DEMONSTRATION OF U.S. NAVY APH-6 TYPE FLIGHT HELMET & EJECTION SEAT TEST ON TRAINER 54434

This silent film from the 1960s shows functional aspects of what might be a prototype of the APH-6B flight helmet, and ends with an ejection seat test performed on a vertical rail ejection seat test stand. The film was probably made to show how the location of the visor controls on the then-new flight helmets would not interfere with or accidentally trigger an ejection. The film begins with a naval aviator and/or test pilot conferring with a lieutenant, and showing off an APH-6A or APH-6 helmet, with its single, center-deployed visor. The aviator is wearing an APH-6B -- which can include two or in some cases even three different visors inside the helmet. These were typically dark and light / anti-glare. (The double visor version was sometimes called the “ramshorn“ version because of its protruding knobs) At 4:48 the aviator, now wearing the APH-6A, demonstrates how to deploy the face shield for seat ejection. It is demonstrated that the deployment of the helmet shields in no way would interfere with the operation of the ejection seat, which was possibly the point of this short film. The APH series of helmets debuted in the late 1950s, and featured visors which were protected from dirt and scratching by a protective shield. These helmets also features improved communications, liners, and newly designed mask retainers. These types of helmets became the U.S. Navy and USMC standard jet aircraft headgear during the 60’s and throughout the 70’s. They were produced by Gentex and Sierra. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit