Need info on British helmet

[ackb]

Can anyone give me some info about this British helmet? I am still learning when it comes to these :-)


Cheers
Alex

[asterperious]

Here is all you'll ever need to know:

BTW yours is South African. War Office Pattern - The Brodie Helmet and its derivatives

[ackb]

Many thanks!

[maximus71]

Looks great with that camo netting on it!!

[Greg Pickersgill]

I am not 100% sure this is a 100% South African. Yes, obviously it has all the right characteristics for that, but it also seems to have a leather rather than oilcloth liner - which so far as I am concerned is very unusual for a SA-made helmet. If anyone knows better, please do tell all!

My theory is that is may have been reused/refurbished elsewhere; perhaps Greece, where *many* Mk2 helmets were reused after WW2. Now, usually they have a locally-made liner with a distinctive metal cradle and brown leatherette liner (copy of the original) but I am sure I have seen at least one example with a leather liner. But a leather liner fitted to the original Jager-Rand cradle? Unusual and strange. There's something more to this, I think, that I just can't recall at the moment, involving re-use/refurbishment in somewhere other than SA. India?

Anyway, very interesting helmet, may have more to it than first appears. Unless of course leather liners for J-R helmets were actually common as dirt and I just have never encountered one. In which case....

[JBR]

I'm wondering if it is leather - see photo revealing under-padding. I have an SA liner which was originally black leatherette but which lost virtually all it's pvc(?) covering leaving just greyish cloth. The crown pad is black, too. This helmet has an OD pad and, perhaps, a brown leatherette liner. Could the combination of these two be significant? The net looks SA and that it has possibly been on the helmet a while. Very interesting.......... Best Regards, John

PS: Having just looked at World War Helmets, Greek section, Greg's guess may well be right - look at the picture of 'liner layers' - .: World War Helmets - Casque Mark II :.

Looks to me like the brown surface of the possibly Greek liner fabric has worn down giving a 'leatherette-like' look. But compare the colour of the underside.

[Shadwellarmy]

Interesting lid. Odd with the leather but original crown pad and cross straps. Agree that it must have been refurbished at some point, alot of SA helmets were sold to other countries already during the war.
Netting looks original as well.

Cheers, Mads