What can you tell me about these crew equipment items?

To answer a question, dinghies, and lifejackets were, and possibly still are, mandatory when flying in a slow aircraft, Chipmunk, Bulldog etc, within five miles of any large expanse of open water but were often carried anyway because most of the location and survival aids were useful on dry land as well as water. Bit difficult to use flourescine and solar stills in forest but flares, SARAH, SARBE, heliograph etc worked well anywhere.

ROcketeer should have said that when the PSP is released it doesn’t free fall but remains attached and dangles by another cord/tape, the length determines how soon it splashes before the person it’s attached to and gives them time to assume the position.

The sequence goes, parachute, dinghy pack, water bottle.
The water bottle was a thin rubber bag similar to the hot water bottles we took to bed as kids. I would very much hate to have to drink out of it having sat on it in a nice warm aeroplane for an hour or so

MB are good at reusing items!

QD?

Tony, I called it a quick-disconnect because that is what is said on the box! not my invention, though I’m sure you are right, having actually used it in anger, so to speak.

Peter, where is the water bottle in the pic, is that it underneath?

Anon.

Sorry, I don’t remember any labels, either in English or any other language.
What I do remember is that they were a right pain in the ar5e :D. There was a gas bottle which always dug into one side of you and because of the central harness strap, however you wriggled about the b***** bottle always came straight back to the same place. The water bottle in the pic was Muddle East issue, in the UK we did not have that luxury. :rolleyes:

the QD is not actually supposed to be quick at all!!! So it is actually not over engineered. Please call it by a more sensible term for future generations. Here comes the day job….look away if you are easily bored!

The ‘QD’/ bayonet clip is in the cards/checks to make sure it is attached – because it is an emergency item it requires two actions to ‘undo’ pull back on spring whilst holding the male part – also must have diffrerent action to operate than any similiarly located item. Some fast jets have dinghy packs held by two MB disconnects (which you release on the descent) – the dinghy/PSP falls and you use its touchdown to gauge when ‘to adopt the pose’!
For helios with chutes – same as some fast jets (i.e. those with automatic disconnect).

For helios without chutes, you would not want to disconnect any of the disconnects whilst in the helio and underwater – snagging hazard. Bobbing around outside you would want to make sure you disconnected the MB clips not the bayonet – as it would just float away…..not good……so if you were flying in a non ejection seat equipped Meteor, you still would not want to accidentally disconnect the bayonet.

During sea drills they can get a bit tough to release – but it is a good enduringdesign that has made MB a lot of money

Dinghy pack

Thanks for that photo, Peter. Nice to see it in the Meteor. Trouble is, it should be on my wants list now for my project. Was it standard fit as an item of crew gear, or just used when over-water ops were planned?

Not sure I want to pay a hundred squid, though. Anyone got anything cheaper?

Did the packs you used have the four-language label on, Peter?

Anon.

Well here is such a dinghy pack being unloaded from a Meatbox

The connectors have always seemed like a typical piece of British over-engineering. Must have cost a fortune to make.

If anyone’s that moved by them, I know a chap who’s got thous…

Oops, no advertising on the board.

(But I could arrange for some to be at Shore…)

(at much less than £10….)

(I’ll get me coat…)

Dinghy pack

Thanks for your responses.

Nice to know it is war time and how it was used.

The chap who has it wants £100 for it, which is, I suppose, about right given the soiled condition. It is, however, undamaged so I suppose it would clean up OK.

I’ll give it a miss at that price, I think. He wants a tenner apiece for the QD’s, in new condition.

Seeing as it’s pre-Meteor and Phantom, I’ll give these a miss too. Seems he knows their value well enough.

Anon.

The bayonet connector is still used on life jackets for attaching to the dinghy lanyard which is in turn attached to the survival pack in the dinghy. During sea drills, I always end up wrapped up in the lanyard like some cats cradle! Often people forget to unclip it (the SAR diver/winchman should do that says the instructor)…and the looks I have had when the winchman realises ‘we’ are still attached!!!! So we have to hand the connector to them.

dINGHY PACK

Hi

What you have there is a WW2 RAF K type dinghy pack which was used with a seat type parachute harness. The contents varied depending on what type of aircraft was being flown and what crew position it was being used in. The pack was used instead of the cushion.
The connector you have shown attached to the users Mae West.
You are correct about the instruction languages, post war ones had Dutch on them.
Price wise i would think maybe £100-£150 but i might be out of touch.
Hope this helps ?

BS

As the pack says Type A Mk.III* pack for the type K Dinghy. Couldn’t tell you the exact date of the Mk.III* pack but the Type K starts to appear around 1941.

One for sale here,

http://oldnautibits.co.uk/search/search_results.php?search_string=mint

Anne

Pics of items

Views of pack and quick disconnect:

Part of a QD can be seen in the centre picture of the pack, to the RH side. Presumably there were two of them per pack.

Text says:

Pull off cover and unscrew valve
handwheel on cylinder slowly.
Leak stopper and rations are
attached to cover.

Anon.