United States, PASGT (kevlar) helmet - part I airborne

 

                                                                                                                                                                        

For starters, we'll begin with this resource:  https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search?page=20&q=PASGT+helmet+development&search_field=all_fields

It is the photo archive for the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Systems Center (NSSC), and is packed with great photos regarding the development of the Kevlar - PASGT helmet.

The facility is in Natick Massachusetts. 

Since 1947 the Natick  labs have been responsible for the research, design, and development of helmets, body armor, clothing, and many, many other things that involve the personal protection of the soldier, including the PASGT helmet.

Natick nerds obtain critical measurements for the design of the new helmet.

Didn't I see this in a Frankenstein movie?

Here is a blurb from the Defense Department regarding the history of the Natick labs:

Construction of the Quartermaster Research Facility (QRF) at Natick, authorized by Congress in October 1949, began in November 1952. A year later, the QRF was redesignated as the Quartermaster Research and Development Center, and four years later as the Quartermaster Research and Engineering Command. July 1961 saw the activation of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine at Natick and a year later the QREC was placed under the U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC). In November 1962, the QREC was redesignated as Natick Laboratories and the following year the Food and Container Institute moved to Natick. In July 1967 the Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility relocated to Natick.

In the early 1970s NATICK embarked on a new helmet project that was part of an overall protection system known as PASGT - Personal Armor System for Ground 

Troops - generally referred to as the "Paz-get".

It was a start from scratch effort which kept very little of the old M1 design, and forged ahead into the future with the world's first composite combat helmet, in this instance, made of Kevlar. 

Side-by-side of the new and the old.  The earliest PASGT models were painted with a modified ERDL camouflage pattern.

Natick scientist with wicked comb-over posing with calipers and prototype helmet.

The PASGT helmet is usually referred to as the "kevlar helmet", also the "k-pot"  and the "Fritz" helmet for it's resemblance to the German helmet of the First and Second World Wars.

The various elements of the airborne-version of the PASGT helmet.

.

The protective properties of the helmet were extensively tested and refined, along with the protective body armor which is part of the PASGT system.

All of that R&D resulted in a brand-new helmet, and the modern symbol of the American service member for the next twenty years.  Introduced in the mid1980s, the PASGT helmet proved a superior and worthy successor to the venerable M1 helmet at the end of its fifty-year run.  The M1 helmet saw our military through three wars and numerous smaller conflicts; it was an excellent helmet that had simply become obsolete as new weapons and new materials became available. 

As the Poindexter brothers demonstrate, the new PASGT provided more protection for the brain than did the old M1.

This graphic provides a picture of how much of the brain was protected by the PASGT helmet.

Prior to coming to my collection, this helmet had been on display at Natick labs for many years and eventually ended up, forgotten, in a closet.  I received the helmet from the employee who was assigned with cleaning out that closet...funny the way s things show up on my helmet wall.

The bulged sides were specifically designed to accommodate the slim-profile of current radio handsets...

as well as headsets.

The profile shows the similarity to the German Stahlhelm design.

The only M1 influence that remains is the Riddell suspension; even the headband is different.  

The rim is bound with a heavy plastic strip.  The anti-reflective surface treatment is shown to good effect in this photograph.

All of the webbing and hardware is particularly robust, and the chinstrap is fastened with a heavy-duty snap.

The chinstrap incorporates a simple, but effective, chin-cup which is quite comfortable.

Mounting furniture utilizes through-holes in the shell, each could be a weak-point in this otherwise well-designed shell.  

In the days of the M1, and even the earlier versions of the PASGT, the headband was secured with metal spring clips, velcro bands are utilized in the PASGT

The DLA number indicates that the helmet was manufactured under the1987 contract, and the embossment in the dome indicates that this particular helmet was manufactured in 1998 or '89..  Unicor was one of a few companies which produced the PASGT helmet.

The camouflage cover was made in or after 1998.

The button hole-like slits allow for foliage to be attached to the cover.

The airborne-modification kit includes a yoke strap and a rubber shock-absorbing pad at the nape.  Additionally, there is a rubber disc in the dome, which is missing on this example.

The yoke passes through two slits at the rear of the helmet, and is fastened by velcro.

Similarly, the chinstrap passes through slits on the lower edge of the cover.

I can only imagine some Natick wag tricking this out as DC Comics Sargent Rock's helmet.

I have interviewed soldiers who wore both the M1 and the PASGT,  in all instances they preferred the PASGT for protection, comfort, and even looks.  A friend in the 82nd Airborne noted that he and his colleagues thought that the helmet "looked cool."

 

A small length of paracord feeds through the foliage slits on the cover to secure the elastic camouflage band in place.

Glow-in-the dark "cat's eyes" help the goodguys identify each other in the dark.

The "woodland" pattern of camouflage was adopted in 1981, replacing the Mitchell pattern of the Vietnam era. 

For the purposes of my collection, the PASGT is my final US helmet in the 20th Century chronology.  In the early 2000s the PASGT was phased out in favor of a visorless version which provided as much protection with more capability, specifically for firing a weapon from a prone position.

I think that the PASGT helmet was a worthy successor to the iconic M1.

See you next time with another cool helmet from the collection.

Mannie

Sources:

Military One Source,  Military Installations, https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/in-depth-overview/natick-

soldier-systems-center-nssc

Yonggiang, Li, Science Direct vol 238, June 1, 2022,  Ballistic helmets: Recent advances in materials, protection mechanisms, performance, and head injury mitigation.  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1359836822002694#preview-section-references

U.S. Army, USAG Natick, https://home.army.mil/natick/my-fort/newcomers

Digital Commonwealth, Massachusetts Collections Online, PASGT helmet development, https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search?page=8&q=PASGT+helmet+development&search_field=all_fields

Reynosa, Mark A., (PASGT) Helmet: an Illustrated Study of the U.S. Military's Current Issue Helmet.  Schiffer Military History, 1999.

Army Navy Warehouse, Using Contract Numbers to Determine Dates on Military Gear, July 7, 2020.  https://www.armynavywarehouse.com/post/contract-number-dating

Camopedia, United States, https://www.camopedia.org/index.php/USA

Germany/Afghanistan m.18 combat helmet "cut-out"

The Global War on Terrorism replaced the Cold War as America focused on a new and deadly enemy.  The tragedy of 9/11 shocked America and altered the freedoms that Americans have taken for granted for over two centuries.

One of the countries where the United States was fighting was Afghanistan, which is where this helmet most recently served with the old Afghan Army.

Following the First World War, victorious allies confiscated enormous amounts of German and Austrian war material.  Much was scrapped, and some was re-used, as in the instance of this helmet.

As time marched on and the Afghans moved to slightly more modern helmets, most of the WWII models were put into storage, including very large numbers stacked in caves.  During American involvement there, one of the many civilian contractors working with the US military,  visited one of these caves prior to it being sealed with explosives.  

He managed to salvage five of these helmets...goodness knows how many are still buried in that cave.

The helmet is the German m.18 "cut-out helmet" of WWI.

It is referred to as the cut-out because of the scallop in the skirt.

For many years there was much conjecture regarding the purpose of this cut-out.  For many years it was referred to as the "cavalry helmet" based, I believe, on a war-time photo of a German cavalryman wearing this helmet.  Some helmet collectors still cling to the "cavalry helmet" idea, though it has pretty much been discredited.  Similarly discarded is the idea that the cut-out was an attempt to make the helmet more accommodating to the receivers of field-telephones; an idea now generally abandoned.

Most collectors now agree that the cut-out was simply to improve hearing on a noisy battlefield.  The skirt of this helmet's progenitors - the m.16 and m.17 has a full skirt which covered the ears, impairing the soldier's hearing.

The "cut-out" helmet or "ECO" (ear cut-out) m.18 was produced in comparatively limited numbers compared to the m.16 and m.17, making these a rarity and a "white whale" for most collectors.

On the side of the helmet is the white, green, black and red insignia of the Afghan army, which is still in use today.

Quite a bit of the original Afghan paint remains.

The severe pitting in the dome leads me to believe that this helmet was stored upside down, trapping water within it.

As with the other models of German helmets, the size and manufacturer's mark are stamped into the interior of the side of the skirt.

The rim is neatly folded, as it is on all German helmets from the First World War.

A split-pin affixed the leather headband, of which only a tiny fragment remains.

The interior washer which affixes the ventilation lug.

Holes were somewhat crudely punched into the shell to affix the metal insignia.

The m.18 compared to the m.17.  Note that unlike the m.17, the m.18 has no exterior rivet to fasten the chinstrap, instead, the m.18 chinstrap was fastened directly to the metal liner-band.

Similarly, there is no mounting post on the inside of the skirt as there is in the earlier models.

Here are some shots of this model in action:

A German flamethrower operator in WWI

Afghan soldiers, the second from left is wearing the ECO helmet

Afghan soldier

Even Finland utilized the cut-out m.18 in their war with the Soviets.

Prior to, and in the early years of, the Second World War, the m.18 cut-out could be seen as a transitional helmet in the German army.

These helmets are very had to come by, and I was resigned to the fact that I'd very likely never have one, but this one popped up on ebay, and when the smoke and dust from the bidding war ended, I was victorious.  I am very happy and very fortunate to have it on the wall.

See you next time with another cool helmet from the collection.

Mannie

 

How I mount my helmets.

I am frequently asked what my system is for mounting my helmet collection.

First off, a little bit about my particular taste.  I like my helmets to be displayed with the chinstraps fully visible, it provides an ovoid shape, which, to me, is suggestive of the face of the soldier who wore it.  I also like the mounts to be as unobtrusive as possible and have the helmets seem to "float".  I worked at a large public museum for seventeen years, and this technique I took with me when I left.

This nice lobstertail picklehaube is in the " H is for hats" exhibit at the Grand Rapids Public Museum in Michigan.  As I watched my colleagues make the installation, I found myself fascinated with the elegant mounting system - a simple bent rod, and I copied the idea for my collection.

If you have the wall space you may find that this system is much more satisfying than using shelves.

You start with quarter-inch or three-eights inch steel rod.  I buy mine at a supplier in ten-foot lengths - which is the cheapest way to buy it - but it is also available in any big home improvement store.

I hacksaw the rods into fourteen-inch lengths.  To facilitate the right-angle bend I heat the metal, at the point of the bend, cherry red.  With one end in the vise and a vise-grips clamped to the other end, I make my bend.  I often use a square to check my work but after a few of these one develops and "eye" for the correct angle.  One should wear heavy leather gloves for this, and remember that the metal stays very hot for a few minutes.

Note that the rod is about six-inches long on one side and eight on the other.  The long one is the one that will be driven into the wooden 2x2 and the short end will support the helmet.

The brackets were primed and painted with two coats of semi-gloss white.

Making the 2x2 mounting strips involved using my table saw, miter saw, and drill press.

1/4" holes were drilled through the 2X2s to support the rods.

The 2x2s are ready to be mounted to the wall.

Toggle-bolts are used to mount the 2x2 wooden strips against the wall.

I cut my 2x2s about six feet in length which provides enough space for five or six helmets.

The long end of the bracket is pounded into holes 1/4" drilled into the 2x2.  The fit must be tight enough to keep the bracket from turning on its axis and causing the helmet to fall. After mounting, the rod and the 2x2 will have their paint touched-up.

To distribute the weight a little more evenly on the liner, I cut four-inch length of shipping tube and fit them over the bracket.  If you want to do this in a sound archival fashion you should cover the tube in unbleached muslin, or, as I do, spray them with clear acrylic, which is acid-free.

And there you have it...helmets "floating" against a well-lit wall.

I hope you find this helpful

See you next time with another cool helmet from the collection.

Mannie