FIRST Helmet Book

[Peter_Suciu]

While Ludwig Baer and Floyd Tubbs are often credited with writing the "first helmet book" that honor would really fall to Bashford Dean, who was actually the curator of the arms and armor gallery at the New York Metropolitian Musuem of Art. Dean was called up by the US Army during WWI to design an American combat helmet, and he is the creator of numerous helmet designs. He was given the rank of Major and assigned this great task.

After the war he wrote the first book: Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare. I actually found a 1977 edition of the book, which is considered for collectors that more desirable printing as it has an official US Army supplement on the creation of the M1. This was written after Mr. Dean passed away in the 1930s.

[Peter_Suciu]

Now here is the interesting part...this copy was signed by the publisher of the new edition. Anyone ever heard of Peter Blum? I wish he just signed it to Peter instead!

And at first I thought the soldier was printed...that is hand drawn from Carl Pugliese!

[Bob Lyons]

What a fascinating pick up Peter, I have never seen the book anywhere at all over here (Australia), the extra artwork and the dedication are just icing on the cake, congratulations!

Bob

[Frank Heukemes]

Dean was called up by the US Army during WWI to design an American combat helmet, and he is the creator of numerous helmet designs. He was given the rank of Major and assigned this great task.

Dear Peter,

Excuse my ignorance, you know I am not a helmet guy - but wasn´t the helmet the US troops wore in WWI basically the British one?

[Peter_Suciu]

Excuse my ignorance, you know I am not a helmet guy - but wasn´t the helmet the US troops wore in WWI basically the British one?

Totally logical question. The easy answer is yes.

The longer version is that the American military planners really should have been more prepared but weren't. They did however begin to consider a helmet and even before America entered the First World War they started to study helmet designs. They were able to easily obtain French and British helmets, and even bought captured German and Austrian helmets.

Bashford Dean was given a military commission, rank of major and told to design a helmet. In the meantime the US needed a helmet and basically the British made an offer of several hundred thousand helmets. This is why today the British version can be found with American markings on it like divisional patches, etc.

Anyway, the Americans did produce their own version of the British MkI, and this was called the Model 1917. There are a few differences...the most notable that the British used a split rivet to attach the chinstrap D-Ring. The Americans used a flat rivet, so thus just from turning the helmet over you can see which is British and which is American. Again the Americans did use British helmets but not the other way around (at least it wasn't the norm). Finally the British tended to have a flat matte paint on their helmets while the Americans used sawdust to provide some texture.

So the helmet was the same design but there were differences.

[Frank Heukemes]

Thanks for the explanation, Peter.

[Chris Boonzaier]

So the helmet was the same design but there were differences.

Split pin and sawdust?...and that fooled the copyright boys !