MIA2-I-I

MIA2-I-I
The author's MIA2-I-I Gas Mask with Haversack.
Country of origin	United States of America (U.S.A)
Year(s) of issue	~1943
Issued to	Civil Defense
Manufacturer	U.S. Office of Civilian Defense

The U.S. MIA2-I-I was developed for use by noncombatants working in civil defense and individuals in U.S. Army-designated "target areas." The MIA2 was produced by the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) with a $29,000,000 grant. The mask was designed by Randolph Monro in 1942, and the patent was published in 1944. The design influenced future gas masks developed by the U.S.D corporation and Scott Aviation.

The mask is incredibly simple, as it was meant to be mass-produced. The facepiece consists of rubberized fabric, celluloid eyepieces, a C8 exhale valve and an elastic six-point head harness. The M2-2-1 small child sized mask has a singular large celluloid eyepiece, unlike the larger sizes. The filter's casing is made of aluminum with instructions on use of the mask. The filter's contents are incredibly primitive, as most of the filtering material is asbestos and activated carbon.

The development of the MIA2 began with the three MI-I-I noncombatant gas masks around 1941, each one is very similar to the MIA2 in design but they all use the MIV button type exhale valve rather than the C8 exhale valve. The MI-I-I noncombatant gas masks entered much smaller scale production, and as a result are commonly thought of as experimental versions of the MIA2-I-I.

A majority of the MIA2s produced were never issued, and were redistributed through the surplus market.

A Small Child sized M2-2-1 noncombatant gas mask. Notice the large singular eyepiece instead of the two circular eyepieces like the larger sizes and the prominent exhale valve under the eyepiece.