New lid - some peculiarities

[ClaptonIsGod]

This helmet just arrived today. It is a rear seam Schlueter, with cork in excellent condition but the exterior has been painted white. The chinstraps are clip on, but appear to be green hardware (mostly flaked off). The liner is a standard Westinghouse with 1950s sweatband and nape strap, I found 1955 on the nape strap but cannot get anything off the sweatband. A small section of liner chinstrap remains with a United Carr rivet.

 

Here are my main areas of curiosity on this helmet:

1. The heat stamp is fairly off center, probably halfway between visor center and the left bail. Also, it might just be weak stamping on the third letter, but it kind of looks like 47CA if not 476A.

 

2. Why would it have been painted white (assuming it was while in service)? At first I was thinking maybe a Korea snow paint job, but the 1955 nape strap seems to dispel that.

 

3. The name and service number. He seems to have painted it on one side, decided he could do better, splashed white paint to cover it and mirror it on the other side, and then rewrote it using permanent marker. On the marker side: Howard Friedman 52429448. Looks to be the same under the white paint but possibly a W. middle initial.

 

4. Liner paint. Looks like standard glossy 1950s paint, but cracking reveals some sort of weird red underneath that has me puzzled as priming a liner would not make a ton of sense.

 

5. Hard to see in these photos, but at the rear seam, about two to three inches of rim is missing on one half of the split. Looks like it was cleanly cut, and have not seen that before. Any kind of knowledge out there on this being done for some reason?

 

If it is in fact Howard W. Friedman under the white paint (comparing the initial letter to the W in Howard, certainly looks like it), I found this obituary for a Howard William Friedman who was an Army dentist in the Philippines and was in the Bataan death march, then later a POW camp doctor in Japan. Perhaps he was in the reserves in the 1950s, could the white paint possibly connect to medical staff? I only know how to run serial numbers in the WWII enlistment records, so perhaps someone with different routes could try it.

 

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Howard-Friedman-Death-March-survivor-dies-3258345.php

 

 

Liner exterior shots did not come out great, will retake tomorrow and get one of the missing rim section as well.

[ClaptonIsGod]

Additional photos:

[Burning Hazard]

I know some of out forum members were issued M1 helmets and painted them white for airborne training in Alaska; maybe this is one of those helmets?

 

Pat

[No Quarter]

I saw one just like that in a shop yesterday. I was wondering the same thing on why it was painted white? Hopefully we can find out why.

 

Jacob

[RememberThe5thESB]

Managed to miss the fact it being a schlueter was already mentioned, oops.

 

Interesting shell, the liner being named as such is interesting at least

 

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk

 

[ClaptonIsGod]

Still hoping someone can shed some light. Interesting that the white paint extends down past the rim line where it was cut off, so either the paint ran down through the rim or it was painted white after the rim was cut.

[RememberThe5thESB]

Still hoping someone can shed some light. Interesting that the white paint extends down past the rim line where it was cut off, so either the paint ran down through the rim or it was painted white after the rim was cut.

The white paint is inside the dimple where the spot weld would have been, it would have to of been painted after the rim broke, because paint doesnt move through solid steel to my knowledge.

 

Sent from my SM-J327V using Tapatalk

 

 

[Steve B.]

We sometimes see helmet shells in odd colors, most often white or red. Occasionally blue, black or bright green. I have a possible explanation.

 

I joined the Army in 1973, retiring in 1993.

 

In the steel pot days, when we would go to the range, everyone was required to wear a helmet. The Range Safety Officer, the Range Safety NCOs, the firing line assistants, and sometimes the armorer, medic etc. would take off their steel pot with camouflage cover, and wear steel pots that had been painted in various colors. I believe the RSO & RSNCOIC wore white painted pots, while the firing line assistants (can't remember exactly what they were called) wore white, or maybe it was the other way around. Sometimes the pot would have RSO, RSNCO, etc. stenciled on them.

 

Anyway, there were a LOT of oddly painted steel pots out there that were either stored at the range and used as needed, or signed out at the training aids warehouse. These pots often lacked chinstraps, or only had one strap, or the rim was half-torn off, they were badly dented, etc.

 

Later, they changed to a rubbery plastic shell that you could wear over your own helmet & shell.

 

I don't think all these white pots are snow camo, I think they are range helmets.

 

Just my .02.

[Luxview]

We sometimes see helmet shells in odd colors, most often white or red. Occasionally blue, black or bright green. I have a possible explanation.

 

I joined the Army in 1973, retiring in 1993.

 

In the steel pot days, when we would go to the range, everyone was required to wear a helmet. The Range Safety Officer, the Range Safety NCOs, the firing line assistants, and sometimes the armorer, medic etc. would take off their steel pot with camouflage cover, and wear steel pots that had been painted in various colors. I believe the RSO & RSNCOIC wore white painted pots, while the firing line assistants (can't remember exactly what they were called) wore white, or maybe it was the other way around. Sometimes the pot would have RSO, RSNCO, etc. stenciled on them.

 

Anyway, there were a LOT of oddly painted steel pots out there that were either stored at the range and used as needed, or signed out at the training aids warehouse. These pots often lacked chinstraps, or only had one strap, or the rim was half-torn off, they were badly dented, etc.

 

Later, they changed to a rubbery plastic shell that you could wear over your own helmet & shell.

 

I don't think all these white pots are snow camo, I think they are range helmets.

 

Just my .02.

 

I can provide some pictures that relate to your information. The below shell belongs to a group of four in total (one in white, three in red)

[Luxview]

The white one didn't have 'Scorer' on it (and if I remember correctly, no black tape either). They must have been piled up over a period of time (when I interpret the traces on the paint correctly), they didn't come with liners. Unfortunately I only have pictures from this red one, a friend of mine sold this lot some months ago.

 

 

[Steve B.]

Thanks, Luxview! This is exacly the kind of steel pot I was referrring to.

 

Somewhere I have photos from when I was at the ranges, but it will take some digging to find them.

 

Thanks again.

 

Steve

[ClaptonIsGod]

Would this one fall in the same category? It was advertised as Navy when I bought it but the liner has what looks like Army markings:

[Steve B.]

No. Helmet liners with DUIs and unit shoulder sleeve insignia were worn in the 1950s and 60s. Cadre at training centers wore them at least into the 1970s. Military schools, ROTC and honor guards masy still be wearing them.

 

Typically, they will have a unit distinctive unit insignia on one side, and a division, brigade, etc. insignia on the other side. They were worn by just about everyone for a while.

 

I don't recognize the insignia on this one. Is there a different insignia on the other side?

 

The palmetto tree makes me think it is related to South Carolina, and the red band makes me think it is related to field artillery.

 

This is likely not a "range helmet" specifically.