U.S. M1 Helmet Collection

[coolhandluke]

Added a couple more pieces to the collection and thought I'd share them...

Finally got my hands on a USMC frogskin camo cover...something that I've been after for a couple years. It now sits on the dented McCord shell (swapped back to early war Westinghouse liner that was previously installed). I had not noticed until adding the cover, that the heat stamp on the helmet puts it as a 1942 fixed bale production helmet. After closer inspection, the previous weld marks for the feet of the fixed bales are still visible even though the helmet was later repaired or updated to a swivel bale configuration.










Also picked up another front seam, swivel bale McCord helmet (I can't seem to get my hands on a Schlueter ). The heat stamp is not completely legible, but the mix of brass and steel hardware on the chinstraps should date it as a 1943 production. The helmet came with a green 1/2" British made net with a few pieces of original scrim installed. The net and scrim were original WWII era pieces, but had been added to the helmet recently so I went ahead and swapped the net over for a nicer looking brown 1/2" British made net, reinstalled the scrim, and added the 45th ID liner that I pulled from the dented McCord shell.

 

[bhorton1121]

Those look awesome, I think theres a place in NOble that sells them too

 

[coolhandluke]

Those look awesome, I think theres a place in NOble that sells them too

Thanks...below is a link to an Imgur album with new photos of the entire collection if you want to take a look.

http://imgur.com/a/LpPuv


Do you happen to have the name of the shop in Noble? I'll check it out if so...I've hit a dry spell and haven't picked anything up in awhile.

 

[dlbleak]

Luke, I'll admit that I didn't give this thread much of a look until yesterday. Man, what a cool collection! Thanks for the knowledge. I'll keep an eye out for helmets for you.

 

[TishomingoSith]

These are simply amazing. Do you have a private display of your collection or are they donated where we could view them at one place? The museum in Ardmore had an amazing collection of military artifacts.

 

[coolhandluke]

These are simply amazing. Do you have a private display of your collection or are they donated where we could view them at one place? The museum in Ardmore had an amazing collection of military artifacts.

I just have a small private collection, nothing museum worthy with possibly the exception of the chaplain's helmet. I have added a couple more helmets (a mint unissued late-Vietnam M1-C and a late WWII M1) as well as a nice stenciled early WWII liner with a technician rank applied but I haven't had the opportunity to post any photos yet. If you are a fan of M1 helmets I would recommend taking a look at a some of the examples and collections in the links below. There are probably dozens more links that I could have posted from USMF alone. Most of the collections out there make mine look like small potatoes. The hardcore collectors are happy to shell out $1000-$10,000 per helmet which is just something that I wouldn't ever be willing to do.

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/144113-the-centerpiece/

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/218024-show-me-your-painted-m1s/

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/232478-my-modest-helmet-collection/

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/for...met-collectionold-new/?hl=+helmet++collection

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/236772-show-off-your-vietnam-helmets/

 

[somarsmi]

I love this thread and thank you for sharing the history.

 

[coolhandluke]

Below are a few photos of some of the latest additions. I still have one more Vietnam era helmet that is not pictured that I am close to finishing...just waiting on a solid OD camo cover to arrive in the mail.


#1. Late WWII rear seam swivel bale McCord: I recently picked up this helmet from WWIIDigger and mated it with a late war Firestone liner that I had on hand. The shell had been painted by a child for some backyard war games and was sporting some large "USA" and "MP" graffiti in black, red, and white paint. The exterior and interior of the shell was also fairly rusty and the green paint had turned nearly black due to all of the oxidation. After removing the graffiti with Goof-Off, removing most of the rust and oxidation with Whink rust remover, and giving it a very light coating of WD-40 the paint looks great again. I don't typically recommend oiling helmets as it will soften the paint and cork texture over time, but in this case it needed to be done once to revive the paint. I just made sure to buff it off very well afterwards.









#2. Late-Vietnam M1-C Airborne helmet: I put this helmet together piece by piece with NOS parts. The para liner and sweatband were purchased from a surplus shop in Tulsa and a member of usmilitariaforum.com hooked me up with a near mint M1-C shell. I already had the unissued camo cover, nape strap, and chin cup on hand, and the NOS camo band (no cat eyes) was found at Brigadoon's. Also pictured is a mint Vietnam era copy of a parachutist's helmet liner manual.







#3. Early-WWII Westinghouse high pressure liner: This liner was actually in the late-WWII rear seam helmet above when purchased. Since it had been paired with the helmet and was not original to the shell, I pulled it so that I could display the liner with the rank and name stencils visible. I added the chinstrap, but it is not an original USGI piece. It's a repro of a rare "flat-flip" buckle variant that is sold by J Murray that I did some work on to artificially age it. It is just a temporary stand in until I can find and original chinstrap along with a replacement nape strap and hopefully an early double-wire sweatband.

 

[coolhandluke]

Finally posting photos of the Vietnam era helmet mentioned in the previous post. I have also updated the Imgur album in the link below (see signature) to include all the helmets currently in my collection as well as descriptions of each helmet and breakdowns on manufacture, dates, etc.

This was another helmet that was purchased from WWIIDigger. When purchased, it was outfitted with the last variation of clip on chinstraps which were used primarily on 80's era helmets (but first saw use in approximately 1974). After researching the heat lot stamp, the shell ended up being a Vietnam Era Parish manufactured helmet so I removed the clip on chinstraps and installed a set of NOS Vietnam era crimp-on T1 chinstraps with black anchor marked hardware. The camouflage cover that is installed is a sateen OG-107 cover that saw limited use within the USMC. These camo covers have been encountered in three variations; those with no foliage slits, foliage slits with finished buttonhole style stitching, and standard foliage slits as seen on this helmet. The production of these covers is not well documented so no exact specifics are known. Examples of the finished buttonhole slit covers have been found with 1957 contract dates, but most encountered examples are undated with standard foliage slits that were likely produced sometime during the 1960's. I also added the helmet liner which was produced by Firestone sometime during the 1955-1963 timeframe.






...and a photo of this type of cover in use at the Da Nang landing in 1964.

 

[twoguns?]

WOW, I don't get over here often enough
Who would have thought of all the intricacy's of a "combat helmet"
Thanks for letting us in on your Very interesting...."collection"