Tanker helmet advice

**shaune** · 02-20-2021, 01:44 PM

Hi everyone... could I ask your advice on this helmet please? Sorry, I can see no date on it, but the strap and liner look WW2 - do you think it is a tanker helmet? Not sure the paint is war time, but I’m not familiar with these helmets at all...
Thanks as always, Shaun

**tinlid** · 02-20-2021, 02:49 PM

Yes, a Mk1 HSRAC, but as you guessed, it has been repainted.
If no date on the liner, look to see if there is a serial number on the rubber buffers on the liner. If yes, then it's a post war liner.

**Greg Pickersgill** · 02-20-2021, 05:35 PM

That's an interesting thing. Could you take a look at the liner arms and see if there is anything stanped there. Specifically, is there a makers size stamp in inches which has been overstamped with a two-digit figure giving the metric size. I sort of suspect that this might be an ex-British helmet repainted by the Swiss. Hard to be certain but the overstamp would prove it.

**shaune** · 02-22-2021, 07:19 PM

Thank you as always for the feedback chaps. Spot on as usual! I popped the liner out and can see stampings on the rubber parts, and a 1950’s date stamped on the back of the straps.

The strap doesnt look to be very thick, I wonder if it is military or just painted post war? Were they commonly used by the swiss then?

Many thanks...

**Greg Pickersgill** · 02-22-2021, 08:44 PM

Slightly over 10,000 British Para, DR and Armoured helmets were bought by the Swiss in 1948. Almost all of the shells were given new Swiss-made liners and straps buring the 1950s, but initially some of the shells were simply repainted with the Swiss dark gray granulated paint finish (known as 'shadow black') and issued as-is. As I mentioned above its actually quite difficult to tell these from any helmet that's just had a black(ish) repaint. The overstamped size numerals - not apparently on yours - is one of the few real tells. On the other hand I do think the paint is its own indicator (I've seen at least one DR helmet with a very Swiss shadow-black granulated finish that was otherwise normal for British issue. For a fan of Swiss helmets it would be quite exciting to find an ex-British HSRAC shell with Swiss repaint and original British liner and straps.

The Swiss soon started making their own shells based on the Para/DR/AT originals, easily identified by having a rolled rim rather than the add-on rim of the British original, also rather better engineered and distinctly heavier and obviously with the Swiss liner and straps.