Pressure Suit, Mark IV, Arrowhead

This is a United States Navy Mark IV high altitude pressure suit. The Arrowhead Products Company made this suit in the mid-1950s at the request of the Navy as a competition suit. The B. F. Goodrich Company made a similar suit that the Navy later adopted as it as its emergency pressure suit.

One interesting feature of this suit is the use of the molded rubber convolutes in the joints. These joints allowed pilots greater mobility in the arms, legs and waist than previous suits and were lighter weight, too. However, they were hard and uncomfortable for pilots while sitting in the aircraft cockpit. Nevertheless, NASA obtained this suit from the Navy during the course of evaluating pressure suits to turn into spacesuits for the Mercury program. Even though NASA opted to use the B.F. Goodrich design for Mercury, they kept the convolute joint in mind and selected the ILC Industries as the contractor for Apollo suits when that company proposed a similar joint system.

NASA transferred this suit to the Museum in 1975.