• Boots for Military Aircrew
• MK1 General Purpose
  Aircrew Boot
  
• Lightweight Aircrew
  Boot, Black
  
• Lightweight Aircrew
  Boot, Khaki
• 1965 Pattern Aircrew Boot
• Other items

Haynes & Cann Limited has been making footwear in Northamptonshire, England since 1919. Its association with footwear for military Aircrews began in 1943 with the development of what was to become to be called the “escape” boot for the Royal Air Force. The key feature of this boot was that its design permitted the leg of the boot to be cut off if the wearer was forced down behind enemy lines in occupied France. The remaining “shoe” section resembled a normal shoe sufficiently closely for the airmen to escape detection when re-equipped with civilian garments by the French Resistance. Since about the mid 1960s the company has devoted itself almost entirely to specialist military footwear for the flying services.

In more recent years the company has developed a capability for the manufacture of fabric flying helmets and the associated ear capsules and a number of other non-footwear items of special purpose military equipment. An increasing amount of development work has also been carried out under contract to the UK Ministry of Defence and, in addition, the company has linked up with others in the aerospace field to assist in the development of complete life support systems for particularly demanding situations. Recent developments include a boot with integral bladders to provide an enhanced level of “g” protection for Eurofighter crews and an extreme cold weather version of the UK MoD’s “Mk1” Aircrew boot.

The UK Ministry of Defence is the principal customer for the company’s products but boots are also sold to major aircraft manufacturers and for use by many overseas Air Forces.

At the time that the company successfully achieved an up-grade of its UK Ministry of Defence Assurance registration from AQAP4 to AQAP1 in 1986, it was the only manufacturer of footwear for the flying services having Quality Systems registered to that level. Following the subsequent transition to the BS5750/ISO 9001 Quality Management systems, the company is currently registered as complying with the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001:2000 in respect of both its Production and Development work. Haynes & Cann is also the UK Ministry of Defence’s Design Authority for Aircrew Footwear, “G” Helmets and Ear Capsules through holding Design Approval Certification as meeting the requirements of DEFSTAN 05-123 in respect of these items.

The current aircrew boots embody features such that they are compatible with the other special clothing which needs to be worn when flying modern high performance aircraft while allowing the wearer to operate comfortably, effectively and with maximum efficiency. In addition to fulfilling the necessary requirements for normal flying duties, the boots must also possess the qualities to enable the wearer to survive an emergency with the aircraft and subsequent exposure to a hostile environment. There is a constant awareness that a feature or a minor deficiency which may only be a nuisance in footwear for more mundane applications could have disastrous consequences when flying a high performance aircraft or when trying to survive in an emergency situation.