I will get more pics in am with better lighting. Thanks for the input.

Please turn the jumpers right side out. They were properly kept inside out, as is, how they were folded and stowed, but, would love to see them, right side out as worn. 

FYI I just listed the above helmet and another hawley rig in for sale section

This is an interesting thread showing some of the paperwork for the V-5 cadet candidate.  The insignia that they wore were the small badges, and there was also a slightly larger cloth patch that was also worn.  None of these are especially rare.  You do see vintage photos of these badges and patches being worn. I have no issue with them.   The "wings" are a different story. I have talked to some other collector friends, most of whom seem to believe that these wings were not actually worn as wings. They used to be very rare, but with the internet, not so much anymore.  It's my own opinion (for what that's worth) that the wings were, in fact, keepsakes or sweetheart pins, and not a badge for an aviator/pilot. That being said, there are not many clear documents on these wings in the available literature. Therefore, it is entirely possible that these were used differently in different places and at various times.   Remember, completing the V-5 program did not make you a naval aviator, but perhaps graduating through the program earned you the V-5 small wings as a keepsake?  I'm not sure, but I haven't found a picture of a V-5 graduate wearing V-5 wings.  Although with a lot of these paramilitary-type organizations, one should never say never.    Still, one would expect to find a LOT of V-5 autobiographical wings in Navy Aviator groupings if this were a common practice.   These are neat wings, but are nowhere near as uncommon as they were when I first became a collector. You can easily buy these for less than 100$ on eBay, but they would have cost you at least a couple of hundred back in the old Great Western days (depending on which dealer's table you were visiting).    

Thank you!

Thank you,   I don’t plan on adding anything to these items, I like to keep them as i found them.  I forgot to mention he was an enlisted paratrooper in the 11th Airborne during the Korean War. He got out of the Army and went to college and graduated from Duke. He then earned a reserve commission and joined the Navy.    Here is a picture of the Commander. 

When I was buying M1's on the reg, I was getting them off of Ebay, but i spent a lot of time each day searching. And I bought cheaply, I had a lot of spare time and I would search and search.... and some of the best things I got were just plain luck. In that they were listed in correctly etc etc and so not as many people saw them. So its time luck and of course money. And Johns suggestion above is just a great one as well..      

Put yourself out there. Make business cards. Go to antique stores and ask for stuff, leave your card.   If I had the means, i could see contacting scrap yards and state armories looking for inventory. I mean, if you just call folks, you'd be surprised what you can accomplish. I was a librarian and I would just call magazine editors and not only get them on the phone but they would talk to you for 20 minutes. Just tell them what you're after. They made millions of steel pots. Piles of that stuff still has to be around.

Nice Navy grouping, really like the Vietnam pieces.  Do you envision displaying these as a small vignette?  Do you rebuild missing items such as ribbon bars or miniature medal bars so the uniforms look more complete?  I ask because these are the type of mental gymnastics I go thru when becoming the caretaker of a Veterans collection.  I strive to be able to tell some portion of his/her story by way of the artifacts.  Sometimes I'm successful, many times not so much.  If you have any female navy groupings I would be interested in photos if possible. Cheers, Armygas

You're right! I wish I had been snatching these up back in the 70's and 80's. I had no clue. And Im not meaning to knock the helmet in the OP's post. Its cool. Just at my stage in the game and really since I started collecting seriously, I've always searched for good stuff at good prices. This one with the Majors rank seems to me like its gone past what it would be worth. To me.