Item MISC.03 - Royal Navy Ventile Flight Deck Smock

Identity area

Reference code

MISC.03

Title

Royal Navy Ventile Flight Deck Smock

Date(s)

  • 1986 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

1

Context area

Name of creator

Royal Navy
(1546-)

Biographical history

Name of creator

Ventile
(1938-)

Administrative history

Ventile is a special woven cotton fabric that is trademark registered. It was developed by scientists at the Shirley Institute in Manchester in the late 1930s. Extra-long-staple cotton fibres are used to weave a tight density fabric which is weatherproof. During the Second World War it was used to make immersion suits for pilots. From 1943 until 2017 it was made by Talbot Weaving in Chorley, Manchester. It is now produced by Stotz & Co. AG a Swiss manufacturer.

Repository

Westminster Menswear Archive

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Navy smock constructed from cotton Ventile, featuring a hood with a fold-down peak secured by a press stud and a fold-out face guard for added protection. Four adjustable straps on the back of the hood to adjust it to fit. The interior of the hood is cut to allow space for a headset. Two tabs on the jacket’s front secure communication cables with press studs, preventing tangling.
Country of Design: United Kingdom

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      Physical characteristics and technical requirements

      Cotton Ventile

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      Note

      From Inside the Westminster Menswear Archive:

      VENTILE FLIGHT DECK SMOCK
      Royal Navy
      1986
      The Royal Navy first introduced this windproof smock pattern in the 1950s for personnel serving on aircraft carrier decks and continued to issue versions of it until the 1980s. It is made with Ventile, a special woven cotton fabric that was developed by scientists at the Shirley Institute in
      Manchester in the late 1930s, utilizing extra-long-staple cotton fibres which are used to weave a high-density fabric that is weatherproof. The hood has a fold-down peak that is held in place by a press-stud, as well as a fold-out face guard. Four straps on the back of the hood allow the wearer
      to secure it to their head, and the hood’s interior features a space for a headset. Two tabs located on the jacket’s front allow communication cables to be held in place by press-studs, preventing tangling.
      Ventile
      Archive no. MISC.03

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