Original Item: One-of-a-Kind. This is a unique example of a WWII M1 Helmet with paint indicating wear by a sailor with the U.S. Navy Damage Control. The helmet has a helmet-mounted flashlight still connected to its battery pack. This example is in very good condition considering signs of honest wear from use, and decades of storage wear, and appears to have been together since the war!

The helmet features a shell painted entirely in red, which denotes Damage Control Personnel aboard ship. The liner was similarly painted, with the chinstrap seated atop the helmet painted red as well. Due to this, we can’t entirely remove the liner from the helmet, so we cannot check the maker of the shell or the heat-lot stamp.

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. The Ordnance Department selected McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit Michigan to produce the steel M1 helmet bodies. These bodies were made from a single piece of Hadfield Manganese steel that was produced by the Carnegie-Illinois & Sharon Steel Corporations. Each completed raw M-1 helmet shell weighed 2.25 lbs each. The shell’s chinstrap is heavily worn with some material loss as shown. 

The paint of the shell is very well-retained with some areas of loss. There are also some heavy stress cracks in the helmet as shown. 

The liner is correct high pressure WWII issue and stamped with a W for the Westinghouse Electric Co Manufactured in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania this "high pressure" manufactured M-1 helmet liner is 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 liner is in fair condition overall.

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. Westinghouse did have a contract to produce airborne liners and converted an unknown amount to airborne configuration. Westinghouse discontinued production around August 17, 1945 when the war ended.

This true US WWII M-1 helmet liner can be identified through the frontal eyelet hole. Other correct WW2 features include cotton herringbone twill (HBT) cloth suspension. 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 string. This way the wearer could adjust the fit. The original leather chin strap is intact and seated on the brim, painted in the same red as the rest of the helmet.

The helmet-mounted flashlight is in good condition with the elastic holding up very well. The battery pack is marked US and was manufactured by the Metal Ware Corp in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

Painted WWII US helmets are among the most sought after of all WWII Headgear and have become very difficult to find in recent years. Almost certainly to appreciate in value year after year!