Do Warbird pilots wear Nomex flight suits for safety or to look cool?

Recent article by Rod Hightower regarding Nomex flight suits and inexperienced fliers poking fun. What do you think? Should all pilots wear them (Cessna, Piper, etc)? Are warbirds more apt to go up in flames? What about "O" and "L" type warbirds?

I've been physically on fire several times in my life. Wearing Nomex gear would have reduced the burn damage to not much more than a sunburn on one incident and would have completely prevented one. I prefer to wear it and don't care about any "cool" factor involved.

IMHO it isn't Nomex per se that causes the irritation. Auto racers, even at the club level, were wearing Nomex long before its existence was generally known outside the military. However, those early-80s auto racing suits were almost entirely white or dirty grey since those were the only colors of the fabric that were generally available on the civilian market. If warbird pilots, or Fly Baby pilots for that matter, want to wear Nomex for safety that's great. It is the wearing of olive drab Nomex with epaulettes, patches, and other psuedo-military accouterments that grates.

sPh

Required wear for all military pilots....

I doubt that safety is a priority for many, especially if they throw their fire protection away by rolling up their sleeves, unzipping down to their navels and wearing tennis shoes with polyester socks. My first emergency was a fire that burned a 2 X 3 ft hole in the side. This was a couple of years before Nomex came into use. On that day I was wearing the issue grey poplin one piece that we had to soak in water/borax fire retard solution and air dry. It had zero "coolness" factor with all the dried white splotches and streaks.

I'd say with the $$$ they put into upkeep & flying their 'warbirds'(much for our viewing pleasure) they can wear whatever they want. I was an 'extra' during the filming of 'Andersonville' in GA back in the early 90's. The filming was rather slow, but it came to a halt when one got thrown off the set for having some type of 'walkman' or other modern music device on his head. He was escorted away.

May as well dress the part.

If the 'flight suit" is really Nomex and if he is wearing it to fly , then it was probably for safety. If it is not Nomex or if he is wearing it at night in the bar it is probably for showmanship. I wore a Nomex suit like military issue, and a helmet when I fly that type of airplane. It is very hot and uncomfortable, doesn't breath well, but seems to be worth it when there is a significant chance of fire.

Way back in the day, as the kids say, I wore various kinds of flights suits. I was in the Air Force Reserve and it was required when actually flying. I'm not sure what the things were made of, in my early days we had some type of "poly" in that kinda light Air Force green. Around 1969 or 70 we got "Army" green suits that I think were called "Nomex" all the Army Huey pilots wore these. In addition, we had a very nice winter flying suit much appreciated when flying tactical air drop missions in the C-119G with the cargo doors removed! All of these had TAC patches and our Squadron patch which I always thought looked pretty "Mickey Mouse". A few guys wore these things all the time including off base for lunch or coffee. I can't say that I found these things comfortable or attractive, we called them "zoom bags" and they were not cool in summer! I have no trouble with people who wear them for safety, burn protection is a real plus, but they are not much of a fashion statement.

Joe LaMantia
X Loadmaster
440th TAW

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Those light green were technically called Sage. I agree the Nomex suits and glove were hot uncomfortable and I would have rather worn something else.

Do you have a link for this article?