Backpiece U.S. WWII USAAF M1 Flak Vest

During WW2 in the US Army Air Corps, bomber crews often returned from missions over Nazi-occupied Europe reporting extremely dense flak, each burst spraying the aircraft with hot shrapnel. Following the experience of the Royal Air Force, the Air Corps began issuing flak jackets to aircrews in 1942. These flak jackets were heavy, consisting of steel plates sown into multi-layered nylon that would catch low velocity fragments