British Military Sun Helmets, a good web site to check out

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Everyone,

There are certain items that have become iconic in history, Martini-Henry rifles, Japanese Swords, Bobby's Helmet, some uniforms and in the case of the post link below the military sun helmet.

This is a very interesting and informitive website and if you have even the slightest interest in sun helmets I suggest you check it out.

http://www.militarysunhelmets.com/

Regards

Brian

[Mervyn Mitton]

Brian - I think this is a very fair recomendation. Peter is a Member of the Forum and Stuart a retired Member. They are

experts in their field and this referral could help our members.

Although I must say Helmets have been quiet for a while - does anyone have something interesting to post ?

[phil87]

Hello

I am currently carrying out research on a Rifle Volunteers Officer's helmet of the Home Service Pattern Design and I was wondering if anyone is able to help me.

I am investigating how these helmets were manufactured but specifically for the chin chain I have not been able to find any information. The chin chain on the helmet which I am researching is silver plated interlocking rings backed with leather and then velvet. Would these rings have been made by some form of die stamping and then potentially have been soldered closed once the rings had been connected?

Thank you

Philippa

[leigh kitchen]

Yes, you should be able to make out the joined cuts in the links.

[RogerK]

Hello Everyone

Thank you Brian for your recommendation of this website. I finally found a lead to a sun helmet which has been in my possession for quite a while, but I have never found out anything useful about it. It appears to be a "smart helmet" of some kind of some period in time. Since Mervyn mentioned it has been a bit quiet on helmets lately, I thought I upload some pictures of it.

I do wonder what our members think of it.

[RogerK]

some more...

[RogerK]

Detail of the interior...

it reads: 7 1/8 Johannesburg

[Mervyn Mitton]

Roger - firstly, let me welcome you to GMIC. I am sure you will have some good posts on helmets in the future.

I don' recognise this badge immediately - although the British sceptres around the border are interesting. Perhaps

one of the Cape Regts. formed for the Boer War. This could well be wrong and we will have to wait for one of the

helmet experts to make an identification.

We will look forward to your future posts. Mervyn

[RogerK]

Thank you Mervyn, that would exciting news. However I think some of the more modern materials on the inside, such as the plastic liner and perhaps the self adhesive sticker, as well as the rubber foam padding behind the leather band, seems to indicate that it could be somewhat younger than that. The absence of a manufacturers label is also strange. I was wondering wether it was perhaps manufactured in South Africa? Possibly it is only partly modified, it was also whitened as an after thought, the original color was khaki. The Badge while rather pretty is also a complete mystery to me.

[Stuart Bates]

Roger,

it is without doubt a "smart helmet" but the headband could be a later addition as its fixing to the headshell looks remarkably like that patented by Vero in 1925. The plastic to the interior is a mystery and the underside of the brim was usually green. An intriguing helmet but must have been rather uncomfortable to wear.

Stuart

[Stuart Bates]

Here is a Vero's detachable headband from 1933.

Stuart

Edited September 26, 2014 by Stuart Bates

[Stuart Bates]

Sorry I meant 1925 in my last post. It was a foil lining that was patented in 1933.

Stuart

PS. where has the edit button gone? I see it has returned on this post but not my others.

Edited September 29, 2014 by Stuart Bates

[Brian Wolfe]

Hi Stuart,

Odd, I just checked one of my older posts from 2011 and the Edit button is there. Check again, perhaps it was a temporary glitch in the system. I understand that such things happen as data is inverted so that it appears on your screen in Australia the correct way round.

Regards

Brian

[Stuka f]

A great website!

The uniform on pic # 9 at

http://www.militarysunhelmets.com/2013/the-original-camouflage-khaki-part-v-khaki-in-colonial-africa-and-the-middle-east

was part of my collection, once...!

cheers

|<ris

[Stuart Bates]

Kris,

rather a nice uniform indeed.

Stuart

[Stuart Bates]

So Brian,

here we go http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_09_2014/post-1883-0-79956200-1412116616.jpg?

But no only my last two posts on this topic have the edit button.

Stuart