Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 363:
Description
WWII RAF/Commonwealth Observer-Type Parachute Harness Back Pad, pattern consistent with Air Ministry Stores Ref. 15A/191, khaki canvas construction with felt padding, herringbone-twill retaining tabs, and boxed ‘S’ inspection stamp, circa 1939-1945. This lot offers an original Second World War-era back pad for the Observer-type (chest) parachute harness worn by RAF and Commonwealth bomber aircrew. The pad’s khaki canvas body, felt-filled construction, and snap-fastened webbing tabs are consistent with wartime British and Canadian production associated with Air Ministry Stores Reference 15A/191, though no maker’s name or full reference number is legible in the photographs, and any attribution to Irvin Air Chute Ltd. or an affiliated Commonwealth contractor remains circumstantial. No separate published biography or unit history accompanies the piece; its story is told entirely through its pattern, construction, and the faint markings stamped into the canvas. Unlike single-seat fighter pilots, who sat atop a seat-type parachute pack, aircrew serving in multi-crew bombers such as the Lancaster, Halifax, Wellington, and Stirling wore a chest-type harness continuously throughout operational flight, clipping on the detachable parachute pack only in an emergency. Navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators, and air gunners might spend eight hours or more strapped into this harness while moving between stations, and the heavy canvas webbing and metal fittings bore directly against the back and shoulders. A pad of this type addressed that practical discomfort, cushioning the wearer against the hardware of the harness during long Bomber Command sorties flown between 1939 and 1945. The pad is a rectangular khaki canvas panel with a broad, edge-stitched border and a padded, quilted inner field. Six herringbone-twill webbing retaining tabs are fitted to the front face – a pair at each upper corner, a pair at mid-body, and a pair at the lower corners – each tab closed by two metal press-stud snap fasteners. The reverse carries the corresponding metal grommets set through the canvas at each tab position, along with two faint, largely illegible ink or stencil marks near the centre. A boxed ‘S’ stamp, likely an inspection or size mark applied during wartime manufacture or acceptance, remains clearly visible on the front face near the lower edge. Condition is very good for an issued wartime item: the canvas and webbing show light, honest age-related toning, scattered surface soiling, and minor scuffing consistent with period use; the stitching, press studs, and grommets all appear sound and intact; and the internal padding retains its shape without significant loss or compression. A tactile and well-preserved survivor of RAF/Commonwealth aircrew equipment, this back pad speaks quietly to the long hours Bomber Command crews spent strapped into their harnesses over occupied Europe.
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