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US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)

Article about: Hi Guys. This is the US M1 helmet that I bought in a lot of 4 helmets 22-23 years ago. As with the brodie helmet i posted, I don`t know nothing about allied helmets !? I collect german ! So

  1. #1

    Default US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)

    Hi Guys. This is the US M1 helmet that I bought in a lot of 4 helmets 22-23 years ago. As with the brodie helmet i posted, I don`t know nothing about allied helmets !? I collect german ! So here some pics. for you ! I think it is a former Para helmet, as You can see where the Y straps were in the liner ! Has been cut ! think done by the soldier when he didn`t need them anymore, when he was on ground ! I know the inner and outer shell has been together since the war, as the guy I bought it from pick`d them up in may 45 when he arrived in denmark with the danish brigade from sweden, where he was a soldier in the danish brigade. Bought his brigade helmet, a german , a brodie and this helmet ! But sadly only has kept this and the brodie. The other 2 is traded away !! Take a look and let me know what you think ! Thanks SF Sorry for all the pics. ! But the only way to show the whole helmet ! US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)

  2. #2

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    Hi silverfox,
    I like it.
    Here is a little info since you haven’t had a reply
    The outer shell is a M1 shell not a paratrooper M1C, we can tell this by the fact that there are no tabs with male snaps, on the chin strap which would have snapped onto the female ones on the liner, thus holding them together for jumps. There were two companies that made M1s during ww2, one was McCord and the other was Schlueter which is what you have the ”S” on the underside of the rim lets us know that. I would guess your one was made 1943/44 sometime as it has kaki coloured chinstraps and has swivel bales.

    The liner was made by a company called Westinghouse they made an unknown number of jump liners, your one has been made mid war, again we can tell this from the green coloured metal “A” washers. The “A” straps which have been cut off would have had the cast type buckles on it instead of the wire type because its an earlier made liner.

    There was a shortage of para helmets early in the war so apparently jump liners were often paired with ordinary M1s, but usually these were the fixed bale type not swivel bale type, we will never know how these two became a pair, perhaps this was the case.
    Have you added the leather chin strap to the liner, it looks a lot lighter than what we see normally.

    Perhaps someone with a M1 book will chime in with more information for you. And no doubt correct me if I am wrong.
    Rod

  3. #3

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    What a shame the A yokes were chopped if original and i say that loosely only to cover myself,then this green midwar westinghouse would have most likely been from the second run of production,around may 44,this liner had it been complete would sell for a large sum of money,more so than the later blackened brass A washers with the wire buckles type produced from june 44 onwards,as for the shell cannot really had anything as to whether the two items have always been together,could have who knows..............

  4. #4

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    Hi Jake
    Is there anything in your books about the first batch of airborne liners that Westinghouse made.
    I have read somewhere that they were no good due to the fact that they had used the wrong size of female snaps compared to the size of male snaps fitted by McCord on the pots.
    If you could put my mind at rest mate.
    Rod

    - - ------- - -

    Hi Jake
    Is there anything in your books about the first batch of airborne liners that Westinghouse made.
    I have read somewhere that they were no good due to the fact that they had used the wrong size of female snaps compared to the size of male snaps fitted by McCord on the pots.
    If you could put my mind at rest mate.
    Rod

  5. #5

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    Ok Rod lets try and keep this short,the first run had 15mm Iron female snaps these liners were issued and used within the 101st during the Normandy jump,remains have been found to prove this theory,there are two explanations as to why this error occurred,the 1st is that a small run of "Rigger" style liners were first produced by Westinghouse,the 2nd which is the most plausible is that when the Army first contacted Westinghouse with regards to producing from scratch Airborne liners,they never actually stipulated the exact materials or metric sizes,so basically just go and do it,hence why they used 15mm iron instead of 10mm Brass,only after this 1st run was the problem resolved,but as for the McCord webbed chinstraps there has been no surviving examples to say for sure whether they too were of the wrong 15mm size.hope this has explained things a bit clearer.

  6. #6

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    thanks Jake for taking the time to answer, I knew I had read something about this somewhere,
    I just wanted it clarified and you have done this for me.
    Thanks
    Rod

  7. #7

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    Hi Rod and Jake. Thanks for your help here ! Nice of you ! Now I know a lot more about these helmets ! Rod: The leather chin strap was on the helmet when I got it ! If it`s not the right colour as it should be. maybe changed during the war if the first one was broken !? I don`t know !? Any idea what the big black numbers inside rim meens ? Soldiers number ? Can the soldier who used this helmet, be identified with this number ? Hope someone can tell ! Thanks. SF

  8. #8

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    Impossible to tell really could be a laundry number or the shell was stored postwar making it a stock number other than that cannot be of any more help......

  9. #9

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    Hi it could be the last four digits of his serial number. I have a helmet with the last five digits on it and was told that there wasn’t enough numbers to be able to make a identification. So I wouldn’t hold out for much hope I’m afraid.

    Your helmet to me looks spot on, It may just be the flash which is making the chinstrap look lighter. As far as I am aware you can usually tell if its a euro added one by the way the leather is cut at the ends , they should be curve cut (not a straight cut). Plus the roughness of the back of the leather should be pretty smooth.
    Regards
    Rod
    US M1 helmet (former Para helmet.)

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