M1 helmet with Hood Rubber liner
Hi guys, well I am pretty much skint, flat broke, poor
This is the first of two rare M1 helmets I've picked up as I thought it was time to move away from post war M1s for now and join the big leagues
This helmet is a front seam fixed bale McCord manufactured helmet with the heat stamp of 151C which puts it to around May 1942. The helmet itself has seen very light use and has the early brass sharp tipped J hook and cast brass buckle with raised bars.
Now to the Hood Rubber liner. Hood Rubber Co. were contract for 200,000 of these liners in April 1942 but production didn't get underway until September 1942. They were then contracted again for another 6,000 more of these liners in February 1943 by which time Hood Rubber liners were discontinued. Not many of these liners made it in quantity to the frontline fighting so the majority of these examples are found in an almost unused condition. Unique to Hood Rubber liners was the smooth layered dull brown pattern on the liner. This pattern was a result of the 'ball winding technique' to produce these liners. My example like most Hood rubber liners suffers from flaking paint due to the smooth outer which did not help the paint to adhere well. My one has been repainted as there are signs of a lighter OD paint under the darker applied OD paint. The the HBT suspension shows the pinked ends which have been cemented (dark brown) to prevent it unravelling. The suspension is held in place by zinc coated steel A washers. The nape strap is produced by George Frost Co. with the contract dating this to July 6, 1942. The liner chinstrap is the green OD painted type dating it between late 1942 to mid 1943. The head band is an experimental vinyl version that were made in black and brown as a result of shortages in leather. The makers of these are unknown and examples have no maker identifying marks. They were apparently never liked by troops due to being uncomfortable and also the inability to absorb sweat well. These head bands were only used on Hood Rubber and St Clair liners. There were 4 types of the Hood Rubber liners and the one I have is the first type with the glued in disc in the crown. This was done as a reinforcing measure and has the HR (Hood Rubber) in silver applied to this disc. The one thing I have noticed about this liner is that it seems to be slightly thicker than the duck cotton made liners and has virtually no flexibility compared to the duck cotton liners.
I have tried to describe this helmet and it's liner to the best of my ability and if I have missed anything out or made any mistakes please feel free to post.
Thanks for looking guys
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by ruddersrangers44
The second set will knock your socks off mate and I can't wait to post it up but I will give this one some time first 
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