Leather flying helmet

A leather flying helmet, also known as an aviator hat or bomber hat, is a usually a leather cap with large earflaps, a chin strap, and often a short bill that is commonly turned up at the front to show the lining (often fleece or fur). It is often worn with goggles. It may be made of other materials, such as felt.[1]

Helen Kerly's helmet from World War II

"Eugene Ely, wearing aviator's hat and goggles."

Charles Lindbergh, 1923

Roald Dahl's RAF flying helmet from World War II, fitted with oxygen mask and communications equipment

With the rise of motor sport and aviation at the start of the 1900s, Leather was becoming a popular choice for protective gear from the cold and the engine noise.[2] It has many advantages that made it the ideal material for flying helmets. It is warm, durable, impermeable to liquids therefore waterproof, flexible and can be cut to curve around the head. It is wind-proof and has the great advantage of not accumulating dust. It was also found that leather helmets offered a level of protection against fire.[2]

Female pilots in the early part of the 1900s were able to wear the same design of protective clothing, including helmets, as their male counterparts. The leather helmets and jackets, the goggles and boots allowed the women to function as pilots in the same terms as men.[2] Manufacturers of early flying helmets were Alfred Dunhill Ltd. and Gamages of London, England, and Roold in Paris[2]

British Engineers led by Charles Edmond Prince added throat microphones & earphones into these helmets during World War I for hands free communications in the noisy and windy environment of aircraft cockpits.[3][4]

With the advent of closed-cockpit airplanes, head protection became less necessary (Charles Lindbergh still wore a leather helmet when he crossed the Atlantic in 1927, though his Spirit of St. Louis monoplane had a closed cockpit).

In the airforces, leather helmets were continuously used and developed. Perhaps the most iconic design of early leather flying helmet was known as the Type B helmet. This was designed to accommodate earphones in pockets in the ear-flaps and was easy to wear with oxygen masks and goggles.[2] A detailed description of a typical Type B helmet can be found on the website of The Imperial War Museum (London, England).[5]

A particularly fine example of a Type B flying helmet can be found in the Thinktank, The Science museum for Birmingham, England. That helmet belonged to a female pilot, Helen Kerly who was a Spitfire delivery pilot during the Second World War.

After the war, in the advent of jet fighters, solid plastic and, later, carbon fiber helmets replaced leather helmets in the cockpits of aircraft. Nonetheless, aviator's hats continue in popularity as a fashion accessory and winter headwear.