Plastic Helmet (commercial ‘Plasfort’ type): British, Civilian

[Salzburg]

Just arrived is my lovely Plasfort helmet. Something different for the collection.

Martin

[tinlid]

Great condition, there are a few different types of bakelite helmets.

[OldSteel]

Nice helmet!
I have this example in my collection, very similar to your example, but is not marked and the liner is slightly different.

Bakelite Mk2 helmet


Cheers
Roberto

[Ko de Bruin]

Nice helmet. What i wonder is..are these helmets made of the same material as a german lightweight parade helmet or later on DDR fire helmets? Or is it a different material? i believe they call them vulcan fiber helmets?

[Tinhat]

Nice helmet. What i wonder is..are these helmets made of the same material as a german lightweight parade helmet or later on DDR fire helmets? Or is it a different material? i believe they call them vulcan fiber helmets?

Ko,
The quick answer in ‘No, they are not the same’

The Plasfort helmet shown here is made from a Bakelite (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite) or similar material, which is an early plastic, a resin poured into a mold. The indication of it being molded is the raised ‘Plasfort’ logo. These helmets are thicker, heavier and more brittle than ‘fiber’ helmets but provide a level of protection.

‘Fiber’ helmets of wartime period are vulcanised fiber (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulcanized_fibre), which is a material or paper pulp covered in a cellulose, they provide little protection, the British also had vulcanised fiber helmet, for civil defence but the crown was covered in wither additional layers of fiber or a steel plate. This thread has multiple examples.

Anyone have an idea what this british fibre helmet is? Civil Defence? Miner?

Steve.