General Information: The Imperial Japanese Army fielded a small number of airborne units during the Second World War. At the end of 1944 these units were consolidated to form the First Raiding Group (Dai 1 Teishin Shudan) which had a strength of approximately 12,000 men.[1] IJA paratroopers were equipped with the Model 1941 helmet. ThereContinue reading “Japanese M41 Paratrooper*”
Tag Archives: Airborne
British MKI Paratrooper*
General Information: The British officially designated this helmet as the “Helmet Steel Airborne Troops Mark I” or “HSAT MKI” for short. Collectors generally refer to this as the “MKI Paratrooper” helmet. It was mainly produced in 1943 and most surviving examples bear that date on the liner. The helmet was issued from October 1942[1], soContinue reading “British MKI Paratrooper*”
US M-1C
General Information: The M-1C, officially designated “Helmet, Steel, M-1C Parachutists,” was an improved version of the earlier M-2 paratrooper helmet. It addressed the main deficiency of the M-2, which was the tendency for the “D” shaped chinstrap loops to break. The M-1C had had the same flexible chinstrap attachment device as used on the midContinue reading “US M-1C”
US M-2 Paratrooper
General Description: The standard M-1 helmet used by the US army during the Second World War was not appropriate for airborne troops because the steel shells had a tendency to separate from the detachable liners during jumps. The solution was to create a modified version of the M-1 for use by paratroopers. The new model,Continue reading “US M-2 Paratrooper”
Steel Helmets of the World Wars 