FJ Helmet or Dunce Cap?

[R_Bell]

Hi -

I bought this fallschirmjager helmet a couple of years ago and thought I had the real thing. After some time, I've become less sure. (Obviously, one of chinstraps has been replaced). I'd be very interested in feedback. Thanks much!

[IMG]

[SMP]

Looks fine....nice early style chinstrap too.

Regards
Steve

[R_Bell]

Thanks for the feedback

Looks fine....nice early style chinstrap too.

Regards
Steve

Steve - Thanks much for your opinion. Comming from a senior member, I feel better.

[Willi Z.]

Hard to say exactly what has been done to that helmet based on the photo, if anything. How soft or hard are those pads between the liner band and the liner? I suspect it has been taken apart at some time.

Willi

[R_Bell]

Liner Pads

Hard to say exactly what has been done to that helmet based on the photo, if anything. How soft or hard are those pads between the liner band and the liner? I suspect it has been taken apart at some time.

Willi

Willi -

The pads are somewhat stiff, but are still compressable. Your comment about the helmet having been taken apart prompted me to look closely at the spanner bolts. It appears that the side and rear bolts holding the lighter colored chinstrap in place have been turned. There are tiny spots of shiny metal visible where the prongs of the spanner wrench fits into dimples of the bolts. This leads me to believe that the light chinstrap was the replacement and the dark chinstrap was the original. I had always figured the opposite to be the case. Thanks for your post. This site has already taught me something very important!

[John Hodgin]

Hello R_Bell,

As Steve said, the darker chin strap is an early, rare, DD style strap. Interesting. Can you post details of the lighter strap, especially the buckle? The "newer" looking strap appears to have the correct buckle, but the leather is shockingly bright.

Regards,
John

[R_Bell]

Hi John -

The gray strap with the friction buckle is not quite as bright in reality as it appears in the photos. It closely resembles repros that I've seen, but it looks to be better made. The stiching is very even and the buckle has tiny machined stiples where the other strap would contact it. There is also some traces of blueing visible on the metal buckle. The back has meticulous stiching and soft gray-green leather almost identical in color and texture to the leather on the back of the darker strap. What do you think?

Thanks.

REX

[John Hodgin]

Hi Rex,

The strap looks authentic, however I am puzzled by it. I would have to examine it to give a better opinion. Can you shoot a close up of where this strap is attached to a bolt on the inside? The buckle is correct, but has rusted (most did) without the leather developing any apparent age as the leather on the opposite strap did; this still bothers me! If the strap is a reproduction, it's ultra high quality. This buckle side strap is clearly not original to the helmet, so the helmet has been apart as Willi mentioned. If the buckle strap is authentic, you still have a rare, though very mismatched, set of chin straps. I would feel better about these if the helmet is a DD; is it? I cannot tell from the missing paint in the flange.

Here is a photo of a matching set. The buckle on this example still retains a lot of bluing though the leather has wear. Note how they both match the leather on your worn strap.
Regards,
John

[Willi Z.]

Based on the photos, I think the lighter strap is a replacement. The wear on that strap does not match the wear on the liner. The evidence of the bolt being disassembled adds to that. On John's, you can see the matching wear. I do believe, from what I can see, that the lighter strap is original and a very early M38 strap, with the other strap being of the M40 style.

Hey John, that is my helmet..... Note it has my real name under the maker...."Werner Zahn"...

Willi

[R_Bell]

John, Willi -

Thanks both of you for sharing your knowledge and theories in helping me solve the mystery of my mis-matched chinstraps. I see from John's photo how the wear on the two straps matches. In my helmet, the degree of wear differs for the two straps. This has led me to conclude that even though the gray strap on my helmet looks authentic, it's probably not a war-time replacement. In other words, it may be an original WWII production strap, but I think it was added post-war. In addition, on John's prompting, I closely examined the bolts that attach the gray strap to the helmet. There are tiny scratches on the inside exposing shiny metal under the oxidation. This observation supports my conclusion tht the strap was recently placed in the helmet. The helmet is a single decal with the 2nd pattern eagle.

Regards,

REX

[Edelweiss]

Despite this detail (or flaw), that's a great and scarce helmet anyway.

[R_Bell]

Thanks Chris. And thanks to others on this thread I've learned more about my helmet in a few days than I had in the 2 years I've owned it.

REX

[John Hodgin]

Thanks Chris. And thanks to others on this thread I've learned more about my helmet in a few days than I had in the 2 years I've owned it.

REX

Hi Rex,

Now that I've seen close ups of the strap I'm sure it's authentic. Again, rare staps Please post photos of the outside sometime.

Regards,
John

[R_Bell]

Hi Rex,

Now that I've seen close ups of the strap I'm sure it's authentic. Again, rare staps Please post photos of the outside sometime.

Regards,
John

As requested, here are a couple of pics of the exterior of my helmet.

REX

[Rolf D.]

How many Kolar did it cost you???