Original Item. Only One Available. This is a tremendous example of a WWII M1 Helmet liner painted silver with a decal for the Yuma Army Airfield applied to the front, still in phenomenal untouched condition after so many years. The liner has a clear stamp for Inland, and is in phenomenal condition overall.

The liner is painted silver on the exterior, of which it has retained all of its paint minus some small scuff marks and scratches. The decal is 100% retained with almost no flaws, and depicts a fox firing a .50 caliber Browning machine gun with a revolver holstered, stepping upon a cactus for balance, and yelling Y-A-A-F! With YUMA ARMY AIR FIELD below him. The liner retains its leather chinstrap which is very pliable and loose on the helmet. There is a stamp on the liner itself for the maker INLAND. It appears that one of the khaki straps on the interior has also been painted silver.

The original applied decal was designed by Russell B. Aitken who was Director of Gunnery and a skeet instructor at the school. "The badge, a snarling red fox with cactus and holster, firing a .50 caliber Browning machine-gun, was Captain Aitken's personal brain-child. His original sketch, made during a gunnery convention at Las Vegas, was applauded and approved by no less an authority than Walt Disney, and became the official emblem for Yuma Army Air Field. It appeared everywhere at Yuma: on the flight jackets of pilots, gunners and bombardiers who trained there, on the sides of the fighters and bombers that flew the skies over Yuma, on moving base targets and on officers' helmets.

Helmet liners like this one are mentioned in books by James Lee Hutchinson titled Through These Eyes: A World War II Eighth Air Force Combat Diary, Page 75 and B-17 MEMORIES: From Memphis Belle to Victory, Page 14.

The Yuma Army Air Field was an advanced training ground for army pilots during
World War II. The airfield was first created in the 1920s as a simple open field with a
windsock for use by airplanes. In 1942 the Army was given the use of the land for a flight training school and the first cadets arrived in January, 1943. In the first year alone, the Yuma Field saw a dozen graduating classes. The Yuma Field offered advanced training in AT-6, T-17, and B-17 models. It was noted as being one of the busiest airfields in the United States. In 1946, after the war had ended, the Army declared the field surplus to their needs and returned the field to civilian control. The field would later become an U.S. Air Force base, a U.S. Marine station, and an international airport.

Yuma Army Air Field was at first an advanced pilot training school, but was officially changed to a radio flexible gunnery school on 11 November 1943. For approximately one month the gunnery program paralleled the pilot training one, after which the latter was abandoned. Though there were only 113 graduates by the end of 1943, there were at that time 1,655 students enrolled.

This is a fantastic example of a very rare helmet liner. Ready for further research and display. This is the first YUMA Airfield liner we have offered, so don’t miss it.