Thomas , There are photos of tbis type of helmet being worn ny some of the first Jet pilots , as up to then, nothing had been designed for their head protection, being theown around at high speed in their cockpits .Never seen one like this before ...
THX for sharing
Glad to hear it isnt just mine then that suffers/ed this problem .I have seen and owned several of these G-1 helmets over the years...all in identical condition to yours. I think all but one had the leather center shriveled up. I think it has to do with the leather they used, the tanning process, and the march of time.
I'd leave it alone...this is too valuable a helmet to risk. A better idea would be to trim down the top of a styrofoam head so a flight helmet and this helmet would both fit.
Not saying that these were not used by early jet pilots, but I think if you look closely at the pictures you will notice the vent holes are different. What was more commonly used were modified tanker helmets...which have more vent holes. The tanker helmet also has more head friendly shape to it, plus they would have been more readily available. One reason these G-1 helmets are rare, is they really did not work or fit that well.
Yeah, I was thinking about the same thing. Will have to do some looking...