Greetings.
As far as I can tell, there are two at least three distinct types of the Kriegsmarine inflatable life vests (as opposed to the older kapok "pocketed" types of which there also seem to be a number of different styles).
Of the former, one (not pictured here) is a sort of wrap-around, that I believe had to be inflated by mouth by the wearer, and the other two - pictured below - both have oxygen bottles for quick inflation.
My question concerns the latter two. Basically I was wondering if anything more is known about them - in particular their dating etc. Were both primarily Kriegsmarine issue - I have seen them, or vests very similar to them described as Luftwaffe on occasion (and some did have the FL markings). Is anything know of their dating? My GUESS - from looking at lots of photographs - is that the classic "Mae West" type was earlier manufacture, and the "over the head" was later war, but I certainly could be wrong. There also seem to be slight design variants of both types. Any information would be welcome.
As far as I can tell, there are two at least three distinct types of the Kriegsmarine inflatable life vests (as opposed to the older kapok "pocketed" types of which there also seem to be a number of different styles).
Of the former, one (not pictured here) is a sort of wrap-around, that I believe had to be inflated by mouth by the wearer, and the other two - pictured below - both have oxygen bottles for quick inflation.
My question concerns the latter two. Basically I was wondering if anything more is known about them - in particular their dating etc. Were both primarily Kriegsmarine issue - I have seen them, or vests very similar to them described as Luftwaffe on occasion (and some did have the FL markings). Is anything know of their dating? My GUESS - from looking at lots of photographs - is that the classic "Mae West" type was earlier manufacture, and the "over the head" was later war, but I certainly could be wrong. There also seem to be slight design variants of both types. Any information would be welcome.