Thank you for commenting krisse and your input here is most welcome,it's great you actually use to wear this type i have shown .Can i ask if the jigsaw pattern helmet covers were quite commonplace on M71's or were there a variety of covers fitted
Thank you for commenting krisse and your input here is most welcome,it's great you actually use to wear this type i have shown .Can i ask if the jigsaw pattern helmet covers were quite commonplace on M71's or were there a variety of covers fitted
Last edited by James C; 11-03-2020 at 07:57 PM.
Well there are different patterns yes. But I can't provide pictures of them now. Wednesday I'm at the base.
I shall take my helmet at home and post you some good pictures of him.
If you are interested,... I still have 3 nice smokejackets with the same pattern...
K.
Excellent Krisse and it would be great to see your pictures posted up
Last edited by James C; 11-03-2020 at 07:58 PM.
The appearance of a serious end-user of these helmets has reminded me of something I haven't been getting on with.
Right then. I did make a claim sometime earlier in this thread that I'd ask around and see if we could get the Facts about the curious combo of the German LL and French F1 helmet.
Unsurprisingly there is no absolute answer, although the following, mostly derived from Belgian collector Walter Jacobs (who has recently completed the ms. of a book on Belgian helmets) may help.
The M71 helmets were originally sourced from Schuberth between 1972 and 1979, with more from VDN in the mid 80’s. These helmets were essentially identical to the German LL issue, except that the liner bolts do not have a little hole in the middle (with some rare exceptions), and the chinstraps have an extra leather strap element making a chin-cup (an option offered by Schuberth, not a specific Belgian requirement), and a Belgian flag on the side (originally a sticker, not a decal). There is a possibility that some helmets were issued without the extra chincup strap, but then again that element might have been lost or removed by individual users.
These helmets were used from the early 70s to the late 90s and they have often been repaired. Most have their leather chin cup replaced by a French plastic cup from which the leather padding has been removed for hygienic reasons but some retain the original leather chin cup strap, sometimes in “mixed” colours since the strapping on early Schuberts was sometimes brown instead of green. Some of these early helmets were re-painted glossy green, re-lined and re-strapped in the army Arsenal of Ypres; the strapping is twice as thick as the original ones and liner bolts were sometimes replaced with whatever was available and fitted, even hexagonal bolts.
In the 1990s VDN-made LL helmets, made by VDN, were purchased from Germany, 'off the shelf' from stock; they do not have a flag on the side and originally did not have the chin cup, although some paras placed old chin cups on them (leather or plastic). This type of helmet has a NSN (Nato stock number) in it with “13” for Belgium and the manufacturers mark is stamped in the rim. Some of these helmets are still in use.
At some time, possibly the mid-1980s, the Belgian army purchased the hybrid German/French para helmet, but there is no definate information about the source. They are not arsenal modifications, they were manufactured as seen. The liner is not 100% French, since the plastic buckle on the chinstrap is of Swedish manufacture. The holes in the shell were made before it was sprayed and the decals (no stickers) of the Belgian flag are always placed high on the shell, relative to those on the earlier Mle71 or other Belgian helmets. There was only one batch of these relatively uncommon helmets and no marking whatsoever can be found on them.
That's absolutely fascinating, isn't it. There's scope for a whole collection in itself based around these helmets. I love it!
However, I and Walter J and everyone else would be delighted if Kris can fill in, correct, or otherwise add to this story.
Excellent pictures Krisse ,can i ask what year these were taken please .Greg many thanks for the additional information
Last edited by James C; 11-03-2020 at 08:02 PM.
The pictures were taken in 2003 in Kusadashi with the presentation of NRF. (Nato Response Force).
Kris.
Many thanks Krisse for your contribution here
Last edited by James C; 11-03-2020 at 08:03 PM.
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