M-1971 Ground Crew Uniform

 

 

   
Aircraft Armorer (1984)
  

  
The airman is Wearing:
The standard weight M-1971 two piece coverall for ground crewmen.  His headgear is a ShShL summer weight noise protection helmet without communications gear.

Sources Cited  

 

Back to Air Force Uniforms
of the Soviet Superpower

   

More about the uniform...

The uniform is a simple two piece affair consisting of a jacket and pair of trousers.  The jacket has a single pocket fastened by a snap closure.  The jacket itself is closed by means of a row of concealed buttons (likely to prevent them from being snagged on anything).

The trousers have two thigh pockets each fastened by means of two snap closures.  Cold weather versions of this suit were manufactured and will be included as soon as they are acquired.

The ShShL helmet is one of several models used to protect the hearing of ground crewmen around noisy aircraft engines.  This model is a summer weight one without communication gear and having a mesh top.

Other versions have communications gear and different padding around the ears.


 

 
 

Service Chronology

Due to the lack of detailed sources regarding Soviet ground crew uniforms it is difficult to date its entry into service or its retirement.  Examples of it can be seen in photographs from the late 1970's and in books of the 1980's and early 1990's.  The source giving the designation as M-1971 has not been confirmed, but what is clear is that older photos in our collection show a different pattern uniform with concealed buttons and two breast pockets.  We hope to eventually determine the uniform's place in the chronology of the Soviet air force.

A khaki version of the uniform was developed in the mid-1980's for use in Afghanistan.  This uniform continued to be used alongside the M-1971 uniform even after the fall of the Soviet Union.
 
This Uniform Replaced... M-1971 Ground Crew Coverall This Uniform was Replaced by...
An earlier pattern ground crew coverall, but its designation is currently unknown to us.
M-1985 Khaki Ground Crew Coverall
(In tropical and desert climates)
 
Uncertain at Present*

*(It was documented well into the 1990's, but may have been replaced by the new 2010 'Yudashkin' pattern uniforms seen in use during the Russian Syrian intervention of 2015).

 

Sources Cited
 

(1) Dzhus, Alexander M., Soviet Wings, Modern Soviet Military Aircraft. Novato: Presidio Press, 1991. Print.

(2) Zaloga, Steven J., Inside the Soviet Army Today, Oxford: Osprey Elite Series, 1987. Print.

(3) Schofield, Carey, Inside the Soviet Military. New York, NY: Abbeville Press, 1991. Print.