B66 Bomber & Vietnam airlift pilot grouping

Vintage US Air Force Jet Age pilot helmets (including a P-1B P-1 series helmet and an HGU-2/P helmet), plus K-2B and CWU/47 flight suits, flight gear, L-2B flight jackets, flight manuals, etc. from a Cold War bomber pilot who flew A-26, B-57 and B-66 bombers and then flew C-130's and C-141's in Vietnam. The photos above show just some of the items: the complete inventory and dozens of photos can be seen at: usmilitariaforum.com

This grouping is from the career of a US Air Force pilot who started out as an enlisted man in the Air Corps in WWII, got his private pilot wings in the late 1940's, joined the US Air Force in the early 50's, became a USAF pilot and flew B-25's, A-26's, T-33's, B-57's, B-66's, C-130's and C-141's. He had more than a thousand hours in the B-66 and C-130, more than 2,000 hours in the C-141 and almost 600 combat flying hours in Vietnam, according items included in the grouping. He retired as a Major in 1974.

US Air Force T-33 and B-57 flight manuals

I've photographed a couple more of these: if you love aircraft, these
flight manuals and handbooks are the ultimate books to have.

I've added the T-33 flight manual and the B-57 flight manual.

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B-26 & C-141 flight manuals

The same US Air Force pilot who saved the helmets shown below also
saved flight manuals of most of the aircraft he flew. Today I
photographed the handbooks for the C-141A Starlifter and the B-26B
Invader (later known as the A-26 Invader ). It is rare to find
original flight manuals, most of the ones sold today are reprints or
scanned PDF digital files. The C-141 flight manual has two parts: the
basic flight handbook and the performance data handbook. The B-26
manual is not in a binder. I have not yet listed these in my store at
http://hudsonmilitaria.com/ but I expect I will ask $150 for the
C-141 flight manual set and $150 for the A-26B/ B-26B flight manual.
I also have others that I will post here, including flight manuals
for the B-57 and T-33. I also have check list manuals for these
aircraft and the B-66 bomber, among others.
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More about the P-1 series helmet and rare Gentex DH-5

The P-1B flight helmet is priced at $2,250 OBO and the DH-5 at $3,250 OBO - don't be afraid to make an offer. It is hard to find a P-1 series helmet in this condition and the DH-5 (also apparently known as the DH-5-3 flight helmet ) looks to have been worn very little.

Both helmets have the same provenance coming from the estate of a career US Air Force pilot. I'm trying to put together his history: I got a lot of his stuff but very little paperwork. I have three early flight logs which show he started civilian flight training in 1945 while still an enlisted man in the Army Air Force. He started flying in the USAF in 1953 and quickly worked his way through the L-21, T-6, T-28 and then by November 53 he was flying a B-25 for multi-engine training. His flight helmets probably date from his time in B-57's (with the 34th Bomb Squadron, where he also flew the B-26 Invader) and B-66's: he racked up more than 1,000 hours in the B-66, including time with the 84th Bombardment Squadron in England. He later flew C-130's and C-141's and had more than 500 hours of combat flight time in Vietnam.
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P-1B Jet Age flight helmet

I have listed for sale two outstanding vintage flight helmets
including an excellent example of the early P-1 series of flight
helmets from the early 1950's. The P1-B was the same as the P1-A and
this one has the P-3 visor, original communications earpieces and is
otherwise in original condition with an August 1954 manufacturing
date. You can see more photos of the P-1B helmet and price
information at http://www.hudsonmilitaria.com/

Also listed there is a rare Gentex DH-5 helmet, an experimental model
that never went into production. It has tracks on either side of the
visor.
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