US M1 Helmet with 2nd Pattern Hawley Liner

Product Description:  This US M1 Helmet with 2nd pattern Hawley liner has a great look, and is in excellent condition. The exterior of the desirable early fixed bale helmet shell has old black paint and original cork texturing. The original khaki chin strap is intact and functional, with blackened metal fittings. The front seam rim has typical edge wear to the paint. Inside, the shell shows normal wear and light spotting. The 2nd pattern Hawley liner is the rare part of this helmet. These were made of pressed paper, which proved to have limited durability and most simply did not survive. The exterior of the liner is in really nice condition. Nearly all of the original cloth covering is intact, with some wear and fraying in small areas around the edge. There is a small dent in the dome. A 2nd Lieutenant rank bar in gold paint adorns the front. This rare Hawley liner retains all of the original suspension inside. The webbing shows wear, and there is some light spotting to the hardware. The leather liner chinstrap is intact, but a bit dry. Overall, this is a nice example of a tough to find WWII GI helmet configuration.

Historical Description: The US military adopted the M1 helmet in 1941, near the outbreak of WWII. This helmet was a replacement for the outdated 1917 pattern “Kelly” helmet, which saw only limited use very early in WWII. WWII production M1 helmets featured a rim around the edge, made of a separate steel strip, with the seam in the front. Early helmets had chin strap bales that were fixed, and simple wire fittings that were brazed into place. Later wartime production helmets had a more complex “swivel bale” chin strap attachment system. The M1 helmet had a removable liner, initially made of a pressed composite material with a cloth color, later replaced with a more rigid liner made out of a plastic material that did not have a cloth cover. The shell itself was made to be one size fits all, and was made by only two manufacturers, while the liners were made by a variety of different companies. For camouflage purposes, the United States Marine Corps issued a cloth cover for this helmet, while the US Army generally used a helmet net for this purpose. M1 helmets existed in a variety of paint finishes, including gray helmets for US Navy use, and were further customized with a variety of indicators such as rank or unit assignment.

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