Korean War era unpainted, berely used CAPAC liner

[pawtwo]

Hello,

I would like to get more info about this liner. I found it in "nam era put together helmet" that had quite worn cover and straps and completely clean interior.

What I found it's probably korean war era liner made by CAPAC by refurbishing or finishing old stocks of westinghouse made moulds. It has black hardware and OD7 HBT webbing.

 

Why it doesnt have any paint outside? I saw few unpainted liners here and there but never been really into 50's gear. Was this made by factory? Why it wasn't apinted? It doesn't look like someone rubbed off the paint but rather there were no paint on it ever. Maybe it had some defect, in fact it is a bit cracked in two places but it might have happen during last 65 years of storage.

 

Is black hardware correct?

Don't worry, there is original string for the webbing. I've just been celaning it because it looked unissued/barely used but was quite dusty inside from years of storage/display.

[pawtwo]

Inside of liner

[pawtwo]

Westinghouse and CAPAC logo.

[Dave G]

Interestingly enough there is a movie made in 1948 and shot in post-war Berlin called A Foreign Affair, and about 2:45 into the film (you can see it on YouTube) you can see dozens of these helmets actually being worn by the U.S. Army troops in formation at the airport so they were apparently being worn well before the Korean War.

 

Dave

[Burning Hazard]

Hi Dave,

 

That's a pretty nice Korean War era liner, looks to be 1953 dated (the numbers by the CAPAC logo are dates, 51 and 53). It's pretty hard to find minty Korean War liners these days, let alone ones that never been repainted.

 

I know some liners were never painted at the factory and I'm not sure why, maybe rushed?. MSA was one of those makers that sometimes didn't paint liners or would not install the insignia hole. Maybe others will know why.

 

Pozdrowienia

 

Pat

[patches]

I too seen one-two possibly three fotos of unpainted liners being worn by the troops, not many as you see, these if I recall are in basic graduation yearbooks I have from the 50s, got a lot of them, but if I ever chance when I might glace through them for whatever reason, I will try to make a note of it and scan it.

[denfly]

I remember seeing photos of military contractors using unpainted liners on dock's to distinguish them from GI's.

[patches]

 

Here's one photo I was able to find right away, it comes from a September 1961 Ft Dix New Jersey Basic yearbook I got, this particular photo comes from the front part of the yearbook, here these are Stock Photos that are used showing various aspects of the training activity conducted, and are not of the basic graduating class, their photos are seen after the section that has individual portraits of commanders and cadre and the trainees themselves, with these stock photos, they are always slightly older then the actual date of the yearbook, so this makes this photo where unpainted liners are seen, at least a year or more older, taken it back into 1960.

 

These liners seen here strike me as being newly issued, and for what ever reason have not been painted by either the maker or the QM supply, would not think these would remain unpainted for long, given the periods fashion for spit and polish, decaled highly glossed liners of those days, they would be painted eventually.

[pawtwo]

Cool. So these weren't as unusual as I thought.

[patches]

Cool. So these weren't as unusual as I thought.

Not so much unusual, but rare, as mentioned, these really would not remain unpainted given that the liner was a major piece of everyday headgear in the Korean War, post Korean War early to mid 60s Garrison Army, there would be the uniformity aspect. Would be curious to see if the Marine Corps ever got sent these unpainted liners too.

[pawtwo]

Well,

This liner came with an Korean era helmet with green buckle on chinstraps. It had well worn and torn Mitchel camo cover. There is an EGA painted with marker pen on cover. Helmet shell has some rusty spots inside, but in different places than cover. I assumed, that it was probably put together by someone but not when worn by military. Also this EGA looks too fresh for so badly worn cover.