Tank crew helmets

[no man army]

Hello, just wondering if you guys can help me, I really like tanks and tank related militaria and ive seen various 'tankers helmets' for sale on ebay etc but are they really? how can I tell? they just look like dispatch riders helmets to me. Also where can I buy tank related militaria i.e. helmets, uniforms or even tank parts? not necessarily british but british would be good age doesn't really bother me either but I do prefer ww2

[ian]

hi mate
being an ex tankcrewman my self i can say we are finiky people when it comes to helmets
we dont like them mutch
the berret and headset are prefered
there is a steal helmet the same shell as the dispatch/parra helmet used during the war and after ,i wsas using them up till 82
but they are for dismounted use
the helmets worn in the tank are totaly diferend and all have headsets in them
i dont know about ww2 but we used an amplivox helmet rather like a helicopter pilots lid (we caled it the bone dome , or head crusher as the springs holding the earphones were to strong) and in later years a racal roman helmet as we called it
i dont have pics as im in germany and my lids are in my bar at home in the uk
im sure you may have heard of the tanky berret ,, well that has to do with the use of a headset with the berret
so instead of the berret being shaped right and rear it was shaped down both sides
elegal as to army regs but tolerated in the RTR and cavalry, and i should add the signals
cheers ian

by the way the ,,helmet RAC crewman is the same shell as the dispatch riders lid
but with a liner the same as the ww2 infantry helmet
post war have an elasticated chin strap
im sure others will help you more than me but i hope ive given you some thought
cheers again ian

[ian]

heres a pic of the roman and amplivox type helmetes ,, there are pics of the ,helmet rac crewman on other posts /i dont know how to link ,,as i said before ,to my knowlage helmets wre not used on the tank before about 1975/6 by preference any way
there are bound to be helmets used on the tank during ww2 but ive never heard of or seen them
cheers ian

[oradour]

no mans army...1960-1970's Bundeswehr (West German Army) tanker hard hat type beret, IMO heavily ifluenced by its WW2 counterpart.
Prost ! Steve.

[ian]

hi aradour/steve
as i said tankys/tankers love there berrets , the berret you have there is very rare now ,especialy the rubber insert,, ive tried to find one to no evail ,, oh well
cheers ian

[helldunkle]

I took a chance and bought a job lot of 6 of these RAC helmets off ebay, I thought they were just shells but they came with 1945 dated liners! All the liners are the early lift the dot type and stamped mk2. Ive seen ww2 photos of Canadian infantry wearing these helmets.

[helldunkle]

Canadian Machine gunners. One wears an RAC helmet and the other wears a Mk2

[tinlid]

Hi,
The easiest way to tell a P type helmet from one another is, the HSRAC liner was fitted to the shell by 1 nut & bolt from the top of the helmet. The liner being the same as the infantry MkII helmet, the HSDR was fitted to the shell by either 4 nuts & bolts, 1942 only, or 4 rivets from later in 42 onwards around the side of the shell.
The MkII HSRAC came into service in March 45 so probably never saw service in the European conflict, the liner was secured by a rivet.
Aaron

[davejb]

The American ww2 tank crews had a purpose built tank helmet made by Rawlings, it had large holes around the dome for ventalation and looked very similar to the old style baseball helmets of the 20s and 30s, google the name and add tank helmets and you will see what is meant

[mk1rceme]

Here is a Canadian tank crew helmet made of cork...