M1 Type composite helmet? Or unusual liner?

[Jerek]

Hello fellow collectors.

I just acquired this helmet on a local fleamarket. It's more of a Swiss cheese, as it has obviously been used for some ballistic tests. However, I'm not too familiar with postwar M1/M2 helmets. Can anyone identify what I have here? From the looks of the shell, I'd say it is made from some type of composite material. It is rather thick, approximately 6mm. It has the straps of a para-type helmet (if I identified that correctly...), but has both the straps that would have normally been in the liner as the steel shell attached to it as well.

 

I'm rather confused as to what it exactly is. A liner from thick material? An experimental composite M1 type helmet? I'd appreciate any help!

 

Tjerk

 

 

[Jerek]

More pics:

[elh1311]

It almost looks like an M1 made completely of Kevlar. Never seen that but it's super interesting. 

[ArchangelDM]

Very interesting piece, thanks for the post 

[Jerek]

Yes, I found it interesting as well. I found it at a flea market in Germany, nonetheless I think it's a US made helmet. Although the germans postwar used an M1 clone, the webbing is more of the US made type. Unfortunately there are no markings to be found, except for the numbers next to the entry holes.

[USMC_COLLECTOR]

Could it be an Iraqi helmet? Similar to the ones from the Gulf war?

[bbmilitaria]

Looks very Iraqi.

[Bugme]

An Iraqi helmet which has been used for a bit of target practice.

[Theriddler]

I would initially have gone for the Iraqi M80 helmet with a rubber rim as well however the suspension is detachable and the M80 tends to have undetachable webbing plus there’s an extra set of webbing rivets on either side. It’s very similar to a M1 style composite helmet produced in South Korea and is possibly a para version of it which would explain the chin-cup fitting and extra rivets.(The plot thickens just discovered that the M80 helmet was initially produced in S Korea.)

[Theriddler]

Scrap what what I said about the detachable webbing, found some examples of M80’s with detachable webbing on the internet.

 

[bigschuss]

No idea.  But a clue might be the way the number 1 is written in ink on test shots #13 and #14.  Not sure if the numerical expression of 1 is an Arabic thing or a European thing, but it does not look like the way a 1 is written in American English.  Just my 2 cents.  I might be way off.  

[phantomfixer]

1 hour ago, bigschuss said:

No idea.  But a clue might be the way the number 1 is written in ink on test shots #13 and #14.  Not sure if the numerical expression of 1 is an Arabic thing or a European thing, but it does not look like the way a 1 is written in American English.  Just my 2 cents.  I might be way off.  

and the period behind the 9 to indicate 9 versus 6(?)....

[Jerek]

Thank you all for the replies and pointing me in the right direction. I read up a little on Iraqi helmets, they had some pretty adventurous helmet designs... I haven't got a clue how that pot ended up in northern Gemany!

[trenchfoot]

This is 100% not an Iraqi helmet, the rivets are wrong, and it is not the model that would have gotten a rubber rim, and regardless, the rubber rim looks vastly different. I believe this is an Indian army helmet or something along those lines but definitely not Iraqi

[Theriddler]

Had a look at Indian composite helmets, yes I can see the similarity when it comes to the rim but the rivets for the chinstrap loops are different (please see pic below). So we’ve established so far that it’s very similar to the Iraqi M80 but the rim is different and the extra set of rivets which are used to attach the additional chin cup are not consistent with a M80.

 

I still think it’s a para helmet at least due to the similarities to a M1C as in standard chin strap and additional chin strap with chin cup. 

 

The mystery continues (-: