street fire party helmet

[James C]

just thought id share my zuckerman helmet that arrived this week my first helmet of 2012 to be honest its not a helmet that has ever been high on my list to aquire but i liked this one as it looks to have a period chinstrap which most are missing the liner is stamped mm41-7 the lid has a large m stamped on it ,also stamped is vmr 41 the sfp is painted on both front and back ,i dont believe the liner string to be original as it looks like an old shoelace oh and there are two holes punched through the front and rear peak if anybody can enlighten me on any of the above details that would be swell cheers james

[tinlid]

The humble Zuckerman or as it should be named the Civilian Protective helmet, not that collectable which is a shame as the people that used this helmet saved a lot of lives & homes.
These helmets came without chin straps, you see home made ones mostly but there does seem to be a few leather chin straps that were used. I don't know where these leather ones come from though, there is another strap that was used on these helmets & it was called the adjusta pads (see pics).
41/7 is the date 1941/ july, the M is for medium, I think they came in S, M, L, although I don't think I've seen a Small marked helmet.
The string holding the liner in look fine, that's how they came.
SFP, Street Fire Party or Supplementary Fire Patrol, I think there were 2 groups that used these helmets in 1941 with the same initials. in 42 I think it was they changed there name to Fire Guards.
Nice to see this much underated helmet
Aaron

[tinlid]

Forgot the adjusta pad strap

[James C]

hi Aaron and many thanks for the info very much apreciated thats what i like about this site there is always some kind gent that will shed more light on these period items and can i say what a superb trio of zuckermans you have thank you for sharing i can see that yours have the same liner string which i thought was a shoelace i thought maybe it was a post war repair can i ask why one of your fg helmets is painted white ? also i notice that the other fg helmet has its liner string pulled through the shorter holes of the helmet one more question do you know the maker from vmr 41 ive heard a certain motor company even made these , heres some pics for you interest from the imperial war museum in salford manchester 2nd pic is of protection bell for the f/g of some sort i dont know a great deal about these but i supose it was a safe haven in the event of falling debris many thanks james

[tinlid]

Hi James,
The white Zuckerman donates an officer, probably senior fire guard.They have a number of black bands around the helmet, 1-4 to show different rank.
The string to hold the liner in place should go through the longer holes & not the shorter ones, either put in wrong or was put in at a later date.
Sorry I don't know the maker VMR but Austin motors Co & briggs motor bodies were 2 of the makers of these helmets amongst others. That's a nice FG helmet at the museum.
Aaron

[Adrian Stevenson]

Nice info on the chin straps Aaron

James, I have always fancied owning one of the firewatchers shelters.

My example can be seen here:

British Firewatchers "Zuckerman" steel helmet

Cheers, Ade.

[James C]

thanks for sharing your example adrian , i wonder how many of these shelters were made or in existence today

[MySonsDad]

Great looking helmet Col. I've been keeping my eyes open for the right one of these myself...something to go along with the kids CD gas mask. One that tickles oru fancy will come along in time I'm sure.

All the other Zuk posting in this thread are great too, give me more food for thought. Thanks all.

[Tinhat]

James, I have always fancied owning one of the firewatchers shelters.

I was working at a place once and discovered that one of the benches was a Morrison shelter, they wouldn't let me have it, which was probably fortunate becuase I would have struggled to get it in the back of my Escort. I bet it thrown out in the end.

If I started collecting helemts today, I would pick the Zuckerman, cheap, still turn up at car boots and plenty of varriation, these will be as colectable as the Home Fromt helmets have become.
Steve.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Steve, funnly enough I have just been offered an Anderson shelter. (Not really got anywhere to put it) Morrison shelters are much harder to find.

Cheers, Ade.