Australian Helmet Steel Mk II

[Mark K]

Australian helmet steel Mk II production began on these in 1940 they are manufactured from manganese steel and weigh in at approximately 1120 grams the helmet body was only produced in one size..

Liners were made available in seven different sizes to accommodate the troops it is one of my all time favourites as it shows hard use and IMO was field worn in the Theatre of Operations, there are no makers mark in the form of stamp's on the helmet body with that said though not all examples of Australian Mk II helmets are marked with the CS makers mark and steel lot batch number..

The only stamps that I can truly make out are on the interior of the helmet body near the rear edge of the rim the number 89 is lightly stamped in the steel and it looks like there are a couple of letters as well but it is near impossible to make them out, the liner is without a doubt is Australian produced and was manufactured by Dunlop Rubber Co, and it nicely shows the size, Broad arrow mark and the inspectors initials not all examples of Australian WW II Mk II helmets are marked with the CS batch number...

I am happy to have it in my collection as a period worn original I carefully scraped a little paint of of one of the lugs with my fingernail and found they were indeed stamped as 1940 Mk II's so this does help to narrow down the production date.

There is some wonderful period Graffiti carved in the textured paint all the way around the helmet body five different phrases (AUSTRALIAN LAST HOPE) ( IX ) ( MD )( FISH )( KILL KID )... IMO this has been period applied as the wear and patina are consistent, some of it has now been lost to the ages and has been obliterated...

With the recent addition of an Australian early war time woven net I have added a few extra images to the bottom of the thread..

 

Regards Mark

[reneblacky]

Great helmet there Mark Mate, never have see that net type before cheers for showing.