1941 Pattern Flying Gauntlets : Warrant Officer L W Candy RAAF, 31 Squadron, RAF

Pair of brown leather RAF 1941 Pattern flying gauntlets. The hand is lined with thin fleece and the gauntlet with soft sheep's leather. The upper section of the gauntlet has an expanding gusset and is edged with an elasticised casing. The back (underside) of the gauntlet fastens with a diagonally placed zip. One zip bears Air Ministry markings, the other for the manufacturer 'LIGHTNING'. The tabs at the end of each zip also differ in shape. The inside of each gauntlet bears Air Ministry acceptance marks and numbers. The owner has written his service number and name in black ink, '50074 L CANDY' inside each cuff (illegible in the right gaunlet).

These gauntlets are associated with 50074 Warrant Officer Leonard William 'Len' Candy, RAAF, who enlisted in Janaury 1942 as a Flight Mechanic and trained at 7 SFTS Denniliquin (Wirraways). Posted to the United Kingdom, he sailed aboard the 'New Amsterdam' in January 1944. He converted to Oxfords and was posted to Transport Command. He was then posted to Karachi followed by the OTU at Chaklala. Candy joined 31 Squadron RAF and flew Dakotas in India until his discharge in April 1946.

These gauntlets are not a matching pair. This type of gauntlet was so popular that theft from the factory production lines in the UK became a major problem. As a result, different contracts were issued for left and right gloves to different manufacturers and the gauntlets were not issued to aircrew as a pair.