Canadian chemical helmet cover

[M.E.E.]

I have been wanting to pick one of these up for sometime and finally decided to do it and am very glad I did. I had heard they were a pain to work with and initially it took a bit of work but I was able to get it apart nicely and onto a helmet. The cover has a great camouflage colour and looks great on display. Normally I would take pictures outside but the weather has been cold and with the way this reacts to hot and cold I didn't want to take any chance. The benefit is that the colours of the camouflage came out really nice. The bits of white you see are the wax paper it was stored in stuck to it.

[iambakerboy]

Great Display Piece!

[reneblacky]

Very nice & not something I see every day!

[Composite]

Nice....I've found that a heat source, like a hairdryer (mild heat, mild blast), to be ones best friend when folding or unfolding these things. I'm usually trying to get them out of the gap between a helmet shell and a liner....or, often harder, get them back into that gap. You've done well and got a nice piece there. I'm not sure I'd have the b@lls to do it with one still in it's storage paper tho!

[Mark K]

The anti Gas Cover is constructed of a two tone green and brown wax covered light canvas like material It is thought that first the base material is dyed to the proper colour and then the camo pattern is added the fabric is then cut and is sewn together and coated in linseed oil this accounts for the viscous nature of the textile...
Once this is done the buttons and or snaps are added on the norm Canadian produced covers are marked with a manufacturer's production stamp as shown in this well worn example from my collection below it was manufactured in 1942 by ARISTO in Gault Ontario and bares the C-/I\ Canadian War time government acceptance stamp.
There are period contemporary images that show these covers were indeed used and field modified and the anti gas covers can be seen worn by members of the Canadian Navy to help protect them from the elements while performing their duties on board ships and landing craft alike..
As well as being worn by Canadian and British soldiers serving in the ETO to help ward off the rains and foul weather some of these were indeed modified by removing the cape and then further used as a straight camo helmet covers as well.

Regards Mark

[Composite]

Nice post.....'s'funny how these things were used for all sorts....EXCEPT for the one thing they were initially designed for! (thank god)

[M.E.E.]

Those are great pictures I like how they snap the arms on the top on the last picture bottom left, I might have to do that if I ever need to space and still want to display.