My british 1944 dated gasmask and TC-38 french gasmask
Article about: Hello I want you to Show my French and my second British gasmask The French is Box is Blue and dated 1939 and the british with bag is dated 1944 The both filters are original and in good con
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The British mask is one of many that were reissued to the Danish Army after the war (The 'C.F.' stamps on the mask and the inner lid of the carrier are Danish Army property markings). It's a WWII mask, but reissued postwar. I believe the diaphragm is a postwar replacement as well. The original ones had a threaded knob on them for the attachment of a microphone, although the microphone itself never went into production.
The filter is a wartime one, with the date stamped into the rim, as you've already spotted. They are sometimes seen with postwar filters on them, which tend to be finished in shiny rather than matte paint.
Here's mine. The threaded diaphragm is the correct wartime one.
I'm not at all familiar with French respirators, unfortunately. I believe the TC-38 is a civilian model, issued in a similar vein to the British Civilian General and Civilian Duty respirators. It's a nice one! The celluloid eyepieces usually dry out and crack.
Regards, B.B.
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Very interesting from both of you. I have one of the British ones packed away in a box somewhere. I must check if it's got the "CF" mark.
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by
Anderson
Very interesting from both of you. I have one of the British ones packed away in a box somewhere. I must check if it's got the "CF" mark.
The vast majority of them seem to have those markings. They were sold to Denmark in bulk, so only a few would have slipped through the cracks. Some less scrupulous individuals will try to remove the red 'C.F.' marking from the mask rubber, but removing it from the inner lid of the carrier is much more difficult. While it is possible for fakers to pair a postwar mask with a wartime carrier, finding a paired mask and carrier without the Danish property markings is a good sign they're wartime, generally speaking.
It's also worth noting that the one I've posted above is a bit of an oddity, as it has the triangular cutout on the nose for the installment of a rubber exhale valve. Although I'm not an expert on the subject, my guess would be that some early masks used adapted leftover stocks of Civilian Duty respirators.
B.B.
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Yes, by November 1944 the risk of a gas attack was diminishing and the "Service Respirator" was not the most vital piece of kit it was in 1939. I know in the Pacific the NZ Forces stopped carrying them as seemed to be little risk of a Japanese gas attack. No doubt by 1945 there were warehouses in the UK crammed with unissued sets. I got mine in the 1970's, that may be when the Danish offloaded their stock of this model.
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