AMF Voit Duck Feet

[tomcatpc]

Finally got a pair of Duck Feet, got ripped off for $5.  No one will notice this topic, or it will morph into some totally different, but thought I'd bore you lot with a photo.
Mark

[technidiver]

Mark, do you plan to dive them? I've never swam with Duck-Feet fins, I wonder if they're decent!

TD

[tomcatpc]

I don't know yet if I'll dive these? I have a pair of the modern incarnation UDT Duck Feet that I have dove and like them. When it comes to vintage full foot, or non-replaceable heel strap, I get nervous about breaking the strap. These look to be in good shape,but might just let them stay dry? Not sure how difficult these are to find in useable shape?
Mark

[tomcatpc]

Here is the link to the reproduction/current incarnation of the UDT Duck Feet I got a couple years back. I like these fins, but wish they were solid black or brown colour.
Mark

vintagescuba.proboards.com/thread/3937/brand-voit-duck-feet-fins

[Aquala1]

Those look good. Maybe scrub them up with some soap and water, and then give them a rubdown with silicone paste. Is there any cracking on the strap?

[SeaRat]

Mark, once you've let them sit with the silicone for awhile, go ahead and dive them. I have several pair of the original Duck Feet, and still occasionally take them into the water. You can see mine here, in pool use.



You will be pleasantly surprised at how well the Duck Feet perform.

Also, I have a pair of USD Aqualung fins (their version of Duck Feet) that I broke the heel strap on. I have repaired that strap so that it is still usable.

John

[nikeajax]

Mark, I agree with John, what's he point of having the strap intact if ya ain't gunna use 'em! If they break kludge 'em back together then set them on yer shelf next to that Navy Approved DH you have, eh?

JB

[tomcatpc]

I love the way my current Duck Feet dive, so might have a go with these.
Mark

[nikeajax]

Good lad, stout fellow, jolly good, pip-pip-eh wot an' all that stuff

JB

[tomcatpc]

IF...the strap on these gave way someday, is there a way to repair them? I'd like to know ahead of time. Then again, I don't think these are "super rare", I just have not seen a lot in my area. I do intend to give them some bottom time in the future. I do not see any cracking in the straps so I take that as a good sign.
Mark

[SeaRat]

I just found (again) the letter I wrote to my parents.

Feb. 12, 1970

Dear Mom and Dad:
My new address is:
CMR Box 2089
McCoy AFB, Fla. 32812

We had a jump last night. It was a twilight jump, and I landed 50' from the target (2nd closest and good considering the jumpmastering). The truck had broken down on the DZ before we jumped, so we had a 4 hour wait for the AF wrecker while one of the PJ's wives (they brought their car) drove to town. A case of Rose-Matuse wine was found in the back of that car, and they left it for us. Two hours later it had been consumed. Two of us didn't drink much, but the others got really loaded. It was an interesting trip back (the sober ones, myself and Smitty, rode and drove back).

Say, I want to mention two Christmas presents of long ago. Remember those fins you got me in the early sixties, the Duck Feet. They have now served me in Oregon lakes and rivers, Hood Canal, Vancouver BC (Thetis Isl.), the Atlantic off Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific off Okinawa, the South China Sea, Korea and the Atlantic Ocean off Bermuda. And they are still going strong.

And remember the light you gave me to study by? I got to Okinawa with it and the bulb burned out. I couldn't find another in Okinawa, Korea or Bermuda. Today I went the the BX here and finally found one. So it's back in operation.

Gotta go; write soon.

Oh, Bill and Ken told me about Skip's engagement. I telephoned him to congratulate him. Keep me posted.

Love, John

I still have those fins, plus another pair of Duck Feet that I use mostly in the pool. They are a bit small for my feet, so I have to await the river water pressure to go up some, above 60 degrees F, to wear them with only socks or thin booties. When I stated above that they had served me in the South China Sea off Korea, here is what I was talking about.

March 17, 1969

Dear Mom, Dad, Skip, Bill & Ken:

In my last letter, I told of our water training that we conducted a week ago last Thursday. Thursday last, on a mission we would rather wouldn't happen, we tested our procedures and found them very effective. It was stormy on the 13th of March when we received the scramble call. A T-33 jet flying from Kwanju had called into Kwanju with engine troubles. We scrambled with the fire suppression kit and orbited near the runway. A storm just off the end of the runway put visibility down to zero, with some icing. The ROKAF T-33 never landed, and Kunsan AB was unable to establish radar or radio contact. We landed, I got my skin diving gear, then went out for a search. After 15 minutes we found the victim’s life raft and helmets. No sign of life was observed. We landed in a mud flat, where the pilots and flight engineer (FE) put on exposure suits and I put on diving equipment. Then we went out for the recovery. The rest is in the rough draft statement I wrote for the ROKAF Accident Investigation Board.

___________________

1625/JCR, Mission # Det 3, 41st ARRWg 007, March 13, 1969

I had very little visual contact with the victims or their equipment before my deployment into the water because I was busy putting on my diving equipment. I was in the door about 10 seconds before TSgt Maxwell tapped me out of the helicopter. The helicopter was in about a 15 foot hoover when I jumped. After entering the water, I swam to the victim and tried to lift him to the water's surface. He was too heavy. Underwater visibility was about six (6) inches. It was hard to determine which part of the victim (arm or leg) I was holding. It was his arm. I found one of his Capewell quick releases for his parachute, which was deployed in the water, and released it. Then I turned him over to get to the other release, and released it also. I tried to blow up his LPU,[1] but couldn't find them. The victim's face was bloody and he didn't have a helmet on. After releasing the parachute, I swam him away from his life raft and parachute. I had to cut parachute suspension lines which were tangled around his feet and my swim fins and the tether to his life raft. I signaled for a helicopter pickup of the first victim. The HH-43 helicopter lowered a rescue seat to me, which I disconnected, and hooked the hoist's hook to the victim's parachute harness.

After the first victim was aboard the helicopter, I looked around for the other victim. I saw a helmet, swam to it towing the rescue seat, but the victim wasn't there. I strapped the helmet to the seat. The second helicopter guided me to the second victim.

I swam to the second victim, swimming around his parachute to keep from getting tangled in the lines. I found some suspension lines beside the victim and cut them. I then cut the risers (on the victim's right side, I believe), disconnected the Capewell quick release from the parachute risers on the other side, and checked to see if the victim was tangled in lines. He was not tangled. I also tried to locate his LPU to blow them up, but again couldn't find them. Then I signaled for a second hoist pickup, which was accomplished the same manner as the first.

When the second victim was aboard, I swam to the rescue seat, strapped myself into it, and I was picked up.

Headquarters
Republic of Korea Air Force
Seoul, Korea



[1] LPU--Life Preserver, Underarm

I have amplified this mission in my manuscript, Between Air and Water, the Memoir of an USAF Pararescueman. My fins for this mission was the Duck Feet fins that Mom and Dad had given to me for my birthday present several years before.

John