1980s M1 parachute liner research

[Hastriq]

Hi all,

Bit of a rambling post here, but I've been doing some research on an M1 liner that I was hoping knowledgeable folks might be able to help me with. A friend of mine found out I've been getting into militaria recently and brought me an M1 parachute liner he got when he was a kid to see what I could find out about it. I've been doing a bunch of research into it online and have found some information, but I'm by no means an expert in these, and I know the M1 liner can be a real rabbit hole of mixed parts and replacement bits issued over the years. So I wanted to post the pictures here as well to see if I'm on the right track with my information and whether there are other details you can see in it that I'm missing. Here's the liner:






From what my friend told me he got the liner from a retired Canadian soldier, although my friend doesn't know exactly when he served. The suspension is not removable, and one site I found said that the A-shaped washers holding it in would date the assembly from the mid 1960s to the mid 1970s. However, the markings on the suspension seem to be from the mid-1980s:



The blacked-out bar is covering an NSN number, 8470-00-753-5793, which came up as a US code for the Parachutists' Helmet Liner. I assume it was blacked out when the helmet was issued in Canada, although I don't know if this is common practice. The liner also has another NIN stamp on the opposite side, 8470-21-857-5684, which seems to be the corresponding Canadian stamp:



I searched those numbers in the ISO Group database to find their designation, but I don't know if there's a way to tell from that number when the part was issued.

Then there's a super-faded stamp on the headband which I can barely make out:



It's really hard to read, and even harder in the picture, but it kind of looks like it used to say "HEADBAND, HELMET LINER"...certainly makes sense given where it is, but not especially informative, and I couldn't find other pictures of a stamp with that text in other examples online. I wondered if that might be a replacement headband, or whether that would be the normal stamp to find there.

There's also a very faded stamp by the right-hand snap which could be either "- 1 -" or "- 4 -" :



I've seen those stamps on many other liners as I was researching, but I didn't find what they mean, so if anyone can tell me what that number is for (or can make out whether that's a 4 or a 1), please let me know.

Other than that, the only other marking I could find was the maker's mark in the shell of the liner itself:



I believe this is the CMP maker mark, which from what I read would track with the time period of the suspension stamps/assembly.

So overall I'm thinking the shell and suspension are original, assembled in the US in the mid- to late-80s before being sent to Canada for re-issuing, getting a replacement headband in Canada later on (since the other liners I saw with different or absent headband stamps were all US examples), as well as those darker green connectors to the chin strap clips. What do you guys think? Is there anything there that doesn't track, or other details that I am missing? I know the later helmets/liners aren't as unique or collectible as earlier or WW2 ones for many people, but I want to piece together as much of a story for my friend as I can.

Thanks so much for looking!

[JesperS]

Very nice liner - I wouldn't mind having it sitting in my collection.
The military contract number (DLA number) tells you the year of manufacture. In this case (19)86.

Kind regards
Jesper

[Nicolas P]

I have a liner like this, sadly not in such good shape. In my case, used by the Argentine Army, so I guess these have been around many places. Keep in mind that para liners never received the removable webbing system.

From what I remember from Mark Reynosa's book on post-war M1s, SPP bought the equipment for manufacturing liners from Consolidated Molded Products, that's why you find the CMP logo on SPP liners. If I remember correctly, SPP won two contracts for these para liners, in 1983 and in 1986, the latter being the last M1 liners ever manufactured in the US.

I don't think the piece of green fabric and the buckle in the A straps are factory original, perhaps they were added in Canadian service?

Nick

[Hastriq]

Thanks so much for the reply Nick! That's really cool to have one that went to Argentina. It's amazing how many places these helmets ended up being used. I had no idea about the CMP marks in SPP helmets, so that's really good to know! I've actually got Reynosa's book on my Christmas list this year (partially because of this liner, haha) so hopefully I'll be reading through that very soon.

I was thinking the same thing about the A strap fabric. That kind of foresty green colour is used a lot in Canadian equipment and camouflage patterns, so I suspect those were added during the Canadian service period like you say. If so, I like that it has an extra little bit of visual Canadian character to it.

[BlueBarons]

Sorry for belated reply. This was the official issue Canadian airborne liner for M1C helmets post 1970 ish to 2000s ish. They didn't really like the normal US airborne style claw and hook chinstrap so they modified it to take a slider chinstrap. It was used along side a small number of unmodified US liners in the Canadian airborne.

its a pretty uncommon item now adays, i know collectors fighting over them.

[Hastriq]

No worries at all! I really appreciate the reply. This is great to know. Certainly a lucky pickup for me!

[Jack59]

Hi Hastriq, just posted a Canadian Parachutist helmet today. Your liner was manufactured by Specialty Plastic Products second contract from February 1986, 20,000 ordered, that contract closed sometime in 1987. The production of the helmet liner was finally over.

Here is the link to my thread, you'll see the chinstrap & other parts of the liner:
Parachute/Airborne Helmets and HSAT's from around the world

Source for the American parachutist's helmet:
Post-WW2 M-1 helmets. Chapter 14
By Mark A. Reynosa, Schiffer Military History, 1999.

Regards
Jack

[Hastriq]

Thanks Jack! This thread is super helpful. It's very cool to see other examples with the replaced chinstrap. I wasn't sure if that was standard practice or something added by this individual. Now I've just got to track down a shell to go with this liner! Many thanks again for sharing your research.