US Navy Fighter Pilot Helmets, 1961-1979
When one considers US navy fighter pilot helmet art, what comes to mind is the jingoistic, the bombastic.
The almost adolescent iconography of war. Lightning bolts, flags and skulls. The animals-the snarling shark, the lunging tiger, and of course the taunts-‘death from above!’ ‘Poison!’
But from the mid 1960’s to the mid 1970’s, there existed a brief but intense period of artistic freedom, now long forgotten.
Navy pilots were allowed to decorate their helmets in any way they saw fit (as long a they used the correct reflective tape) and the results where astonishing.
The helmet art reflected not war, but contemporary art. Not top gun, but sol lewitt and frank Stella.
