American M1C Paratrooper helmet
Article about: A few pictures of my latest helmet. This is a Vietnam era Paratrooper helmet that appears to have had little use. The steel shell has an ink date stamp of 1955 to the inside. The rear strap
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Re: American M1C Paratrooper helmet
Hi Gaz,
As I've said before, I'm completely in the dark when it comes to helmets - and I'm completely at the mercy of dealers! The steel shell of this helmet has no code-stamping to the inside. There is an ink-stamped square to the inner-crown which has Possibly a large 'M' and something else with 1955 under that. Below the date appears to be a circle with something in it. It is all far too feint to photograph. On the back-outside of the helmet there are two vertical rank bars which have been over-painted. On the left is an oblong 'box' mark situated just above the bail-fixing for the strap. At first I thought this may have been evidence of a 'flag' such is seen on Bundeswehr helmets, but it is a fair ammount larger. The fibre liner has the letter 'F' followed by a cross and the number 30 stamped into the inner upper crown. I assume this may be for 'Firestone'. Hope this is of help to you.
Regards,
Harry.
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Re: American M1C Paratrooper helmet
by
HARRY THE MOLE
Hi Gaz,
As I've said before, I'm completely in the dark when it comes to helmets - and I'm completely at the mercy of dealers! The steel shell of this helmet has no code-stamping to the inside. There is an ink-stamped square to the inner-crown which has Possibly a large 'M' and something else with 1955 under that. Below the date appears to be a circle with something in it. It is all far too feint to photograph. On the back-outside of the helmet there are two vertical rank bars which have been over-painted. On the left is an oblong 'box' mark situated just above the bail-fixing for the strap. At first I thought this may have been evidence of a 'flag' such is seen on Bundeswehr helmets, but it is a fair ammount larger. The fibre liner has the letter 'F' followed by a cross and the number 30 stamped into the inner upper crown. I assume this may be for 'Firestone'. Hope this is of help to you.
Regards,
Harry.
Hi harry.
You're right the liner is US issue Firestone, as for the shell, without seeing it , it's hard to give any advice, but it's possible it's a Belgian Shell( could be wrong but it seems right from your description) Physically these european M1 clone shells are pretty much the same. Sometimes I buy M1 shells without really knowing their origin, the only way to truly tell if it's US, is to find a heat stamp,normally found on the inside front of the shell, but saying that they are a bugger to find sometimes, I have had to wet and dry the area to find a stamp. Some people would say this would de-value the shell,it's down to personal descretion...
Maybe you got seen off......it's happend to me so many times,I could write book about it...
Hope this helps mate.
Cheers
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