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couple of Vietnam-era helicopter helmets


mackinturk
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Here are a couple of helmets we have in our collection. First up is an APH-5A that belonged to Edward Thomas when he was with the 120th AHC, his callsign was Razorback 8.

 

The second one is one I could use some input on. It has a black dragon and white lightning bolts painted on the visor cover, an insignia that I haven't been able to identify. It also has the Cavalry shield painted on the left side, a map of Vietnam on the back, and "Go-Go-Birds" and a square with the number "28" on the right. It has "Drang 1965", "Khe Sanh", and "Vietnam 1970" painted on it. Searching for "Go Go Birds" brought up the "Guns a Go Go" Chinook gunships. Since there were only 4 of these, it seems like it should be fairly easy to find out if the helmet came from someone in that unit. Inside, it has the name "Lt. Curtis", but I haven't found anything about anyone by this name. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

post-10213-1267805268.jpg

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Can't tell on the first, but the second is a re-paint. Whomever did it, didn't bother to remove the mic cord and painted over it, edge beading, and all the screws while they were in place.

Pretty helmets though.

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Cobrahistorian

The second helmet is a bit of a conundrum. I'm not sure if it is original or a helmet painted after return home from Vietnam.

 

Guns a Go Go operated from 1966-68 in Vietnam, so both the Ia Drang and the 1970 are erroneous. Secondly, the red square "28" indicates Blue Max 28, from B Battery, 2/20th ARA, 1st Cav Division. 1st Cav aviation units used triangle, square, circle and diamond to denote A,B,C, and D Company/Troop/Battery. Red was 2/20 Aerial Rocket Artillery, the first all-Cobra unit in Vietnam. Yellow was 1/9 Cav, Blue was 229th AHB, Green was the 227th AHB.

 

I'd love to hear more about the history of this helmet!

 

Thanks for posting it!

 

Jon

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Cobrahistorian

The 1st Cavalry Division was at Ia Drang (We Were Soldiers) and instrumental in the relief of Khe Sanh (1968) before heading south to III Corps in the Spring of 1968. "Blue Max", the 2/20th ARA recieved their Cobras at the beginning of 1968, so if he were a GoGo pilot, he'd have to have served in the mid1966- Feb68 timeframe. The GoGos were Opconned to 2/20 ARA for a short period of time, but never flew with a Blue Max callsign, it was always "GoGo".

 

I've got photos of Blue Max Cobras in Cambodia in 1970 too. Will see if I can find anything on a Lt. Curtis with any of those.

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Thanks for the info. I'll try to look up what I can and see if I can get any leads going through these units.

 

Any ideas on the dragon on the front?

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Re-paints or not, I'd have them on my shelves any day of the week! Great lookin' helmets!

 

Sabrejet :thumbsup:

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Cobrahistorian

Honestly, I'm not sure on the Dragon. Never seen that motif before. The 120th helmet looks 100% original and is a gorgeous helmet! I've been looking for an original, documented Blue Max helmet for a long time. I've got several friends who served in the unit and I've kinda been one of their unofficial historians. The Cobra on the front of my book (visible in my sig here) was flown by Jim Moran and George Alexander as top cover for a medevac mission which became a Medal of Honor mission. Pretty amazing guys.

 

Jon

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Honestly, I'm not sure on the Dragon. Never seen that motif before. The 120th helmet looks 100% original and is a gorgeous helmet! I've been looking for an original, documented Blue Max helmet for a long time. I've got several friends who served in the unit and I've kinda been one of their unofficial historians. The Cobra on the front of my book (visible in my sig here) was flown by Jim Moran and George Alexander as top cover for a medevac mission which became a Medal of Honor mission. Pretty amazing guys.

 

Jon

 

 

They sure do look great!!!! :thumbsup: I always love to see Helicopter Stuff!!!! To bad its not a Guns a gogo!!

 

Brandon

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I acquired -get this -16@ flight helmets from Coast Guard New Orleans on GSA access. They are still Federal Property, but as the custodian, I can work them however I see fit. My aim is to repaint and deck out as Vietnam era helmets to honor our vet/patients at the Dallas VA. Any ideas as to a legendary helmet to duplicate? It will go in a display case with appropriate flight suit/ jungles to reinact deeds of daring do. I have not yet seen them but they were described as APH-6's, sph 4's and sph 5's. Don't know the mix.

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Cobrahistorian
I acquired -get this -16@ flight helmets from Coast Guard New Orleans on GSA access. They are still Federal Property, but as the custodian, I can work them however I see fit. My aim is to repaint and deck out as Vietnam era helmets to honor our vet/patients at the Dallas VA. Any ideas as to a legendary helmet to duplicate? It will go in a display case with appropriate flight suit/ jungles to reinact deeds of daring do. I have not yet seen them but they were described as APH-6's, sph 4's and sph 5's. Don't know the mix.

 

Hmmm... SPH-4s are the only ones that were Army helicopter helmets. The remainder were all Navy/Marines. All were late-Vietnam period and later. I'll see if I can find any cool helmet paint schemes for ya!

 

I've got dragon eyes drawn on the visor housing of my helmet. Unfortunately it is in pencil because we're not allowed to paint our $27,000 helmets! :(

Jon

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Hmmm... SPH-4s are the only ones that were Army helicopter helmets. The remainder were all Navy/Marines. All were late-Vietnam period and later. I'll see if I can find any cool helmet paint schemes for ya!

 

I've got dragon eyes drawn on the visor housing of my helmet. Unfortunately it is in pencil because we're not allowed to paint our $27,000 helmets! :(

Jon

 

 

Wow, Dragon eyes!!! I had a poppycock meter that everyone loved but the command, lol On a side note I chalked shark jaws on my hawk when I flew and it wasnt appreciated on a 4.7mil bird, lol!!

 

Brandon

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My buddy and I designed a dragon paint scheme for B Company's -64s and we actually painted up 4 of the birds before people complained. It looked pretty badass. Wish we could still paint nose art...

 

I think Air Force bombers can still do nose art, but only in a very limited way on a small panel. I saw some photos a few years ago of B-52s, I think, with the "Let's Roll" logo.

 

BTW, I've spoken to Edward Thomas, the original owner of the Razorback helmet. He did 2 tours in Vietnam, one with the 120th and a second flying Cobras. As soon as our photographer gets done with the helmet it will be going up on our site. I'll post a link then to the write-up with the much better quality photos that he will have.

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Cobrahistorian
I think Air Force bombers can still do nose art, but only in a very limited way on a small panel. I saw some photos a few years ago of B-52s, I think, with the "Let's Roll" logo.

 

BTW, I've spoken to Edward Thomas, the original owner of the Razorback helmet. He did 2 tours in Vietnam, one with the 120th and a second flying Cobras. As soon as our photographer gets done with the helmet it will be going up on our site. I'll post a link then to the write-up with the much better quality photos that he will have.

 

Dammit, I just nuked my own post.... Oh well...

 

Mac,

 

Even better that you've got the provenance on that helmet! Just too cool. Out of curiosity, what's your site?

 

Army regs are a lot more strict as far as nose art goes. There is some overseas, but next to nothing stateside. The best we can hope for is the outline of a shark mouth. Its too bad, the dragon mouths and eyes were badass...

 

Jon

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It's the Wilson History & Research Center, the website is www.militaryheadgear.com.

 

We've got a few flight helmets up now, but mainly from WW2. We're working on several newer flight helmets, but we just got in some books about them. Here lately we've been getting mainly flight helmets, since I think we've finally gotten just about every type of WW2 German helmet. We always welcome any comments and suggestions.

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I got the helmets today- I opened the box and what the heck- 14 fairly brand new sph-5's double visor w/nvg clips and 2 brand new hgu-26p's with tag in the bag. Nice haul, but what am I supposed to do with them. I wanted old beat up display helmets and I get black and blue custom sparkle paint and 2 white storm trooper helmets. What irony that I should be disappointed.

 

I did however get my request accepted for a 1970 manufacture date UH-1V with a timed out airframe for a static display on the lawn!

That is going to be one sweeeeet project. The bell factory is providing the ride from Temple to Bonham and providing support for bits to make it look as the germans say, "gewehr". Not a bad haul.

 

I am also having a conversation with Lockheed Martin in Ft Worth to schlep a static GF-16A from Sheppard to Dallas. They actually seem like they are going for it!!!!!!

 

Not a bad gypsy day???

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Cobrahistorian
I got the helmets today- I opened the box and what the heck- 14 fairly brand new sph-5's double visor w/nvg clips and 2 brand new hgu-26p's with tag in the bag. Nice haul, but what am I supposed to do with them. I wanted old beat up display helmets and I get black and blue custom sparkle paint and 2 white storm trooper helmets. What irony that I should be disappointed.

 

I did however get my request accepted for a 1970 manufacture date UH-1V with a timed out airframe for a static display on the lawn!

That is going to be one sweeeeet project. The bell factory is providing the ride from Temple to Bonham and providing support for bits to make it look as the germans say, "gewehr". Not a bad haul.

 

I am also having a conversation with Lockheed Martin in Ft Worth to schlep a static GF-16A from Sheppard to Dallas. They actually seem like they are going for it!!!!!!

 

Not a bad gypsy day???

 

 

Get me the tail number and I'll find its combat history for ya!

 

Too cool!

 

Jon

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  • 4 weeks later...
Cobrahistorian

Hmmm.... a 1970 bird may not have much combat history, if any, but I'll see what I can find!

 

Jon

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