Weird Unknown Experimental Helmet

[Airborne-Hunter]

A friend of mine picked this up. Neither of us have ever seen it before, but the best I can come up with is one of those experimental helmets from the WW1 era. The liner looks like a standard ww1 US liner and is riveted in just like a regular liner would be. The only issue is that I can't find any records of this model helmet? Has anyone seen this one before? Thanks ABN

[GatorDoc]

Hey Airborne,

 

I am pretty sure that is a  U.S. WWII Experimental T19E1 Tank Crew Helmet.  And worth a bit even with the rust.

G

[themick]

Definitely a WWI liner and chinstrap

 

Steve

[Airborne-Hunter]

The T19E1 has a different, detachable liner with different suspension as shown in the topic below. Also by the time the T19E1 came around, in late WW2, WW1 liners were gone. Moreso the flare of each does not match, nor the rim, and the one shown above has rivets through to the exterior. I don't think these are related.

 

 

[GatorDoc]

Previous thread discussing this helmet

[aef1917]

I've been researching WWI-era experimental helmets for more than a decade and I've never seen reference to anything like this one.

 

How does the depth of the dome compare to a standard m1917?

[Airborne-Hunter]

Its significantly deeper than a standard M1917

[manayunkman]

Could it be some type of National Guard helmet ?

 

It has a certain flair to it and my first thought was NG parade.

 

 

[Airborne-Hunter]

I'm leaning towards this being one of Bashford Dean's experimental helmets that weren't described in his notebook/previously unknown... I believe those are Models 1, 3, ect. To this point the helmet would meet the characteristics of those produced in the Armory shop.... heavily drawn, non-ballistic, and unfinished...this helmet is lacking the edge rim, proper exterior paint, and ballistic steel. 

[dskjl]

It’s pretty cool no matter what it is.  A very cool research project, I would love to have on my shelf.

congrats

[aef1917]

6 hours ago, Airborne-Hunter said:

I'm leaning towards this being one of Bashford Dean's experimental helmets that weren't described in his notebook/previously unknown... I believe those are Models 1, 3, ect. To this point the helmet would meet the characteristics of those produced in the Armory shop.... heavily drawn, non-ballistic, and unfinished...this helmet is lacking the edge rim, proper exterior paint, and ballistic steel. 

 

I'm quite familiar with the numbered Dean models and it's definitely not one of those.

 

The construction is atypical for one of Dean's prototypes, which were almost exclusively hand fabricated at the Armor Workshop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  The side cutouts suggest that this was intended for use with earphones in armored vehicles, and there is documentary evidence that the program that produced the Model 13 tanker helmet included multiple prototypes.  Since the Model 13 used rejected partial pressings of the Model 5, it's possible that the other prototype tanker helmets were also based on the same rejects, but I have not located any documents describing them.  It would be interesting to compare the dimensions of this helmet with a completed Model 5.