US CD Helmet

[Opex]

Re: WWII era steel helmet made by B.F. McDonald Co. , Los Angeles


Very interesting BG, I have never seen a helmet like this before in all my years of collecting, the bale arrangement is intriguing, and as James mentioned the liner is not to dissimilar from the British Zuckerman, a fascinating piece.

Thanks for raising my awareness of this helmet!

Regards.

[battle gear]

Opex, found some more info, this collector calls it the model M1917A2

he says it was adopted by ships crews during WWII , like supply ships - Liberty ships escorted by the USN

also known as the US Merchant Marine

USA 1917 A1

[Opex]

"Opex, found some more info, this collector calls it the model M1917A2

he says it was adopted by ships crews during WWII , like supply ships - Liberty ships escorted by the USN

also known as the US Merchant Marine."


Excellent,many thanks for this extra information, I recognise that site,not sure how I missed this before?

I will add one of these to my wish list, thanks again BG, great topic and only getting more interesting.

Regards.

[ObKrieger]

At my local surplus store I went up in the basement to dig around for the woman who ran it. Upstairs I found a stack of about 20 of these helmets and a box of unissued WWII-era M43 jacket hoods.

[Opex]

At my local surplus store I went up in the basement to dig around for the woman who ran it. Upstairs I found a stack of about 20 of these helmets and a box of unissued WWII-era M43 jacket hoods.

That sounds very exciting to me, I love digging around boxes in surplus stores, but I guarantee I would never find 20 x OCD helmets or the '43 era hoods, that would be a dream trip to a surplus store.

Regards

[battle gear]

here is a nice Civil Defense helmet I saw at the antique mall recently, it's a WWI era M1917 thats been painted white with WWII Air Raid Warden marking on the front, the price tag was marked $150

[ruddersrangers44]

Did you buy it BG?or carry on walking?...............

[battle gear]

Did you buy it BG?or carry on walking?...............

No, I passed on it, the price was more than I would want to pay, I prefer a military used combat helmet

[Opex]

BG very interesting piece, the price is scary so I can see why you walked away from this one !, it also appears to have a very fresh paint job which along with the price would put me off, thanks for keeping this thread alive too

[James C]

thats a very good point battlegear ,i think sometimes as collectors of headgear we have to make some tough choices ,wether we collect every genre or just stick to combat helmets ,ive always tryed to stick to combat helmets but find the other variations of helmets hard to resist adding to my collection ,the french m51 gendarmerie is one of my favorites to bring to mind ,im still yet to add the 3 point tap style to my collection