Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very interesting early U.S. WWII McCord front-seam, fixed-bale M1 helmet retaining a heavily worn period-applied gray-white overpaint and a correct WWII Westinghouse high-pressure liner. The helmet is painted in a white/gray color for use by either shipyard workers, Military Police, or Navy medical personnel. It shows long service, but the paint is original to the period, and the helmet shell is a very early example.

The helmet is a genuine WWII Front-Seam Fixed Bale M1 Helmet made by McCord Radiator, with a correct WWII Westinghouse liner. 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 marked with "lift and lot" stamp 27B 3, indicating 1942 manufacture.

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 early M-1 helmet shells had a set of fixed 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). This helmet is a fine example and still retains many of its original WW2 parts and the shell has period-applied gray/white paint. It does look to have seen a good amount of wear but no intentional abuse. The khaki chinstrap is still present with the correct early war stamped brass hardware.

The helmet shell is painted all white/gray with heavy scuffing and wear. Thankfully there are no stress cracks that we can see in the shell.

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 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 WWII features include cotton OD Green #3 herringbone twill (HBT) cloth suspension liner, with the webbing in good shape. 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 sweatband is torn away from much of the suspension, and the suspension has very heavy wear and staining. The leather chinstrap is gone. The front of the liner is painted with a chevron.

This helmet is particularly interesting for the combination of its very early McCord lot marking, front-seam fixed-bale shell, period gray-white repaint, surviving early khaki chinstrap with brass hardware, Westinghouse liner, and unexplained painted liner chevron. The paint is strongly suggestive of specialized wartime use and is compatible with Navy practice, but in the absence of a ship name, duty marking, or veteran provenance, the precise wartime assignment remains an excellent subject for further research.