pilots head gear

Hmmmmm…..

Not aircrew issue so more likely engineering/welders goggles. The seller doesn’t say why he thinks that they are WW2 issue and having dealt with him before under a different guise, I’d be cautious at taking it on face value. If they were Luftwaffe there should be a stores number begining “Fl” somewhere on them.

Incidentally, the helmet shown is an RAF B-type of the same sort shown above.

I take it he wasn’t wearing googles at the time? I would have thought the oxygen mask and goggles would have prevented major damage, at least?

Aha!

In which case, I can’t answer that one with absolute certainty. Judging by the design of Page’s visor compared to the MkIII goggles though, I would imagine he was wearing MkIII’s which still left a large amount of facial skin exposed to fragments even when worn properly so Page designed an “all covering” visor. Purely supposition on my part but would seem logical.

SkyPilot – I was referring to Page’s colleague, but your explanation is very good! 🙂

Careful Daz, my anorak side is coming to the fore here!

The goggles most often seen worn during the early BoB period were MkIII’s or MkIIIa’s, which had celluloid lens. Only later on were new goggles designed which had glass lenses (MkIV series – with the flip-shield sun visor) and they entered service mid-late BoB but weren’t particularly popular as they were heavy, cumbersome, and fiddly, hence the simple MkIII’s stayed in use. The down side of celluloid though is that it does indeed burn and melt well. He did not wear his goggles underneath the visor.

Whilst I cannot conclusively say why, but I would imagine Geoffrey Page thought his new visor design would offer more protection from fragments, and chose to take a chance on the burn factor. He states that after he returned to ops, he did wear issue goggles, pushed up on his flying helmet “just in case”. These had glass lenses.

Fire protection – the D-type mask (canvas & chamois) and B-type helmet (leather & chamois) being both fabric made or lined so had little in the way of fire retardant qualities especially if fuel or oil was leaking all over them. IIRC D-type masks were also “constant flow” masks rather than on demand so a steady flow of oxygen would also have been fuelling the fire in that area. Fire protection was not seen so much as a priority back then and Nomex was years in the future.

Possibly of some interest.

The helmet is a standard RAF B-type helmet and D-type oxygen mask.

The celluloid face mask worn in the picture by Geoffrey Page was made especially for him by his ground crew after a fellow pilot got a face-full of glass splinters from a cannon shell exploding on the armoured screen.

I take it he wasn’t wearing googles at the time? I would have thought the oxygen mask and goggles would have prevented major damage, at least?

The helmet is a standard RAF B-type helmet and D-type oxygen mask.

The celluloid face mask worn in the picture by Geoffrey Page was made especially for him by his ground crew after a fellow pilot got a face-full of glass splinters from a cannon shell exploding on the armoured screen. Being made of celluloid, as Geoffrey himself said, “It burned quite beautifully!”. It was this mask which he was wearing when he got burned.

For a fuller description see: Vintage Flying Helmets by Mick Prodger

Anything in the book about when he was the CO of 132 (City of Bombay) squadron and then WingCo Flying of 125 Wing at all that can be scanned please ? 🙂 – Towards the end of 1943, he was posted to 122 Squadron as a flight commander, but in January 1944 he took command of 132 ‘City of Bombay’ Squadron flying Spitfire IXb’s, as part of 125 Wing

On 29 April 1944, while on operations over Deelen airfield in Holland, a Bf110 shot down two of the squadrons Spitfires before Geoffrey Page went in and claimed another, although the German pilot was to survive the incident. It is interesting to note here that the German Bf110 that Page had shot down was flown by Major Hans-Joachim Jabs who Geoffrey Page met after the war and the two became close friends.

125 Wing ORB for 7 July 1944 states “News was received that W/C Flying of 125 W/Cdr Stewart is going on rest and S/L Page D.F.C. is to be made W/C Flying an appointment which gave a great deal of pleasure to everybody.” However, on 5 October, at B.82 Grave, he crashed during landing, smashing his face on the gun-sight and injuring his back, and was again hospitalised leaving 125 Wing on 6 October 1944.

125 Wing ORB – 6/10/44

END OF A TOUR Wing Commander Page D.F.C., and Bar has returned to England on completion of his Ops tour. The Wing will miss him. Wing Commander J. Wray D.F.C. becomes the new Wing Commander Ops in W/Cdr Page’s place.

cheers

Allan

is this not just after Geoffrey Page had his cockpit fire ? it maybe that the hospital said he must protect his face from the elements and this is what they came up with to get him back in the air asap.??

Out of interest, what book is this unusual picture taken from – and who was ‘the author’?

O sorry,it’s from “Tale of a Guinea Pig” by Geoffrey Page D.S.O., D.F.C., 56sqd
I picked it up from a charity shop for £2 😀
Phil.

Out of interest, what book is this unusual picture taken from – and who was ‘the author’?