USAF Vietnam-era Steel Pot Helmet

This helmet was given to my dad by his cousin who served in the USAF and was deployed to Vietnam in the 1970s. I don't know a whole lot about the helmet, other than that it is in not-so-nice condition.

It was left in my grandparent's garage and I found it today while visiting. It's been in the garage for as long as I can remember, and I remember playing with it a lot when I was 5 or 6. Unfortunately, the scuff marks and wear & tear don't have a cool story behind them, as they are just rough-ups from being played with all the time.

But it DID absorb a BB impact near the top during a neighbourhood game of war once...hard enough to chip the paint, so I guess it's technically seen combat!

Enjoy!

Nice VN era M1 with Korean War liner.

Thanks for the info on the liner, Jeremy. I had no idea about this helmet, other than that it was issued during Vietnam. Were these liners common throughout Vietnam, or was there a different system used?

Yes, those liners are very common. Especially early Vietnam War. A lot of Korean-war helmets were still in US military supply system until late Vietnam War.

I think I'll start new reference thread with details about Vietnam era helmets.

If you slap on Mitchell camo cover then you will have nice example of Vietnam era M1.

That liner is called an M58. It is modeled after the Korean-era liners but has cotton webbing instead of HBT webbing. These were widely used throughout the early days of the VN war.

The helmet looks to be in fantastic shape. just need a few parts to finish it off. I could probably hook you you up with a nape strap and sweatband if you like.

I was more focused on restoring the paint back to it... would a coat of flat-green (almost OD) Krylon be close enough to the original?

I would say the paint is fine as it is...at least on my end it looks good. Just find a Mitchell camo cover for it.