P-4B with MS22001

[phantomfixer]

I picked this up a few weeks ago...the mask was missing the hose, and had some friends put on a 12P hose and hardware...The helmet has black dots on the backside, stickers or tape, and the letter "I" on both sides...reminds me of an old football helmet or Chinese flight helmet, don't know the meaning of the dots or the I...

Interior is intact...My friends tested the microphone and earphones and they all passed....ready to use....If anyone has a spare 22001 hose not being used....????

 

 

[phantomfixer]

...

[northcoastaero]

Nice helmet and mask. The helmet looks like a P-4A, possibly a P-1B modified to P-4A. Do you have an image of the back

of the helmet?

[phantomfixer]

thanks for the leads on the hose too North, Here are some some back shots...back in the house...sorry for the bad lighting...The tag says 1957, Shelby, Type MB-4....why is it I have always called them P4? where did the MB-4 come from or the P-4B/A

 

[northcoastaero]

I believe the MB- is a Strategic Air Command designation.

[phantomfixer]

SAC had their own designation for flight helmets...dig it...

[phantomfixer]

for future reference on the MB-4 versus the P series helmets...

 

Another change resulted in P-1A/P-1B helmets used without the side-latch visor assembly being re-designated the MB-4 helmet. It is important to note that the MB-4 configuration (which was otherwise identical to the P-4, except that it lacked the rigid external visor) was apparently intended for use in non-high performance aircraft, such as slower, multi-crewed bombers, transports, and utility aircraft, in which the extra protection of a wind-blast visor was not needed and in which the protruding mechanism itself might pose needless range-of-motion encumbrances on a crew flight deck or within a flight station. Here, the confusion increases further, as the external visor assembly was frequently added to the MB-4 designated helmets arising from individual pilot preference, although the rigid wind-blast visor was not standard to the MB-4 specification. Thus, surviving specimens of both the MB-4 and the P-4 can both be found today with the visor assembly installed...a situation which has created some consternation on the part of helmet collectors, flightgear archeologists, and life support historians. However, despite this apparent incongruity, the MB-4 and P-4 helmets were given mutually distinct PNs and other identifying nomenclatural numbers, according to the TOs. TO 14P3-4-508 dated 11 Jul 55 specifies that "...any P-1A/P-1B helmet updated with the newer H-75/AIC headset system (and lacking the visor) will be designated as Helmet, Flying, Type MB-4, whereas...any P-3 updated to the (new communications) specification will be thereafter designated as Helmet, Flying Type P-4".

[Bebel]

If no error, all MB-x referenced helmets were designed for the SAC in the 50s.. I don't know why. The MB-4 helmet was in fact a P-4A.

 

Franck

[phantomfixer]

I should have referenced this quote from the website in which I obtained it....so as no confusion, these are not my words, just an article found on the web by a helmet collector....

 

Another change resulted in P-1A/P-1B helmets used without the side-latch visor assembly being re-designated the MB-4 helmet. It is important to note that the MB-4 configuration (which was otherwise identical to the P-4, except that it lacked the rigid external visor) was apparently intended for use in non-high performance aircraft, such as slower, multi-crewed bombers, transports, and utility aircraft, in which the extra protection of a wind-blast visor was not needed and in which the protruding mechanism itself might pose needless range-of-motion encumbrances on a crew flight deck or within a flight station. Here, the confusion increases further, as the external visor assembly was frequently added to the MB-4 designated helmets arising from individual pilot preference, although the rigid wind-blast visor was not standard to the MB-4 specification. Thus, surviving specimens of both the MB-4 and the P-4 can both be found today with the visor assembly installed...a situation which has created some consternation on the part of helmet collectors, flightgear archeologists, and life support historians. However, despite this apparent incongruity, the MB-4 and P-4 helmets were given mutually distinct PNs and other identifying nomenclatural numbers, according to the TOs. TO 14P3-4-508 dated 11 Jul 55 specifies that "...any P-1A/P-1B helmet updated with the newer H-75/AIC headset system (and lacking the visor) will be designated as Helmet, Flying, Type MB-4, whereas...any P-3 updated to the (new communications) specification will be thereafter designated as Helmet, Flying Type P-4".