Military Helmet Question-progress report

[David LaPell]

I've had this old Civil Defense helmet for some time, I've never seen another one quite like this. Obviously no where near mint condition, I am trying to figure out what it was before. I think it was an old WWI helmet once, but I cannot find any stampings on it anywhere. I don't know if the blue undercoating is a clue at all. Any ideas what this was before? I would like to restore if I could to what it might have been.

 

[David LaPell]

I've had this old Civil Defense helmet for some time, I've never seen another one quite like this. Obviously no where near mint condition, I am trying to figure out what it was before. I think it was an old WWI helmet once, but I cannot find any stampings on it anywhere. I don't know if the blue undercoating is a clue at all. Any ideas what this was before? I would like to restore if I could to what it might have been.

 

[Jack Flash]

IIRC, Civil Defense helmets were blue. Looks like someone went nuts with yellow paint on that one.

The US military was still using that style of helmet at the start of WWII, so it could certainly be post-WWI.

 

[s&wchad]

I think those were basically US M1917 or M1917A1 helmets. Some were re-painted surplus and I assume some were new production intended for CD use.

When I was growing up (after my parents fled Detroit), several of the houses in our subdivision had bomb shelters in the back yard. I had a collection of arm bands, a helmet, canned water, a gas mask and a Radiological Defense Operational Set (geiger counters, dose meters, calibration unit, etc…), all courtesy of the neighbors. I remember drills in school where we crawled under the desk - just in case of a nuclear attack. It scared the crap out of me back then.

 

[danski]

Around the end of WWII, Chicago "suffered" a bombing attack. The CD coordinators in our neighborhood blew whistles for us to go to our
basements. The neighbor/CD guy a few doors down
from us and all his assistants wore the "WWI" style helmet.

Any way, all the kids stayed outside to watch
the bombers, B-25s I think, fly overhead and
drop their bombs, beautiful red-white-blue crepe
paper affairs that floated to the ground. We
ran to get the bombs that fell in our small yards.

 

[tiapat]

Civil Defense helmet...So far, not very collectible. The white is original, along w/ the decal. Check Flea-Bay

 

[jeffsmith]

I had one of those once
it was painted white and had the same sticker

I gave it away but now I have a WWI Style green helmet with "Air Raid Warden" stenciled on it.

 

[westcoast362]

When I was a kid we had two or three of those that we used when playing "army". They were not like WWI helmets. The crown was much higher.

 

[cmort666]

I had one when I was a kid in Chicago in the '60s. The white paint is correct. It's NOT a WWI helmet. It's its own design.

 

[AJW]

I have one sitting in the closet. Came out of my Grandfathers basement. No sticker or any markings on it but otherwise pretty well identical.

 

[Springfield Bob]

Nope not a WWI helmet.They were shaped differently. Yours (and mine) have a higher dome to it than WWI helmets. Plus all American WWI helmets after they were painted were then sprinkled with saw-dust to cause them to be rough to the touch. One thing it did was to prevent any sun glare.

Originally posted by David LaPell:
I've had this old Civil Defense helmet for some time, I've never seen another one quite like this. Obviously no where near mint condition, I am trying to figure out what it was before. I think it was an old WWI helmet once, but I cannot find any stampings on it anywhere. I don't know if the blue undercoating is a clue at all. Any ideas what this was before? I would like to restore if I could to what it might have been.

 

[David LaPell]

Thanks guys, I think I will just end up taking it down to bare metal, and then repainting it white and redoing the decal myself. I have redone a couple of older WWI German helmets and one old WWI Tommy helmet a long time ago. This will be my first Civil Defense helmet. It will go good with my grandfathers old Civil Defense armband I have somewhere.

 

[David LaPell]

Started smoothing out the finish under the liner, and found green paint. Very rough in texture and a shade lower than olive drab. If this was just a civil defense helmet, why the green paint?

 

[s&wchad]

I still think yours is a repainted M1917A1.

From the link below:
Although many US M1917 helmets were recycled for the Civil Defense role, these "OCD" helmets were unique and had, as evident here, a much deeper bowl than the "tin lid" of WWI.

http://combathelmets.blogspot....efense-ocd-wwii.html

 

[AJW]

Thanks for the link. I checked mine out and exactly identical to the one they show to include the markings and interior.

I think your right on with your assessment of Davids. Based on the webbing, green paint and the rivet on the top.

 

[n4zov]

You might want to check this out before sanding and painting:

http://www.usmilitariaforum.co....php?showtopic=26769