I would really like to hear everyones thoughts on this, especially of course, those who may have direct knowledge.
Roger Bender is now working on the "Jump Equipment" section of my book, and we have a difficult decision to make. Do we picture a M-37 with second model Luftwaffe decal ( which we know for sure is original, but there is no photographic evidence of it ever being worn by members of the FIK / FIB ) or do we picture an Army M-37 ( which is shrouded in doubt. ). There were only a handfull of these known to exist prior to the early 1990's when a bunch of them began showing up on the market. I think I was offered 7 or 8 in a period of three years. My reason for not liking them was mainly to do with the pads. The original which I had seen ( which is the one Iam referring to above and I know for a fact was the result of a direct vet buy in the late 70's ( these type of helmets just where not being faked then ) ) had the original thin orange colored pads, and ALL of the ones I had seen for sale had either no pads, or standard M38 pads ( I don't mean an M38 liner/pad reconfiguration ). My thoughts were that whoever was reproducing these, just could not create the pads in a convincing was, thus they were always missing. The stories about where they were found ( in a warehouse in Italy, have heard Germany as well ) were also a bit hard to swallow.
Recently, I have reason to believe that I may have been wrong, at least on the pads aspect. I will share that later after I hear what your thougts are.
Beyond all the rumors and speculation, does anyone know for sure that these are fake? Let's discuss concrete reasons why we feel these are fake ( other than too many showed up at once, the stories about where they came from, etc. )
Here is the only "confirmed" original that I know of
here is the liner with the pads ( sorry don't have a color one right now
Here is one of the army ones which was purchased by someone I know in 1994
Thanks, and I am really looking forward to hearing what you guys think.
Eric
Roger Bender is now working on the "Jump Equipment" section of my book, and we have a difficult decision to make. Do we picture a M-37 with second model Luftwaffe decal ( which we know for sure is original, but there is no photographic evidence of it ever being worn by members of the FIK / FIB ) or do we picture an Army M-37 ( which is shrouded in doubt. ). There were only a handfull of these known to exist prior to the early 1990's when a bunch of them began showing up on the market. I think I was offered 7 or 8 in a period of three years. My reason for not liking them was mainly to do with the pads. The original which I had seen ( which is the one Iam referring to above and I know for a fact was the result of a direct vet buy in the late 70's ( these type of helmets just where not being faked then ) ) had the original thin orange colored pads, and ALL of the ones I had seen for sale had either no pads, or standard M38 pads ( I don't mean an M38 liner/pad reconfiguration ). My thoughts were that whoever was reproducing these, just could not create the pads in a convincing was, thus they were always missing. The stories about where they were found ( in a warehouse in Italy, have heard Germany as well ) were also a bit hard to swallow.
Recently, I have reason to believe that I may have been wrong, at least on the pads aspect. I will share that later after I hear what your thougts are.
Beyond all the rumors and speculation, does anyone know for sure that these are fake? Let's discuss concrete reasons why we feel these are fake ( other than too many showed up at once, the stories about where they came from, etc. )
Here is the only "confirmed" original that I know of
here is the liner with the pads ( sorry don't have a color one right now
Here is one of the army ones which was purchased by someone I know in 1994
Thanks, and I am really looking forward to hearing what you guys think.
Eric
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