US M1 helmet used by the V.A.M.
by Fabrizio Frassica

The US M1 helmet in the colours of the Italian Air Force has been an unreachable chimera for about fifteen years.

My first encounter with the misterious blue M1 took place in a huge open outdoor depot of military material, in Rome: the bad condition of shells and liners there made me give up the idea of buying one. I found another one about fifteen years ago, at military market, but this time it was the high price to stop me. I have been regretting it since then, until a few weeks ago, thanks to a friend, I finally got one.

History

After WWII, at the time of the Korean conflict, M1 helmets produced in wartime and immediately after arrived in Italy, along with huge military supplies from the US as MDAP – military assistance program. These M1s joined the excellent M33 in the Army (where they remained in storage), in the Air Force and in the Navy, although it seems that only liners painted red, probably for gunners, were used aboard, along red M33s. The book “Storia dell’ elmetto italiano”, now out of print, even shows M1 liners used by State Police, grey in colour and with yellow emblem.

According to paolo Marzetti’s “Helmets of the World” (2nd ed) a small quota was destined to the Army, which kept them olive drab, but added the stencilled infantry emblem. Bossi Nogueira writes that liners have also been cut and adapted to the traditional M33 profile.

It was certainly the AMI to use them in large numbers and more consistently, at least up to the 1980’s, for the V.A.M (Air Force Security – Vigilanza Aeronautica Militare) units.

The helmet

The specimen I have dates from WW2: the shell has 3-point welded swivel bales and some visible cracks tipical of WW2 shells due to non homogeneous steel. It has two layers of air force blue paint with frontal stencilled yellow emblem. Under this you can see an older and larger emblem, covered by the second layer of paint. The chinstrap is produced nationally in leatherette.

The liner is a Firestone produced high pressure one. Its leather brown chinstrap can be removed. The “A” washers are in bronze colour metal, typical of late war production. The suspension system canvas pattern has multiple waves, which suggests a late war production as well.

Italian production

Worth mentioning is also a white plastic lightweight helmet produced in Italy, obviously derived from the US liner, destined to AMI units for honour and parade duties. There’s a plastic embossed air force emblem at the front, gold on blue background.

This helmet has an original liner different from the usual Riddell pattern. It is derived from the M33 with an extra canvas headband for size fitting, passing through slots in the leather and with a frontal metal sliding buckle.

The white leather chinstrap is in two pieces with prong buckle.

(March 2006)