The “Mae West” jacket was an inflatable life jacket used by Allied soldiers and airmen during World War II.

Its nickname comes from the voluptuous actress Mae West. When inflated, it protruded so much in the chest area that it resembled the curves of the Hollywood star.

It was designed in 1928 by Peter Markus to keep the wearer’s head above water. It was inflated using air tubes or CO₂ cartridges.

Its use required training. During Exercise Tiger and on D-Day, some soldiers drowned because they didn’t know how to put it on correctly.

If it was worn around the waist instead of the chest, the weight of the gear would cause the wearer to end up face down in the water and drown.

The nickname became so common that it even appeared in manuals and official documents. It was so popular that civilians knew exactly what it referred to.

In 1944, Lieutenant John F. Carr, a fighter pilot from the aircraft carrier USS Block Island, witnessed the ship being sunk by a German submarine.

Carr was in the air and tried to find solid ground to save himself. Out of fuel, he ditched near the coast of La Palma.

He jumped, inflated his “Mae West” life jacket, and reached a flat rock near the shore, where he spent the night waiting for help.

The next morning, two fishermen from Tijarafe rescued him in their boat La Tortuga, unaware that he was a U.S. pilot.

The pilot kept his “Mae West” for the rest of his life as a symbol of the day he escaped death thanks to that equipment and the help of the locals.

Decades later, his children donated the life jacket to the Naval Museum of La Palma. Today, it is part of an exhibition on World War II.