Believe it or not, helmets reinforced with metal were used by the Sumerians and Akkadians as far back as 2300 B.C.E., and Mycenaean Greeks used bronze helmets (typically quite heavy) in 1700 B.C.E.

It was first developed and mass-produced in 1941, before the United States entered World War II and was the standard helmet all the way through the mid-1980s. More than 22 million were made during ...