The pilot of the MiG-3 during WWII. You can see how the leather
flight helmets evolved from this one. You can also see the square
goggles here and they are STILL IN USE!
A good shot of a GSh-4MS from test pilot G.K. Mosolov, probably used in
the MiG-21.
This is the crew of an IL-38 wearing the ShZ-78 or 82 leather helmet,
throat microphones, and PO-1M (bugeye) goggles.
An Su-30 crew during Air Refueling
These are the test pilots from the MiG-31 program. What you see here are exclusively ZSh-7's from the mid 1970's. I'm not sure which flight suit they are wearing.
An obvious staged photo of two MiG-31 test pilots in an exotic location (probably Kazakhstan). They wear the GSh-6A and it looks like they have an old VMSK-4.
Here's the pilot of a MiG-31 (operational combat aircraft - not a test version) wearing the ZSh-7.
MiG-31 with both the pilot and back-seater (navigator/weapon system operator). The Pilot has his ZSh-7, but the Navigator wears the ZSh-5A. It is difficult to see here, but both are wearing black leather jackets and what appears to be the two-piece camouflaged flight suit (common to the Su-24).
A picture from the front of the Su-15 Flagon - the pilot is wearing the GSh-6A. This aircraft was never exported and filled a primary interceptor role for many years for the Soviet Union.
From the two-seat Su-15UM Flagon G, the pilots are all wearing the ZSh-5A and one pilot is carrying what appears to be the KM-34D Series I O-2 mask. Also note that all of these guys are wearing the khaki (desert) flight suits (one-piece).
A closer look at some Su-15 pilots wearing the ZSh-5A. They are split on the flight suits - a couple wearing khaki and a few wearing the dark green. The pilot up front also is wearing the ASP-74 underarm life preserver.
These two are the crew from an Su-24 that was involved in bombing Chechnya during the second Chechen campaign, 2000. The ZSh-7AP's do not have the bracket for the helmet mounted sight since the Su-24 does not use this piece of gear. Also, the aircrew are wearing military winter field jackets - these are not standard flight jackets. Since their gear is overtop, it seems that this is what they wore during the flight.
An Su-25 from 1992. The pilot wears the ZSh-7A (no bracket for the helmet mounted sight). During the second Chechnya campaign, the Su-25T pilots wore the ZSh-3B to better protect them from shrapnel and flak so common during their combat missions.
This is a picture from the maiden test flight of the Tu-144 made on 31 December 1968. The aircrew are all wearing the ZSh-3A. The aircrew on the far right is also wearing the winter hood - standard issue with helmets to present day.
This is from the inside of a Tu-16 Badger bomber. The aircrew are wearing the ShL-78 or 82. I call it the summer version because of how closely it grips the pilots heads. The winter version has enough fur that it doesn't look like it is skin tight.
Here is the test pilot and navigator from the Tu-28 program. The Navigator on the left wears the ZSh-3A. The Test Pilot on the right wears an unidentified helmet. The scan is not as clear as the real picture which shows a couple odd brackets, a different shaped visor, clips (no bayonet receivers for a KM-34 O-2 mask). In regards to this second helmet, the following notes are provided by Richard Pugliese:
I recently
finished a book titled Stephan Anastasovich Mikoyan. Mikoyan was a
test pilot for Sukhoi and in one part of the book he talks about obtaining
a US 'crash helmet' from an unidentified survival equipment design
company headed by Semyon Alexeev. This company had gotten
3 of these US helmets from Korea. At this time (approx. 1955 from
what I can tell from the book) Soviet pilots were still wearing leather
helmets and Mikoyan states some even wore infantry helmets on top for
added protection during test flying. Mikoyan says the US helmet
was great and he liked that it had built in headphones so it sounds
like it was not worn with an inner communications helmet although he said
you could wear a canvas helmet liner with it. Mikoyan says another
test pilot got one of the helmets and the last example was used by the
company as a model for a Soviet version. A few years later a
Soviet copy was produced in a limited series. This limited
production helmet in turn was replace by ZSh-3 (which Mikoyan states was
based on the British MkI helmet) but he still prefered the one piece US
style.
The cover of
the book shows Mikoyan wearing this helmet. It looks almost
identical to the P-3 except for the visor handle. The handle is
T-shape with the ends bent down. He is also wearing what appears to
be a KM-32 mask. The helmet has wiring for the headphones as well as
a throat mic. Althought the picture is black/white, the helmet does
not appear to be white in color. It looks like it is either silver
or light gray.
Here
is a picture of Galena Korchuganova, four-time world record holder
(1955-1962) and absolute world champion and USSR champion (for what is not
stated). She is probably a test pilot since she wears the ZSh-2.
Now what is this? A doctor/pilot in a civilian medevac helicopter in
Russia. The helicopter is a Ka-25 Hormone. You'll note that he
wears a ZSh-5A. Most importantly is the helmet that the pilot is
wearing. It has an external visor, similar in style to the ZSh-3B,
however, it also has some shaping around the earphones and a boom
microphone on the right side. As opposed the ZSh-5A shown on the
ZSh-5 page that has a boom microphone added after market, this boom
microphone looks like it is supposed to be there. Could this be a
civilian flight helmet? I do not know and welcome any thoughts on
this.
Here's a ZSh-7AP with the Night Vision Goggles attached in lieu of the Sh-3-UM1 Target Designator. This is a fairly light setup, unlike the NVG's for tanks and other armored crewmen (the PNV-57 which weighs about 10 pounds). What do these go for? If you were able to find them, they would cost about $2000, maybe $1500 for a non-working set. ouch... However, the reason you don't see these readily available is that they are considered part of the aircraft for accountability in the Russian Air Force and not part of the helmet or the pilot's equipment. It's easy for someone to walk off with a helmet, but it's not so easy to go south with a whole airplane.