Thanks Greg, it's a bit hard to tell from the photos.
The only USN helmets I've got are APH-5's and APH-6's. Got a bit of a soft spot for the Vietnam era helmets.
Cheers, Willie.
Thanks Greg, it's a bit hard to tell from the photos.
The only USN helmets I've got are APH-5's and APH-6's. Got a bit of a soft spot for the Vietnam era helmets.
Cheers, Willie.
Willie i would love to see some of the lids you have Mate, Post them up on this thread.
Greg
I can do that, Greg, but I need to take a few pics, so it might take a couple of days to organize.
I haven't got many U.S. helmets - two APH-6A's, one APH-6B ramshorn visor, two APH-5's (one USN, one USMC) and an unissued SPH-4. My main interest is Soviet gear, and the secondary interest in U.S. flight gear has been put on the backburner so I can concentrate on rounding out my Soviet collection.
Here's the only photo I have of a U.S. helmet until I can do some more. It's a USN APH-5 (later model) with Sierra bayonet receivers. The MS22001 mask is a ring-in. It's ex Indonesian Air Force without a mike. Better than nothing, I suppose.
Rear view of the taping.
Let me know if you're interested in seeing the Russian ones as well.
Cheers, Willie.
Last edited by willie45; 08-23-2014 at 06:14 AM.
Hi Willie that looks Great Mate and yes i would love to see your Russian gear. I am currently watching and hoping to get a mbu-14 ,hgu oxygen mask to go with my Navy Top Gun Helmet.
Greg
Occasionally you see the odd U.S. seller on eBay who will ship internationally, but it's rare nowdays due to people's reactions to ITAR. It seemed to all clam up 12-18 months ago. I always thought the cut-off date was around 1986 or thereabouts, but I think the regulations are a bit of a grey area these days.
A little bit of stuff comes out of Europe occasionally, but apart from that, there's not much joy in collecting U.S. flight gear these days unless you live in the country.
I think ITAR is one reason, and the other is that a lot of eBay sellers have been stung by international buyers too often, and prefer to deal locally. But I'm sure if you keep at it, you'll pick one up eventually, Greg. Things might ease up a bit in the future, hopefully.
Cheers, Willie.
Another APH-5; this one has the leather tab and stud mask attatchment and boom mike. I don't have a mask for it. Going by the name inside the helmet, I'm assuming it's a USMC helmet, but there possibly might have been a Navy pilot by the same name.
These were real neck-breakers.
Here's the Soviet counterpart from the same time frame, circa 1961.
ZSh-3M duralumin hard shell, ShL-61 leather communication helmet, LA-5 throat microphone, early model KM-32 pressure demand mask and pressure compensating occipital bladder. In the early 60's this setup was technologically superior to the APH-5 by a long way.
Inner helmet on left - ShZ-61 winter helmet, and complete with hard shell on right.
Side view shows the pressure compensating line from the mask to the occipital bladder at the rear of the helmet.
3 position visor in fully down position.
Cheers, Willie.
Very Nice Mate . It was interesting in what you were saying about getting flight helmets from the U.S and agree that its hard to get them out of there , but on the other hand i hear Customs here classify them as Body Armour and not allowed in. I Have a American Mate when he moved out here bought his Flight Helmets with him being a former US Airforce member and he had to fight tooth and nail to bring them in which i think is bloody ridiculous.
Greg
Greg, I haven't heard about Customs classing helmets as body armour yet. I haven't had any problems so far. I'll have to check on it. I was reading the State weapons legislation on the subject recently, but not the Federal Customs take on it.
Having said that, Customs are making me get a firearm importation permit from the Qld. Police to import an empty ceramic vodka bottle, so nothing would surprise me. As all legislation, it's a bit grey I think.
I can't see much difference in the protective abilities of a flight vs motorcycle helmet, but on the other hand, a lot of things that are legal to own still need permits to import from the Customs perspective. eg. things like my vodka bottle (it's shaped like a Makarov), some video game controllers, some water pistols and toy guns, are classed as imitation firearms and under Qld. state laws, must have the same paperwork as proper replica fireams to satisfy Customs.
It's all a bit silly really. I'm not sure if Customs are visualizing some sort of scenario like "Hands up, or I'll fill you full of vodka." or what's going on. It's changed a lot since we were kids, and rode around on our pushbikes with slug guns to ping the sparrows. I guess they'd call in the S.W.A.T. Team nowdays.
Back on topic, I'll post up those other helmets when I get the photos done in the next couple of days.
Cheers, Willie.
These are the remaining U.S. helmets that I have, apologies for the bad lighting.
This is a Gentex twin visor APH-6B. It has the APH-6B three piece styrene liner and later APH-6C earphones.
The earphones have probably been a later upgrade, so it's safe to go with the liner and call it an APH-6B.
APH-6D. This one's just a bit of a bucket at the moment. It's missing the boom mike that was attatched, all the pads inside are gone, and a screw missing, but is complete apart from that. It's completely covered in tape and I think it's worth bringing back to it's original condition.
This SPH-4 doesn't have any history. It's unissued, fresh out of the box. 1986 or 1988 vintage if I remember correctly. The photos have distorted the colour a bit; it's the standard Army green.
Cheers, Willie.
Mate they look Great and i love the SPH-4 its in great condition. I see what you mean about getting them out of the States , i found a HGU-55 FLIGHT HELMET AND MBU-12 OXYGEN MASK WITH MIC and EXTRAS for a really good price but he wont send it outside the US which is bloody frustrating.
Greg
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