Flight boots

[rusl4]

Are these military or civilian? They were made in Canada. 

[Scarecrow]

Hi rus14,

 

These appear to be WWII RCAF flight boots.  The definitive answer would be if you can find an RCAF acceptance mark, which is a "C" in a circle.  It was an ink stamp so may have worn off or faded.  I have two pairs of these in my collection and the only difference from yours is the bottom rubber portion on mine are black not brown. Other than that they are identical. Maybe others on this Forum can give their opinion.

[jjock]

I did my RCAF pilot training in 1965, and was issued identical looking sheepskin leather boots, with the Kaufman brand name, but with the same tread pattern.  I still have the boots, and they are in extremely good condition, because the only thing I wore them for, was clearing snow in the driveway.  They were not suitable for flying in fighter type aircraft, because, there was limited room at the rudder pedals, and in the event of ejection, the boots would probably stayed in the cockpit when the seat fired. 

We were issued three types of boots, plus oxford style shoes.  The first pair, is as stated above.  The second pair of boots, were a pebbled leather ankle high boot, with no toe cap, similar to what was issued to the Canadian Army, with the exception of rubber soles and heals and a strap at the top, designed to help retain the boot during ejection.  The third boot, was a wool boot, with leather soles, a leather toe cap, and leather pieces in the areas that required strength (such as around the heal, and where the boot was laced)  This last boot, was extremely comfortable for winter wear, but was not nearly as durable as the leather flight boot.

In addition to the sheepskin boots, I believe I still have a virtually new pair of the leather flight boots. 

An additional piece of information for anyone interested in the complete history of the pebbled leather boot, it was the same boot that was issued to the Canadian Army.  When I was issued a pair of boots, as a cadet in an Armoured regiment in 1955, I was issued this same boot, but with a leather sole, hob nails, a large cleat on the front of the sole, and a steel horseshoe cleat in the heal.  They were a pain in the butt for scrambling around on tanks, so they were replaced with a rubber sole and heal (same pattern as the RCAF flight boot), which was much more practical.

I can post pictures on request.