P-3 Rescue

[Wayward Son]

I was fortunate enough to pick up this neglected P-3 form a lady who found it in a foreclosed upon home in Akron, OH a few months ago. Her description and pictures of the helmet left it to be a surprise for when it arrived. When it did, I briefly considered getting a Tetanus shot before touching it. Fortunately, all the comms were intact and all I needed was to source a couple of extension springs from the hardware store for the visor yoke. Here are a few pictures of how it looked after a wipe down:

 

[Wayward Son]

Seems a house mouse took up residence in the helmet and did a number on the leather suspension parts and part of one of the earphones. It could have been a lot worse. The leather edge roll was untouched. The leather was treated with Lexol leather conditioner which brought out a very nice rich mahogany like color.

I tackled the exterior of the helmet shell with Simple Green cleaner and a couple of "Magic Eraser" type cleaning pads. After a few hours of scrubbing the majority of the built up grime and discoloration was gone. I followed up with a couple of applications of Turtle Wax car paint polish, then finished off the shell with a few coats of Meguiar's Cleaner Wax. The helmet was back to it's bright white color, but with it's battle scars still intact. I can only hope that "MILLER" would be happy with the outcome.

[phantomfixer]

that is a very nicely preserved helmet...there are guys here that might have original springs vs the new manufactured stuff........I have NOS lacing if you need a bit for the rear...

 

edit.....forget what I said..... looks like you got her covered...nice

[dmar836]

Very cool!

[Vark_07]

Brilliant restoration you've accomplished with this helmet ! It is indeed a well-preserved example which pars nicely with the P-4A, I like the ammount of scratches / missing paint chips and the decal condition. With the USN H-4 twins you've posted before, that USAF duo makes it two pairs of helmets from the 50's you own now 😁.

Very nice !

 

- Gauthier