Surprise NCO helmet

[ClaptonIsGod]

Saw this on eBay for a reasonable price with no interest, and decided to pick it up because I was intrigued by how worn the camo cover was and by the sewn-on chinstraps. It came today, and I had a few surprises. It's a front seam swivel bail, McCord stamp V960 I believe. The liner is Israeli, but has a 1972 dated US sweatband. The chinstrap buckle has an anchor on it, and the camo cover and elastic band have no markings whatsoever. While I was playing with the band and the cover, I noticed some weird white through the rear foliage slits. Took the cover off to find this beautiful NCO stripe, much to my surprise. Had no idea it was there.

 

So, what I'm wondering is:

1. Are the chinstraps Korea era?

2. Is the camo cover an early US ERDL cover, or Israeli? Again, no markings anywhere on it.

3. Any chance that might be original WWII paint, or Korean repaint?

4. What would a 1972 US sweatband be doing in an Israeli liner? I'm thinking perhaps this is a Yom Kippur War helmet pieced together from an Israeli liner and US shell and sweatband, but not sure if we sold to them around 1972 or if they used the ERDL cover that early.

5. Is the NCO stripe most likely from US use if this became an Israeli helmet later? Again, not sure if they used NCO stripes like we did.

 

Also entirely possible the helmet and liner were put together later, since I know Israeli liners are fairly common in surplus stores but a complete Israeli helmet making it to the US is less likely.

 

 

 

[MAJAVI]

Couple of things with that helmet. The chinstraps are Vietnam era with the metal chips used to attach to the bails removed. It does look like a Korean War repaint but the NCO stripe looks recently added. The cover looks US to me.

[ClaptonIsGod]

Couple of things with that helmet. The chinstraps are Vietnam era with the metal chips used to attach to the bails removed. It does look like a Korean War repaint but the NCO stripe looks recently added. The cover looks US to me.

 

Wasn't there a transitional period with the chinstraps this could've fit in? And yeah, not sure about the NCO stripe but would be nice if it was real. With no markings on the cover would that place it at the start of ERDL production 1972/1973 if I remember correctly? It has wear marks around the rim that make me think it's been on the helmet for a while.

[103OVI]

Just my two cents, but to me it looks like a reenactors helmet. I have seen several videos on YouTube where people take the hardware off of Vietnam era chinstraps and sew them to the helmet to emulate the bar tacked originals. The cover looks later than the early ERDL covers, mainly because the lines have been redrawn. If you look at the early ones they have a sort of bleeding of the ink on the edges of the blobs, which were fixed later. Since covers were made from two sides, one would be marked, but sometimes two unmarked sides would be sewn together instead.

[Cap Camouflage Pattern I]

Cover is late ERDL, made in mid-late 70s.

[Justin]

The chinstraps are Vietnam era with the metal chips used to attach to the bails removed.

You are correct.

[ClaptonIsGod]

So I guess the consensus is this was a WWII reenactor helmet (found in a garage per seller) judging from the apparently fake NCO bar, and the sewn-on Vietnam straps. That'd explain the lazily placed Israeli liner with the shell for reenacting, though that still leaves me confused why an Israeli liner has a 1972 US sweatband - maybe the guy found the sweatband and just put it on. Also leaves me confused as to why the helmet 1. came with an ERDL cover and elastic band or 2. why the seller didn't advertise the NCO bar since it was clearly intended as a WWII helmet and the wear on the cover says it's been on there a while - maybe he changed impressions. Guess from here I'll put the ERDL cover and band on a 1980s M1, get an Israeli shell to go with the liner, and put a WWII liner and straps on the shell. What was the giveaway on the NCO bar? On closer examination I'd say the white paint being pristine over those spots the repaint has flaked off?

[huntssurplus]

So I guess the consensus is this was a WWII reenactor helmet (found in a garage per seller) judging from the apparently fake NCO bar, and the sewn-on Vietnam straps. That'd explain the lazily placed Israeli liner with the shell for reenacting, though that still leaves me confused why an Israeli liner has a 1972 US sweatband - maybe the guy found the sweatband and just put it on. Also leaves me confused as to why the helmet 1. came with an ERDL cover and elastic band or 2. why the seller didn't advertise the NCO bar since it was clearly intended as a WWII helmet and the wear on the cover says it's been on there a while - maybe he changed impressions. Guess from here I'll put the ERDL cover and band on a 1980s M1, get an Israeli shell to go with the liner, and put a WWII liner and straps on the shell. What was the giveaway on the NCO bar? On closer examination I'd say the white paint being pristine over those spots the repaint has flaked off?

 

Well, the fact that the NCO bar is HUGE. I find it hard to believe that any soldier would want something this big on the back of their helmet, seems like an easy target for a German sniper IMO. Looking at originals they are usually much smaller as well. Also, the regular paint on the shell does not look very original to WW2 and there is no corking on it whatsoever. NCO bars were also used during Korea, but they were actually smaller than those used during WW2 even so the chance of this NCO bar actually being original again I find very hard to believe. Usually, the only time you see NCO bars this big is on reenactor helmets, those guys sure like to paint them on huge, I guess it looks good for the audience.

 

Hunt