Need help from the M1 Clone Expert

[feldgrau33]

Hello fellow collector, i just bought this Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) shell along with the WW2 british canteen in the antique market.





The TNI AU roundel inside the shell



The comparison with the WW2 American M1



The Air Force helmet is much broader and the chinstrap holder is similar with the british helmet. And also there's no ending seam on the rim. And it's also lower compared with the m1.
My apologies for the low quality of these photos, because i don't have any digital camera now.

So what's this helmet? From what country this helmet originated?

Thank you in advance.

[MySonsDad]

Very interesting helmet, can't wait to hear what the story is behind it...so many M-1s, so little shelf space left

Regards,

Russ & Son

[feldgrau33]

I just found out what this shell is. It's french OTAN M51.
Based from this site .: World War Helmets - Casque Modèle TTA 51 :. , this shell maybe was made in 1953 judging from the chinstrap holder made by labbe freres in 1953.
Well, i guess this is really unexpected for me to acquire french shell.

I wonder why the french shape helmet is similar with m1 but in reverse?

[MySonsDad]

If you notice that post war helmets from NATO countries all took on the US M-1 shape, some moreso than others, such as the Belgium helmet and a few others. OTAN = NATO spelled backwards

[feldgrau33]

Ah i see.
But i still curious about this french shell. It's like the m1 but worn backward. I wonder why, is it about taste?

[Greg Pickersgill]

I am not at all sure you are right in believeing this is a French mle51. Quite apart from anything else the 51 has a rather distinctively higher and more vertical contour to the shell than the original M1 or any of its relatives, and the front peak is very short and more horizontal compared to a typical M1 (the front and peak are almost at a right angle compared to an M1). If anything your helmet looks to me much more like a version of an M1 than a mle 51, but then I do concede it may be the photographs.

And I have not seen a chinstrap welding like that on any 51 - you have a very distinctive shape there, almost triangular or heart-shaped - and this is unlike anything on a 51, where the shape is (where it exists) more rectangular. See here .: World War Helmets - Les fournisseurs du casque Mle 51 TTA type 2 :.

I'm not trying to be contentious for the sake of it - I was as fascinated as you by your helmet but had no useful idea to offer even after a fair bit of research. Another thing worth considering - why would a French helmet be in use by Indonesia? They were exported, certainly, but usually to nations that had historical links with France, which Indonesia does not.

I'm happy to be proved wrong on anything I have said, but I don;t think we have a real answer yet.

[feldgrau33]

Hmm i see, could it be indonesia acquired the helmet from the 3rd party? Or is this an indonesian clone M1?
To be honest, i never saw this kind of helmet before in here.
I'll upload better photos tomorrow.

[Greg Pickersgill]

Apart from having reasonable beliefs about what it is *not*, I really have no idea what your helmet is. Like you I have never seen anything quite like it. So far as I know there was no locally-made Indonesian M1 copy, but then, who knows? There could have been. Could be something Chinese, but its not like anything I have seen. Definately not S'pore. Or Australian. Really, this is completely baffling. How annoying it will be when someone tells us its something obvious that we've all overlooked.

[KradSpam]

I agree, not French M51. Detailed pics of chinstrap and liner might help.

[battle gear]

I think there is a possibility this could be a rare Indonesian clone? or some type of euro made export model? helmets made for export could be a little different than a standard M1

it looks like it was made a long time ago, not something of recent manufacture