WW2 Padded Crew Helmet?

[Donald F Smith]

Good Morning All,

It is my first time posting, I recently purchades a Padded Armoured Crew Hemlet . It is a bit differnet than the more common type I have seen ( Especially on the sides for the headset/ ear flaps.

I purchased this from a fellow who purchasd it in Budapest a few years ago.

It matches a picture of a simmilar helmet in thsi book:

Bielski, Lazlo. Stalin's War: Soviet Uniforms & Militaria 1941-45 in Colour Photographs. (Crowood Press: June 2006). Pg. 102


My questions are , is this a late war time type of Russian Armourd Crew padded helmet, or is this a post war variety?

It looks to me to have been used in film shooting of some sort, but I know that film costume housed purchase surplus.

One thing that has me wondering is, at the back of the interior of the helmet , there is a white tape sewn in with blue Cyrilic (sp?) printing.

Also there are bold black ink stamps int eh ear flaps that look liek they have "MAFILM" in an oval

I have attached piscture.

Can any of you fellows help me identify this helmet?

Thank you for your considderation

Best

Don S

[davejb]

Ithink its too well made to be a film costume although it is more likely to be an original soviet style afv crew helmet used in a film and sometimes the production company would mark costumes up as they had bought them so as not to confuse costumes that were hired, its a shame theres no dates or more markings,as to ww2 i cant help there it could be post war, but its still a nice item.

[Adrian Stevenson]

I am tempted to say it is Hungarian. There are too many slight differences between it and a wartime Soviet issue one: lack of tightening strap at the rear, button to neck flap, not press stud, ear flaps, stitch pattern to the lining.

Cheers, Ade.

[Donald F Smith]

Thank you Dave & Ade,

This is helmet is a real puzzle to me , as it has so many of the WW2 features of the early padded helmets.

It does match one seen in the book :

Bielski, Lazlo. Stalin's War: Soviet Uniforms & Militaria 1941-45 in Colour Photographs. (Crowood Press: June 2006). Pg. 102

I have noticed that the side straps act as size adjustment for the helmet, as it is a size 1 and if I loosen the straps at the sides, it will fit my 7 3/8 head ( size 59)

I cannot find any other markings in the helmet, If I had a Russian key doard I could type out the printing ont he cloth strip in the back interior of the helmet (last picture)

Any further help in identifying this helmet would be most appreciated.

Best

Don S

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Don, there are a lot of errors in the book you mention, so I would not rely on it too much.

Try here for Cyrillic keyboard:

PROMT - Free Online Translator and dictionary - English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian) and Russian languages.

Cheers, Ade.

PS: Welcome to the forum!

[Donald F Smith]

Hi Ade,

Thank you for the welcome!

I appreciate the info. I am new to Soviet WW2 Collecting ( & reenacting). For years I have been primarily an American Civil War collector. Sadly , I think any area of collecting has its good and bad reference materiel. I appreciate the heads up regarding this book. Fortunately it is in a good friends library, not mine

Are there any reference books you would suggest?

I will see what I can come up with regarding the Crylic script in the helmet. If I am un able to get the key board to work, I may just have to copy it on a piece of paper and photograph it to post for some on eto translate.

thank you again for your help. It is much appreciated

Best

Don S

[Donald F Smith]

Good Afternoon All,

Well after some checking of the tag at the back of the helmet.

I found out the print is Hungarian, & that the helmet came out of the MAFILM studios costume department.

It is surplus, made in around 1953 or so, but sadly for me not Russian

Oh well, live an learn..........Now to find out more about Hungarian padded helmets!

Thank you for your help

Best

Don S

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Don, if you wanted to use it for re-enacting I think it would be perfectly acceptable. It is close enough and decent copies of the tank crew helmet are not easy to find.

There are a couple of books I can recommend. I will sort out the titles for you next week.

Cheers, Ade.

[Elnar]

Hi! It's a replica hungarian post war tank cap, for filmmakers. "MAFILM" meant "MAgyar FILMstúdió" - Hungarian Film Studios [ [ MAFILM ] ]