M1917A1 and ?

**BMF** · 10-18-2012, 07:35 PM

I recently bought a box of old norwegian Home guard items. Among these items were these two helmets. At first I thought they were british lids, wich were common among norwegian troops after ww2. Now I realized they're american. At least one is an m1917a1 marked 12B on the inside of the rim. The other one is unmarked, and have a liner I haven't been able to identify. It's kinda cheap looking and attached with three split pins. Both have quite identical olive green colour and a smooth finnish, not textured as seems standard for a m1917a1 . I've been browsing various forums now, and seen loads of m1917a1's, but non like these.
What do you guys think about these lids?

**Tinhat** · 10-18-2012, 08:42 PM

A nice bit of luck I think.

The helmet you can't identify is a private purchase civilain helmet. Here is a link to a similar helmet.
Private Purchase M1917 Style Helmet
Steve.

**moaning minnie** · 10-18-2012, 08:54 PM

Well thats a first a McCord kelly with no cork and olive drab paint,maybe some were produced for the civil defence,iv'e never heard any thing differant?regards minnie.

**BMF** · 10-22-2012, 05:08 PM

Thanks for the ID. Is it likely these helmets were suplied to the norwegian army as marshal help in the early 50's?

**Nitram** · 10-22-2012, 07:12 PM

A recent update that I haven't bothered posting in my own thread:

I've contacted a veteran; a former gunner on a merchant ship; and he stated that helmets like those (dounut liner, as I call it) were used by gunners. I even had dug up a photo somewhere, even though the liner isn't visible. Still no references as to who manufactured them, and to what extent they were used.

Nitram

**BMF** · 10-22-2012, 08:58 PM

Thats realy interesting information. During ww2, Norway had one of the worlds largest merchant fleets. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nortraship

The norwegian navy had a desperate need for gunners for the merchant fleet, and an own gunner unit were established the 20. July 1941 in Dumbarton in Scotland. The navy didn't have enough men, so the gunners had to be recruited among sailors, whalers and fishermen.
The navy also had "Camp Norway" in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, who trained gunners. This gunner school was moved to Travers island, New york city, in 1943.
The armament on the ships was mainly US and some british made.
There's a pic. here, but I can't tell what model his helmet is: http://forsvaretsmuseer.no/Marinemus...tteravdelingen

More pics: http://forsvaretsmuseer.no/Marinemus...et-i-historien

**MySonsDad** · 10-23-2012, 05:24 AM

Nice looking lids....both appear to be ID'd already. We just picked up our first M1917A1 ourselves and love it. The civil private purchase helmet is a nice one as well. I don't have any knowlage of these ever being used by other countries, possible I am sure however, everyone I have seen, including the couple we have. are all minty fresh as is this one. I'm of the opinion that most of these never left the department store shelf or the closet of the person who private purchased them during the war. I find these to be quite interesting and incredibly hard to find documentation on. Would love to see others who might be able toshed more light on these civil private purchase helmets.