Waspie
SMF Supporter
Thanks for that Steve. They were very rudimentary but look effective.Generally four piece.
The Sutton, as in this and most British aircraft had an extra part that passed over the pilot's shoulders and through a slot in the head armour to an attachment in the rear fuselage (2 in the image below) The other part of the shoulder restraint (1 in the image below) passed behind the seat, or, later, behind the pilot and through a slot in the seat, to an attachment lower than his posterior.
The shoulder straps combined with the two lap belts still meant that there were just four belts pinned together with a quick release pin, at the waist.
This is the best drawing I have of a Sutton harness.
View attachment 485067
Here's an explanation from the late Edgar Brooks:
The standard fit was for two straps, joined into a "Y" shape, to come over the backrest. These were joined by another pair, coming through a slot in the fixed armour/headrest. Two friction adjusters, shaped like a "0," held the two sets together, roughly on the pilot's shoulders. The ends of the "Y" straps had the (5) holes for the retaining pin, while the two, which came through the bulkhead, each ended in small brass crosspiece, so the pilot could grasp them, and pull the whole lot tight. Two lapstraps, with only two holes, were fixed underneath the seat, so that they came up about halfway along the pilot's thighs. The righthand strap fed through the slot in the side of the seat bucket (presumably to ensure that it didn't foul the seat raising/lowering mechanism, while the lefthand strap tended to disappear, and had to be "fished" for (at least it could be seen through the open door.) Initially, the "Y" strap bolted straight onto a crossbar at the bottom of the seat's bulkhead, but, in April, 1941, the bottom few inches were replaced by a short length of cable, to give more freedom of movement.
The straps were numbered; no.1 was the left shoulder strap, and there was a narrow strip of webbing, running underneath the holes, along which a "T"-shaped pin slid, so the the stalk of the T popped through (any) one of the holes. The pin was tapered, rather like a drawing pin (thumb-tack, in some quarters, I believe,) and had a hole drilled through it. No.2 was the right thighstrap, 3 the left thighstrap, and 4 was the right shoulderstrap. To no. 4, a triangular pin was attached by a short length of cord. The two ends of the triangle were splayed out, after they touched, and a third length of rod was fitted between them, attached to a crossbar just inside the triangle. Each successive strap was laid over the tapered pin, and the central rod, of the triangle was pushed through the hole, to hold the whole lot together; the sides of the triangle acted as a spring to stop the rod from sliding out. All the pilot had to do, in an emergency, was pull the triangle out, the straps fell away, and out he went.