WW II Canadian Helmets

I really like this Despatch rider helmet i bought some time ago.
It really has the been there look and reparations.

A few more that I found during the summer...a British Royal Artillery, and a Canadian mystery helmet.

This old Brit had a second life as an Royal Engineer helmet. The ghost and remnants of the decal remain. Shell mfr. unreadable. Complete with BMB liner.





Not sure what this one is. The painted square is a mystery. Shell is a CL/C. Complete with VMC liner.

Could be gas paint in my opinion.
I have seen that before.

Remember, the Mk II helmets remained in use in the Canadian army well into the 60's, maybe even the early 70's depending on the reserve unit. A lot of helmets had markings added after the war, for training purposes. Just because the shell is dated to the Second World War doesn't mean the markings on the shell are the same age.

have seen a very interesting Canadian Scottish helmet in the week, have to ask the owner if I can post a photo and also just referencing Bills post, I saw this helmet for sale

http://prospectofwhitbyantiques.com/index.php/antiques/detail/canadian-regimental-flashed-artillery-helmet


"This Reserve Force regiment originated in St. Catharines, Ontario on 1 April 1946 when the '44th Field Regiment, RCA' was authorized to be formed.1 It was redesignated the '44th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA' on 12 April 1960.2 It was reduced to nil strength and transferred to the Supplementary Order of Battle on 31 January 1965.3" quote http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/

have to not let my enthusiasm for these get the better of me,

not quite a decal, but have seen this type of name or such scratched onto the front of helmets in period photo's, whats nice from a research point of view is the canadian serial no. also a first for me is a british made shell with (what I believe original applied) Canadian made chinstrap, I added a canadian liner myself

Hi John.

I had a british MKII helmet with "M.O.T.H.E.R" scratched on the front of the helmet.
service number inside, wich belong to an Esat Lancashire Regiment soldier.

I make an exchange many years ago, and i don't keep pictures of it.

Seb

Interesting to hear Seb, I could swear I saw a period photo online, whilst looking for something else, of a helmet with MOO on the front group shot), but of course can't find it now

a new canadian engineers helmet for me, this was found at a flea market in Normandy and has extra hooks on the side for wire/string for foliage,

Heres a handful that ive found so far..Medic..R.C.E..R.C.E.M.E..R.C.A..Armoured Corps (looks like R.C.A.S.C but the colours are reversed) and another one im not 100% on but i think its Signal Corp

Interesting website with alot of decals.

http://www.servicepub.com/helmetflashes.htm

Chuck Biscuits wrote: Here's a handful that ive found so far..Medic..R.C.E..R.C.E.M.E..R.C.A..Armoured Corps (looks like R.C.A.S.C but the colours are reversed) and another one im not 100% on but i think its Signal Corp

Chuck,

Great items! The RCEME is a war time helmet with a post war flash. It seems like the bottom has the remains of the light blue bar that was adopted by the RCEME after the war when "Air" fell under its umbrella of responsibility. To distinguish themselves the RCASC reversed the colours of the RASC flash. In the post (No 81) there is a Canadian example on a helmet ... yours may be British.

Ypres

Is it HQ RCA...

Jonhno,was thinking maybe HQ Signal Corps..
Ypres,good for me to get some education on these flashes,thanks..any of the books that i have found so far havent really gone into much detail on the subject..and im sure it must be quite obvious that this whole computer thing is new to me so i never really used it for research until quite recently..im glad the R.C.A.S.C helmet has finally come to light.My assumption on it being armoured comes from a photo i saw of a tank with the same flash stenciled on the front (reversed colours to the service corps) with a numeral painted in white in the centre...

History on me finding these helmets...about 10yrs ago a friend of mine made contact through a mutual friend about a warehouse that was slated for demolition in downsview..it was being used for storage at one time..a deal was worked out and my friend had purchased 6 massive crates containing helmets,there was just over 4000 helmets total..he recruited me to give him a hand bringing them back to his place so we took my pickup down there and started the process of bringing them back to his place..we went through them in his garage after work,every night for about 3 weeks,for every 200-300 helmets we would find one with flash..so we put those ones aside and divided them up between us when we were done..some were nicer than others,the top few rows had water damage from a leaky roof and were quite rusty..the ones in the photos were the ones i picked,only one i cant seem to locate is the M.P,most of my stuff is currently in boxes,when it turns up i will post pics..anyways,the helmets were my payment for helping move and sort thru them,not a bad deal..