27 March 2019
Early in World War II, University of Sydney medical scientist Frank Cotton developed a war-winning idea. His inflatable rubberised flying suit proved highly effective in stopping pilots from ‘blacking out’ during aerial combat. So why was this Australian innovation set aside by Allied air forces? Starting with fragments of the ‘Cotton suit’ held in the Macleay Museum, this presentation explores wartime science, front-line conditions, global strategy and the mundane problems that frustrated Cotton’s ambitions.
Dr Peter Hobbins is a historian of science, technology and medicine at the University of Sydney. His research into the global context of the Cotton suit is forthcoming in the Journal of Military History.
Image Credit: Testing the cotton anti-g suit in a centrifuge designed for the purpose. Photograph published in Australia in the war of 1939-45, Medical, vol 4, medical services of the RAN and RAF, page 350. [Australian War Memorial]
27 March 2019
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