M1 HELMET

The 'M1 helmet' is a combat helmet that was used by the American military since World war II until it was succeeded by the PASGT helmet beginning in 1978. For over forty years, the helmet was standard issue for the U.S. military and naval forces, and has become an icon of sorts of the american military and armed forces in general with its design being either inspiring or copied by other militaries around of the world.

The M1 helmet is extremely popular with militaria collectors, particularly WWII collectors, and helmets from this period are generally more valuable than later production M1 steel helmets. Vast quantities of M1 helmets (approximately 22 million) were produced during the war, and approximately 1 million more were produced in the 1960s, for Vietnam. However, both types are becoming harder to find. Helmets with (original) rare or unusual markings or some kind of documented history tend to be more expensive. This is particularly true of paratroopers' helmets, which are variants known as the M1C Helmet and M2 Helmet.

Contents

History

Design

Shell

Alternative use of steel shell

Liner

Accessories

Net

Cover

International Adaptation

See also

References

External links

History

The M1 Helmet was introduced during the Second World War in 1941 to replace the M1917A1 Steel helmet. During the service life of the M1 helmet, 20 million US M-1 steel helmets were manufactured during WWII. A second US production run of approximately one million US M-1 helmets were made in 1966-1967, for the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War M1 steel helmet was different from the WWII/Korean War helmet by having a lowered, or less pronounced dome shape at the top forward section, and was painted in a light olive green. The M1 was phased out during the 1980s in favor of the PASGT helmet which offered increased ergonomics and ballistic protection.
While obsolete in United States service, the M1 Helmet and international variants continues to be used by some less-developed nations around the world. The M1 helmet liner still occupies a symbolic niche in the United States military. For example liners are currently worn in training by US Navy SEALs BUD/s candidates, wherein it is painted with the trainees' class number, name, and rank insignia and painted and chromed versions models are still used in ceremonial units. In Israeli service, reserve soldiers have used the M1 helmet in combat as late as 2006.

Design

The M1 helmet is actually two helmets: An outer shell, sometimes referred to as the "steel pot", made of metal and a hard hat-type liner that is nestled inside the shell and contains the suspension system that would be ajusted to fit the wearer's head. Helmet covers and netting would be applied by covering the steel shell with the extra material tucked inside the shell and secured by inserting the liner.
The outer shell cannot be worn by itself. The liner can be worn by itself providing protection akin to a hard hat, and was often worn in such fashion by Military Policemen, Assistant Drill Instructors (known as AI's), and rifle/machingun/pistol range staff (although they were supposed to wear steel at the range). The liner is sometimes worn in U.S. military ceromonies and parades painted white or with a chrome finish.

Shell

The shell of the the M1 was changed mainly in silhouette, as seen from the side, from its WWII beginnings. The second, and last, U.S. production run of about 1 million M1's for the Vietnam War, during the mid 1960s, lowered (streamlined) the top forehead portion of the steel shell. The bulk of the helmet shell is constructed from a single piece of pressed non-magnetic steel. The rim edge of the shell has a crimped metal band running around it, which provides a clean edge. This is usually known as the "rim". The metal band of the rim material has a seam where the ends of the strip meet. On the earliest shells the seam meets at the front. This was moved to the back of the rim in 1944 when the rim went from being made of stainless steel to manganese steel.
On each side of the helmet shell there are stainless steel loops for attachment of the chinstrap. The shape of these fixtures, known as bails, is one of the most recognizable distinguishing factors between shells produced at different times. The earliest helmets feature fixed, D-shaped bails. Mid-WWII production helmets have fixed, rectangular bails, and late-war and 1960s helmets feature moveable rectangular bails which swivel inward and outward. This swivel feature was adopted to address the fact that when earlier helmets were dropped the bails were more susceptible to breaking off. WWII-production helmets feature khaki (olive drab late-war) web chin-straps which are sewn on. 1960s and 70s chin-straps are made of olive drab webbing attached to the shell with blackened metal clips. Nylon, clip-on, chin-straps were introduced in the US military in the 1980s and issued to be fitted by the individual serviceman to his own helmet. These straps featured a two-piece web chin cup and were fastened by a metal snap rather than buckle.
During World War II, and later, many soldiers wore the webbing chinstraps unfastened or looped around the back of the helmet and clipped together. This practice arose for two reasons: First, because hand-to-hand combat was anticipated, and an enemy could be expected to attack from behind, reach over the helmet, grab its visor, and pull. If the chinstrap were worn, the head would be snapped back, causing the victim to lose balance, and leave the throat and stomach exposed to a knife thrust. Secondly, many men incorrectly believed that a nearby exploding bomb or artillery shell could cause the chinstrap to snap their neck when the helmet was caught in its concussive force, although a replacement buckle, the T-1 pressure-release buckle, was manufactured which allowed the chinstrap to become automatically unclipped should this occur. In place of the chinstrap, the nape strap inside the liner was counted on to provide sufficient contact to keep the helmet from easily falling off the wearer's head.

Alternative use of steel shell

The design of exterior metal led to some novel uses: When separated from the liner, the shell could be used as an entrenching tool, washbasin, bucket, seat, and, in desperate times, latrine. The shell was also used as a cooking pot but the practice was discouraged as it would make the metal alloy brittle and ultimately useless as protective headwear.

Liner

The liner is made from many parts. The outer part is shaped to fit neatly into the steel shell. The various elements of the suspension system are rivetted, later clipped, inside it. The suspension is made from strips of webbing material stretching around and across the inside of the liner. A sweatband is mounted onto these, which is adjusted to fit around the head of the wearer. WWII and Korean era liners also have their own chinstrap made from brown leather. The liner chinstrap is snapped or rivetted directly to the inside of the liner and does not have bails like the shell chinstrap, but it still swivels inside the helmet. The liner chinstrap is usually seen looped over the brim of the shell and helps to keep the shell in place when its own chinstraps aren't in use.
The first liners were made from compressed paper fibres but were quickly eliminated because such degraded quickly in high humidity enviroments and were replaced by constantly evolving plastic liners. During the same period the original silver Rayon suspension material was phased out in favor of khaki cotton. After WWII the cotton was changed from khaki or Olive Drab #3 to green known as Olive Drab #7. Much later, liners switched to using stronger synthetic webbing and had improved neck support. There were many companies making liners during the war; Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company made most of them, while other companies tested, such as Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.

Accessories

Net

Some soldiers, specifically those taking part in an invasion, wore a helmet net, or a cover, stretched over the helmet. The net was usually khaki or olive drab in appearance, and was made of cotton. The infantry typically used 1/2 inch (13 mm) spaced netting, while the airborne forces typically wore 2 inch (51 mm) spaced netting, although, of course, this was not the rule, and different soldiers used different types. The net has some practical usages. When it is put on the helmet, it effectively reduces the glare and/or reflection that the helmet would give in broad daylight. Although the helmet was painted OD Green, the sun would make a green reflection as noted. As well, the net can be used by soldiers to attach small foliage or burlap strips onto the helmet, thus giving them some degree of camouflage when fighting in a forested area. The net had a tendency to wear through on the top, from being placed upon the ground, top down.

Cover

In 1943 (possibly late 1942), the United States Marine Corps used a cloth camouflage-patterned cover for their helmets. The cover was made from herringbone twill fabric. It had a "forest green" pattern on one side and a "brown coral island" pattern on the other. The United States Army utilized a net to hold natural vegetation for camouflage, after having performed unsuccessful field tests in the European Theatre of Operations where the camouflaged cover proved confusingly similar to the helmet colours of the Waffen-SS.
After World War II, various styles of camouflage cover were used at different times. In the 1960s through '70s, the type commonly seen in the US Army and Marine Corps was a reversible fabric cover that had leaf-shapes printed in different shades of green on one side, and tan and brown blotches on the other. This type was nearly omnipresent in Vietnam, and where, for the first time, the US Army wore the cloth camouflage as general issue; whereas in WWII and the Korean War, the US Army traditionally wore their helmets only with nets, or just plain, without anything on it. By contrast, the US Marine Corps has consistently worn a cloth camouflage cover over their M-1 steel helmets in all three major wars; WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. The Korean War (1950-1953) was largely fought using WWII weapons and equipment, and the US Marine Corps helmets and camouflage covers were basically the same as those used during WWII. In Vietnam, the green portion of the reversible fabric camouflage was normally worn outermost. Helmet covers in the (European) woodland camouflage, were designed for fighting in the European Theater (NATO) of Operations, and became the Post (jungle pattern) Vietnam camouflage cover used by the US military from the late 1970s onward. The (European) Woodland pattern was not reversible; they were only printed on one side. These covers were all constructed from two semi-circular pieces of cloth stitched together to form a dome-like shape conforming to the helmet's shape. They were secured to the helmet by folding their open ends into the steel pot, and then placing the liner inside, trapping the cloth between the pot and the liner. An olive green elastic band, intended to hold additional camouflage materials, was often worn around the helmet to further hold the cover in place.
Other armies used these or similar covers printed with different camouflage patterns, or employed entirely different methods. In the Dutch army, for example, it was common practice to use a square piece of burlap as a helmet cover on M1 helmets, usually secured by a net (see above) and a wide rubber band.
During The Battle of the Bulge and Korean War, soldiers made white helmet covers that were good camouflage in the snowy areas. They were not issued to soldiers so many soldiers simply made them from a white cloth from a shirt or (more commonly) used those that belonged to the Germans since this is where the idea came from.

International Adaptation

After World War 2, several nations adopted the M1 helmet. The Dutch and Austrians in particular were very prolific in creating these clone helmets. Ironically, they often carried the same name as the previously used helmets, the German "Stahlhelm". Many speculate that this form of helmet was due to the negative aura that surrounded the stahlhelm in addition to other more practical reasons. For reenactors with a budget and movie sets, these clone helmets are a very viable alternative to original front-seam helmets. Because of this, they are a resource that has yet to be tapped into by World War 2 enthusiasts. However, it should be noted that the shape of these helmets are slightly different than the WWII and Korean War vintage M1, and a trained eye can tell the difference. For example, the slight "S" shaped curve on the rim is more pronounced on the WWII and Korean war helmets. The visor in the front is also larger and the rim flared out more.
During the First Indochina War, the U.S. Army supplied the French Union and State of Vietnam troops with M1 helmets which became more common than the French clone "Type 51" (''modèle 51'').

See also

★ Helmet

★ Korean War

★ List of hats and headgear

★ List of uniforms and clothing of WWII

★ Militaria

★ Military equipment

★ Second World War

★ First Indochina War

★ Vietnam War

★ PASGT Helmet

References

★ Arnold, Chris. ''Steel Pots: The History of America's Steel Helmets.'' 1997. ISBN 0912-138-70X.

★ Reynosa, Mark A. ''The M-1 Helmet: A History of the US M-1 Helmet in WWII.'' 1996. ISBN 0-7643-0074-1

★ Reynosa, Mark A. ''The Post World War II M-1 Helmet.'' 1999. ISBN 076431-033X

External links

★ Top Toppots, seller and refurbisher of M1 Helmets

★ The M1 Helmet Page

★ Dating the M1 Steel Helmet

★ J. Murray Inc. Virtual Museum