West German Marineflieger

[RedCatcher1986]

I have long been interested in finding information on this unit the air wings attached to the German Navy however information remains relatively scarce as do their items on the market from what I have seen. Many thanks to forum member Jens for helping me acquire this flight suit for Marineflieger aviators designed for operations in the cold weather environments of the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. Attached I have included pictures of the suit itself nicknamed a 'Frankenstein' by aviators, as well as a pair of boots with an insulated lining and other accoutrements that were found in the pockets including gloves, what appears to be a tool for breaking through the canopy of an aircraft in the event of an emergency in which the pilot has to ditch at sea, a detachable rubber hood for protecting the head and ears as well as what I believe are chemical markers similar to those carried by U.S. Navy aviators that saturate the water around the downed airman with a colored dye to aid in recovery by Search & Rescue aircraft.

Also included in the pictures are notes and flight information kept on what would be the pilot's knee boards. All in all I very nice find and addition to my collection. Thanks again Jens!

[RamJet]

Boah, how I hated to fly in this monster! Had to use it back in 1985 when I made my first photo ride in a MFG 2 TF-104G from Eggebek. Nearly couldn't reach the canopy handle to close it down so stiff was that suit. We wore the day-glo orange version, by the way.

The Frankenstein was not used exclusively by the Marineflieger but also by the crews of the Luftwaffe wings in Northern Germany who flew frequently over the sea.

[RedCatcher1986]

Thanks for the information RamJet it is quite a heavy piece

[chiffonnier]

Cool stuff
I think I would suffer from claustrophobia inside it.
And first time I see a horizontal fly zipper.
You really,really need to be carefull hanging IT out,if you know what I mean.
Kees

[RedCatcher1986]

RamJet,

How common or uncommon are unit patches for Marineflieger or Luftwaffe air wings that operated up north? I wonder how difficult it would be to find a pilot's helmet & oxygen mask combination to complete this suit

[Gordon Craig]

RedCatcher1986,

Badges for the Marineflieger are not hard to find on ebay. Helmets and oxygen masks are difficult to find and very expensive when they are found.
This is the first of these suits that I have seen in brown. I have an orange one, also courtesy of Jens. Mine is a very early suite of U.S. manufacture. It has both a U.S. label and a BW label. I am surprised that they made the Kälteschutzanzug Mk 10 in brown. It seems to defeat the purpose of making a downed flier very visible in the water. Anyway, it is good to know that they made them this colour especially as yours have a number of differences to the one that I own.
As Ramjet has said, I have only seen pictures of the orange suit in wear by the Bundesluftwaffe. Is there any markings on the paperwork in the suit pockets that would give you a clue as to what squadron the original owner flew with? Is there a NATO stock number in the suit that we could look up for more information on it?
Interesting to see what came in the suit pockets.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Redcatcher1986,

As I suspected, the brown cold water suits are probably not for the Marineflieger. They appear to be worn by the Heer. Here is a Youtube video that you will find very interesting in relationship to your suit. It shows you the flotation vest that is worn with it, the helmet and the quilted suits that are worn under these cold water suits. I found it very informative.

Regards,

Gordon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmrOPeIuII4

[uscob]

The green ones are very hard to find, especially if they're in a complete Set.
About 20 Years I got Loads of the Orange ones and still have some. Sadly most of the Rubber Neck and Hand Seals are ripped or broken. I allway's wanted to get new ones, but after I heard the Price

[RamJet]

What brown suit?

The suit of RedCatcher is a standard green one, they are still in use with the Tornado wings as far as I know (I fly in a Eurofighter wing so I just guess). Most of the orange Frankensteins are gone with the orange flight suits in the end of the 80s, when the Luftwaffe changed to the blue-grey flight suits recently relieved by sage-green suits. That should be the reason why uscob got loads of orange suits 20 years ago ...

[RedCatcher1986]

What brown suit?

The suit of RedCatcher is a standard green one, they are still in use with the Tornado wings as far as I know (I fly in a Eurofighter wing so I just guess). Most of the orange Frankensteins are gone with the orange flight suits in the end of the 80s, when the Luftwaffe changed to the blue-grey flight suits recently relieved by sage-green suits. That should be the reason why uscob got loads of orange suits 20 years ago ...

Were the Frankensteins worn by MiG-29 pilots out of Laage following reunification or did they have their own type of immersion suit?

Would these be typical of only Tornado units or would Phantom pilots also wear them?

[RamJet]

As far as I know, they are/were used by all Luftwaffe crews except Eurofighter.

EF crews have the British-manufactured Immersion Protection Garment which is watertight from the outside but let Your skin breathe from the inside (so You do not have to fly sitting in a bath of Your own sweat like in the Frankenstein.

[RedCatcher1986]

Thanks for the information RamJet

[Gordon Craig]

Ramjet,

Interesting information. I did not know that the orange suit had been replaced by the green one. Something new to learn every day. Since the Marineflieger wore a lot of the same gear that the Luftwaffe did then DeWayne is quite correct when he says these suits would have been worn by the Marieflieger. Always good to have some inside info.
One more question. In pictures you have posted on the forum previously, you were wearing a green/brown helmet. Are all flight helmets brown now, and if so, when did they BW change to that colour?
I should make one more comment. Jens has just reminded me that he sent me a green suit like this one about a year ago. That box, like a number of other ones he has sent to me, is still unpacked and I had forgotten I had one.

Regards,

Gordon

[RamJet]

As far as I remember, I never have posted a pic with a green-brown helmet here because there are no green-brown helmets in Bundeswehr service.

Jet crews wear grey helmets. Green helmets are used by Heer helicopter crews. No brown helmet ever ...

[RamJet]

That's me when I got an orientation ride in a Tiger helicopter at Manching last year. I wear the standard Bundeswehr olive-drab helo helmet. Of course, the Tiger crews have special helmets with sighting system adjusted to their heads.