I would appreciate a few opinions concerning this helmet. I have had it a long time and rather certain the color is original and believe it is later WW2 ? Any thoughtsAttachment 115747Attachment 115746Attachment 115745Attachment 115744
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I would appreciate a few opinions concerning this helmet. I have had it a long time and rather certain the color is original and believe it is later WW2 ? Any thoughtsAttachment 115747Attachment 115746Attachment 115745Attachment 115744
Information on these two sites might help: ( Collecting WWII-Era M1 Helmets: A Beginner's Guide - Military Trader/Vehicles ) & ( Identifying and Collecting WWII M1 Helmet Liners - Military Trader/Vehicles )
No dates or manufacturer's stamps? The stamped number might help. Worst of it is how long they were used and by how many armies.
It's a front seam helmet so that should mean early war production helmet but are the bales swivel or are they permanently attached? It's hard to tell from the one picture of the bale. It may just be the pictures lighting but the color seems earlier war to me.I'm no expert by any means, I own a late war helmet and it's a darker shade of green and is a rear seam helmet with swivel bales. I also own an early war example that is a front seam helmet with fixed bales and a lighter shade of od. The helmet has to have been made sometime between 1942 and 44 because in 44 they moved the seam to the rear of the helmet and in 42 they changed from fixed bales to swivel bales so yours would land somewhere in between 42 and 44 I would guess.I just looked at your picture closer and noticed you do in fact have swivel bales on a front seam helmet. Even your liner looks early war to me as well because of the unpainted a washers that hold the webbing to the liner. They went to being painted green in 1943.
Ive never seen a ww2 helmet this color beforeQuote:
Originally Posted by RCS
Korea was a darker green and ww2 was a tan/ green
Wonder if someone oversprayed it
I'm pretty sure it's been repainted. If you look closely at the first set of pics, you can see brush strokes on the helmet. Last pic, right side of the bar. Brush strokes go across...Quote:
Originally Posted by Cmjordan77
Colors on internet are never an accurate representation of the true colors of the item. Best helmet pictures are taken in a "light box".
However, the helmet does appear to have been repainted after WW2. It has the appearance of the of the slightly glossy paint used during the Korean war refurbishment. Looking at the cork texturing it shows the blurred edges of repainting. WW2 helmet were flat green and the cork texturing was sharply edged.
Below are two photos of a WW2 helmet and a refurbished WW2 helmet used in the Korean war:
Attachment 115836Attachment 115837
RCS,
Question on your chinstrap. Are all the metal parts black or OD. If your metal is OD then it is a chinstrap added during the Korean war up to 1960. If it is black, then it is a chinstrap used after 1960.
The beauty of the M1 is that they are issued in three parts and not a single helmet as British and German helmets of WW2 were issued. The soldier was issued the helmet as a steel shell, a liner and a sweat band. The sweat band was designed to accompany the soldier thru different postings, and the helmet and liner were turned in by the soldier when he left the unit. The helmet and liner were reissued to a new soldier but not in the same combination. In its lifetime a steel helmet may have several dozen liners used in it. A WW2 steel helmet may be used all the way up to 1988 when they were withdrawn from service.
At Ft. Benning in 1977, I was I issued a glossy black instructors helmet that had a front seam, stainless steel rim. It was a WW2 issued McCord shell that had been used all those years. It's served all the way up to the M1s being withdrawn from service. I still have that helmet in my collection.
When I joined, we had all the older WW2 helmets for use and I saw all the variations except the Hawley liner. I'd have noticed that one. I noticed all the variations at the time. Looks like we bought surplus helmets from the US supply system. We only started using them about 1956/58...I know of men issued the older "D Day" helmets when they started in '56. We used them until they were used up. Then we had the new post RVN types.