Then & Now: Hard Hat Zone
- By Roger A. Mola
- Air & Space magazine, September 2008
Early fighter helmets, like this 1950s-era Navy APH-5, were rugged but dumb.
Courtesy Gentex Corp.
Until the late 1940s, fighter pilots had little more than cloth or leather helmets and goggles to protect their heads from oil spray or bumps in the cockpit. With the arrival of high-performance jet aircraft and ejection seats, the U.S. military began to take head protection seriously. The result: a “hard hat” for flight crews—the H-1 helmet for the Navy and P-1 for the Army Air Forces (forerunner of the Air Force)—that became standard-issue gear in 1947.
“Take a fighter helmet from the early 1950s and one from a contractor’s lot now, and they make them not as cheaply but largely the same,” says Harry Hurt, who runs the non-profit Head Protection Research Laboratory in Paramount, California. While today’s helmets have the same basic structure—a hard outer shell mated to a soft impact-absorbing liner—as those designed six decades ago, their shapes, colors, materials, and capabilities have changed significantly.
For example, Boeing has developed a helmet-mounted system to assist fighter pilots in navigation and help them aim and fire weapons at targets. In an oval area on the right inner side of a pilot’s visor, the system displays such information as the location of other aircraft in the formation, status of the pilot’s weapons, and time, range, and direction to the target—reducing the time he would need to look at the instrument panel. A combined 2,500 of the helmets are flown in today’s F-15, F-16 and F/A-18 fleet and another 2,500 are on order, including some for weapons operators in the back seats in the F/A-18F Super Hornet.
Boeing took the Air Force HGU-55 and Navy HGU-68 carbon fiber helmet shells made by Gentex Corporation of Simpson, Pennsylvania, and modified them to keep the visor system level with the pilot’s eyes. Boeing then enhanced the helmet liner with an energy-absorbent filler from Oregon Aero made of Confor, a version of the spongy urethane foam used for astronaut couches in the Apollo capsules. For a custom fit, military personnel can trim the filler until the helmet hugs the face to within the thickness of a sheet of paper. “When you put the visor down, you have to do a little trimming depending on the shape of the pilot’s cheeks or nose,” says Phil King, Boeing’s helmet systems program manager. “Before, if the helmet shifted a bit, it wasn’t a big deal.” But the system is sensitive to even tiny variations from a position parallel to the eyes, so a snug fit is crucial. Each helmet costs about $175,000.
In January, Gentex won a $95 million contract to make up to 24,000 copies of a Modular Aircrew Common Helmet to replace the 27 varieties now worn by U.S. military pilots. The new helmets would cut the military’s parts inventory and standardize attachments for life support systems. Only the outer shell would vary with different airplanes or helicopters.
Comments (7)
I have a US Air Force helmet I would like some information on. The helmet has both a clear and a shaded visor.The buttons to raise and lower the visors are on the right (clear) and left (shaded) sides of the shield that protects the visors. I would like to know what model it is and some kind of value.
Thanks,
Mike
Posted by mike gilmore on April 28,2009 | 11:56 PM
G'day Mike,
That's not enough information to make a reasonable identification, since there were many models and modifications that might fit those basic descriptive parameters. However...that being said...it MIGHT be a USAF HGU-2A/P with a twin visor assembly fitted (although the early 2A/P was usually fitted with a 'Ramshorn' twin visor assembly), or possibly an HGU-22/P shell with the PRU-36/P twin visor assembly mounted on it. I'm assuming the helmet is of the 1960 through 1980 vintage. There are a lot of the latter type kicking around these days so the last possibility is the more likely. The twin-visor (one smoke, one clear) assembly helmets (HGU-22/P with PRU-36/P visor) were commonly used in training aircraft and in situations where birdstrike was a known hazard, but they also saw widespread use in everything from bombers through fighters. Check GOOGLE images for HGU-22/P and HGU-26/P and you'll see some (although what is commonly referred to as the HGU-26/P was actually the HGU-22/P shell with PRU-36/P visor assembly, a special liner, and com components to complete that rather fuzzy helmet specification). Hope this helps.
Cheers, DocBoink
Posted by DocBoink on June 5,2010 | 04:11 PM
DocBoink is correct on all info, if he were to ask me I would responded with nomenclature HGU-26/P w/ PRU-36/P Dual Visor Assy. My job in USAF was Life Support, I started modifying (Custom Fit) the HGU-26/P back when I had 2 stripes 1980. Started modifying/Custom Build the HGU-48/P, until the Gentex HGU-55/P Light Weight Helmets became available. Continued building until my Separation from the AF in 1997 (6 stripes BTW). I Built hundreds of Custom fit's for Many Fighter Pilots and Aircrews from all over the US, even some for Foreign AF Pilots. I got to build some espeasialy for Fighter Pilots deploying for Desert Storm. Ive built several helmets for famouse Fighter Pilots. I was very good at making the perfect fit/Sound Protection. I really enjoyed doing it. so sorry I threadjacked DocBoink, but havnt had many chances to tell of my USAF helmet experience. Thanks for reading.
"Bigfoot"
Posted by G.McDonald on March 31,2012 | 07:25 AM
"bigfoot":
I am an experimental test pilot of Osprey fame and I have an old custom fit helmet that needs a rework. But now it seems that no one does the custom anymore. Do you know of any place that rework my helmet with the custom fit and leather interior. This one has served me well through 30 years and 2 crashes and I will never trade up. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all your work in keeping us guys alive.
Grady W. Wilson
US Army (LTC, Ret)
Posted by GRADY W. WILSON on October 5,2012 | 10:05 AM
Hi Lt/Col Wilson, I finally came back here for someone else in your status as needing refurbished Flt. Helmet, I just moved to a new home and I don't have anything left to rebuild helmets; however, if you can keep in touch I might be able to help you, providing you can supply all materials need to customize your fit. Needed would be 1/4" foam 4ft X 4ft, Cabretta leather a full pelt, you can get the leather from places like Tandy Leather or Hobby shop. I Live near an Naval Joint Reserve Base, which was my last PCS and discharged (honorably) from the USAF/Res. I taught a couple of those guys how to build custom helmets, so maybe I can get some stuff from them. But please keep your hope down because I don't want to put you in a hopeless cause on my side. I'll be in touch; nice meeting you sir. Thank you for your service.
Bigfoot!
Posted by G.McDonald on October 11,2012 | 09:00 AM