COBI USAAF Bomber Pilot Figure Keyring Set 1364

A COBI minifigure of a USAAF bomber pilot in printed flying kit, fixed to a matching brick with a metal chain and keyring. The connection points are glued so it survives daily use.

The sheepskin jacket was survival equipment

The leather flying jacket became a fashion item decades later. In 1943 it was the difference between working and freezing to death.

A B-17 or B-24 was unpressurised and unheated, with open waist gun positions, and it flew at 7,000 to 8,000 metres where the outside temperature is around minus 50 degrees. Crews wore sheepskin-lined leather over electrically heated suits, with silk gloves under leather ones — because bare skin touching metal at that temperature sticks to it.

Frostbite was one of the most common injuries in American bomber crews, ahead of wounds from enemy fire in some months. A gunner who removed a glove to clear a jammed weapon could lose fingers doing it.

The painted artwork on the backs of those jackets — aircraft names, mission tallies, cartoons — was done by the men themselves, and it is where the whole tradition of nose art and jacket art comes from.

In the COBI range

One of a series of sixteen figure keyrings from the Historical Collection. Set 1373 is the retail display holding the full assortment. Sets 5749, 5750 and 5739 are the B-17 and B-24.

Specifications

Contents: one minifigure on a brick with metal chain and keyring · Glued connection points · Printed detail