British Helmet Parachute Lightweight
A recent acquisition of mine was this Helmet Parachute Lightweight - which some collectors refer to as the M76. My knowledge of these isn't that great, but from what I can make out, it is an early version - although not Falklands war early! The shell is of the smooth type, and gently (slightly) peeling back one edge of the rubber band and DPM cover reveals the bolts to be the later painted type. It looks as though it has never been taken apart, and I'm not going to risk doing it - for fear of damaging the liner. There might be labels under the liner, but I'm not going to go looking for them!
The helmet has had the original chinstraps replaced with those off a Mk6 helmet, and there are other modifications too. Underneath the rear two plastic tongues of the liner there has been two blocks of sponge rubber taped to the tongues. Also, the liner has the additional tape which passes through the second set of holes on the four tongues to keep the liner falling back out on itself. But unlike the later liners, this is not stitched to the edge of the fabric liner - but midway up - both at the back and the front. The white stitching can clearly be seen in the pictures. A modification of an early liner perhaps?
The brow pad is brown, but whether this is a white pad that has turned brown through muck and sweat I don't know. I cannot see any breakout sections in the liner either, there being no obvious lines in the liner where you would expect to see them. All in all, an interesting helmet.
Cheers,
Steve
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