Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very good original U.S. WWII M1 helmet, consisting of a front seam swivel bale steel shell manufactured by Schlueter Manufacturing Company and a wartime high-pressure liner by Westinghouse Electric Company. The helmet retains its cork-textured olive drab finish, original-style late-war chinstrap, and a heavily worn camouflage net that gives the piece a strong field-used appearance. The shell is faintly marked 329 / S, placing it within Schlueter’s wartime production range and consistent with approximate 1944 manufacture.

The U.S. WWII M-1 helmet was only produced from 1941 to 1945. The first production batch resulted with over 323,510 M-1 helmets before the start of the American involvement in the war. This helmet is faintly heat-lot stamped 329 over S, which indicates an approximate 1944 manufacture date. There may be a letter after 329, but we could not read one.

Schlueter began production of its M-1 helmet shells in January 1943. Schlueter produced only 2,000,000 M-1 helmet shells during the war (both fixed and swivel). They placed an "S" stamp on their helmet shells above their "heat temperature stamp". Aside from the markings, there are some subtle differences between a McCord and Schlueter M-1 helmet shell. This can be found on the rims. A Schlueter helmet shell has a much straighter profile than the classic McCord brim. Also the weld marks on the rim are small and round on a Schlueter, while they are oval and wide for a McCord.

The early M-1 helmet shells had a set of fixed (static) chinstrap loops called "bales" and a stainless steel rim. These rims were both rust resistant and had "non-magnetic qualities" that reduced the chance of error readings when placed around certain sensitive equipment (such as a compass). In October 1943, issues with the fixed bales breaking off resulted in a change to the "swivel bales" that this helmet has. In 1944, to deal with paint wearing off the very shiny stainless steel rim, the material was changed to manganese steel in October, and then the seam moved to the rear in November.

This helmet is a fine example and still retains all of its original WWII parts and the shell has "corked" grain paint with front seam and swivel bails. The shell does not look to have been repainted. The chin strap is the correct late war OD Green with stamped steel hardware. The shell and chinstrap are in very good condition.

The liner is correct "high pressure" WWII issue and a very faint embossed with a W for manufacture by the Westinghouse Electric Co of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. These "high pressure" manufactured M-1 helmet liners are identified by an embossed "W" in the crown (which is still Westinghouse's logo to this day). Westinghouse was the largest M-1 helmet liner producer and had two production divisions; Micarta and Bryant Electric. The Micarta Division produced about 13,000,000 M-1 helmet liners and the Bryant Electric Division about 10,000,000. Westinghouse Electric Company started M-1 helmet liner delivery in May 1942.

This true US WWII M-1 helmet liner can be identified through the frontal eyelet hole. Other correct WWII features include OD Green #3 cotton herringbone twill (HBT) cloth suspension liner, with the webbing in good condition. This HBT suspension is held tightly within the M-1 helmet liner by rivets and a series of triangular "A" washers. The three upper suspension bands are joined together with the correct OD green string. This way the wearer could adjust the fit. The liner chinstrap is original and shows minor crazing. The leather sweatband shows dry rot with heavy cracking and crazing.

The original helmet net is in heavily worn condition, with some stiffness, and is quite fragile, so exercise caution when handling.

Condition overall is very good and service worn, with the principal concerns concentrated in the liner sweatband and helmet net. The Schlueter shell retains its front seam, swivel bales, cork-textured finish, chinstrap, and 329 / S marking, while the Westinghouse liner retains its wartime suspension system and leather chinstrap.

The combination of a Schlueter front-seam swivel-bale shell, 329/S heat-lot marking, wartime cork finish, Westinghouse high-pressure liner, surviving suspension, and fragile helmet net makes this a strong representative example of a mid-to-late WWII U.S. M1 helmet.