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Canadian Military Collectors Forum

Comprehensive Forum of Canadian Armed Forces History & Militaria


3 posters

    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner

    SCOTTB
    SCOTTB
    New Member


    Posts : 5
    Join date : 2017-09-10
    Age : 66
    Location : Fairbanks, Alaska USA

    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Empty British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner

    Post by SCOTTB Sun Sep 10, 2017 6:51 pm

    Greetings everyone. I live in Alaska, and have a strong interest in the Aleutian campaign, where Canadian forces participated with Americans against the Japanese. This is my first posting.

    I will post some Canadian memorabilia from Kiska later, but right now I need everyone's help in learning more about this helmet that I procured a while back. I have been told that it has a Canadian liner, but the 1940 shell is British. It is rather unique in that it has green and brown paint in a camouflage pattern and what appears to be an RAF hand-painted insignia.

    I have an interest in Little Norway, where Norwegian flyers were trained during the war. I have several acquaintances from my time living in Norway that served in the RAF or Coastal Command as aircrew that have fond memories of their time in Canada.  

    I found a picture of a period book on Little Norway with a helmet that seems to have a similar camouflage pattern to the one I own.

    Can anyone enlighten me as to whether this helmet could have been used by the RAF or affiliate RNAF or RCAF during the war?  Please forgive my ignorance as I mainly collect Japanese, American and German headgear. I picked this up from an American seller on Ebay a while back.

    Thank you.

    Scott

    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf110
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf210
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf310
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf410
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf510
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf610
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf710
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf810
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf910
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf1010
    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Raf1110
    SCOTTB
    SCOTTB
    New Member


    Posts : 5
    Join date : 2017-09-10
    Age : 66
    Location : Fairbanks, Alaska USA

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    Post by SCOTTB Sun Sep 10, 2017 6:53 pm

    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Post-614

    This is a picture I scanned from a book about Little Norway. The helmet in the foreground has clearly been camo'd in a similar pattern.
    Tankermike
    Tankermike
    Member


    Posts : 505
    Join date : 2010-02-11
    Age : 59
    Location : Edmonton

    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Empty Re: British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner

    Post by Tankermike Tue Sep 12, 2017 10:41 am

    Nice helmet, appears to be British manufacture 1940.The camo and eagle could be war time or painted post war. It is hard to determine.

    I always like the painted, decaled, custom helmets.

    Cheers... Mike
    GCR817
    GCR817
    Moderator


    Posts : 276
    Join date : 2009-11-25
    Location : Edmonton, AB

    British RAF camo helmet with insignia and Canadian liner Empty Helmet

    Post by GCR817 Sat Sep 16, 2017 2:50 pm

    Hi Scott,

    That's a really great looking helmet and the camo scheme is correct for the early "Phoney War" days in Britian. It is a British produced helmet shell but I've collected examples from Canadian contexts with swapped in Canadian produced liners. Canada didn't start producing Mk II helmets until 1940 so a number of British made examples ended up in Canadian use. Is the liner strap stamped VMC with a year?

    The insignia would RAF or RCAF, but with a Canadian liner, I would be inclined to assume it was used by an RCAF member.

    I am looking forward to seeing your Canadian Kiska material. It is a fascinating topic!

    Cheers,

    Geoff

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