Nlf helmet??

[birdman]

Hello everybody,
i have a question for the helmet experts. I recently saw a 1944 liner dated army helmet with a navy painted yellow anchor on it with kanji painted around the inside rim like many nlf helmets. It is used and looks 100% ok and not played with. Being late war is this possible and are there others known to exist. Thanks for any help on this.
Regards, larry

[Justsumgui]

I had one like that

[Jareth]

I recently examined one (same one you saw?) that had a great, iron clad provenance coming right out of the vet's closet.

[birdman]

Hello jareth,
its not the same one you saw. Now i wonder how many are out there and how rare they are. Hopefully we will get some more input on this. It would stand to reason that towards the end of the war the navy would take what ever they could. I also wonder if they are all dated 1944.

Larry

[Dean Brock]

Scott ( Striking 9th) actually has a photo of several NLF guys wearing army helmets. No painted anchor on them though.

[Jareth]

The one that I examined had a hand painted yellow anchor on top of the army star. Liner had late three piece pads. I couldn't check date. Helmet had a second pattern navy cover with net, capture tag & had several shrapnel holes through & through.

[Dean Brock]

Heres the helmet Jareth is refering to

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthread.php?t=134724

[Striking 9th]

Oh yes, the covered Naval/Army helmet. It only got better imo when it was discovered to be an IJA helmet with iron clad Naval use. It also goes to show that the IJN DID use IJA equipment. Until just recently that would have been a stigma to most collectors. The picture mentioned above will be included in John Egger's new book on headgear. John was one of the few that has long believed (and stated so publicly) the two branches used each other's equipment. He took some flack for that but it turned out to be correct. The pictures and now this helmet should put that debate to bed. It is truly a blockbuster helmet. Worthy of any collection imo.
Scott

[Jareth]

Larry did the helmet you saw have anchor painted over star? Period photos are so important. There are still many headgear mysteries just waiting for photos to surface & determine their use/purpose such as "suicide boat" armored helmets etc. These new discoverys are neat & lets hope they don't get the fakers thinking. There's enough army helmets around with original navy insignias added...when? These will all be called to question now! Navy used army helmets without great provenance should be treated with caution. What would be nice to know are the circumstances behind the photos & the few original examples. Was it a navy soldier who lost his helmet & picked up an army? was an army helmet issued to a navy soldier? did the army helmet act as a field replacement & did both branches perhaps truly share helmets? Obviously navy troops used army belts, ammo pouches, bayonets frogs, firearms etc.

[birdman]

Jareth, the anchor is the standard spray painted yellow anchor. No star just the round rivit. The shell has the army size and other regular stampings on it, but the kanji size marking was never painted on the shell. I now have the helmet.

[Jareth]

Larry, I have seen quite a few (others hopefully will comment) navy helmet shells that were size stamped. I think you might have a stencil anchor helmet that has had an army liner added at some point ?

[birdman]

Jareth, you could be right. The liner is very nice. The rub marks of the liner on the shell and the attaching hardware look to be original or there for a very long time. Like you said hopefully others will take a look at there helmets and respond on this subject.

[Jareth]

Larry, post some pictures when time permits. Flip the pads over. Sometimes the liner pins/rivets leave indentations & oxidation on the liner band. These marks should line up & be consistant if the liner was original to shell. It's easier to tell on front insignias (not in this case) where the tab lengths often vary & you can tell if insignia was replaced.