British MkIII Turtle pattern helmet
Article about: Hello Ade, Here's a post war Turtle given to me by a friend who found it in a garage. Mk IV 1954, manufactured by CCL. Do you know who CCL were? Cheers, Guy.
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Re: British MkIII Turtle pattern helmet
Agree with you on that one Ben, and they were an even bigger pain when you went to ground wearing any sort of pack/radio harness.
They were great for showing recruits the potential repurcussions of misuse of pyrotechnics though, 1 X Thunderflash + 1 X steel helmet = 1 group of VERY enlightened recruits/Phase 1 trainee's!!
As I remember, as a radio operator, I had to wear mine reversed when I had a head set on, unless I could get away with either wearing my beret or no head-dress! The frame for the radio used to tip the helmet forward over the eyes when worn properly.
Regards etc
Ian D
AKA: Jimpy
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Re: British MkIII Turtle pattern helmet
by
Adrian Stevenson
Hi Chris, nets would have been added at unit level I think?
Cheers, Ade.
Ade,
Helmet nets were individual issue, at my unit anyway, it was then down to the individual soldier to scrim up their lid as appropriate.
A popular method of camouflaging the helmet was to get a hold of either a nylon cam-net square (off a vehicle cam-net) or a section of DPM material, put that on first, then the net, and thread some black elastic through the netting so that "local camouflage" could be added as necessary.
Regards etc
Ian D
AKA: Jimpy
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Re: British MkIII Turtle pattern helmet
ive just purchased one of these turtle helmets and im glad i did ,it looks great in my collection i also like the design on my liner it has 111 stamped and 1952 the rivits are quite close to the brim , i wonder why the mk3 had such a short production run ,
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Re: British MkIII Turtle pattern helmet
Hi,
The MkIV was brought into production so it could be used in the far east against Japan. The idea being to remove the liner without leaving a hole in the helmet so it could be used to carry water. Removing the liner in the MkIII would leave a hole where the nut & bolt went.
Aaron
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Re: British MkIII Turtle pattern helmet
by
battle gear
A Syrian soldier mans a position along the border with Iraq on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007.
navyman,
I think some soldiers prefered to wear it backwards for a better sun visor in desert environments, like this Syrian soldier, seems like it might help keep the sun out of your eyes better worn backwards.
some countries still use the British MKIII Turtle shell style helmets
I remember a MarkIII or Mark IV (can't remember) within the past year or so on eBay, from a particular well-known purveyor of Polish WW2 Exile helmets of questionable authenticity (and a very prolific eBay seller of whom neither hide nor hair can be found nowadays, at least under his old handle), that had the WW2 painted Polish Exile eagle on the backside of the helmet (!!!). When I pointed this error out to the producer -- er-- sorry -- make that the "seller" -- in a private email, rather than pulling the item in shame, he explained to me that the Poles actually preferred to wear their turtle shell helmets in this fashion!
Just for the record -- to the members who are not also Polish militaria collectors -- the Poles knew their fronts from their backs and the explanation was pure bunk.
I don't remember if the helmet eventually sold. Wish I had thought to save a photo of it. It was ... unique.
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Re: British MkIII Turtle pattern helmet
Defintely unique
Aaron
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Re: British MkIII Turtle pattern helmet
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