Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 408:
Description
WWII USAAF Type A-8B Constant-Flow Oxygen Mask by Ohio Chemical & Mfg. Co., ARCTIC PATENTED valve housings, with original webbing-and-leather harness, corrugated supply hose, and an uninstalled NOS replacement rebreather bladder. Offered here is an original World War II United States Army Air Forces Type A-8B constant-flow oronasal oxygen mask, manufactured by the Ohio Chemical & Mfg. Co. and embossed "Ohio Chemical & Mfg. Co." and "ARCTIC PATENTED" to both side valve housings. The mask retains its original olive-green rubber facepiece, twin side-valve assemblies with sponge rubber moisture discs, elasticated webbing and leather harness with buckles and hook fittings, and its long corrugated rubber supply hose. As no separate service or personnel record accompanies the piece, its documented history rests in the surviving equipment itself rather than in any named-recipient provenance. Standardized for USAAF service in 1940-1941, the A-8 and A-8B were the primary constant-flow oxygen masks issued to American bomber and fighter crews during the earliest high-altitude operations of the war, feeding oxygen continuously through side-mounted valves while a BLB-type (Boothby-Lovelace-Bulbulian) rebreathing bag slung beneath the chin conserved oxygen between breaths. At the extreme cold of high combat altitude, however, moisture from the aircrew’s own breath frequently condensed and froze within the mask body and valve discs, a persistent operational hazard that led the Army Air Forces to steadily replace the A-8B with demand-type masks such as the A-14 by 1943-1944. Relatively few original A-8Bs survive today with facepiece, harness, and hose intact, making this a scarce and evocative example of the transitional high-altitude flight equipment carried by American aircrews in the opening years of the air war. The olive-green rubber facepiece shows a pronounced molded nose bridge and central valve stem flanked by two circular side-valve housings, each bearing the maker and patent lettering with its sponge rubber moisture disc still fitted; the rubber itself remains notably soft and supple, free of the severe hardening or dry rot common to surviving examples. The corrugated rubber supply hose survives attached at the valve assembly, coiling to its full working length. The woven elasticated harness crosses the cheeks and secures behind the head, retaining its fittings, while the leather straps show their original adjustment holes, a buckle, and hook-style closure hardware. At the mask’s lower stem, the originally fitted olive-drab rebreather bladder has torn away in ragged fragments around its connecting stem, a common failure point in aged rubber of this type. Accompanying the mask is an intact, unissued New Old Stock reservoir bladder bag of the correct pattern, smooth-surfaced and uninstalled, ready to be fitted in place of the deteriorated original. Condition throughout is honest and consistent with genuine period service use: the harness webbing shows light fraying and surface aging, the leather has cracking and edge wear, and the hose displays expected bends and surface oxidation, while the facepiece rubber and NOS bladder both present remarkably well for their age. A tactile, maker-marked survivor of America’s earliest high-altitude bombing campaigns, this Ohio Chemical A-8B assembly, complete with harness and its unused reservoir replacement, captures the transitional oxygen technology carried by USAAF crews before the demand-mask era rendered it obsolete.
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