Boulton Paul Defiant pics [8/9] - Defiant N1671 from 307 Squadron at the RAF Museum London.jpg (1/1)

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In article , Stormin' Norman says...

On 10 Sep 2018 07:23:58 -0700, Miloch
wrote:

An oddity in combat aircraft, it had no forward firing guns and the
gunner could not wear a traditional parachute, instead they wore an
abomination called a "Rhino suit", see attached description and
picture.

"The gunner's hatch was in the rear of the turret, which had to be
rotated to the side for entry and exit. There was not enough room in
the turret for the gunner to wear a seat-type or back pack parachute
so gunners were provided with a special all-in-one garment nicknamed
the "rhino suit". Frederick "Gus" Platts, an air gunner who served in
230, 282 and 208 squadrons, stated: "The Rhino suit we had to wear on
Defiants was a bear but I couldn't come up with an alternative, even
though it killed dozens of us. I forget the details of it but we could
not have sat on our chute or even keep it nearby as in other turrets,
so you wore – all in one – an inner layer that fitted a little like a
wetsuit of today. The chute fitted around this, and then the dinghy
and the outer clothing. There was inner webbing and pockets that
literally fell apart (I presume) when one bailed out"


....maybe the idea was that you inflate the 'suit' as you bailout then safely
bounce when you hit the ground instead of smashing...if so, then the rhino suit
was ahead of its time.

....just sayin'