The 1919 pattern "Helmet, Tank" was created in response to recommendations from George S. Patton Jr. for an American tank crew helmet. Patton had observed French and British tank helmets and wanted a similar helmet designed. A leather prototype was tested in 1919 and approved for use by the U.S. Army for tank crews. The helmet was produced at Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot and remained in use until 1940, providing protection for infantry tank crews throughout its service life.

1. 1919 Pattern "Helmet, Tank"
Larry Munnikhuysen
THE first helmet officially accepted by the U.S. Army for
link crews was called simply the "Helmet, Tank" (FIG
Early tank manuals call it such, yet this helmet is usually
< incorrectly) called either the World War One tank helmet or
±;- Chaffee helmet by both museums and collectors. This
article will hopefully shed some new light on both the history
_r.d construction of this rare helmet.
History
The 1919 pattern "Helmet, Tank"1
owes its existence to
famous American tanker, George S. Patton, Jr. Prior to
taking command of, and opening, the American Expedition-
ary Force [AEF] Light Tank Center and School in December
1917, Patton was an observer at the French Tank School
and later the British Tank Center. Patton made observations
at these schools along with recommendations for his own
Light Tank School and kept these in a simple spiral note pad.
Written on a page from this 1917 note pad is a list of items
and intended recommendations, under item number 13 is the
notation "Helmet or head guard."2
This is the first instance
of an official recommendation for an American tank helmet
(FIG 2). Patton followed up this notation in an official report
to the Chief of the Tank Services on 12 December 1917in
which he noted:
12.Leather helmets like those worn by football players or aviators,
but without ear pieces, must be provided for the crews to prevent their
being knocked unconscious when going over rough ground.3
Although Patton would certainly have been aware of the
British 1916 pattern leather tank helmet (FIG 3) and the spe-
cial tank helmet which French tankers routinely made from
their Model 1915 Adrian helmet (FIG 4) he appears to have
wanted a helmet of his own design. Indeed, when he sent
his assistant, Capt. Elgin Braine back to the United States in
early 1918 to expedite shipments of tanks and equipment to
France, one of the items he was to expedite was an improved
leather helmet4
The leather helmet Patton sought to have
improved was probably the helmet which is today referred to
by collectors as the "AEF Tank Helmet" (FIG 5). Although
no examples of this helmet are known to still exist there is a
series of photographs showing them being worn by members
LARRY MUNNIKHUYSEN has been a member of the Company
since 1997.He isa graduate of Christopher Newport University with
a BA in history and has done graduate level work in American his-
tory at Virginia Commonwealth University. A veteran of the United
StatesAir Force, he isone of thefounders and current president of the
Greater Tidewater Chapter of the Company. Larry ix also a mcrnhf-r
of the board of directors of the Virginia War Museum, which is the
official repository of the Company uniform collection.
FIG 1A. Front view of the 1919 pattern "Helmet, Tank."
FIG 1B. Clofifi up xhnwinr/ arrangement of interior hesdlinor
flap. FIG 1C.Interior, showing gray felt lining. All,courtesy of
the Dave Powers Collection.
105

2. FIG 2. Page of recommendations from Patton's 1917 note
book. Item 13recommends a helmet or head guard. Courtesy
of the Library of Congress.
of several of Patton's light tank battalions in 1918. Given that
theAEF tank helmets were noted by Patton as early as January
1918 and are only seen being used by members of his light
tank battalions,it isprobablethat theAEF helmets were made
in France specifically for Patton's light tank crews.
A report from Lt. Col. James A. Drain of the Ordnance
Corps dated 22 August 1918 states:
5.Consideredwith Col. Welbum,Col. Clopton,andrepresentativesof
Ordnance Department, withBraine, various forms of Interphone System,
head pieces, helmets, and gas-masks. These have now been sent to Col.
Clopton for field trial and report.5
The helmet referred to in the Drain report is the "Experi-
mental Type 13Tank Operator's Helmet" (FIG 6), whichhad
been developed by Maj. Bashford Dean and the New York
Metropolitan Museum's Armor Workshop. Dean states:
An effort was made (1918, Summer)to protect (he tank operator from
injuries in the head caused cither by heavy bumpsor by lead spla*li which
finds its way into the tank from disintegratingrifle balls. To this end. a
helmet, in an experimental lot of thirty,was produced by the Equipment
Section of the Ordnance Department under the advice of the officers of
FIG 3. British leather tank helmet of 1916. Courtesy of the
David Aeon Collection.
the Tank Unit, Engineering Division."6
Whether the ExperimentalType 13 helmet was ever used
in France is open to conjecture.BashfordDean stated after the
war that, "No official reports have as yet been received as to
the practical value of this model; the writer learns, however,
that it was used in the tanks during the last push and that it was
well spoken of."7
This author can safely state that in all of the
official after action reports of all the light tank battalions in
the Meuse-Argonne offensive, there is not one mentionof any
crew wearing the Experimental Type 13 helmet. Of course,
the Experimental Type 13 might still have been worn by some
crews of the AEF heavy tank units but just not mentioned in
official reports.
Thus, withthe possible exceptionof theExperimental Type
13 helmet, the only tank helmet used by American forces in
World War I was the locally produced "AEF Tank Helmet."
This appears to be confirmed by a postwar report entitled
"Personal Experience Report" written by Captain. Braine on
22 December 1918 in which he summarizes:
I[n] connection with this work 1also followed up the Signal Corps
with reference to the wireless apparatus, interphones, splash-proof face
guards, steel helmets, and had experiments tried with triplex glass for
eye slits, which proved successful. There were, five or six interphone
FIG 4. French Mle. 1915 artillery helmet modified for use by
tank crew. Courtesy of the Sebastien Greffe Collection.
106

3. whom I took this matter up, and any number of
:urers on face guards, leather helmets, steel helmets,
ssible to get anyone to make a decision on any of
nistice in November 1918, the AEFTank
xi; its personnel and equipment shipped
tales where it was absorbed into theArmy
.od 1919through 1920saw various service
/orking to integratethe lessons learned in
and much smaller peacetime Army. One
that a helmet was indeed needed for tank
14 October 1919, the Sub-Committee on
ice Technical Board under Colonel L. B.
"leather helmet gotten up by the man in
? Shop at Rock Island Arsenal, tested by
found satisfactory. The Sub-Committee
ds its adoption for issue to the Service."9
)bably the one that Patton had requested
sited no one could make a decision on.
3r the new tank helmet as ordered by the
ted:
: football helmet, without eaipicces; i.e., a leather
It lining, not to exceed a total thickness of 1
A inch,
ie of four sections, with an opening between the
lions, and provided around the lower edge with an
i will enable the wearer tofitthe helmet accurately
ilso recommended that no further work
ng a steel helmet for tank crews and that
ensure that the approved leather helmet
tuned by the proper Supply Department
ich 6-ton tank and eleven for each Mark
Major Bashford Dean and h
Technical Committee at
workshop of the Metropolit
of Art in New York City, 191
of the National Archives.
Fig, 176 Fig.
Fig, 1768 Fig. J/6C
Fig. 176, Experimental helmet model No. 13for Americantank operator,!
without detachable padded-silk curtain and visor, guarding against It
J

4. VIII tank, with areasonable reserve supply."11
Thus was bom
the 1919 pattern "Helmet, Tank," from the designs formulated
during World War I, but not used during WorldWarI. In 1920
theUnited States CongressdecidedthattheArmy didnotneed
a separate Tank Corps and abolished it, assigning all tanks to
the Infantry Branch. The 1919 pattern helmet would enjoy a
long life with the infantry tankers being used successfully, if
not glamorously, from its birth in 1919 until 1940.12
The Chaffee Helmet
The 1919 pattern "Helmet, Tank" has long been called the
Chaffee helmet bycollectors.It was said that afamous picture
of Maj. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee, the father of the Armored
Force, wearing this helmet was the source of the title. Tank
crew helmets were all referred to as "Helmet, Tank" by the
Army until 196113
so the need for some type of differentiation
was needed, at least by collectors. Unfortunately, the name
"Chaffee" is probablynot one to which this helmet is entitled.
Theonly photograph known toexist ofMajor General Chaffee
wearing a tank helmet is one that appeared in the 7 July 1941
issue of Life Magazine,14
an issue devoted to America's pre-
war defenses. This color photograph (FIG 7) shows Chaffee,
then head of the newly formed Armor Branch of the Army,
wearing the 1938 pattern tank helmet, not the 1919 pattern
tank helmet. Major General Chaffee died of cancer several
months after this photograph was taken. Chaffee had been a
cavalry officer throughouthis career and was the motivating
force behind thedevelopment oftheexperimentalMechanized
Cavalry in the late 1930s, a formation that would become the
nucleus of the new Armored Force in 1940. The 1919 pattern
"Helmet, Tank" was used almost exclusively by the Infantry
Branch which was the only branch of the pre-World War n
Army authorizedtohavetanks. The CavalryBranch wasforced
tocalltheir experimental armored vehicles "combat cars"and
"scoutcars"anddeveloped theirownuniqueprotectivehelmet
for use by the mechanized cavalry troops, a helmet (FIG 8)
whichis todaycalled the "Cavalry Style" tankhelmet.If Chaf-
fee had ever worn a tank helmet prior to the Life photograph
it would have been the "Cavalry Style" not the 1919 pattern
helmet used by the infantry tankers.
Construction
As stated earlier, the original leather helmet prototype,
approved by the Sub-Committee on Tanks in 1919, was con-
structed by the Saddle Shop at the Rock IslandArsenal. The
actual production models of this helmet, however, appear to
have been made at the Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot
The Report of the Chief of Ordnance dated 1920 which was
a detailed report of all Ordnance Corps and arsenal activi-
ties from June 1919 to July 1920 states: "Leather and textile
manufacturing equipment which was installed at Rock Island
Arsenal has been transferred to the QuartermasterCorps and
forwarded to the Jeffersonville Depot."15
While it is certainly
possible that helmets were made at Rook Islnnd Arsenal prior
to the removal of the leather working equipment, it would
seem more likely that the site of their production was Jef-
FIG 7. Major General Adna R. Chaffee; Chief U.S.A. Armored
Force, 1941. Courtesy of Lite Magazine.
fersonville Depot.
The authorhas been fortunateto be able to examine several
1919 pattern helmets from private collections and museums
and all those examined appear to follow the same basic
construction technique and pattern. The author believes it is
probable thatquantitiesofthishelmetwereproducedat several
different times given the longevityof the helmet's use. Some
1919 pattern helmets that were examined have what appear to
be government inspector's initials die stamped on one of the
interior headliner flaps, but most do not, a good indication of
separate production lots or times.The authorhas derived the
drawings in FIG 9A & B and all the accompanying measure-
ments from the 1919 patternhelmet in his personal collection
that is representative of the others he has examined.
The helmet is constructed using five separate pieces of
leather, an adjustment strap with buckle, and a 3
/s-inch thick
gray felt lining. The body of the helmet is a cross-shaped
piece of H-inch thick, russet colored, saddle leather measur-
ing roughly six inches by seven inches. Four holes 5
/is-inch
outside diameter [OD] are positioned centrally on the cross
to act as ventilationholes on the top of the helmet. Each of
the four arms of the cross are perforated by three5
/i6-inch OD
holes except for one of the 6-inch sides which has only two
5
/i6-inch OD holes (this is to indicate the front of the helmet).
The bottom hole in each quadrant acts as the passage for the
leather thongs that attach the headliner flaps, the other holes
act as ventilation.On the bottom of each arm are two sets of
two parallel slits which form the loops through which pass
the adjustment strap. The four arms, when folded down form
108

5. ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL
2'2-4»9C Jolf ;6, 153=
Helaset i'or tank ??rs?n-<:l
a bowl that is the body of the helmet. Glued on the interior
side of the helmet body is a 3
/s inch thick lining of gray felt
conforming to the overall size of the helmet body. The gray
felt consists of a circular central portion that fits into the top
of the helmet body. Sewn to that is a long rectangular piece
which conforms to the circumference of the helmet body.All
holes in the helmet body pass through the felt lining. Attached
FIG 8 (left). The "Cavalry Style" tank helmet. Courtesy of the
Rock Island Arsenal Museum.
to each of the four "sides" of the helmet body are four '/is-inch
thick flaps of leather, the flaps for the front and rear of the
helmet arefiveinches wide and the twoflapsfor the remaining
sides are ^-inches wide. There are two Vie-inch OD holes,
arranged vertically, and situated at the midpoint of each flap.
These four headliner flaps are machine-stitched with waxed
cotton thread tothe base of the helmet body then folded under
to the inside of the helmet body thus forming a leather head
band or liner. Passing through the two vertical holes in the
center of each liner flap, passing through the felt lining and
the two lower holes of the helmet body, on each of the helmet
sides, is a leather thong six inches long, 3
/ie-inch wide, and
Vi6-inch thick which is knotted together on the helmet exterior
thus drawing the helmet side, felt lining, and liner flap taut.
The lower exterior circumference of the helmet is encircled
by an adjustment strap that passes under and through the two
sets of vertical slits on each of the helmet sides. The adjust-
ment strap is made of a '/s-inch thick strip of leather the same
as the helmet body. It is twenty-nine inches long and %-inch
wide. On one end is a brass adjustmentbuckle, painted black,
a standard Army issue equipment buckle of the Model 1910
series of equipment.
It would appear that the designers of the 1919 pattern
"Helmet, Tank" intendedthat the "side" of the helmet having
only one ventilation hole, as opposed to two, would be the
• 6 -
•&•
HEAD LINER FLAP, PATTERN
1919 PATTERN,'HELMET, TANK'
HELMET BODY
V8" THICK LEATHER
FIG 9A. Construction details and measurements for the 1919 Pattern "Helmet, Tank."
109
L

6. ^> 5/16" DIA. VENT HOLES
FLAP SEWN TO
HELMET AS SHOWN
TOP VIEW
FRONT VIEW
HELMET 1/8" THICK
LEATHER
HEADLINES FLAP
1/16" THICK LEATHER
GREY FELT LINER
3/8" THICK
KNOTTED LEATHER THONGS
SIDE VIEW ADJUSTMENT STRAP 1/8" THICK
BY 3/U" x 29" LEATHER WITH A
BLACK PAINTED BRASS BUCKLE
1919 PATTERN. 'HELMET, TANK'
FIG 9B. Construction details and measurements for the 1919Pattern "Helmet, Tank."
front portion of the helmet. Why one "side" of the helmet
needed to be designated as the front is open to conjecture,
but it probably was intended to instill a uniformity of wear
with the adjustment buckle being in the same position for all
wearers whenever in formation. The intended position of the
adjustment buckle is unknown. A study ofperiod photographs
strongly suggests that wearers tended to put any "side" to the
front and the adjustment buckle was worn wherever the sol-
dier felt like it. The 1919 pattern "Helmet, Tank" has earned
the distinction of being one of the Army's most unattractive
pieces of headgear, yet it has also the distinction of being one
of the most long lived pieces of headware, lasting afull twenty
years. The 1919 pattern helmet is today one of the rarest of
all American tanker helmets.
Notes
1. Prior to 1961 the U.S. Army nomenclature system termed all combat
vehicle helmets simply "Helmet, Tank." In the late 1930s and early
1940s there were sometimes as many as three different combat vehicle
helmet types in issue at the same time, causing major inventory head-
aches. The Army finally resorted to differentiating the various types of
tank helmets by callingthem "Helmet, Tank" followed by theOrdnance
Department drawing number.This author has chosen to use the date c:
official Army pattern acceptance, 1919, as the way to distinguish thi>
helmet from other tankhelmets in use during the same timeperiod.The
term "1919 pattern" is not an official Armydesignation.
2. "Leavesfrom OldNotebook,Tanks&Tactics, France 1917-1918 "Fatten
Papers, Box 54, Folder 2, MS Div., Library of Congress, Washington.
D.C.
3. Capt. George S. Patton, Jr., 'To:The Chief of theTank Service," 12De-
cember 1917, p.16. Patlon Papers, Box 54, Folder 2, MS Div., LOG.
4. Martin Blumenson, The Patton Papers 1885-1940 (Boston: Houghtor,
Mifflin Co., 1972), 479-480.
5. Lt. Col. JamesA.Drain., "To: C.O.O. throughC.T.C.", 22August 19!$,
p.],TheRockenbach Papers, Box3,Folder3,ArchivesSection, Virginia
Military Institute Library. Lexington, Virginia.
6. Brashford Dean, Helmets and Body Armor in Modern Warfare (Xe'.=.
York: Carl J. Pugliese, 1977), 226.
7. Ibid., 228.
8. Capt. Elgin Braine, "To: Commanding Officer, 302nd Center, Taak
Corps, U.S.A.," 22 December 1918. p. 9,Patton Papers, Box 55,Folder
4, MS Div., LOG.
9. Col. L.B. Moody, "To: Sub-Committee on Tanks, Chairman, Ordnance
Technical Board," 14October 1919, reprinted in The Doughboy, 23, no.
2 (Fall 2000): 4.
10. Ibid., 5.
110
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