Addendum to "The Evolution of the Japanese Army Steel Helmet"

[Nick Komiya]

Further to the above, a substitute steel alloy for steel helmet production appears to have been designated in August 1940 to conserve Vanadium and Molybdenum used in helmet steel. However, this secret listing is not in the archives and only the cover letter survives as shown below.

[Nick Komiya]

㊁ Marked Helmets Finally Explained

Here are photos of a ㊁ marked helmet from RussM. Note that the year of manufacture on the rear of the forehead cushion says 16, for 1941.

Putting all these facts together, we now have enough circumstantial evidence to prove that these helmets were made in 1940/1941 of alternative quality steel, based on the August 1940 specs above, and got marked with a ㊁ to separate them from those in standard spec. bullet-proof steel, and released in quantity in May 1942 for inland Japan use, in anticipation of air raids, also putting MPs in these Type 90 helmets that replaced their trade-mark visor caps.

For reference, this helmet in large size weighs in at 1148 grams, about 4% lighter than a comparable standard Type 90. It was manufactured by Kobe Steel.

I now declare the "Factory-Second Myth" as busted.

[Nick Komiya]

Additional Background on the 1922 Model Army Helmet

I came across a series of postcards printed in the Spring of 1921, featuring army uniforms of the nations involved in WW1, and the IJA photos feature one showing soldiers wearing the Mark 1 and 2 gas masks along with what was to become the 1922 Model helmet. It describes the helmet as being out of soft steel, 0.8 to 0.9 mm thick and weighing 900 grams overall.

What is surprising about this photo is that the release date actually predates the official introduction of the helmet by more than a year. The provisional type approval was only granted on 15th June 1922 whereas the print date of the postcard is 21st May 1921.

Jumping the gun, of official Minister approval, in this manner would not have been tolerated in later years, so it must mean that the IJA was under pressure to demonstrate to the public that the IJA, too, already had steel helmets and gas masks like the other combatants of the Great War.

We cannot ascertain in this photo whether the helmet has the army star or not, but considering the fact that there are propaganda postcards showing the 1922 helmet with an army star worn along with a Mark 2 gas mask, we can assume that the star was added before 1927, prior to the introduction of the Type 87 gas mask, which the army definitely would have shown in that postcard, if it already had existed at that time.

Unlike on the Type 90 that used the Army star to hold the liner in place, the star on the Model 1922 was purely an ornamental add-on.

[Nick Komiya]

Postwar Police Type 90 Helmets

See here for postwar reuse of the Type 90 helmets by the police.