THE HELMET THREAD

South African M51 very nice Gulf, unusual to see one with a green sweatband, and fabric liner chinstrap?


Do you know what the significance of the red triangle is?

J hero that's one hellova name too!

Any ideas please,no markings or stamps. Thought possibly French but cannot find any pics etc to ID it.

Thanks

Any ideas please,no markings or stamps. Thought possibly French but cannot find any pics etc to ID it.


Very nice Gulf, it's a Model 65 ( Sub-Radio Headset tank model 65) I have one of these , but not with the the radio headset..bonus8) 

Easy Gee wrote:Any ideas please,no markings or stamps. Thought possibly French but cannot find any pics etc to ID it.


Very nice Gulf, it's a Model 65 ( Sub-Radio Headset tank model 65) I have one of these , but not with the the radio headset..bonus8) 

Cheers Gary,is it French? Couldnt find any info or pics anywhere.

Thanks

Gulf91 wrote:

Easy Gee wrote:Any ideas please,no markings or stamps. Thought possibly French but cannot find any pics etc to ID it.


Very nice Gulf, it's a Model 65 ( Sub-Radio Headset tank model 65) I have one of these , but not with the the radio headset..bonus8) 

Cheers Gary,is it French? Couldnt find any info or pics anywhere.

Thanks

Check out this site Gulf.

http://www.world-war-helmets.com/fiche.php?q=Casque-Francais-Tankiste-Mle-65

Easy Gee wrote:

Gulf91 wrote:

Easy Gee wrote:Any ideas please,no markings or stamps. Thought possibly French but cannot find any pics etc to ID it.


Very nice Gulf, it's a Model 65 ( Sub-Radio Headset tank model 65) I have one of these , but not with the the radio headset..bonus8) 

Cheers Gary,is it French? Couldnt find any info or pics anywhere.

Thanks

Check out this site Gulf.

http://www.world-war-helmets.com/fiche.php?q=Casque-Francais-Tankiste-Mle-65

Many Thanks Gary,thats a new site on me.

Cheers

"Many Thanks Gary,thats a new site on me.

Cheers"

Your welcome mate, always glad to help fellow helmet collectors;) 

One thing I was wondering was it worn as a stand alone helmet or was the M51 worn on top of it for added protection?

Gulf91 wrote:One thing I was wondering was it worn as a stand alone helmet or was the M51 worn on top of it for added protection?

Good question, I have read in reference books that even it was designed to fit inside and be worn with the M51 shell on top, I do not believe this was common practise. Equally I have read in said books these were worn by FFL as standalone helmets.

I don't think I have ever managed to find any decent pictures of these in use other than the site I recommended,which is frustrating for us collectors

Aye,until that link I had only ever seen pics of the earlier type.

Great reference pictures Gulf, lot's of period detail,thanks for showing!

Youre welcome Gary,feel a dumbass as have owned the book the pics were in for around 10 years!!

Interesting German helmets Gulf, sadly most of the pictures are missing ( forum glitch !) but the "Green" coloured helmet has what appears to be remnants of a stud, which makes me think it was originally a West German border guard piece?

The SS badge is not right, but frustratingly  I cannot comment further as again most of the pictures are not present ( forum glitch again)

I do not seem to be able to attach a smiley or whatever to the end of my text...very frustrating for us both !!!!

What's the story behind them, film props or similar ?

Think they are both post war Finnish helmets done up by a reenactor??

Easy Gee wrote:Interesting German helmets Gulf, sadly most of the pictures are missing ( forum glitch !) but the "Green" coloured helmet has what appears to be remnants of a stud, which makes me think it was originally a West German border guard piece?

The SS badge is not right, but frustratingly  I cannot comment further as again most of the pictures are not present ( forum glitch again)

I do not seem to be able to attach a smiley or whatever to the end of my text...very frustrating for us both !!!!

What's the story behind them, film props or similar ?

Dont collect SS items but am interested in what way the decal is wrong Gary?

"Dont collect SS items but am interested in what way the decal is wrong Gary"?

The respray covering the helmet is hiding the detail, but the runes do not look original to me,but like you I do not collect SS stuff!

I did a bit of research on your behalf ,in 1957 the Finnish bought 20,000 M 35/53 from the West Germans,which was my original hunch, the liners do not look Finnish either way.

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/cache-of-dreams-thousands-of-german-made-helmets-discovered-in-finland.html

http://www.ima-usa.com/original-german-m40-wwii-type-steel-helmet-finnish-m40-55-contract-4465.html

gulf are these designated finnish m55's if they are i would imagine a couple of liner rivits have been blanked off ,its possible the paint is hidding this ,you might see this better from the inside ,i too see the removed west german stud in the crown on the od one ,the liner reminds me of the austrian stahlhelm 1 ,and i see the chinstraps are sewn direct to the liner ,is the ss a decal or spray painted? i like the chicken wired finish and texture on the other one , any chance of a better picture of the complete shell ,the quality of the rolled edge does give cause for concern on the grey one ,normally an indication of a modern reproduction but i could be wrong

Gulf91 wrote:http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/cache-of-dreams-thousands-of-german-made-helmets-discovered-in-finland.html

http://www.ima-usa.com/original-german-m40-wwii-type-steel-helmet-finnish-m40-55-contract-4465.html

Wow, that is the most amazing collection of lids I have seen in a very long time , could make a killing with that lot:shock: 

Yep,lucky lucky chap.

A long shot I know but does anybody know of any suppliers/sellers or does anybody have a couple of the rubber mushroom type plugs that hold the liners in place in British Mk6,6A helmets?

Many Thanks

Gulf91 wrote:A long shot I know but does anybody know of any suppliers/sellers or does anybody have a couple of the rubber mushroom type plugs that hold the liners in place in British Mk6,6A helmets?

Many Thanks

Blimey that's a request and half, I have never known at least on the surplus market to have ever seen any...anywhere!

I assume you need to replace some on a helmet, there might be another "bodge" to get around this!