SWITZERLAND M48 - Swiss conversion from UK HSAT

[Greg Pickersgill]

A new acquisition, my first in nine months (money's too tight to mention). But irresistable even at *that price*. This is one of the myriad versions of what we know as the Swiss M48, in this case an ex-UK HSRAC shell with a Swiss strap, liner, and shadow-black granulated paint. It's a nice one and I am enormously pleased to have it. This one, unlike some of these conversions, does *not* have Swiss vents punched into the upper rear.

According to the excellent WWH site around 13,000 surplus HSAT, HSRAC, and DR shells were acquired by the Swiss in 1946, and mostly refurbished with a variety of Swiss liners and straps. This is a ex Armoured Corps helmet. Note that this one has not had the Swiss vents added - that seems to have happened with some of the early conversions.

Many of these helmets seemed to have been passed to the Croats during the 1990s wars - they were frequently seen on news broadcasts - and those probably ended up in the scrapheap. That goes some way to explaining why the M48 (and the later M48/62, which is a totally Swiss-made product) is a comparatively uncommon helmet.



View from above showing the blind rivet filling the hole where the HSRAC nut&bolt liner fitting would have been.





A stamp - annoyingly slightly illegible. The date can't actually be '1900' and probably not '1950' either, so I'm going with 1960.
The stamp also reads "Zahler AG - SACK-FRABRIK-BERN' Possibly.
There is another stamp on another lobe which might read "WAEBISCHER BERN" Perhaps. Distressing lack of fabled Swiss precision in the stamping department, really.





Critical clue to tell a HSRAC shell conversion from a genuine Swiss M48/62 - see the blind rivet to the right of the image, between the sets of three and two rivets for the Swiss liner and strap, and the applied rim, replaced in the Swiss product by a small and simple up and out fold.

[Composite]

What an impressively presented (dull) Helmet :-)

I’ve often wondered about these once-Brit lids...and I can’t imagine your joy.

‘Pleased for you.

[Greg Pickersgill]

What an impressively presented (dull) Helmet :-)

There are a few that have a 'P' on them for traffic control duties, and even some that have the Bernese coat of arms on the front. Does that make them more exciting? Good grief.

[Composite]

like this?

[Greg Pickersgill]

There you go, lovely M48/62 (total Swiss product). Looks so much better with a bit of lettering on it, don't it. Good grief.

[Composite]

....forgot I’d got it.....so, this is NOT a Brit-made Swiss-used lid right? This is a Swiss made DR lid?

[Greg Pickersgill]

Adrian, yours is a totally Swiss product. The clue is the rolled edge - no British helmet has ever had that. The UK-surplus ones all have the applied rim seen on the usual British-used helmets, as seen in mine shown here. A lot of these helmets have the popstuds in the liner for the earflaps, but that was an optional extra. though we can reasonably assume that if yours came with one, and has a big P on it, then its likely to have been a motorcycle-riding traffic marshal or the like.

We know that there were about 13,000 shells exported soon after WW2, and a lot will have gone the way of all things in the intervening 70 years. I've no idea how many of the totally-Swiss helmets there were, or are today.