MCI Project Summaries 2008 - Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum
MCI 5990 Wiley Post’s 1934 Pressurized Flight Suit
MCI Staff: Mary W. Ballard, Ron H. Cunningham
The pressure suit worn by test pilot Wiley Post was also designed by him in 1934. After
years on display, the suit has acquired stains, discolorations, and tears. It no longer conforms to
the stance with which Wiley Post graced it. The current project will remove the wood
mannequin, long underwear, rubber suit before treating the cotton outer suit. Because of the
diverse types of stains and materials (leather reinforcements, metal reinforcing rings), the
unprimed cotton duck fabric will be treated locally and specifically. The rubber suiting shows the
deterioration that oxygen, and especially ozone (O ), can produce on natural vulcanized rubber.
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An associated project on anoxic storage planned by MCI and the Cooper Hewitt may assist in the
storage of these materials.
Wiley Post was the first to test a pressure suit (NASM credit); current staining, deterioration
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