The Weirdest and Fiercest Helmets from the Age of Armored Combat

io9.gizmodo.com ^

[Pollster1]

Good point.

Helmets have always said something about us and been part of our culture . . . and always will be.

[US_MilitaryRules]

Cool stuff! Thanks

[Sirius Lee]

It’s cool how we in this galaxy far far away and in the present, were able to recreate both the empire’s flat head screw AND alan wrench technology.

[butlerweave]

Japanese Helmets are the Best

[stevio]

Some are really nightmarish.

[niteowl77]

The Germans were short of everything by the end, but were still producing the somewhat simplified M42 stahlhelm very late in the war in at least two locations, and possibly a third. Not only that, they were still monkeying with new helmet designs (one of which - not surprisingly - looked remarkably like the postwar East German helmet). Interestingly, the Germans produced steel helmet shells of four different sizes (designated 62, 64, 66 and 68), and each size in turn would get a liner for one of two specific metric head sizes, rather than making one universal steel shell that used an adjustable liner to adapt it to every head size, large or small. So much for German efficiency!

Mr. niteowl77

[sphinx]

For later

[Mister Da]

After spending an hour or so, with help, putting on several layers of clothing & armor, you suddenly realize the venison you ate for breakfast was ROTTEN.

What do you do? Your crap in your armor, & pee, too. Often. I doubt you even dismount your war horse. Poor horse.

After a few days of this, you get diaper rash. It itches bad, burns like the devil, not just your butt, also your legs, but you can’t scratch.

Imagine fighting with this on in the Middle East heat. A puppy in a hot car in the Walmart parking in July lot in July is better off.

Being a knight in shining armor had its problems.

I’ll bet the lightweight, nimble archers just laughed & laughed, though far out of earshot of some very irritated knights.

[VanShuyten]

Bkmk

[Albion Wilde]

Fascinating article and amazing artisanship!

[tumblindice]

One change on the 42 is they stopped rolling the rim late in the war to save production time.

[niteowl77]

The 42 is an example of cost- and time-cutting that resulted in an acceptable substitute for what preceded it, but some of the surviviors really show that the new production method was stretched pretty far- shells whose blanks were obviously not lined up with the dies, shells whose steel "wrinkled" where the visor had transitioned to the side flare (or striations over other parts of the shell), and their affinity for rusting.

Mr. niteowl77

[niteowl77]

The 42 is an example of cost- and time-cutting that resulted in an acceptable substitute for what preceded it, but some of the surviviors really show that the new production method was stretched pretty far- shells whose blanks were obviously not lined up with the dies, shells whose steel "wrinkled" where the visor had transitioned to the side flare (or striations over other parts of the shell), and their affinity for rusting.

Mr. niteowl77

[Flag_This]

"...all I could think of was how the English archers at Agincourt..."

When he was about 16, Henry V got shot through the face with a bodkin point (his visor was raised) that lodged in the back of his skull. The story of how they got the point out is fascinating and horrifying.