US Air Force P3/P4 flyer's helmet

 Ace

Chuck Yeager is many iconic things, including the man who first broke the sound barrier.

 Hold that thought.

Here is the USAF P3/P4 helmet I acquired in 1985 at a flea-market in Western Michigan.

The typical "fighter jock" profile with the cool USAAF winged star insignia.

A garden variety and altogether unremarkable helmet.

 Many years ago I was lounging around my Grand Rapids Michigan bachelor pad when my phone rang.  A girlfiend called to let me know that Chuck Yeager was at the local airport for an air show appearance.


I almost instantly grabbed the helmet and a Sharpie went out the door and turned my Chevy Citation in the direction of the airport.  Upon arriving at the airport I had my eyes peeled for the General.  I was very familiar with what he looked like as he had been doing lots of celebrity endorsement commercials for AC sparkplugs at the time.

I saw him among a gaggle of admirers, I uncapped my Sharpie and waited for my moment.

"General Yeager would you be so kind as to autograph my helmet?"  I asked with Sharpie and helmet extended...

 and he did.

Suddenly my helmet wasn't so unremarkable anymore.

That's the cool part, now comes the walk-around

This fixture attached with rugged stitching to the shell is some sort of electronic component, perhaps where the earphones are jacked-in.

 Twenty years in a West Michigan barn wasn't kind to the leather.

Always a very cool insignia.

The chinstrap is pretty straightforward with a snap fastner and...

a chamois-leather padding, also showing its age.

The winged star insignia is repeated on the leather padding in the crown of the helmet.

Again you can see how the years of neglect have taken a toll on the leather

The suspension and electronics are quite complete as are the leather tabs where the oxygen mask snaps into place.

The helmet is well marked with this nomenclature label sewn to the suspension...

and this manufacturers label pasted to the inside of the shell.

The lacing that snakes in and out of the shell supports the suspension within, and the larger canvass band has a lace-up gusset inside to adjust the fit of the helmet.

All in all a nice addition to the collection.

 Chuck Yeager: real American hero...

John Wayne: fake American hero...

and me, your hero.

People's Republic of China 1982 Paratrooper's Composite Helmet

Did he just say "Red" Chinese?

Yes I guess I'm just an old Cold Warrior at heart, I spent most of my life with the commies in the role of the bad guys, now I can buy their product at Walmart. Who'd a thunk it?
This the sort of image I grew up with back in the "duck and cover" days...

and this...

and this...


and this from more recent memory.




Here is a really nice specimen that I received just today from an ebay auction. A very well designed, lightweight, attractive, and very durable (though non-ballistic) jump helmet for PLAAF airborne troops, no doubt jumping into Tibet to dish out a little more repression.

A closer look:

Side view

Interior showing efficient suspension and padding.

A pleasant surprise greeted me when I unscrewed the insignia, this red star is stenciled on the front.

Red star in detail, also showing mounting hole for insignia.


Three snaps on the headband attach a protective flap that is evident in the Marzetti book.


Size adjustment is quite rudimentary, simply adjust the lacing through the holes. I'm assuming that the leather is cowhide, although in a regime where the organs of executed political prisoners are routinely sold for transplantation, one can only hope.

Also of note is the rough peening on all of the interior rivets, the work of a malcontent slave laborer no doubt.

The screw-back for the insignia.

The liner and helmet have a paucity of markings, this beneath the cushion,

and this in the dome of the skull.

The frontal insignia is really quite a knockout.


This splendid helmet is now the favorite in my collection, as is always the case for the most recent of my acquisitions.


And now for the sexier side of the Asia-swallowing Red hordes - 

paratroopers unlike any you've ever seen:  (hello ladeez)

This view shows off the "Y" yoke and liner mounting rivets to good effect. Much like the Israeli paratrooper helmet, this one has no quick release of any sort on the chinstrap, which I've always found curious.

A fine view of that very cool PLA airborne insignia which here appears on the ballistic helmet.

I also suspect that this may be the earlier generation steel helmet of the 1990s, note the chin cup.

From these official PLA photos it appears that the Chinese military is trying to make tactical use of glamor...take a lesson Brazil!

provenance:
Peoples Republic of China
1982 PLAAF paratroopers helmet.
Acquired 2008 (ebay purchase)
Purchase price :$29.99
Original in all respects.
Condition: excellent

Peoples Republic of China GK 80/A Steel Helmet (arny)

More from Red China:


Behold the helmet that finally established the institutional identity of the Red Army, the home-grown GK 80/A.

One of the things that makes Red China so slaphappy these days is its very long and very sad history of being the jailhouse bride to a passing parade of occupying thugs and bullies. After years of this degradation, a dazed (but still very much in love) Red China has stepped up to assert itself as a first-tier dictatorship among the greater community of third-rate nations, thugs and bullies. Full-circle! group hug!

Eschewing the trappings of centuries of colonial or outside influence, the Peoples Republic was happy to discard the Soviet Ssh40 steel helmet which characterized its participation during the Korean War (and other hot spots of the Cold War), for their very own, motherland-produced steel GK 80/A.


This Chinese manufactured helmet is simple, strong, asymmetrical, and ironically very similar the the M30-32 helmet of the Japanese forces that spent so much time in China doing all of those unspeakably nasty things that they (the Japanese) can't seem to remember to have happened at all... oh look over there...it's Hello Kitty!

A testimonial to "form follows function" his helmet is mighty plain, design is not it's strong suit. But when you've got six hundred god-zillion troops to outfit; ease of production, speed of manufacture, and economical materials tend to drive the program.


The shell is simple and straightforward, with a slight upward tilt to the raw rim running forward ending in a very modest visor. Nice depth to the shell, you can protect a lot of head with this helmet.



The profile of the rear skirt really brings to mind that Japanese number from the dark days.


From the top this helmet has a distinct ovoid shape, narrowing at the front.


Marzetti notes that the liner is "odd but simple", and goes on to say that it is quite comfortable. This is a simple liner, almost to the point of being elegant. I like it very much.


Using mostly cotton web, the suspension is very similar to the American M1 of WWII days. The band is a strip of vinyl backed with a soft rubber shock absorber. The space between the shell and the wearer's head is about three quarters of an inch, again similar to the American M1.


Adjustment is easy with a buckle in the rear...


and a tie at the top, an obvious copy of the M1 system, embracing the foreign to further the revolution.


The Y-yoke chinstrap does not unfasten but is completely adjustable with a cam-style buckle.


Chinese-style "A" washers and rivets connect the suspension to the shell, and this reveals a weakness in this steel plain Jane...


those eight rivets communicate to the outside of the shell where they are machined flat, hard for the eye to detect but weak points ballistically.


The few storage scuffs on this otherwise "unissued" looking helmet indicate how very thin the olive green finish is. Fortunately the ballistic value of paint is negligible.


The only confection that came with this very proletarian helmet was the heavily enameled (and somewhat chubby looking) commie star on the front, affixed with some sort of Epoxy. Otherwise the helmet is free of any makers or inspection marks of any sort, all glory going to the people, and the chairman, I suppose.

Representing the last generation of the venerable steel helmet this example is a nice first stab by China at establishing a unique look for its forces and restoring some self-esteem for its National Psyche.


Overheard exchange:
Red Guard: China is not imperialistic!
Gunboater: Want ta bet?



provenance:
accession number: MOA hmar.46.17.13
Peoples Republic of China GK 80/A helmet.
Acquired 1984, Lansing Michigan.
Purchase price :$50.00
Condition: excellent/unissued