Original U.S. Navy USN Late 1950s APH-5 Flight Helmet With Adjustable Visor by MSA

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a late 1950s era United States Navy USN Helicopter Flight Helmet type APH-5 Helmet. It has the correct early type thick roam rubber edge roll, and the base color is white, now painted over with U.S. Navy gold. Wings have been pasted to each side of the top with NAVY below it as shown. It still has the internal padding, with earphones and a microphone installed. It also does have a retractable visor installed, which can be controlled by sliding the circular tab on top of the helmet back and forth.

The back of the helmet has a maker’s tag for Mine Safety Appliances (MSA) reading:

APH-5 HELMET - MEDIUM SIZE
FSN R8400-CO4-1549-GF50
CONTRACT N383(MIS) 46709A
MINE SAFETY APPLIANCES COMPANY
PITTSBURGH, PENNA. MADE IN U.S.A.

The helmet is in overall good shape with some flaws. The visor still adjusts fine, but caution should be advised when adjusting it. The buckles are all in good working order. Overall a great attractive helmet from the 1950’s/Vietnam War Era that is ready for further research and display!

The US Army introduced their first flying helmet, the APH-5A or APH-5 Quartermaster helmet in 1959. It was an adapted version of the US Navy Aircrew Protective Helmet no. 5 (APH-5). The change was mainly in the communications system as the US Army used the same impedance standard as the US Air Force. With the introduction of the APH-5A the number of head injuries incurred during US Army aircraft accidents was reduced by half compared to the number of head injuries incurred before helmets were used.

The early examples of the APH-5A had the same thick foam rubber edge roll as the US Navy APH-5 and usually came in white color. Later examples had thin black rubber edge beading and usually came in olive drab color.