WW2 British turtle helmet 1944

[Infanteer]

Capazo, if your helmet is dated 1945 it should be a MkIV as the MkIII was made in 1944. Are the chinstrap lug rivets placed high on the shell or low and close to the rim? I have not seen any evidence of MkIV helmets being used during the war but maybe someone else has.

[Capazo]

Hello!!!


The chinstrap lug rivets are next to the border of the helmet.

[Infanteer]

Capazo, you have a MkIV helmet and it was likely not used during the war. The MkIV was used with various liners up to the 1970s / 80s.

[Capazo]

Hello!!!

The liner is dated in 1952. Postwar.

Thank you for the information.

[Lone Pine]

Here's my Turtle I got recently. I knew very little about these helmets untill this thread appeared, very informative. This one has a 1943 dated liner in it. Looks like it had a net on it at one time, the normal size nets don't seem to fit so I put a U.S one on it, which is a bit sloppy. Was there a speacial size net for these?.
Bruce

[Lone Pine]

2

[WhiteFeather]

Phil, it doesn't necessarily mean that your liner is "replaced" as that shell might not have received a liner until 1945. It's difficult to say since the first shells were without liners they added the liners from their Mk II helmets. It is possible that some Mk III shells sat unissued until 1945 and then had 45 dated liners added. There is no way to know for certain. Regardless, you have a nice original helmet. Another thing to keep in mind is that it appears that many Mk III shells were repainted during the war and so again it can be difficult to tell if the finish on a repainted shell is original to the period or not. IMO the paint on your helmet appears to be original.

Hi,

Here an article about that.
Thanks to HUSKY.



++

[Infanteer]

Excellent article... thanks for sharing

[Infanteer]

Well, turns out that there are always exceptions to the rules.... today I received a MkIII helmet and the shell is marked BMB 1945. So apparently there were at least some MKIII shells made in 1945 before the switch to the MkIV.

[Mk1rceme]

Hi there! New to this forum.

Here is one of my Mk.III's showing the original brown WWII finish.



Named to H17591 Harrop of the PPCLI

[4th division]

very nice helmet