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Odd camo helmet cover


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Fixbayonets!

I recently picked up a large lot of gear that was packed away since the mid 1960's, the gear dated from WWI - Korean war. In the bottom of one of the boxes I found what I thought was a camo mosquito head net but under closer inspection it looks to be a helmet cover. It is made of frog skin camo mosquito netting with a piece of elastic machine sewn along the bottom edge. It fits the M-1 helmet perfectly, it would need slits cut for the chinstraps for it not to bunch around the bales. I figure it is probably rigger made or possibly made for a U.S. allied foreign country. Has anyone ever seen one of these before? Thanks for checking it out!

 

Rob

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I've seen the material before. I have some somewhere. I think it may be U.S. mosquito netting but others may know for sure. I'm curious to find out myself. I've never seen it made into a cover like this.

 

Tom

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coolhandluke

Very nice cover Rob.

 

The material definitely looks to be mosquito netting. It would be the first in that type of material that I have encountered in my limited years of collecting. All that I have previously encountered in this style look to be made from nylon. Below is a photo of very similar covers as previously posted by fellow member Warpath. I believe that he stated these covers had an ARVN connection.

 

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My opinion is that these camo mosquito net covers were used late 1959s-early 1960s used by certain units til the mitchell camo cover came out...you see alot of unit makeshift covers in that coverless period, burlap, camo chutes, these etc.....mike

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Here is one I have.The pattern is different.I checked the elastic sewn in band with a black light.It did not glow.It used to be white but has yellowed over time.Thanks.Greg.

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Fixbayonets!

Thanks guys for posting other examples of these mosquito net covers & the period photo really helps nail down the time frame they were used. All of the stuff in the box the cover was in belonged to a guy who served in the U.S. Army in the 1950's.

 

Rob

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pararaftanr2

In years past, I had a mosquito bar cover for cots made from this material as well as a partial roll of the netting for their repair. Helmet covers would have been easy to make from the raw material.

Regards, Paul

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  • 4 years later...

I picked up a couple of similar camo head covers with drawstrings. One of them has eye holes cut in it. They are each slightly different shades and the sewing is not the same on each. They are about16 inches long. I have no idea where I got them, but they were not stored in the same place so they may have come from different Marine groupings.

 

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I had a helmet with a cover like that about 25-30 years ago.  I bought out a guy at a gun show and the helmet was part of the haul.  It didn't have the elastic so it was tucked between the helmet & liner.  I had never seen one like it before.  I kept it in my collection for about 10 years. Sorry, no pictures.

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On 8/9/2020 at 4:09 PM, Bob Hudson said:

I picked up a couple of similar camo head covers with drawstrings. One of them has eye holes cut in it. They are each slightly different shades and the sewing is not the same on each. They are about16 inches long. I have no idea where I got them, but they were not stored in the same place so they may have come from different Marine groupings.

 

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The one on the left with the game animal silhouettes  hidden in the pattern was commercially available in sporting good stores at least as far back as the 1980's.

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2 hours ago, GMPETE said:

The one on the left with the game animal silhouettes  hidden in the pattern

 

Thanks - I had not noticed that.

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