So the back story is I’m planning to build Guy Bordelon’s F4U-5N for the 2015 aces group build. One of the rules for the GB is to have a figure or bust of the ace pilot to go with the aircraft model. From the photos I’ve found or Bordelon he had a hard helmet so subing a WWII pilot with a soft helmet will not look right. I’ve found an F-86 pilot in my spare figure stash that may work. The helmet looks close enough but he’s has a backpack style parachute that I’m questioning. My question is did late model (Korean War) corsair pilots use backpack style parachutes or did they use he lower slung parachute type they sat on? And a broader question anyone aware of a good reference (aside from googling images) for verifying pilots and aircrew have the proper attire?
That’s a good question… I would definitely do a lot of image searching before I made a decision. On WWII aircraft the seat parachute doubled as a seat cushion, and usually had some sort of survival kit in the set up. Backpack chutes of the Korean War single seat fighters often had something to do with the ejection seat. But since the F4U never had that sort of seat, that is not as issue. I am pretty sure that the Air Force had switched to backpack type 'chutes for aircrew by the time of Korea, but the Navy & Marines had completely separate flight gear.
Would affect what type of seat cushion/backrest setup you have to go with as well.