Why goggles?

Thanks everyone. It makes sense to me now!

Did pilots wear goggles though?
The colour film shot of RAF Bomber Command Lancasters (the one with the white dog) and Memphis Belle both show pilots and crewmen without goggles?
Of course this could have been just for the filming.
At 18’000 feet and -40 degrees I’m amazed the eyes didn’t just freeze solid in those unheated, unpressurised aircraft goggles or not!

Thanks everyone. It makes sense to me now!

Goggles were worn for many of the reasons stated above during the war. However there were other reasons. Although pilots flying at very low level did not – and do not like to wear goggles, if an a/c was hit, at any altitude, the gale blowing through the fuselage would whip-up a load of filth from the floor of the a/c, carried-in on muddy boots.
Factory test pilots made a habit of testing with goggles because of the presence of swarf in the cockpit. Again, however, at very low level goggles were not favoured.
Many years ago, I got a shard of swarf lodged in my eye, and it took a small operation to remove it. More recently, I had an engineer do some work in the cockpit of an aerobatic a/c. I was very specific about not dropping swarf from drilling. Despite this, and despite vacuuming the cockpit out four times, every time I aerobatted it for months afterwards, some more swarf materialised and I was glad I was wearing goggles. One may well imagine the effect of getting a load of much in ones eyes at low-level, at night, under combat conditions. Nasty.

Shrapnel, birdstrikes, shards etc. Spraying liquids, gases, fumes………same reasons as aircrew wear clear visors today…

From The Aeroplane, Feb 2000.

A new painting by John Howard Worsley commemorates a Battle of Britain encounter which led to a surprising medical advance. Early in the Second World War, Fg Off G.N.S. Cleaver flew with 601 Sqn and saw action in the Battle of France. He scored three victories before the squadron was withdrawn. He later became an ace – for, soon afterwards, he shot down six more enemy aircraft.

“Mouse” Cleaver’s first sortie on August 15, 1940, was uneventful. He returned to Tangmere but was quickly scrambled again. Because his Hurricane’s carburettor had flooded. Mouse made his way back to the mess but, was redirected by his CO to a brand new Hurricane, P3232. Climbing into the cockpit, he only then realised that he had no goggles.

The squadron soon encountered 12 Junkers Ju 88s. The pilots of 601 attacked. which dispersed the bandits and took 27-year-old Mouse on a chase towards Winchester. It was close to the city that P3232 was hit. Whether it was return fire from one of the bombers, or from an enemy fighter, is unknown. The Hurricane’s canopy was blown to pieces.

Spikes of Perspex pierced both of Mouse’s eyes – he was totally blind. Baling out of a Hurricane was best done inverted and, with his head spinning, there was no way Mouse could tell if he could make a clean exit. In the event he collided with the tailplane, wrenching his shoulder. He landed near Twyford village.

Although Fg Off Cleaver was lost to his squadron, he survived. He was blind in his left eye, but with careful surgery his right eye was saved.

That could have been the end of the whole affair, had it not been for the vision of a young surgeon named Harold Ridley. It was he who discovered that the splinters of Perspex in the pilot’s eye were inert to living human tissue, and would not cause rejection or infection. This meant that the plastic compound could be used to make artificial lenses.

Hawker was contacted, and then ICI, which made its Perspex formula available. Research and experimentation eventually led to the first artificial lens implant on November 29, 1949.This operation was carried out by Harold Ridley at St Thomas’s Hospital, London. Thirty years later Mouse Cleaver himself was to benefit, for under the care of Professor Eric J. Arnott he was fitted with an artificial lens.

Flying clothing whilst mainly designed to keep the flyer warm was also a part of his saftey equipment. Certainly earlier in the war before the MK VI MkVIII goggles were available, many flyers chose not to wear goggles as they were cumbersome (MkIV series) or distorted vision (MKIII and IIIa goggles). This contributed to a lot of the horrific facial burns as had goggles been worn the face would have had a little bit of protection. The same is true for horrific hand and foot burns suffered by those fighter pilots that refused to wear correct flying gauntlets and boots because it impeeded the “feel” of the aircraft.

Air Pamphlet: First Aid and Early Treatment of Burns advises that air crew should “wear flying goggles at take-off and landing” in case of fire. It does not mention the wearing of them in flight but it would seem sensible, for the reasons outlined by others.

It would probably help with the cold temperatures the crews were facing.

Not just the canopy. Any ‘puncture’ in the aircraft could set up fierce air currents which could do anything upwards of simply making the pilot’s eyes water. Not to mention shrapnel and other debris flying about. It is generally a good idea if the chap doing the flying can see what he’s doing…
🙂