Airborne PASGT & cover help please!

[seandm]

Hi Everyone!

First time posting here so forgive me if it is in wrong section.. I have visited the site for years & never joined but after a buy a couple of days ago I thought maybe about time I joined up to hopefully get some insight into this helmet & look forward to talking with you all in the future! I bought this 85 dated PASGT from a well known militaria dealer in the UK the other day, It has the extra airborne retention straps and neck pad.. The helmet itself is in overall fantastic hardly worn condition & I have no gripes as I am familiar with pasgt helmets I am confident its all correct but the cover I am not to sure!.... Usually when collecting if it looks to good to be true it is and I think that might be the case here... Now the cover is a tri colour desert cover in ripstop material with 506th patches stitched onto either side. Now I have never encountered a ripstop pasgt cover before although after researching I have found they do exist but all supposed to be marked/dated & mine has no markings or date so I am doubting its authenticity! It does appear to be original to the helmet but I cant say for sure! By the way the scrim band I added myself just to finish the helmet off, Any help or insight is greatly appreciated! Either way I am happy with the helmet for the price but would like clarification on the cover. Cheers all!

[James C]

welcome in seandm ,i have posted composites in this section before now ,as there is no sub forum available as yet so i think it will be ok ,the pasgt looks in great condition i believe the tri colour pattern was used during the 2nd gulf war ,it looks to be genuine us issue are there any ink stamps on the inside this will indicate originality ,im sorry i cant help any further but im sure some of our american buddies will give you a straight answer ,hope this helps james

[Hanselshrn]

Good one I reckon, I have been collecting these for a while but only have two left now as the others have been sold. Used to have one from every manufacturer.

The only way you can verify the helmet cover is to remove it from the helmet and look inside it. The original ones I still own all have a marking on the inside of the cover near the crown. As indeed Col James points out.

[seandm]

Hi all!

Thanks for the warm welcome! I have removed the cover but there are no markings at all. I am familiar with PASGT helmets and everyone I have had has had marks/dates on the cover. As james said I thought the tri-colour was 2nd gulf war so it stuck out also for that reason with the helmet itself being dated 85 but upon researching online I found out rip stop tri-colour covers with out foliage slits were put into production around 91 but yet usually would be dated/marked as such. Its a difficult one! It definately seems original to the helmet but cant get rid of that bugging feeling that somethings not quite right! Cheers all!

[Greg Pickersgill]

It might be OK - well, in the sense that there's more than one of them, anyway. I had a look at Mat's helmet-covers webpage and he has one more or less identical, and notes "PASGT helmet with tri-colour desert cover. This is a rip-stop material variant. There is no stamp inside." He also implies there might have been an initial shortage of theatre-appropriate covers, so this might be a rush-order with corners cut, thus no stamps. (Mats' site - http://www.matshelmets.se/ - is presently unavailable - I am using my locally-saved copy.)

[seandm]

Hi Greg!

Thanks for the info! Ill save that web address and try it some other time. I really hope the cover is genuine. I have been after one of these complete airborne PASGT helmets forever! Maybe I am not looking in the right places but I have not actually ever seen one on sale in the UK in my time! Plenty of regular PASGT's but this is the 1st complete airborne one I have found & I was not letting it go! When I saw the helmet & how good condition it was in etc I didnt think twice I just bought it. If I can get some reasonable proof the cover is genuine its taking place as pride of my collection! Cheers! Sean.

[Opex]

Hi.

If it helps I have a 1991 dated Ripstop 3 colour Pasgt cover ( no foliage slits) so your's could well be Desert Storm era, perhaps the stamp was not used, or poorly printed I have a few of these type of covers ,and the stamp's are fairly illegible!!

I have slight reservations about the 506th patches, this was to my knowledge more readily seen in OIF,but that's just a feeling, nevertheless Great looking helmet, I am a real fan of the Pasgt !

Opex

[seandm]

Hi Opex!

Thats good to hear.. I am sure I read somewhere that in Mark A. Reynosa's book about PASGT helmets that all of these rip stop 3 colour covers are supposedly dated 91 although dont hold me to that. The patches do seem odd my initial thought was modification to make it more appealing to the potential buyer although well done & like you said still a great looking helmet. Cheers! Sean.

[Opex]

No worries Sean, incidentally there are variants with and without foliage slots,and some of the non-ripstop flavour too!

I seem to remember these were issued to USAF initially , but I will check my facts on this??

regards

[seandm]

Hey Guys! Quick update... Decided i did not like the patches on the cover so have removed the cover and replaced it with a genuine and more period correct 6 color "choc chip" pattern cover that is maker marked and like new! Hope you like.. I love these covers! Cheers! Sean.