 | ||
A flight helmet, sometimes referred to as a "bone dome", is a special type of helmet primarily worn by military aircrew.
A flight helmet can provide:
The design of a flight helmet may also consider:
History of flight helmets
In the first days of aviation the leather helmets used in motor-racing were adopted by pilots as head protection. The initial design of early leather flying helmets was adapted during the 1930s to become the type B helmet which enabled the external attachment of radio earphones oxygen masks and removable goggles to protect pilots eyes from the elements.
By World War II, an oxygen mask was added to the equipment as planes flew higher where thinner air required a breathable air supply to the pilots and crew. After World War II into the Korean War, the leather headpiece was gradually replaced with a hard helmet needed as head protection during bailing out (and later with high velocity ejection). Also, goggles were replaced by a visor that was incorporated to the helmet and tinted to protect against sun. Current head gear (appears after the Vietnam War) also includes communications equipment (head set and microphones) to let pilots communicate with ground operations and their crew.