US Navy Mark IV high altitude full pressure suit build (the start)

[dogstar]

thanks for that great stuff…I will go back to flighthelmet.com and find out what I purchased since they said it was from MkIV helmet…will report back and thank you.

 

[Under Pressure]

It could definitely be from an A/P 22S-2, but there's a chance that it's from a 22S-3, which in essence was a modified MK-IV suit for the USAF untill they could finish production of the -2. Hard to tell without seeing the helm it came off of, and I'm definitely no expert considering I don't have an original one of either. Either way it's still closer than what most makers have access to; worse case scenario he has an X-15 visor instead of a Mercury visor. Now thats a problem I'd like to have!

I think I can be of assistance here. I got all of the different HA helmets so I took a picture of the BF Goodrich A/P22S-3 helmet for you. You can see that the lower edge of the visor follows a straight line, just as on the Mk-IV., while the lines of the tinted and clear visors of the HGK-13 are curved.
The vast majority (163 of 199) of flights of the X-15 used the A/P22S-2s suits that comprised modified HGK-13 helmets. The other flights were performed using the MC-2 suits. So unfortunately none of the X-15 flights had the dark visors installed on the HGK-13 helmets. All of the dark visors had been removed on the modified HGK-13s so the dark visor cannot have flown on the X-15.

 

[Under Pressure]

thanks for that great stuff…I will go back to flighthelmet.com and find out what I purchased since they said it was from MkIV helmet…will report back and thank you.

It shouldn´t be a bad deal, depending on what you paid - those visors tend to be rare. But it´s definitely not an Mk-IV visor, see my detailed post above. You could keep it and trim the lower line to be straight.

 

[chibobber]

I believe the boots to be "Addison" brand. These boots are made specifically as flight boots.

 

[dogstar]

It shouldn´t be a bad deal, depending on what you paid - those visors tend to be rare. But it´s definitely not an Mk-IV visor, see my detailed post above. You could keep it and trim the lower line to be straight.

Under Pressure, I contacted Flighthelmet and the gentleman informed me that I could have a refund if I wished (I purchased the visor in 2017!) which was great of him, but it is about as close as I think I'm going to approach the real thing...he asked for a picture of what is stamped inside so he can identify what I have...here's the photo I took today...

 

[Under Pressure]

Under Pressure, I contacted Flighthelmet and the gentleman informed me that I could have a refund if I wished (I purchased the visor in 2017!) which was great of him, but it is about as close as I think I'm going to approach the real thing...he asked for a picture of what is stamped inside so he can identify what I have...here's the photo I took today...

I know the owner of Flighthelmet. He´s a real gentleman. I wouldn´t go for a refund if I was you since the visors are really rare. It may not be the identical one but it´s still the closest you will probably get, unless you want to wait years for one to emerge. Flighthelmet may not have known details to keep the different visors apart. Sending you a picture of one of the HGK-13 visors I got. The translucency data on the visor is identical to what you have.

 

[dogstar]

I know the owner of Flighthelmet. He´s a real gentleman. I wouldn´t go for a refund if I was you since the visors are really rare. It may not be the identical one but it´s still the closest you will probably get, unless you want to wait years for one to emerge. Flighthelmet may not have known details to keep the different visors apart. Sending you a picture of one of the HGK-13 visors I got. The translucency data on the visor is identical to what you have.

Under Pressure, as I said in my post, I wont return it and indeed the flighthelmet.com folks will always get my support…I intend to use it on my helmet build