Flight helmet
{{Short description|Headgear worn by pilots and flight crew}}
File:NASA helmet for T-38 Speyer front top.jpg HGU-26P helmet for the Northrop T-38 Talon aircraft]]
File:German WW1 Pilots Helmet 4.jpg
A flight helmet, sometimes referred to as a "skull dome", "bone dome" or "foam dome", is a special type of helmet primarily worn by military aircrew.
A flight helmet can provide:Aerospace International (magazine), March 2011, pages 26–29
- Impact protection to reduce the risk of head injury (e.g. in the event of a parachute landing) and protection from wind blast (e.g. in the event of ejection).
- A visor to shield the eyes from sunlight, flash, supersonic wind blasts and laser beams.
- Noise attenuation, headphones and a microphone (except when included in a mask).
- A helmet mounted display, mounting for night vision goggles and/or a helmet tracking system (so the aircraft knows where the pilot is looking).
The design of a flight helmet may also consider:
- Comfort – including the weight, centre of gravity and provision for cooling and ventilation.
- Compatibility with an oxygen mask (for high-altitude flight and NBC protection).
History of flight helmets
In the first days of aviation, the leather helmets used in motor-racing were adopted by pilots as head protection.{{cite web|last1=Rood|first1=Graham|title=A Brief History of Flying Clothing|url=http://aerosociety.com/Assets/Docs/Publications/The%20Journal%20of%20Aeronautical%20History/2014-01_Rood_Aircrew_clothing.pdf|website=Journal of Aeronautical History|access-date=7 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319070639/http://aerosociety.com/Assets/Docs/Publications/The%20Journal%20of%20Aeronautical%20History/2014-01_Rood_Aircrew_clothing.pdf|archive-date=19 March 2015}} During World War I, British Engineers led by Charles Edmon Prince added earphones (now called headphones) and a throat microphone to make a "hands-free" communications systems for Flight Helmets – then called "aircraft telephones".{{cite web|title=Fighting talk: First World War telecommunications|url=https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/first-world-war/telecommunications-in-war/|publisher=www.nationalarchives.gov.uk|access-date=11 January 2021}} The Group's first product was a hand held "aircraft telephone" and, over a 3 year-process of experimenting with various voice microphones, found the hands-free throat microphone built inside a flight helmet much more user-friendly in open-cockpit airplanes due to excessive wind noise and vibrations.{{cite web|title=In World War I, British Biplanes Had Wireless Phones in the Cockpit|date=31 March 2020|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/in-world-war-i-british-biplanes-had-wireless-phones-in-cockpit|publisher=IEEE|access-date=11 January 2021}}
The initial design of early leather flying helmets was adapted during the 1930s to become the iconic type B helmet which enabled the external attachment of radio earphones, oxygen masks, and removable goggles to protect pilot's eyes from the elements.{{cite web| url = http://www.456fis.org/HISTORY_OF_FLIGHT_HELMETS.htm| url-status = usurped| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150223170612/http://www.456fis.org/HISTORY_OF_FLIGHT_HELMETS.htm| archive-date = 2015-02-23| title = The History Of Flight Helmets}} A detailed description of a typical Type B helmet can be found on the website of the Imperial War Museum (London, England).HELMETS: The Story of Helmets Limited, 1924 - 1984 It is made from six vertical panels which meet at a central ridge panel running from front to back. There is a rectangular horizontal panel which goes across the forehead and it includes padded leather oval housings at the ears. The chinstrap, also made of leather, is stitched to the right side and buckled to a small strap on the left. The brown leather of the helmet is lined with buff-colored chamois and has a rectangular length of brown-colored material sewn to the inside of the forehead.{{cite web|last1=Imperial War Museum|title=Collections and Research|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections-research|website=IWM|access-date=7 March 2015}}
By World War II, improved oxygen masks became common as planes flew higher where thinner air required a breathable air supply to the pilots and crew.https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/LargePrintGuides/Headgear%20-.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=May 2025}} After World War II until the Korean War, the leather headpiece was gradually replaced with a hard helmet to provide head protection during bailing out (and later with high velocity ejection).{{cite web|title=US Military Aviation|url=http://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/helmets1.htm|publisher=www.salimbeti.com|access-date=25 August 2015}} Also, goggles were replaced by a built-in visor which was tinted to protect against sun. Current headgear (appearing after the Vietnam War) usually includes communications equipment (headset and microphones) to let pilots communicate with ground operations and their crew.{{cite web|title=Types of Pilot Oxygen Masks|url=http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pilot-oxygen-mask.html|publisher=www.buzzle.com|access-date=25 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923221428/http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pilot-oxygen-mask.html|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=usurped}}
Image:1912 Warren Safety Helmet.jpg | Demonstration of the Warren Safety Helmet, 1912
Image:Britishleatherflyinghelmet.jpg|British leather flying helmet from 1918
Image:A-9 oxygen mask.jpg|Type B-6 winter flying helmet with A-9 oxygen mask, WW2 vintage
File:Bell telephone magazine (1922) (14756235595).jpg|Helmet with anti-flash goggles
Image:Gsh-6 pilot helmet.JPG|Soviet MiG-25 pilot helmet of the 1980s
Image:Integrated Helmet Display Sight System.jpg|Modern US Army Apache helmet
Image:SPH-5 helmet.jpg|Gentex SPH-5 helicopter helmet
File:Royal Air Force Typhoon Pilot's Helmet MOD 45158393.jpg|Eurofighter Typhoon helmet showing the Helmet Mounted Symbology System
File:Eqtedar 40 defence exhibition (121).jpg|Gentex helmet used by Iran
See also
{{Portal|Aviation}}
References
External links
- [http://www.fuhs.de/en/helmet/index.shtml Images]
- [https://www.salimbeti.com/aviation/helmets.htm US Military flight helmets collection]
- [https://www.aeromiltec.com/helmetsjet.html Aeromiltec jet helmets]
- [https://www.helmetfx.com/helmets.html HelmetFX]
{{Commons category|Pilot helmets}}
{{helmets}}