Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 348:
Description
USAAF Type F-1 Electrically Heated Flying Suit, the "Blue Bunny, " Size 42, manufactured by General Electric under Specification No. 94-3112, Order No. WS35-AC22818, complete with original wiring loom and power cable. This lot offers a vivid survivor of one of the most distinctive pieces of high-altitude flight equipment developed for American bomber crews in the Second World War: a Type F-1 electrically heated flying suit, produced exclusively by General Electric and instantly recognizable by its bright powder-blue wool felt shell and serpentine internal wiring pattern. Its story rests in the manufacturer’s data label, the United States Army Air Forces ink stamp, and the surviving physical evidence of front-line issue. Introduced into service in 1941, the F-1 suit was engineered to answer one of strategic bombing’s most persistent hazards – the brutal cold encountered by B-17 and B-24 crews operating at altitudes where ambient temperatures could plunge far below freezing even as gunners manned exposed positions for hours at a stretch. Drawing 24 volts of direct current from the aircraft’s own electrical system, fine resistance wire was woven directly into the felt lining, terminating at cuff and ankle connection points that allowed heated gloves and boots to be linked into the same circuit. In practice, the delicate internal wiring proved a persistent liability – flexing and chafing during movement in cramped turrets and waist positions led to broken filaments, hot spots, and occasional burns, prompting the Air Forces to phase in the two-piece F-2 and F-3 suits within a few short years. That operational vulnerability, compounded by widespread postwar disposal and decades of moth predation on unprotected wool storage, has made complete, intact F-1 suits like this one increasingly scarce on the collector market. The one-piece suit displays the characteristic construction in bright blue wool felt with contrasting olive drab knit collar, cuffs, and ankle bands, a brass separating zipper running the full length of the torso and inner leg, and wavy reinforcing stitch-work marking the routed wiring throughout the body panels. A chest-mounted brown fiber junction block retains its attached lead wire and plug connector, with matching terminal fittings visible at the ankles for connection to heated footwear. The interior General Electric data label remains crisp and fully legible, identifying the suit as a size 42.
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