US M1 Camo with flying fish logo

[MarkH]

Just picked up the helmet from Sydney, cost me $110AUD,it has never been in a collection before and came from the estate of Australian Naval lieutenant Commander GWT Armitage, it must have been a poor show at the auction because I purchased some of his naval material, memorabilia, that did not sell at the auction, goes back to the 1920’s, bullion English Naval sword belt , uniform coat, English battle ensigns, ship emblem crest things,presentation dish etc, this helmet is the only odd item in his collection of naval stuff, he was captain of a vessel HMAS Koopa stationed in Queensland and going to PNG during WW2, point is, the USS Flying Fish 229 visited Qld twice during the war, I am certain this helmet is US Naval and from the USS FF, there is no other possible reason that an unmistakable flying fish could end up on a US 1943 helmet, coming from this Naval estate. The auctioneer is going to ask the grandson of the Lt C but seeing he has sold off all granddads stuff for pennies I don’t expect he will know much. will post new pictures for those interested tomorrow morning, any ideas on clean up, thinking of using a teflon cleaning pan pad and WD40 on the rust in the inner outer shell, and proceed gently??
cheers Mark

[aj4010]

Please don't clean it!

Best Regards,

Andy

[MarkH]

Well, so far I gentle vacuumed the inner outer shell to pick up the rust powder, and was wiping over the outside steel painted shell with a water damp piece of cotten wool, is that OK, leave all else alone would be the way to go??

[lithgow]

Use Ballistol spray not WD40-Ballistol is made from pine oil, will not damage the finish, will lift rust.

[MarkH]

Hi, here are the photos in good Aussie sun, only tidy up done was a soft vacuum of inside of steel shell, and a wipe over of the outside and inside steel shell with a damp rag with H2O, water. I made some paper clips and fasteners out of the plastic similar to softdrink bottles to hold the liner bits in place as they are fragile and flopping about as the liner is handled, and would have further degraded, can be easily removed and no glue used. Hope I haven't stuffed it, I have to control myself, no soap, no oil, will store dry and 2 parts separate so rust doesn't further effect inside lid. Has a number written inside on liner band, most likely 9341 , the fish is done in silver paint with black border, on white field, now all I need is the crew list for the USS Flying Fish,
cheers
Mark in Oz