Airborne helmets with camo paint scheme or camo cover in 1958

[craig_pickrall]

This book was published in 1966 and has many interesting pics.

 

 

Note the airborne oval worn by several of the men.

[Bugme]

Very similar patterns to what the 82nd used in North Africa although probably not done with chemical warfare vesicant paint. Kind of surprised to see this in '58.

[Andrei]

Perhaps it is just me but the "painting" looks like a cloth cover to me.

[craig_pickrall]

I debated cloth vs paint too. I finally said paint because the pattern doesn't match any camo cloth I am aware of and the pattern looks different on each helmet.

[Andrei]

Craig, I see what you mean but cant it be painted piece of clothes ?

On the first picture, it looks like there is a folding, gathering of material under the elastic band on the left-front side of the helmet (right side for the soldier).

[craig_pickrall]

Painted cloth is a possibility. It could be some of those OD helmet covers that get debated from time to time. Maybe a personal camo job on those was an okay thing.

[sgtdorango]

This is very interesting.....where did you find this book?? ......mike

[gecko NZ]

looks like cloth to me, i can see wrinkles on some of the helmets and theres glare from the sun on another guys helmet but he doesnt have a camo patten on his shell, you can see glare on my camo shell from the sun in my avaiter

[Bugme]

On second look, I'd have to agree that these are cloth covers that have been painted??? I would assume these might be the OD cloth covers with some kind of dye or paint used for camoflauge... curious.

[gecko NZ]

im kind of surprised thousands of rear mint 100% original examples of these havent turned up on ebay...... yet lol

[gecko NZ]

 

this is why i think they are material rather than painted steel, another interesting observation is they dont seem to have a sewn seam down the centre like a normal helmet cover, so they maybe just improvised for the terrain, like the helmet covers made out of camo parachutes?

[gecko NZ]

here are 2 more pictures i found during a quick google search.

 

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/cs.../IMAGES/076.JPG

 

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=71390&rendTypeId=4

[craig_pickrall]

This is very interesting.....where did you find this book?? ......mike

 

 

I've had it since it was published in 1966.

[craig_pickrall]

I think the reason you don't see glare on the troops in the foreground is they are walking up a ramp to a plane. They are in shade. I think the 2 troops to the left that you point to wrinkles actually have something in the camo elastic helmet band. The one trooper closest to the camera is the only good one to make that judgement about wrinkles. I think some of the troops on the ground at the far edge of the picture may have polished helmets or possibly liners and are probably troop handlers like MP's.

[gecko NZ]

by the hight and the angles walking into the back of a transport plane would make sence (could be part of the plane in the top right corner) to me it looks like helmet covers, ive looked all over the net at all the pictures of camo helmets i could find and these seem different. im not looking at having a confrontation and saying im right and your wrong or anything, there is just some stuff that stands out to me.

 

ive given all the men in the picture a number so i can refer to them, and noticed there was quite a dark area that i couldnt see to well so i played with the contrast and 2 more guys poped out lol.

 

 

here are things that i have noticed:

 

# 1,3,13 seem to have wrinkels on there helmets, the shadows they create seem to make them stand out (not as noticable on 1 in this altered picture)

 

# the camo helmets have elastic bands around them, like for use with a helmet covers, i havent seen any pictures of helmets with elastic bands around them and no covers (except kevlar ones with the cat eye bands) why would you wear just an elastic band on a helmet?

 

# 8,9,10 and 20 have glare from the sun on their helmets, 20 is among the other guys with camo helmets who are showing no glare, yet 20 is

 

# 13,14,15,16 are casting shadows on the ground and on them selves.

 

# 1's helmet doesnt seem to have a nice round silhouetto like 20 or 2, and i cant see the out line of a sharp stainless steel/ manganese rim on 1's helmet it seems soft like it has a cover around it.

 

# interestingly 20 seems to have a painted decal on the side of his helmet and 2 looks like he could have the same one aswell. and 2 doesnt seem to have that airborne oval above his US ARMY bagde

 

 

camo would be good in the bush or jungle where there is trees but if you were also entering towns and city would a camo painted helmet be a good idea?

[Rattle]

I say these are covers.

 

Stephan

[Rattle]

I would also say these are splinter camo covers of the German Bundeswehr or federal police used at that time or made out of the same fabric. These soldiers are from the 24th Airborne Brigade, 24th ID, stationed in Germany at that time.

This is what it looked like back then.

 

 

 

Regards,

Stephan

[Rattle]

This is what it looks like in black and white.

 

[gecko NZ]

thats very interesting Rattle

[Ivo]

I'd say its a cover based on the wrinkles and the "clothy" look of it.

[Bugme]

I would also say these are splinter camo covers of the German Bundeswehr or federal police used at that time or made out of the same fabric. These soldiers are from the 24th Airborne Brigade, 24th ID, stationed in Germany at that time.

This is what it looked like back then.

 

Well, we might be getting closer to a solved mystery!

[sgtdorango]

Just did an experiment based on Rattles theory ....I have a few post war German Bund camo hoods that I put on an M-1.......mike

[sgtdorango]

black and white.....

[sgtdorango]

another type of German camo......color.....

[sgtdorango]

same but black and white.....