On December 17th, 1903, two intrepid American inventors and entrepreneurs, Orville and Wilbur Wright, conducted the world’s first sustained flight in a heavier-than-air powered and controlled aircraft. By the First World War, such aircraft — albeit in more advanced form — were being used for reconnaissance and bombing runs. By the Second World War, they would decide the fate of the world.
The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina - (Image by Biography)
Flying at eight to 10 feet for 12 seconds is one thing, however — cruising along at tens of thousands of feet for over an hour was a completely different proposition. There, the intense glare of the sun, the strain on the pilot’s eyes and body, and the need for a solution that could be used in conjunction with protective headgear created a unique problem. It was this set of particular circumstances that produced the world’s first dedicated pilot’s sunglasses, known colloquially today as “aviators.” Though they developed from motoring glasses produced in the early 20th century, they quickly grew into their own distinctive category that would proliferate well past their aeronautical origins.
The First Models
The first such glasses were co-developed by the U.S. military and American Optical, a firm established in Illinois in 1833 and the country’s oldest eyewear company. Dubbed the D-1, they debuted in 1935 and featured several distinctive characteristics: The lenses were tear-dropped in shape to cover as much of the human eye’s field of vision as possible and to reduce peripheral glare, with a green tint to minimize eye strain; a lightweight metal frame improved comfort and allowed the glasses to be worn with headgear; cable-shaped earpieces provided a secure fit to the head, preventing the glasses from falling forward; and a bridgepiece — signed, in this case, “USAC” for U.S. Army Air Corps" — helped the frame rest comfortably on the nose. Though the military in concert with the eyewear industry would quickly riff on this design to improve efficacy as well as comfort, the D-1 set the standard for every aviator’s frame that followed.
Th first Iteration of aviator sunglasses, the model D-1 - (Image by American Optical)
Another early aviator-type design was that produced by American eye health firm Bausch & Lomb under the Ray-Ban brand. In the 1920s, test pilot John Macready approached the company to design a pair of glasses that wouldn’t fog up at altitude. Produced in 1936 with a plastic frame and green lenses, the first Ray-Bans went on sale to the public in 1937, gaining a metal frame the following year and coalescing into the classic teardrop-shaped aviator glasses that are so well loved today. When General Douglas MacArthur wore a pair upon his return to the Philippines in 1944, he cemented them in the imagination of the world. Interestingly, however, they were never produced to military specification.
General Douglas MacArthur wearing a pair of aviators during the Second World War - (Image by National Museum of American History)
The Second World War
Just before America entered the Second World War following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Navy approved a joint standard for a specification called "flying sun glasses (comfort cable).” Given spec. number AN6531, these glasses superseded the D-1 by changing certain key characteristics: Plastic nose pads and a large brow bar increased comfort when worn over long periods of time, while a nickel-plated, copper-based frame prevented interference with cockpit compasses.
WII-era AN6531-1 aviators - (Image by U.S. Miliratia Forum)
The flexible cable temples and teardrop-shaped convex lenses remained, but when a green-tinted color was found to filter an insufficient amount of sun glare, it was swapped for a lens in a rose tint, yielding spec. AN6531 Type 2. (Given the amount of instrumentation in 1930s/1940s piston-powered aircraft, the pilot was constantly glancing downward — the teardrop shape of the lenses thus helped to prevent excessive movement of the head.) Numerous firms — among them Bausch & Lomb, American Optical, Wilson Optical, Rochester Optical Co. Frame, and others — contracted to manufacture the AN6531, and much as in the case with other types of mil-spec equipment produced following receipt of a government tender, slight variations in design were acceptable to the U.S. military.
Post-War
Following the Second World War, the AN6531 was fitted with alternative lens types and given a fresh specification number, MIL-G-6250, as the Air Force became its own branch of the U.S. military in 1947. As leather and fabric flyer’s headgear gave way to injection-molded plastic helmets, however, a fresh type of eyewear that was compatible with these new advancements was necessary. Thus, in November of 1958, the U.S. Air Force published specification Type HGU-4/P, which called for a more rectangular (as opposed to tear-shaped) lens compatible with flight helmets and the oxygen masks present in new jet aircraft; bayonet-shaped temples better suited to interfacing with this equipment; and increased durability. (It was at roughly this time that Ray-Band began making its own version of the squared-off aviator, which it called the Caravan.)
American Optical produced glasses to the Type HGU-4/P spec under the model designation Flight Goggle 58 (“FG-58”). In production since 1959 and now known in their civilian guise as “Original Pilot Sunglasses,” these frame/lens types were later used by Apollo-program astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins and became the first sunglasses worn on the Moon. (Michael Collins’s pair, complete with NASA-issued fabric case, is on view in the Smithsonian.) In the early 1980s, Randolph Engineering adopted the contract for production of Type HGU-4/P sunglasses, and continues to make them for U.S. government personnel.
NASA astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad and Gordon Cooper in American Optical square aviators - (Image by The Eyewear Blog)
Beginning in the 1950s with films such as Marlon Brandon’s The Wild One, aviator-type sunglasses began taking on a life outside the cockpit; by the 1970s and 1980s, every major Hollywood star and musician was rocking a pair. (Widespread advertising on the part of Ray-Ban certainly helped.) In 1976, Robert DeNiro wore a pair as ex-Marine Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, while in 1984 Michael Jackson wore a pair to the Grammys. In 1986, Tom Cruise — along with the rest of his fellow elite squadron — wore them in Top Gun, effectively creating the cinematic equivalent of the MacArthur moment. Since then, aviators have never really gone away.
Through the late 2010s, one could still pick up a pair of genuine mil-spec aviators from American Optical for under $100. Since the firm’s acquisition by Europa Eyewear in 2019, however, “genuine” aviators are now firmly a luxury product, with prices beginning around $200 (and climbing steadily from there) for pairs from A.O, Randolph Engineering, and Ray-Band. Still, given the popularity of the aviator style, it’s possible to find a pair from nearly any self-respecting sunglass manufacturer at roughly any price.
Here are a few of our favorite pairs…
Excellent Modern Aviator Sunglasses
Ray-Ban Outdoorsman Havana Collection ($191)
Ray-Ban Outdoorsman Havana Collection - (Shop at Sunglass Hut)
Based upon a variant of the Ray-Ban aviator-type frame produced in the late 1930s, the Outdoorsman Havana Collection features classic gold-tone frames, G-15 lenses, and a prominent brow bar meant to catch sweat and debris.
American Optical Original Pilot ($220+)
American Optical Original Pilot - (Shop at American Optical)
The modern equivalent of the sunglasses produced to the Type HGU-4/P spec in 1959, the American Optical Original Pilot comes in numerous frame colors, lens colors, sizes, and lens types. Each, however, makes use of the more contemporary rectangular silhouette.
Randolph Engineering Aviator Military Special Edition ($279+)
Randolph Engineering Aviator Military Special Edition - (Shop at Randolph)
Made in America, Randolph Engineering’s Aviator glasses are based upon those issued to U.S. military pilots. Available in myriad configurations, the Military Special Edition is, like A.O’s Original Pilot, a more modern frame based upon the Type HGU-4/P spec.
Cutler & Gross GR15 Aviator Sunglasses ($625)
Cutler & Gross GR15 Aviator Sunglasses - (Shop at Cutler and Gross)
Looking for a slightly more avant-garde take on the aviator trope? Try this cool acetate model from British brand Cutler & Gross: Featuring a double-keyhole nose bridge and double-curve temples, they add a bit of glamor to the aeronautical equation.
