Helmet

Soldiers wear combat helmets, often made from Kevlar or other lightweight synthetic fibers.

Some British gamekeepers during the 18th and 19th centuries wore helmets made of straw bound together with cut bramble.

In World War II, American, Soviet, German, Italian and French flight crews wore leather helmets, the German pilots disguising theirs under a beret before disposing of both and switching to cloth caps.[when?]

The great seal of Owain Glyndŵr (c. 1359 – c. 1415) depicts the prince of Wales and his stallion wearing full armour, they both wear protective headgear with Owain's gold dragon mounted on top.

Helmets since the mid-20th century have often incorporated lightweight plastics and other synthetic materials, and their use has become highly specialized.

As the coat of arms was originally designed to distinguish noble combatants on the battlefield or in a tournament, even while covered in armour, it is not surprising that heraldic elements constantly incorporated the shield and the helmet, these often being the most visible parts of a knight's military equipment.

The practice of indicating peerage through the display of barred or grilled helmets first appeared around 1587-1615,[8] and the heraldic convention of displaying helmets of rank in the United Kingdom, which came into vogue around Stuart times, is as follows:[9] Earlier rolls of arms reveal, however, that early heraldic helmets were depicted in a manner faithful to the styles in actual military or tournament use at the time.