Unusual M1 (help needed)

[James C]

Just looking for advice on this M1 Gents ,it was the unusual airborne A yokes arrangement on what is an Austrian m75 liner that caught my eye ,it is a paired set and shows the same sliding buckle on both shell and liner, the lime green Shell is not Us in origin and has a batch number higher up than you would normally find a Us heatstamp and at an odd 45 degree angle
The webbing is held by Brown coated split pin fasteners on both the liner and shell chinstraps and the webbing is of the same material on this two parter ,it looks a pretty legit period modified piece but by who and for which nation is a mystery to me I have to admit the buckle and chinstrap end terminations are like nothing I have seen before ,I know Turkey used modified Austrian shells but modified the liners I will also put the liner on the Austrian m75 thread and see if the gents over there know of such a modification

[Mark K]

I shall have a look around James to see if I can find any details at first I thought it might be an early French modified jump helmet but that just does not sit right regardless I do really like this helm as period modified and not a mock up of any sort...

Regards Mark K

[James C]

Mark that would be great and much appreciated if you could I too am pretty confident it is period modified and not something contrived ,the problem I have is finding a reference point to compare it too
Many thanks ,James

[Watchdog]

That is an odd one James but I agree that it looks "legit" in as much as it does not appear to be a "knock-up" or fantasy piece. It looks to me as if whoever was responsible for it was using whatever was available in quantity rather than purpose made components. I am sure that it has occurred to you that the webbing yokes and shell chinstrap have "1937 patt" written all over them and look very much like utility straps etc. The chincup looks positively agricultural so I am thinking of a less sophisticated army or perhaps one begining again from scratch in the mid 20th caentury.

I shall be very interested to hear what you discover.

Regards

Mark

[James C]

Mark many thanks for your comments on this piece ,to be honest I never gave the webbing any thought with comparison to 37 pattern so thanks for pointing it out and all help and advice is much appreciated the chin cup is very crudely made and at first thought it bore a very vague similarity to the ww2 period US M1c airborne helmet chin cups , I can only hope this helmet has some closure ,early days I know
Cheers James

[Kohima]

With regard to the ‘37 style buckles and webbing, combined with Mark’s thoughts, could the new India or some other Commonwealth country be in the running? Even Middle-Eastern, perhaps?
I can’t find anything to back those theories up, however...
I’ll keep rummaging.
All the best,
Bob

[Greg Pickersgill]

I believe this is a complete construct - quite probably something made by an amateur renactor to represent a US M2 para helmet. Not very well. Would any country - post 1975 and the introduction of the Austrian Stahlhelm 1 liner - be cobbling together junkyard bits like this? Unlikely.

[James C]

Thanks for your comments and thoughts Bob and Greg and good points raised ,if anything it has been a topic of conversation and with most of my gambles didn't break the bank I would never put down huge amounts on something that just doesn't sit right in the known helmet collecting world .I just can't figure why so much effort would go into making something look so dissimilar to a US Airborne if it was meant to be one .Greg do you have any clues on the manufacturer of the shell going by the high location of shell stamping and at that odd angle i mentioned ?
Regards
James