Converting British RAC helmet to Airborne

[roajeep]

Hi,

I intend to convert a standard British WW2 Royal Armoured Corps steel helmet to become an Airborne Helmet.
So I have a few questions I hope you experts can assist me with.

On the RAC helmet to rivets holding the chinstrap buckles in place are midway front/rear. Think of 3 and 9 on a clock face. On photos of the AB helmets these appear to be further forward. Almost midway between the ear and the eyebrow. Think of 2 and 10 on a clock face.
Does anyone have the exact placement of these ?
Maybe you have an original AB helmet and could measure for me.

I have purchased both the inner lining/suspension, and the chinstraps from a well-known UK supplier of re-enactment articles. I have both the canvas and leather type, and will probably go for the latter.
So my next challenge is the correct placement of the rivets and/or screws to hold these in place.
The innerlining has a soft metal ring to fit inside the shell of the helmet and this has 4 pre-drilled holes so these must be where to drill in the shell and secure the metal ring. Two at the rear and one each side. I.e 4 holes in the sheel.
But are these used both for fixing the lining and also the chinstrap assembly ? I ask because the set of brass fittings came with only 3 (three) items; one for the rear and one for each side of the chinstrap assembly.

Naturally I do not want to ruin the RAC shell by drilling too many holes, or in the wrong places.
So any advice on the above would be gratefully received.
Thanks.

[Kohima]

Drilling any holes at all will ruin the shell of an original, wartime helmet. Another piece of history will become history.
There are plenty of post-war para helmets about.

[3rdreich]

I agree. I personally wouldn’t alter an original helmet. Like Kohima said, you can buy a reproduction for not a lot of money.

[HARRY THE MOLE]

Buy a replica instead of buggering up a genuine shell.

[Pauls1970]

Ditto the above, our duty as collectors is to preserve, not destroy, you have to accept that what you have is what it is.
Paul

[Tinhat]

Drilling one hole in an original shell will ruin it, my advice would be if you have an HSRAC helmet without the dimple on the top, get an original MkII period liner. There are plenty of reproduction HSATs that seem very cheap.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw...waAnIkEALw_wcB

That being said, as you have bought the liner and you are going to do this. Measuring the hole placement doesn't make much sense, too many variables, the liner should be a tight fit in the shell, I would strip the liner down to just the metal ring, fit the liner it should be parallel to the edge of the shell all the way around and mark the hole placement and you will have to drill from the inside of the shell on your marks. The MkI liner (leather strap) had 4 holes, two for the rear straps, the MkII liner (webbing strap) had three holes, a single hole for the rear in the center.
This site is the best resource you will find for good images of the liner and fitting World War Helmets - Angleterre, its worth the effort to register.

Steve.

[Jerry B]

Just no