very unusual helmet on ebay?

[geelong]

1950s raceing car drivers helmet

[canti44]

It certainly doesn't look 'militarily' constructed inside the helmet..



Possibly painted olive drab to drive up the price? It looks like an M1 liner to me with the interior of a civilian motorcycle helmet tied inside. I may be completely off the mark of course but even the holes in the outer-shell don't look aligned properly. Very interesting though, cheers.

[battle gear]

it looks like it may have been used as a paratrooper jump helmet?

sometimes they used lightweight helmets like this for training jumps, probably not US issue

[geelong]

these are repro 50s racing helmets but look very similar to the one posted.

[Greg Pickersgill]

Interesting object, and has caused much discussion. Other than the ideas here I've seen it claimed as either a Japanese civil defence helmet, post-WW2 (which I do NOT accept, as the only similarity is the thread-holes for the liner, with the actual liner and chinstrap rig being completely different - and I think the Japanese helmet has less of a priminent brim as well) or, somewhat more likely to me, an Indian or perhaps Pakistani local product used primarily by police or militia units rather than the military proper. The general shape and form certainly puts me in mind of that - and the style of the label is similar to that which I have seen on other Indian (or other subcontinental) helmets. But so far so little proof, only ideas and vague remembrances. Which reminds me - there's a Scandinavian - or is it Dutch? - military motorcyclists helmet....no, probably not. Probably.

[Wagriff]

It looks like there may have been once a band that went over the attachment wires. Oddly enough, if you look for images of British Dispatch Riders helmets, you'll run into many with just such a band in the same location as this one once had....

[ruddersrangers44]

Thanks to everyone for there opinion,at least we all agree that it has nothing whats so ever to do with Normandy...........

[Opex]

Very interesting Helmet, it's on my watch list but purely to see how much it goes for!

Here's my theory, Some kind of Euro M1 Clone Liner, with what appears to a French M51 Gendarmerie suspension in standard blue ?, a possible West German "style" plastic headband, with some kind of dispatch rider style chinstrap tape to it, to me it's a fantasy piece cobbled together from various parts, at the time of writing this it's £21.00..........

All in all a good conversation piece, and if it was worn in 1944 on a Northern French Beach , I will fall off my chair!

[Greg Pickersgill]

Well, it was me wot dun it. I couldn't resist really; that may mean I have more money than sense, which may in turn mean I have no sense at all, but there you go, you only live once etc.

I have this object in my hands now and I am reasonably certain that it is NOT a military helmet of any kind. The shell is some plastic, maybe fibreglass, substance (definately NOT an M1 liner reworked, as was suggested above!) and seems quite light and possibly brittle. Frankly it seems pretty useless for any purpose at all, even its probable origins as a motorcyclist/scooter helmet. The whole thing weights only 708g - 1 pound 9 ounces - and feels much lighter. It has no substance at all and while better than nothing in a crash, but not much.

All the bits - liner and earflaps - seem to me to be original, so this is what it was and is, no tampering or construction except for the grey paint on the outside which I am sure is a later and possibly recent (for sales purposes) addition. No paint smell though, so that may be wrong, or at least done some time further back in the past. The only label is the size one shown in the original Ebay listing, but there is an oval shaped mark, maybe 2 inches by 1 at the broadest points, inside the shell at the front end; that, I am sure, was where an original makers label was affixed.

So, unless I or anyone else want to do some research into motorcycle, or more likely, scooter helmets of the 50s and 60s, that's about it then. Not much added to the sum of human knowledge here. Now what do I do with it...

[James C]

great to hear you picked up this unusual piece of vintage head protection ,it certainly has been a good talking point and you are probably the best person to have handle it and explain more of its details ,we know its gone to a good home and will be superb for display congrats ,james