X-Large chest (long arms) and wear 34X36 Levis, this jacket fits the body well but is slightly tight around the waist and the arms are about .5" short (perfect for gloves). I would say this jacket would be spot on for a 6' wearer. I would entertain a swap of an interesting jacket that has seen seat time. Of course upon an agreement, I would prefer to send the jacket out before the buyer submitted the money/trade for inspection & approval. Why? I wish for happiness for both parties. PM me if you're interested.