Swedish M37/65 or Finnish M62 ?
Article about: I have a Swedish M37/65 that is flat grey and has the double 3 crown decals. I also have what I was told was a Finnish M62, which is identical except it is painted a slightly semi gloss fore
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Swedish M37/65 or Finnish M62 ?
I have a Swedish M37/65 that is flat grey and has the double 3 crown decals. I also have what I was told was a Finnish M62, which is identical except it is painted a slightly semi gloss forest green color. The color looks Finnish from the pictures I've seen. The paint is somewhat thick and has several chips in it and is flat grey under the green. If it was a repaint/reissue the liner was put in after it was painted. Were all the Finnish helmets made in Sweden ? Is there a way to tell if it was a Swedish issue helmet or a Finnish issue helmet ? I can load some pics tomorrow if that helps. -Thanks
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Hello, I may have an answer for you but please listen to what others say as they are most likely more knowledgeable.
As far as I can remember, any of these types of helmets that were made in Finland should have a small W stamped around the brim's underside. I gathered this knowledge from this thread: Swedish M37 helmets
Also, make sure there are no crowns stamped into the underside of the helmet. This would be an identifying factor for a helmet made in Sweden. Other countries that used these helmets include Latvia, Lithuania, and I believe Estonia (Estonia also had their own mysterious model called the m40 which was an experimental helmet from Poland, I believe). Check them out to see if that's what you may have.
In the end though, pictures would be the best way for us to tell!
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OsiusGaming is quite right. Finnish made helmets will have a very small 'W', that is for Wartsila, the manufacturer. But apart from that, and the hint about anything with a stamped crown (usually a crown over a number, the size in cm) being definately Swedish it is very hard to tell the two apart. I am in a similar situation to Kyron4, in that I have two helmets I believe are Finnish but because of overpainting it is hard to be certain.
See also
Finnish model 40
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I read from book that Finland ordered 20.000 m62 helmet shells from Sweden 1962.
First 3 years Finns didn't have liners for these helmets, because complicated foreing purchase reasons.
1965 Finns tried to copy german developed liner and ordered 70.000 liners made in Finland. Stucturally these weren's strong as german equivalent, plastic parts were weak in cold.
No more were ordered.
The liner for these helmets were bought separately from Germany 1971 (100.000 pieces) as apology for stealing patent. And assembeld in Finland.
German liner patent ended 1977 and Finns copied it's manufacturing methods immediately.
1978 Wärtsilä Oy could only now produce complete helmets for the army on it's own.
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I Guess Swedes sold some helmets from their warehouses if it had swedish decal. Swedish helmets had green paint finish, so Finns must have repainted them.
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Basic simple helmet, I like it.
Finns peacekeepers, Cyprus 1965.
Last edited by Jack59; 08-12-2023 at 10:54 PM.
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