RACAL Allgemeine Gruppenfuhrer Space Helmet...RWBO possibly

[Composite]

I KNEW you'd have to break away from your TR home territory to look at this!....welcome to a really interesting but rarely visited part of the Forum....PLASTIC HELMETS!!!...who knew.....

Sometimes I see helmet stuff that doesn’t make sense…so, if it’s cheap enough, I buy it to find out more. It’s a kinda frog-kissing risk which has resulted in some really rare finds….but also some real duffers….but I HAD to get them to find that out. Here’s my latest….a RACAL crew helmet…with bits on (I’m pretty sure that isn’t the technical designation…but for the purpose of this Thread, let’s call it the “RWBO” :-)

Ideally there’ll be a “Sparks” out there who will be able to tell me about the wirey stuff (again, technical) inside…but this is what I can make out:-

- It was once a standard “Army” green RACAL helmet
- The black paint on it and the remnants of what looks like “POLICE” to the front suggests otherwise
- It’s got a very well-shaped/moulded front-facing “horn” on the top…not a “toy”?
- The main wire arrangement runs through a press-to-speak switch box
- It wasn't made yesterday - the insulation on the main wiring has degraded
- The 2 4-battery packs (?) on either side of the top have wires running to them inside BUT they are simply shaped solid mouldings – there’s no way in to place/remove batteries
- There’s stuff under box which looks like a speaker / receiver ???
- It looks like it once had a visor on…the catches at the side hold swinging brackets which have broken edges
- I’ve written off “film prop”…why wire-up a film prop?

Assuming the internal workings is a speaker it could be:-

- The bastard son of a helmet and a bull-horn?
- A DJ’s play thing?
- A Police trials helmet (crowd control? Training?)
- A hyper rare Allgemeine Gruppenfuhrer space helmet

….I’m not sure about one of the above….

Suggestions please





Not many people read stuff that follows pictures.

[Greg Pickersgill]

Wow. I have no clue whatsoever what this might be, but it is a really fascinating thing. I am tending to film prop despite your misgivings; there are good practical reasons for wanting it to function in some sense on-set. On the other hand it could be any damned thing. Extraordinary.

[Migobeego]

Not many people read stuff that follows pictures.

LOL! So true...

[Composite]

37 views and only two replies.....VICTORY!!!...they HAD to take a look didn't they?!....and there'll be more before the day is through......

Greg...does this mean that you're leaning away from the one of Von Braun's Space Division? :-)

[Greg Pickersgill]

Well, for a moment I did wonder if it was something to do with the early flights of Die Glocke, but then I remembered they used leather helmets. Lined with tinfoil. And of course with hakenkreuz.

[Composite]

this might help.....



Seriously, I'd like to know what it is....I THINK this photo may be fake

[thecyclist64]

Well, you got me to break away from the TR forum to read this. After reading your description, I am minded to think that it is some sort of mash-up, either film prop, or some artistic type of person who got creative and maybe made it for his child. Just my opinion as I know nothing about helmets, but you did take me away from the TR forum

[Composite]

84 views....but still no more possible explanations.

I’m still with a POLICE-trialled thing......

[thecyclist64]

Can't understand why anybody would strap a battery pack to the side of the helmet, even for demo purposes. Any helmet that requires a power source, such as a miner's lamp for example, would have a bettery pack carried on the wearer's belt. I was wondering if the scoop/air intake device was meant to carry some sort of video/Night vision device, hence the two battery packs to power it. Again, as above, just a guess, but it might set people thinking who can find the real answer to your question.

check out the link below and look for RACAL Helmets for RNLA.

Sorry...

[Composite]

I don't get the non-battery battery boxes either...why run wires to them???...but a very interesting link...thank you so much for that. I'm starting to think that it may not be a Space helmet.......