Portuguese M40 Helmet - questions

[Greg Pickersgill]

Here are a few quite unusual, possibly unique, variants of the M940.

The first one has a rather odd, obviously replacement, set of liner pads made of a thin, flexible, but rather coarse-surfaced leather.



This next is unusual in having the original liner but with the later canvas chinstrap -



The next is even odder in a way, as it has a two-piece chinstrap with a simple prong buckle, which has obviously been there since the dawn of time, but I do not believe it to be a factory fitting -



It would seem to me reasonable to accept that these are all local fixes done out in the Ultramar, perhaps in Macao, Goa, Angola, Mozambique, even the Azores. Proper spare parts may well have been hard to come by.

I wonder if anyone can spot the deliberate - well, possibly accidental - mistake in the third example.

[meyle77]

Thanks, is the third one light brown ?
I had confirmed through a Portuguese forum that green were Ultramar and light brown were continental Portugal.

[Greg Pickersgill]

The third helmet, with the two-piece leather straps, is a very light brown, almost light tan, colour. The paint is complete, inside and out. I feel reasonably sure this is NOT a factory finish. It is obvious that the liner was removed at some point - probably for the repaint - as it was replaced back to front (that was the 'deliberate mistake'!).

I don't entirely understand the colour differences, so anything you can tell me would be good. I also have a black overpaint, which I believe to be Colonial Police (?), and some of my others have varying shades of green or brown. There's not much consistency, really.

[meyle77]

All I know is that green were Ultramar and light brown were continental Portugal.
Black were attributed to police and para-military but never got a confirmation on that.