We always used the throat mike.

In article , ArtKramr
writes
Subject: We always used the throat mike.
From: Dave Eadsforth
Date: 3/11/04 11:55 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

In article , ArtKramr
writes
One more point Dave.We used the throat mike with both masks, we never had a
mask with a built in mike. But when possible I would hold that throat mike
against my lips and talk into it to keep from being choked by the throat
mike's
neckband.

Arthur Kramer

Thanks for that rider, Art, I have seen the occasional film where the
throat mike neckband seems to have been worn loose, and the mike was
pressed against the throat with thumb and forefinger when the guy wanted
to talk. Possibly a bit inconvenient at 'busy' periods... :-)

Cheers,

Dave


Well Dave consider that we always needed a throat mike, but rarely used oxygen
since most of our missions were flown in broad daylight at 8-10,000 feet. The
ocassional 12,000 foot mission we considered high altitude work. If all we had
was an oxygen mask with a built in mike it be annoying to have to wear the
mask when we didn't need it.


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

I guess the mask could be irritating for wearing several hours at a time
if you don't need it for oxygen. Again, in the movies, I have sometimes
seen RAF pilots with their masks unclipped, and they just pull it
towards their mouth when they want to speak. Very steely for the
movies, but I don't know whether that was a director's whim, or whether
RAF pilots actually did that. My own experience of wearing a mask (for
comms in open cockpit 'planes, not oxygen) tells me that a dangling mask
is an irritation, and it is not easy to clip on quickly if you have to
do that in a hurry - takes two hands and a hard pull, unless you've gone
to the lengths of bending open the helmet clip.

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Eadsforth