Airborne helmet

[Sandsam]

Gary J...
I do not have a magnet now....
But i added two more pictures
I think the rim is made of aluminium...

[jelle]

It is a Danish postwar parahelmet. They used surplus british parahelmets like 1942 fibre rims and 1943 mkI helmets which were fased out in the late 1940s and replaced bij the mkII helmets and sold to canada and danmark and other nations. The crashpad is a typical danish conversion.

Regards,

Johan

[Sandsam]

Hi jelle
Thanks for the information !!!
Do you have more informations ??
For how many years was it used in Denmark ??
From - to ???

Thanks again !!

[jelle]

Danmark bought them in the late 40s. Production of the british MK II had ended in 1945. The british had enough of the MKII version for their much smaller postwar Airborne force and fazed out the leather chinstrap fibre rim and mkI helmets as the mkII was the better design.
As said they were sold to canada australia holland danmark and probably others like israel.
They were used for their new airborne forces. The cold war started and these forces began to grow resulting in shortage of these helmets and as no new helmets came from england they had to improvice . Helmets were kept in service for instance by replacing chinstraps for own made exsamples ,liners were taken from dr helmets and even british air raid helmets or dr helmetshellsand tankersshells were converted to para helmets.Some typical example of these helmets are

australia- converted fibre rim and mkI to mkII web configuration by drilling a third hole between the back two bolts
Canada- DR helmet with turned round liner and original or canadian made leathe chinstraps
Danmark- using the infantry helmet crosspad instead of the rubber pad, and using liners from airraid helmets, dr helmets.


Helmet production in Britain was started up in 1953 again to meet demand first off brittish forces offcoarse.

Many helmets have surfaced over the years from danmark ,some without any conversion{i got a great fibre rim from their in mint condition and have owned others}, some repainted ,some converted.


You helmet looks to be a 1943 mkI shell with orignal chinstraps. The shell has got the crosspad added. The liner if dated 1941 is off a DR helmet, but it is more likely 1943 dated[i cant see it even from the new pics so try and get a better shot]. The sorbo rubber in the helmet looks very late type for a 1943 helmet.

To british airborne collectors these converted helmets are not off great valeu ,but they are a great piece of danish airborne history.

A great fibre rim was on ebay last week with only the crosspad added it did not sell for the 400pounds asked, if not added it could have sold for silly money.