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Helmets in Culver City Race Film/Aviation impact

 

I've seen images of both cars and motorcycle drivers at Brooklands pre-WWI wearing the equestrian derived shellacked canvas helmets, and believe they were required for cycles at the time. WWI French aviators are pictured in forms of hard helmets.

In the '30s, there are photos of T.E.Lawrence wearing a hard helmet, which he advocated, but unfortunately not wearing in his fatal accident in 1935. Some hard helmets of the '30s had hard, hinged ear flaps. In 1941, Dr. Cairns convinced the Royal Army to require hard helmets for their dispatch riders, and they appeared in big numbers post war on surplus markets, used by racers.

Even before WWII test pilots started wearing full (football inspired?) helmets and during wartime testing for all aircraft, it became de rigueur for English and American test pilots to wear full coverage hard helmets, with the term 'jet pilot helmet' becoming common vernacular.

?

By March, '48 the P-1A became required for all Air Force pilots, using web support, and these became common in sports car racing then.

Cheers, Bob Storck in KCMO

?

-----Original Message-----
From: <[email protected]>
Subject: [RH] Helmets in Culver City Race Film

?

Smitty (and All):
?
????? The first "hard shell" fiberglass full coverage helmet became available in 1952.? Hal Minyard and partner Johnny McMurray designed and started selling their McHal helmet that year.? This was the first racing helmet that covered both the sides and the back of a driver's head with a solid material instead of the pressed cardboard/cork helmets like the Cromwell that "protected" just the top of the head.? Roy Richter didn't come out with his Bell 500 helmet until 1954 by which time most drivers were using the McHal.? McHal helmets were used well into the 1960s at Indianapolis and other tracks along with other brands like Bell.? For quite a few years some drivers preferred the McHal on dirt tracks because of the quality of flip down visors that Hal Minyard had developed.
?
???? BTW, it might surprise some to know that open face helmets like the Bell 500 series are still technically legal to use in most professional racing today so long as they meet certain Snell rating requirements.? Even things like the various HANS type restraint devices are generally just "recommended" in rule books instead of being mandated.? Of course, everyone uses one at the professional level anyway.? There is likely some legal reason for the use of the wording in this manner.
?
Randall Cook
Indianapolis, IN

--
Bob Storck
KC MO USA
 

My one big regret in researching the Southern California jalopy era is not being able to procure a legit Cromwell helmet from a jalopy driver. What stopped me cold was advise from the drivers of "Don't try" because of the incredibly high chance of being stuck with a jockey helmet that never saw a day of racing on a quarter mile. I couldn't tell the difference, if any. I would like to say I have a real helmet from so and so, but, that never came to happen. I do however, have a 1950's piston that has a very high chance of coming from a So-Cal jalopy. I'm a lucky guy!!
--
Thomas Luce
Manhattan Beach CA USA
 

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Dad gave me the GenTex helmet in my youth. I suppose it came from someone he knew racing way back when. Wish I knew who it was

image0.jpeg?


On Oct 18, 2024, at 3:35 PM, Bob Storck <bstorck@...> wrote:

?

I've seen images of both cars and motorcycle drivers at Brooklands pre-WWI wearing the equestrian derived shellacked canvas helmets, and believe they were required for cycles at the time. WWI French aviators are pictured in forms of hard helmets.

In the '30s, there are photos of T.E.Lawrence wearing a hard helmet, which he advocated, but unfortunately not wearing in his fatal accident in 1935. Some hard helmets of the '30s had hard, hinged ear flaps. In 1941, Dr. Cairns convinced the Royal Army to require hard helmets for their dispatch riders, and they appeared in big numbers post war on surplus markets, used by racers.

<image.png>

Even before WWII test pilots started wearing full (football inspired?) helmets and during wartime testing for all aircraft, it became de rigueur for English and American test pilots to wear full coverage hard helmets, with the term 'jet pilot helmet' becoming common vernacular.

?

<image.png>

By March, '48 the P-1A became required for all Air Force pilots, using web support, and these became common in sports car racing then.

<image.png>

Cheers, Bob Storck in KCMO

?

-----Original Message-----
From: <[email protected]>
Subject: [RH] Helmets in Culver City Race Film

?

Smitty (and All):
?
????? The first "hard shell" fiberglass full coverage helmet became available in 1952.? Hal Minyard and partner Johnny McMurray designed and started selling their McHal helmet that year.? This was the first racing helmet that covered both the sides and the back of a driver's head with a solid material instead of the pressed cardboard/cork helmets like the Cromwell that "protected" just the top of the head.? Roy Richter didn't come out with his Bell 500 helmet until 1954 by which time most drivers were using the McHal.? McHal helmets were used well into the 1960s at Indianapolis and other tracks along with other brands like Bell.? For quite a few years some drivers preferred the McHal on dirt tracks because of the quality of flip down visors that Hal Minyard had developed.
?
???? BTW, it might surprise some to know that open face helmets like the Bell 500 series are still technically legal to use in most professional racing today so long as they meet certain Snell rating requirements.? Even things like the various HANS type restraint devices are generally just "recommended" in rule books instead of being mandated.? Of course, everyone uses one at the professional level anyway.? There is likely some legal reason for the use of the wording in this manner.
?
Randall Cook
Indianapolis, IN

--
Bob Storck
KC MO USA

--
Phil Charlwood?
Vienna VA USA
 

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As I have commented previously, many helmets identified as Cromwell were not Cromwell at all.? There were several U.S. manufacturers' that produced helmets that resembled Cromwells from a distance, but they were, in fact, superior to the Cromwell? John Lohrenz in Long Beach, CA made an excellent helmet called "Shoc-Shell, and Clymer made a good helmet, and there was a third whose name escapes me now.? Snell put all of them out of business.? I? still have my Shoc-Shell that I purchased in the 1950s.

--
Chuck Fawcett
Westminster CA USA
 

Chuck (and all):
?
??? You are absolutely correct about other helmets being used that were similar to the Cromwell design.? I believe there was also an Anderson helmet nearly identical to the ones that you mentioned.
?
??? As stated aviation had a big influence on the early full coverage helmets.? In fact there were even surplus "jet pilot" helmets used in racing.? Some of these helmets are identifiable by bulges in the area of the ears where communication speakers would have been installed when worn by pilots.
?
???? Aviation also influenced early seat belt usage in race cars.? Seat belts in aircraft weren't really a safety device.? They simply kept the pilot in his seat during various flight maneuvers; even when upside down.? In aircraft the belts were attached to the seat itself.? Many race car builders at the time copied what the military was doing and also mounted early seat belts to the seat instead of the race car frame.? More than one driver was seriously injured or killed while being thrown from a car still fully strapped into his seat after the seat mountings failed.
?
Randall Cook
Indianapolis, IN

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Randall Cook

Indianapolis IN USA

 

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Thanks Randall.? Anderson was the third helmet manufacturer I was trying to remember.

--
Chuck Fawcett
Westminster CA USA

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