Flight helmet fan here too, just the wrong era. Always wanted a modern helmet, always too expensive, friend told me he saw one at a gun show. So the next gun show I'm there, and low and behold there's one there, it was like a navigators helmet, or some dude who sits way in the back of the plane (probably a Hawkeye or Viking, it was a Navy helmet), had a clear visor, mic boom, but it was a helmet...$90. Now I am really suave and smooth and... it's a lady selling it, so I can really get the price down. It was her husbands, who had to be Frankenstien, cause the helmet is huge, so after about five minutes I've gotten her down to $85, how's that for wheelin'n'dealin'...like I said I've got a way with the ladies.
Pay my $85 and take home my enormous helmet. Peel off all the reflective tape, bondo up the holes I left taking off the tape and paint it and decal it. Add a ton of foam inside the helmet so my head's not swimming in it, but it's still just a blue helmet with some cool decals, I want a fighter pilot helmet, tinted visor, O2 mask, the whole deal. Contact a guy in Arizona with a ton of surplus aviation gear, he has a tinted visor that he will sell me. Get my visor and take about a week to put it in, it was not easy. So I'm good for a while, I've got my helmet, but I am always wanting the O2 mask, but they are more expensive than a helmet, and this a luxury item and then some, so the mask just is not going to happen, maybe a mid-life crisis purchase.
My dad knows about my helmet and desire to finish it with the O2 mask, and is always on the lookout, he's an airplane nut too so it's fun for 'em. Couple years go by and he tells me he has a present for me, but not mentioning the helmet specifically. He hands me this O2 mask and tells me the story about a guy in a F-80 at an airshow that had to eject and once the pilot has done this they can no longer use the mask. Guess my dad had some other guys looking too, I don't think he knew the actual pilot, but he ended up getting me my mask to complete my fighter pilot helmet.
It is now on a shelf above my computer collecting dust, still put it on everynow and then. A great novelty item, kids love wearing it, and it's a great topic of conversation. My son is the model for this shot (he also flew my missions last Friday in HE, explains a lot about my lack of points.
Noter
Was a cold ride home that night w/no cover for my ears. 
