Headset History? pls.

daveymac82c · **Posted:** Sun Sep 14, 2008 4:39 pm

Hi everyone,

I've got a very curious question:

What is the history of the aviation headset? I've looked all over the internet and can't seem to come up with anything, at all. I couldn't even find anything decent on wikipedia or davidclark.com.

My girlfriend is working on a project that needs to explain the chronology of aviation headset development, commmercial and military.

Can anyone tell me immediately when the first headset was used, and whether it was brought to use by military necessity, or civilian? Maybe a visual history of headsets? An explanation on how the development of headsets was effect by early bush-flying, WWII, Cold War, etc?

Heck, even a good URL would be handy.

Thanks,

David M.

skymstr02 · **Posted:** Sun Sep 14, 2008 5:01 pm

Here's one source of information for your friend:

http://www.gentexcorp.com/default.aspx?pageid=152

bdk · **Joined:** Sun May 02, 2004 1:16 am **Posts:** 11335

Look up the "Gosport Tube."

Quote:

Dictionary: gosport (gŏs'pôrt', -pōrt')

n.
A flexible speaking tube used for one-way communication between individual compartments or cockpits of an airplane.

Quote:

A Gosport Tube was a voice tube used by flight instructors in the early days of military aviation to give instructions and directions to their students. It was invented by flying instructor Robert Raymond Smith-Barry at the School of Special Flying he opened at Gosport (UK) in 1917.

Buy one here:

http://www.banaire.com/WWIIaviationmem.html

JDK · **Posted:** Mon Sep 15, 2008 12:06 am

Hi David,
Good question. There's been a few books published on flying clothing which touch on it, generally military of course. (Not my area, but I'm sure some others might help.) Interestingly, while you'd think the early helmets for protection would be just (American) football helmets adapted or similar, but it's clear that in Aus at least there were some early dedicated helmets used in 1914/15, in the first days of military flying.

Here's a couple of shots of Dickie Williams in a Boxkite in 1915 wearing a bespoke flying helmet. I can get a decent shot of the helmet tomorrow....

Let us know a bit more of what you are after, and I can ask one of the curators next time I'm in the RAAF Museum.

JDK · **Posted:** Tue Sep 16, 2008 8:10 pm

As promised. I believe this is the same helmet as in the photographs.

What else were you after?

daveymac82c · **Posted:** Mon Sep 22, 2008 11:58 pm

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this thread. And James, thank you for the pictures and info!

What we're really looking for is the history of aviation headset development. Like, when was air to air communication first achieved, when did it become common practice in civilian operations, and when in military use.

Also, how did microphone technology develop? When were the throat microphones used, and when was the boom mic used? When was active noise cancellation developed and when released?

It would be really great to get as many "milestones" as possible on this topic for my girlfriend's project.

Cheers,

David

JDK · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 3:12 am

Tough questions those, Dave!

daveymac82c wrote:

What we're really looking for is the history of aviation headset development. Like, when was air to air communication first achieved,

Air to ground W/T (wireless, or Morse, rather then than R/T or voice) I think dates to pre-Great War. By 1918, air to ground W/T was common on both sides. I'm not aware of service use of any air-to-air radio communications in 1918, but I think there may have been some pioneering work underway.

Quote:

Also, how did microphone technology develop? When were the throat microphones used, and when was the boom mic used?

In 1940 the RAF used oxygen mask mikes while the Luftwaffe used throat mikes. That's about all I know!

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

I recall (probably with some errors) from reading a book on the Spanish Civil War, that when the Spaniards received the He-112 and Me-109s, these already came with not only a radio-transmitter (expressed by the author of the book, as a novelty and a leap in technology for that time) but also with what in Spanish was called "El Laringofono" [or, the Larynx-phone] which is of course, a throat mike.

So, this would put at least in this particular instance, the time frame around 1938 or 39, possibly with the development in Germany, a few years earlier.

Saludos,

Tulio

Oh! By the way, the book is "Cadenas del Aire" [Chains of the Air] and documents Dr. Jose Luis Jimenez-Arenas experience as first, a pilot flying He-46s, Letov aircraft of a type I don't remember, then as an attack pilot with the Cadena Heinkel (He-51) de Asalto, and also flying the Me-109 (called El Messer by the Spaniards) and, the He-112.

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