Consisting of a jacket and a pair of trousers in matching gray leather, this flight gear is of the style commonly associated with the Luftwaffe's single-seat fighter pilots and is equipped with wiring to support a set of electrically heated gloves (not included). Originally developed by the French in WWI, electrically heated flight gear came into its own with both the Axis and Allies in WWII, where advancing aircraft technology allowed for high altitude and long duration flights calling for superior protective gear. While both sides developed fully heated suits, they didn't fit well in a small cockpit. The German solution was to insulate the body and electrically heat the hands and feet. The jacket is trimmed with a brown fur faced flip-up collar, lined with gray fur, fitted with a set of elastic inner and "ZIPP" zippered outer cuffs, and marked with two tags, "Hersteller RBNr 0/0915/0002/Grosse 1945" and "STRIEGEL & WAGNER KOM.-GES./LICHTENFELS/BAYER.OSTMARK", on the left side. A leather jacketed electrical connection point for plugging into aircraft power is hidden in the left side of the jacket, with the glove connections mounted on the exterior of the cuffs. The pants were formerly wired for an aircraft power connection to a set of heated boots, but the wiring has been removed. Lined in brown herringbone twill, the pants are tagged "Great Nr 142-52-A-1/Werk-Nr./Hersteller RBNr 0/0915/0002/Grosse IIa1945" on the left side, with a combination of "RiRi" plastic and "RAPID" metal zippers, and zippered boot cuffs. Formerly of the George Petersen collection.