FJ BW helmet??

[Blue Yeti]

Hi Guys

Hoping someone here can help with what I think is a BW helmet for a friend of mine. He acquired it and told me that it was Q marked which I said wrote off any chance of it being WW2 and asked for some pictures as I had not seen one Q marked before.

I have now got the pictures and note that its blue grey originally, which I think is the immediate post war colour for BW airbone helmets?

If anyone could offer any advice be most grateful as I didnt want to feed him back duff info but this helmet was out of my usual collecting sphere.

Many thanks
Steve

[Blue Yeti]

More images

[Blue Yeti]

Few more

[Blue Yeti]

MM's

[Blue Yeti]

And last one

[Gran Sasso]

I have now got the pictures and note that its blue grey originally, which I think is the immediate post war colour for BW airbone helmets?

There was no "immediate post war" BW, it was founded in 1955. Also, their helmets were olivegreen.
Your friend has a fake of a WWII para helmet shell.

[Blue Yeti]

Thanks for the opinion. Yes I apologise for the immediate post war comment I knew it was post 1955 which is what threw me with this helmet as I believe there was various types tried up until 1961? I just didn't think a faker of ww2 stuff would add a Q maker seems like a school boy error!!

Thanks again

BY

[comune1aclasse]

of course as already said it is a german post war shell....

....due to the described blue-grey color I would suggest that it might have been of some Police Forces. Several West German Police Forces used to have this color for their pieces of equipment such as helmets, canteens, mess kits, breadbags and so on....
This is just my guess....

Cheers,

Alex

[hoover]

All German post war helmets in Para style had differnt edgins/rims. So this is not a post war Army or police helmet.

[comune1aclasse]

All German post war helmets in Para style had differnt edgins/rims. So this is not a post war Army or police helmet.

I didn't know that...... so my gues was wrong

so is it like Gran Sasso said? a fake?


Alex

[Blue Yeti]

Many Thanks for the replies and info

BY

[Gordon Craig]

Blue Yeti,

Interesting helmet and worth more study. There are a number of posts here I would like to comment on.
1-The first test helmets made for the BW, approximately 2500, were blue in colour. Period photos, and there are some on this forum, also show a khaki colour helmet in wear in conjunction with the blue ones. I have a blue one in mint condition and a khaki helmet that was originally painted blue and then over painted in khaki with a rough surface. All of the blue helmets had a smooth surface.
Compared to my BW para helmets the bolt holes in your shell for attaching the liner are very large and much too big for a post war BW para helmet.
That being said, a number of different firms made trial helmets in this style for the BW and they turn up for sale from time to time. Schubert and Romer made helmets for test purposes and I think that it was the Schubert helmet that was produced in large enough numbers to be issued to BW units for testing.
The numbers on this shell don't look familiar to me but I have never owned, or studied, war time para helmets.
I think what hoover is saying is that the rim on your helmet is not the same as the one on post war BW para helmets. Hard for me to tell from your photos but it is folded over in a similar manner to my post war BW para helmets.
There are two things we can do here.
1-you could post you helmet, if you have not already done so, on a Wehrmacht sub forum on helmets, and ask their opinion;
2-someone who has the time could compare your helmet shell with the BW para data published in Ludwig Bauer's Volume 2 and see if that would shed some light on your shell.
Good luck in your research.

Regards,

Gordon

[Blue Yeti]

Many thanks Gordon for your reply.

I think it may well have been your web page on acquiring your mint version that I first read and pointed me in the direction that the blue/grey could indeed be correct for a BW para helmet.

I didn't post it in the helmet section as I know for WW2 it's not correct and thought here with some west German specialists it may gain more receptive replies as to what exactly it is.

Once again thanks for the reply which I have passed onto the owner

BY

[Collectinsteve]

I agree with Hoover that the rim is unlike other helmets from the time. I have many pictures of several variations and all of them have a separate piece of metal pressed onto the rim. It covers both sides of the rim, not just the interior. This is also true for the BGS GSG helmet.

I had a reproduction WW2 FJ helmet that has the same fold as this one. Therefore, I am inclined to think it is a reproduction WW2 helmet.

Steve

[Nachrichten]

I agree with Hoover that the rim is unlike other helmets from the time. I have many pictures of several variations and all of them have a separate piece of metal pressed onto the rim. It covers both sides of the rim, not just the interior. This is also true for the BGS GSG helmet.

I had a reproduction WW2 FJ helmet that has the same fold as this one. Therefore, I am inclined to think it is a reproduction WW2 helmet.

Steve

+1.

The rim is the clearest indicator of whether it is BW (post-war) or 3R/Repro.

This one does not have the external Rim, so it is not BW.

The images are not the best (for determining whether it is of pre-1945 manufacture), but I tend to favour the view shared by others.

Just my opinion, of course.

N