This particular helmet is important as it has been positively identified as belonging to the Stormtrooper squad sergeant, played by actor/stuntman Reg Harding, who, unusually, has a few lines of dialogue in the first film. It has been pin-pointed to the scene when Obi-Wan Kenobi travels with Luke Skywalker and the two droids, C-3PO and R2-D2 to Mos Eisley on Tatooine. On entering the city in a landspeeder, they are stopped by a Stormtrooper who questions them about the droids; Obi-Wan uses the Force to outwit the Stormtrooper who tells them to "Move Along".

Andrew Ainsworth of Shepperton Design Studios made approximately 60 Stormtrooper helmets for the first film; of these about 12 were used in the scenes shot in Tunisia - these Stormtroopers are also known as Sandtroopers due to the desert surroundings. Because of the heat and dusty conditions of the sets in Tunisia, the Sandtrooper helmets were ditched on return to Elstree, and it is at this point that the so-called ears were probably removed to be re-used on other helmets.

For further details and comparison photographs please see www.starwarshelmets.com.