Not being an expert on US gear, but...
The seam refers to the join of the thin bit of metal that goes round the rim. Early M1s had the join (seam) at the front, later ones at the rear.
You'll never find an original airborne helmet as all but few were handed in at the end of the war and destroyed. The only ones which missed out on the treatment were either from officers who could dodge handing them in or any collected in Normandy by French people and ferreted away for years.
You won't find an Airborne liner either for the same reason. Best thing to do is convert the liner OR buy one of the faux fibre airborne liners from SOF.
Front or rear seam is fine. D bales are earlier but not necessary to change unless you're really desperate. Just make sure you don't paint the Spade on the size they have it on Band Of Brothers, christ they're huge! I'll try and upload a pic of a couple I've done recently.
Any questions PM - I can probably answer most about the uniform and stuff.
Show me a man who will jump out of an airplane, and I'll show you a man who will fight!
General James M. Gavin
CRY HAVOC AND LET LOOSE THE DOGS OF WAR
The fixed bales on the M2 are a different shape to those on the M1.
There seems to be some evidence that fixed bale M1 shells were used with para liners.
aka Stigroadie
AFRA
better by design
"Truth is a shining goddess, always veiled, always distant, never wholly approachable, but worthy of all the devotion of which the human spirit is capable. "
The ideal for a June 44 impression is a front seam M2 "D-Bale" para helmet (all M2s would have been front seam), when I got into 101st re-enacting ten years ago I was lucky to get a bonus from work and got myself a nice repro from Josh Murray 1944 Inc. (http://www.jmurrayinc1944.com/). Not cheap but well worth it.
If you're simply after a helmet for airsoft use I wouldn't worry about the front/rear seam issue, someone would have to be within a few feet of you to even be able to see it assuming they even cared. Even most airborne re-enactors don't have fully accurate M2 helmets, many use late war swivel bale shells to create an M1C type helmet, that's what I had for the first year or so.
The practice of using a standard infantry fixed bale M1 shell with an airborne modifed liner was quite common, even to the point of the shell still having the standard webbing chin strap that couldn't be poppered to the airborne liner in some cases.
Here's some pics of my M2 helmet
-Marc-
4th Wilts LHG
WW2 armoury: WA M1911A1 SCW, TM M1A1 TSMG, AGM STEN Mk2, AGM MP40, S&S M1 Garand.
