Military Vest

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

The first usage of the term "flak jacket" refers to the armor originally developed by the Wilkinson Sword company during World War II to help protect Royal Air Force (RAF) aircrew from the flying debris and shell fragments thrown by German anti-aircraft guns' high-explosive shells. The idea for the flak jacket came from Col. Malcolm C. Grow, Surgeon of the U.S. Eighth Air Force in Great Britain. He thought that many wounds he was treating could have been prevented by some kind of light armor. In 1943, he was awarded the Legion of Merit. The Royal Air Force subsequently offered the jackets to the United States Army Air Forces, which adopted them as a Defense Standard. The UK subsequently supplied the USAAF with 9,600 flak jackets under lend-lease. During World War II, flak jackets and steel helmets were worn by U.S. Navy personnel on aircraft carriers during battle, since these ships and especially their flight decks offered little protection for their crew. The jackets were supposed to protect against shell fragments and heat.

In Their Own Story

Col. Grow’s request to the Wilkinson Sword company was to develop a vest that could stop a .45 caliber (11.43 mm) round fired at close range. Although flak jackets offered protection against some small caliber pistol bullets and shell fragments, ultimately they proved to be less effective than hoped. Flak jackets are now considered to be inferior to modern ballistic vests. It was claimed that the Marine's M-1951 flak jacket could stop a 90 gr (5.8 g) 7.62×25mm Tokarev pistol round at the muzzle of the gun. However, even the Vietnam era revised Flak jackets were not capable to stop high power or high velocity pistol rounds, much less an AK-47 rifle bullet (7.62×39mm). Nevertheless the Army's and Marine's Flak vests did a good job of stopping mortar shell fragments, debris, grenade fragments, ricochets, and direct hits from mild-power/low velocity pistol rounds.

Reader's Guide

The first flak jackets consisted of manganese steel plates sewn into a waistcoat made of cotton canvas, with later revisions of the vest, the waistcoat was made of ballistic nylon (a material engineered by the DuPont company); therefore, flak jackets functioned as an evolved form of plate armor or brigandine. The first flak jacket weighed 22 lb (10.0 kg). During the Korean and Vietnam wars, the flak jacket was changed and the manganese steel plates were replaced by other materials. The U.S. Army's vests (Body Armor, Fragmentation Protective, Vest M1952a & M69) weighed under eight pounds and were made of 12 layers of 1050 denier basket weave ballistic nylon sealed in a vinyl plastic bag to repel water and later revisions added polyethylene stiffeners between the 5th and 6th layer to alleviate bunching of the ballistic nylon. The vests used by the U.S. Marines (Vest, Armored M-1955) weighed more than ten pounds, the exterior of the vest was made of a heavy duty Cotton Poplin, with the third revision of the vest the material was changed to nylon fabric, and the interior were a combination of ballistic nylon layers and fiberglass plates known as Doron. Doron was made of fiberglass layers placed in an ethyl cellulose resin under high pressure. It was named after then-Colonel Georges F. Doriot, director of the Military Planning Division, Office of the Quartermaster General.

Did You Know?

• The term 'flak' is a German contraction for Fliegerabwehrkanone, meaning 'aircraft-defense gun'.
• The first flak jacket weighed 22 lb (10.0 kg) and consisted of manganese steel plates sewn into a cotton canvas waistcoat.
• During World War II, the UK supplied the USAAF with 9,600 flak jackets under lend-lease.
• The Marine's M-1951 flak jacket was claimed to stop a 90 gr 7.62×25mm Tokarev pistol round at the muzzle.
• Doron plates used in Marine flak vests were named after then-Colonel Georges F. Doriot and were made of fiberglass layers in ethyl cellulose resin.