Original U.S. WWII 1942 26th Infantry Division “Barn Find” M1 McCord Front Seam Fixed Bale Helmet with Shell Inscriptions & MSA Liner - Staff Sergeant Painted

Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a heavily service-worn example of a genuine early WWII Issue U.S. Army M1 Helmet. The U.S. WWII M-1 helmet was only produced from 1941 to 1945. The first production batch resulted with over 323,510 M-1 helmets before the start of the American involvement in the war. The fixed bales and front seam paired with exterior “ripples”, this is a strong indicator of early war produced helmets. One of the two fixed bales is gone, and there is extremely heavy rippling with two very large stress cracks in the shell, with more forming. There is heavy denting across the shell, and the front has been painted with Staff Sergeant chevrons. The shell is heat lot stamped with 137B indicating roughly May 1942 manufacture. 

The Ordnance Department selected McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit Michigan to produce the steel M1 helmet bodies. These bodies were made from a single piece of Hadfield Manganese steel that was produced by the Carnegie-Illinois & Sharon Steel Corporations. Each completed raw M-1 helmet shell weighed 2.25 lbs each.

The total production of M-1 helmet shells during the war reached 22,000,000. Of these about 20,000,000 were produced by the main contractor McCord Radiator and Manufacturing Company of Detroit. Although McCord was supposed to be the single source of M-1 helmet shells, by the summer of 1942 a second company was enlisted to help the production effort. This was Schlueter Manufacturing of St. Louis, Missouri. Schlueter began production of its M-1 helmet shells in January 1943. Schlueter produced only 2,000,000 M-1 helmet shells during the war (both fixed and swivel).

The early M-1 helmet shells such as this example have a set of fixed (static) chinstrap loops called "bales" and a stainless steel rim. These rims were both rust resistant and had "non-magnetic qualities" that reduced the chance of error readings when placed around certain sensitive equipment (such as a compass). In October 1943, issues with the fixed bales breaking off resulted in a change to the "swivel bales".

This helmet is a very rough service-worn example which has several inscriptions on the interior shell, one of which is a crudely drawn insignia of the 26th Infantry Division. The inscription is incomplete and could use some deep analysis. It appears to contain locations or names, and starts with This helmet. A good opportunity for further research.

The helmet is missing the chinstrap and is in rough condition overall. The correct "high pressure" style M-1 Helmet liner was manufactured by Mine Safety Appliances of Evans City, Pennsylvania, as identified by an embossed stylized MSA logo in the crown. Mine Safety Appliance started M-1 helmet liner delivery to the US Army in September 1942. They produced approximately between 2,000,000 – 4,000,000 M-1 helmet liners and discontinued production around August 17 1945 when the war ended. The liner is in rough condition overall with the sweatband entirely gone, as is the chinstrap. The liner is also likely not original to the helmet.

This is a very interesting “barn-find” helmet in rough service-worn condition with a very interesting inscription. Comes ready for further research and display.