Red Lightweight MkII Helmet.

[dragnet]

First for me being a lightweight produced helmet, dont have a magnet but im leaning towards aluminium No date to the liner but made by Vero. The shell i belived started life with a grey colour, then black and lastly the red with silver letters ''WA'' to the front. Anyone with further insight would be gratefully

[tinlid]

Private purchase, and came in grey. I think they were spun on a lathe and shaped with a stick. Hence the ring pattern on the helmet,which you might not be able to see now it's been over painted.
Letters could be for anything from a specific job, or company initials.

[2 Black Bands]

I agree....these things are actually quite common but remain a mystery. They certainly look like they've been "turned" and the concentric rings are most visible on the inside...although as Mr Lid says, any over-paint may have covered that. Red indicates "FIRE" more often than not and "WA" could be virtually anything (as long as it starts with a "W" !) - my money would also be on a Factory initials, pre any possible NFS affiliation. It's really irritating that most of the numerous "Commercial Variants" remain unidentified re who made them etc - some are plastered all over period advertising (like the PLASFORT, Cromwell etc) whilst others don't appear at all...including things like this. Based on the numbers, the material used and the technology required (assuming they ARE lathe-cut) one would have thought that the producers were quite big in their field. I've often thought about the production, assuming they are spun......they'd produce a whole load of waste/off-cuts/shavings (whatever) at a time when metal was at a premium...presumably the bits were collected and re-processed??? 'any Metal workers in the house to comment????

[tinlid]

There was a video on YouTube, can't find it now, typical.
It showed a piece of metal being spun, using just a stick, length of wood, he shaped the helmet. No wastage as far as I remember.

[lnijherald]

I think they were spun on a lathe and shaped with a stick. Hence the ring pattern on the helmet,which you might not be able to see now it's been over painted.

I always thought these were deep drawn but using a lathe makes more sense.


Luc