British Tanker Helmet Pick-Up

[MySonsDad]

this is a very early helmet and it did not have a chin strap
the later ones had a Y type chin strap held by 4 bolts
as you can see this lid does not have the bolts for a chin strap
most of us tank crews took out the chin strap any way ,,,

Thanks for the great info Ian, good to know our helmet is of original configuration....was a little bummed when I though I had missed the chin strap all together.

Regards,

Russ

[ian]

hi Russ , its not all good news
im sorry to say you were right in your first assumption
there is a doughnut with a hole in it shaped crown pad missing from your helmet it protects the top of your head fro the draw string ,and is held in place by said string
i think i have a spare one at home ,,BUT,, im in Bagdad,Iraq at the moment ,so it may be some time before ill know for sure ,,, allso at the neck and the brow there is some velcro,,, there should be sort of banana shaped pads atatched to both of these velcro areas ,, the neck pad is a little larger than the brow pad ,, i dont think i have spares of these ,but ill look when i get home next ,, mabe a year though
cheers ian

[James C]

superb info from a first hand user excellent stuff ian

[ian]

The painting of thies types of helmet was,and,is frowned appon as the paint damages the helmet
however CMD does indeed denote comander
the 3.2 is c sqdn 2nd troop ... the driver would have DRV .. the gunner GNR and loader LDR ...the green mark i would sugest identifies which tank in the troop IE 32 is the troop leaders tank,,32A is the troop sgts tank and 32B is the troop cpls tank ..but in this case the desgnate letters are replaced by colours (green in this case)
the problem with identifiying your helmet in this way was and is that ,when the helmet goes for repair ,you never get yours back ,you get another one
so after some time the ID becomes meaning less
there is on one of the crown straps a little plastic pouch into which you could place a card with your nome on ,,that was the excepted method of identification of the owner

thanks COL

cheers ian

[ian]

in answer to Gregs coloqual name for this helmet it was known by us tank crews ,by two names
SKULL CRUSHER ,,,, becouse the earpiece springs are very strong and it crushed your head
and BONE DOME ,, for obviouse reasons
cheers ian

[James C]

ian can you tell me what mine was stencilled for it just has a black D on the front and back, driver maybe ? thanks in advance james

[MySonsDad]

IAN......you've provided a wealth of information, thank you so much. And certainly, if you happen to have a spare crown pad piece, we'd be happy to stike a deal with you for it.....

Regards,

Russ & Son

[ian]

hi James
i think the D on your helmet probably just meens D squadron
hi Russ if i have a the missing pads then you can have them ,no probs
cheers ian

[James C]

hi ian and thanks come to mention it another member on here said it possibly is the royal dragoons maybe its D for D squadron then thanks again james

[ian]

Russ ive found the tw0 bannana shaped pads ,,but they got them selfs packed for our house move ,,ill get them as soon as we unpack after the move ,,i have a wind rush for the mike somwhere as well,, cheers ian