The US M1 Helmet

[Music] [Applause] [Laughter] the usm1 helmet an icon of world war two here's a brief introduction this is the helmet the m1 replaced this is the British style Brodie helmet which was worn by the United States forces from the time of the first world war right through until 1941 early 42 it's easy to see when placed side by side the radical nature of the American design so much taller than the British style Brodie helmet compared with the British style liner this one is an actual British helmet from World War two but gives you a rough idea of the rather basic liner inside if we look at the u.s. helmet we see a much more sophisticated strapping and lining system inside in fact the American liner is unusual and that it comes out so we have basically two helmets for the price of one here we can say the helmet disassembled on the left is the steel outer shell with the chin straps attached and on the right the lightweight liner [Music] [Applause] [Music] World War two American helmets are clearly marked with a heat stamp which is placed on the underside of the peak just underneath here so if you turn the helmet upside down you will find it located just here [Music] you one of the best ways to identify the u.s. m1 World War 2 helmet as opposed to its later post-war brothers is to look at the edge of the helmet particularly here as you can see around the rim the rim has turned back on itself and it has a scene where the two pieces of metal join if the seam is at the front as with this helmet this means it is a world war two helmet however in late 1944 the American government moved the scene to the rear so that can lead to some confusion but of course there are other ways we can actually examine this helmet to determine whether it's World War two but remember if you see the seam at the front it is most definitely a second world war helmet earlier Second World War em ones had fixed bails which means that the thing through which the chin strap goes was fixed onto the helmet so it couldn't move unfortunately soldiers dropped them they often broke off so instead they brought in this which is a swivel bail as we can see here you notice also that the helmets chin strap is so directly on to the swivel veil this is another indication of a Second World War period helmet here's another US m1 helmet might notice also that the chin straps are slightly different on this model the shape is the same we have the front seam exactly the same as the other one but in this case the chin straps are actually clipped on okay that this this type of color is also a Second World War color for chin straps [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 297,057

Keywords: US Army, M1, World War II, WW2, ETO, Normandy, Ardennes, Battle of the Bulge, Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Vietnam War, Korean War, steel helmet, helmet liner, Mark Felton, M1 helmet

Id: OZwGDYBDq5k

Length: 6min 31sec (391 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 27 2017