Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 338:
Description
Named VS-21 ‘Fighting Redtails’ Viking Flight Gear. Complete U.S. Navy flight ensemble named to naval aviator Dave Armbruster, callsign "Punky, " of Sea Control Squadron 21 (VS-21 "Fighting Redtails") – helmet, MBU-12/P oxygen mask, embroidered CWU-27/P flight suit, integrated parachute/restraint harness, and flying gloves. This is a complete, single-owner U.S. Naval Aviation flight gear grouping identified to Dave Armbruster, an aviator of VS-21, the "Fighting Redtails, " a carrier-based Sea Control Squadron that flew the Lockheed S-3B Viking from NAF Atsugi, Japan, as part of Carrier Air Wing Five (CVW-5) embarked aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). No separate published biography of Armbruster has been located; his identity and squadron affiliation rest on the embroidered name and wings on the flight suit, the hand-inked mask attribution, the red-scripted "Punky" callsign on the helmet, and the squadron insignia carried on the gear itself. VS-21 served as one of the Navy’s forward-deployed sea control squadrons through the late 1990s and into the early 2000s, providing anti-submarine warfare, surface surveillance, and tanker support to CVW-5 during a period that spanned Western Pacific and Indian Ocean deployments, before the squadron’s disestablishment in 2005 as the Viking community was drawn down fleet-wide. Kitty Hawk, forward-deployed to Yokosuka, was the Navy’s last conventionally powered carrier and a fixture of Seventh Fleet operations throughout this era; gear surviving from her embarked squadrons, particularly named to an individual aviator, offers a tangible link to the closing years of S-3 Viking operations. The personalized helmet nickname "Punky, " rendered in red script outlined in black, together with the squadron’s red-taloned eagle and lightning-bolt insignia embroidered on the flight suit, reflects the individualized ready-room culture typical of carrier air wings of the period. The fixed-wing flight helmet, of HGU-55/P or HGU-68/P pattern, retains its dark visor beneath a black leather visor cover, a mount bracket for night-vision or ancillary equipment fitted to the shell, black leather edge roll and earcups, a communications lead, and the painted rear nickname "Punky" in red script over the white-painted shell. The accompanying MBU-12/P type oxygen mask bears the hand-inked name "Armbruster" on the exterior shell and retains its straps, an Astrocom-marked connector, and its coiled communications cable and hose assembly. The sage-green CWU-27/P aramid flight suit, manufactured by Equa Industries under contract SP0100-99-D-4006 in size 44 Short, carries direct embroidery of naval aviator wings and the name "Dave Armbruster" at the left breast, with the VS-21 "Fighting Redtails" squadron patch at the right breast, and a handwritten name/number on the interior collar tag. The Adjustable Integrated Parachute/Restraint Harness, dated of manufacture 7/98 and placed in service 4/99 per its sewn label, retains its full complement of nylon webbing straps, quick-release fittings, and lift-web hardware. Accompanying the group is a pair of Nomex-and-leather flyer’s gloves and two loose embroidered squadron insignia – a red lightning bolt and a stylized red eagle/talon device – consistent with the VS-21 emblem worn on the flight suit. Overall condition is good and service-used throughout: the helmet shows expected surface scuffing, edge-roll wear, and typical interior liner and earcup aging; the oxygen mask shows light rubber stiffening consistent with age and use; the flight suit and harness retain clear, legible specification tags with light fading, creasing, and minor fabric soiling consistent with genuine operational flight use. A rare, fully named and squadron-attributed carrier aviator’s ensemble that brings together helmet, mask, harness, and embroidered flight suit under a single documented identity from the closing years of Navy S-3 Viking operations.
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