Editing Personal flotation device (section)

=== Mae West ===
[[Image:Mae West life preserver.jpg|thumb|upright|A "Mae West" life preserver]]
The Mae West was a common nickname<ref name="ingersoll1940">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/ReportOnEngland#page/n165/mode/2up |title=Report on England, November 1940 |last=Ingersoll |first=Ralph |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1940 |location=New York |pages=147, 158}}</ref> for the first inflatable life preserver, which was invented in 1928 by Peter Markus (1885–1974) ([[United States patent law|US Patent]] 1694714), with his subsequent improvements in 1930 and 1931. The nickname originated because someone wearing the inflated life preserver often appeared to be as large-breasted as the actress [[Mae West]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Mae West Crashes Oxford Dictionary|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19430806&id=37pSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EH0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4881,1303181&hl=en|access-date=29 June 2015|work=St. Petersburg Times|agency=INS|issue=13|date=6 August 1943|volume = 60|page=15|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426090848/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=888&dat=19430806&id=37pSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=EH0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4881,1303181&hl=en|archive-date=26 April 2016}}</ref> It was popular during the Second World War with [[U.S. Army Air Forces]] and [[Royal Air Force]] servicemen, who were issued inflatable Mae Wests as part of their flight gear.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}} Air crew members whose lives were saved by use of the Mae West (and other personal flotation devices) were eligible for membership in the [[Goldfish Club]].
	
British pilot [[Eric Brown (pilot)|Eric Brown]] noted in an interview that the Mae West device saved his life after he was forced into the ocean following the sinking of the aircraft carrier he was on, [[HMS Audacity|HMS ''Audacity'']], by a U-boat in WWII.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown CBE DSC AFC RN - Maritime Foundation |url=https://www.maritimefoundation.uk/in-memoriam/captain-eric-winkle-brown/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=www.maritimefoundation.uk |date=21 February 2016 |language=en-US}}</ref> Out of the twenty-four crew in his group in the water, the only two who survived were two pilots wearing Mae Wests, the rest were sailors wearing more basic flotation devices (inflatable rings) that kept them afloat, but did not keep their heads out of the water.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Pilot Who Flew 487 Different Aircraft & Landed 2,271 Times On A Carrier! Eric "Winkle" Brown | date=20 December 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSRAdZzRycc |language=en |access-date=2023-01-03}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown – James Holland's Griffon Merlin |url=https://www.griffonmerlin.com/wwii-interview/captain-eric-winkle-brown/ |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=www.griffonmerlin.com}}</ref>