G80 B -Albanie

[Eschborn]

hello,
here is a Chinese helmet intended for export, the G80B essentially with a chinstrap with two fixing points and of which you will be able to see the slight differences in particular at the level of the visor and the shape of the more pronounced edges.
This is a fairly rare helmet, used by Albanian forces which were mostly supplied by Chinese equipment unlike other Eastern bloc countries.
The helmet has been painted on the outside in the original color which is kept on the inside. Note the poor quality of the pain

[Estonian]

[Harrison Farnam]

Mountain Infantry below it is a decommissioned helmet decorated for mayday

Air force

[Eschborn]

hello,
very interesting helmets. Thanks for sharing.
Unfortunately we do not see if the helmets have the typical curvature of the G 80 B... we can confuse them with the first G 80 A which had a chinstrap with 2 fixing points.

[Reibert]

...
Unfortunately we do not see if the helmets have the typical curvature of the G 80 B ...

Received this lid yrs. ago together with some helmets of the NVA.
Obviously a GK80B

China GK80B - Brendon's Helmets
CHINO 80B

[Estonian]

[Gefilde]

Interesting topic!
As far as I know, there is actually no "GK80B" in Chinese categories, the last type of GK80 is "GK80A" at the end of the 90s. The helmet in the picture is actually the earliest prototype, as designed for Albania around 1969. Back in that time, the helmet was simply called "Steel helmet". Later, collectors from China name them "Yuan A Kui(援阿盔)", which refers to "Military aid Albanian steel helmets", or "helmet 232", named by the material of the alloy to produce the helmet.

[Gefilde]

As my previous photo suggested, there are about two types of helmets given to Albanians, the previous one, is recognized as "extra-size ears helmets (with the biggest visors' prototypes)" in Chinese, and another with relevantly smaller "ears (visors)".

[Eschborn]

Hello,
you are absolutely right, G-80 is the official name for all models ... the designation A and B is given by collectors in order to be able to easily differentiate them.
As among others, for the M56 helmet of the DDR (M56/66,M56/76)

[Gefilde]

Indeed, the category of Chinese steel helmets is complicated. It is reasonable, to feel confused about the entire system. You see, they even have no special name or hint for these helmets in the early stage, so we still need to be careful with it. But there is something I need to point out:

The "GK80B" in the picture is actually the earliest design, which is manufactured in the later 60s, which is about 1967 to 1969, includes two types of helmets with different (the shape of ear parts at the side of the helmet). The helmet is made of "special steel 232", and produced by the State-owned factory Nr. 3604 and Nr. 3301, mainly to serve Albania and partial domestic requirements.

There are about 260000 helmets were produced, and most of them were sent to Albania, including the Prototype ("Extra-size ear parts helmet" in Chinese, so-called "GK80B") and the other one with relevantly smaller era parts(named "type 69" among Chinese). The problem is, that none of these factories have any stamp on the helmet. The only sign is the stamp in the liner(but very faint, unrecognizable) and on the wood container. You can find information, such as the month of manufacture, the factory's code, how many helmets are in the container, how heavy it is in kilograms, etc. There are also stamps of "I" or "II" on the container, but no one knows what they refer to(but nothing to do with the size, as the same as the Yugoslavian steel helmets, they are in a universal size).

In conclusion, the timeline of Chinese steel helmets is probably like this: the Prototype(so-called GK80B") and the type 69 helmet, were produced at the end of the 60s; in 1979, the prototype of the GK80 was designed based on the previous helmet, which is finally settled and named "GK80" on 1982. GK80s have undergone several changes, that gradually made the edge of the helmet flatten. In 1990, the Y chin strap was added to the helmet. This modification brings us "GK80A". At the end of the 90s, the factory redesign the Y chin strap with better material and enlarged the curve shape at the ear parts. This is the last modification to GK80A and the last type of the entire set.
It is a lot of words, I'd appreciate it if you read all of them.

I'm not an expert on Chinese helmets, but I think this piece of information could bring something new to you.

Regards Gefilde