Flying the F-106 in a Pressure Suit by Bruce Gordon

Flying the F-106 with a Pressure Suit

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Flying the F-106 with a Pressure Suit

by Bruce Gordon 29 Nov 2016 We had to wear a partial pressure suit when flying the F-106 over 50,000 feet because our blood would boil if we lost pressurization.

It was bad enough under normal, deflated conditions, but was so bad it was dangerous when inflated. The pressure in the suit and in your helmet would make your helmet rise up, catching your chin and stretching your neck up and tilting your head back so you're looking up.

There was a cable and pulley system to pull your helmet down, but when your suit inflated your gloves inflated, too. One night I was taking off from Selfridge AFB in Michigan. Just as I broke ground, the pressure suit inflated fully. My helmet grabbed my chin and lifted my head up and back so I could barely see the instruments. I tried to grab for the cable to pull the helmet back down, but it was hard because the inflated gloves couldn't feel much and were very stiff as I tried to grab the cable. I got a hand on the cable and pulled the helmet down and pulled something to deflate the suit, but then the faceplate fogged up from my breath. I had to turn up the faceplate heat, but it seemed to be either full COLD or full HOT, so I could either look at the night instruments through the fogged faceplate or have a clear faceplate while my face baked in the heat. I cycled between a cold fog or a baking hot faceplate. I managed to fly my mission and get my plane safely back on the ground. We all hated the pressure suits so much that we simply did not fly over 50,000 feet, and I never flew another mission with a pressure suit!