Home Front helmets of WWII
 

I have a few home front helmets in my collection, some of the more common sorts, some a bit rarer and I thought I would post them here.

First up is one from fairly local to me, a Senior fire Admin or training officers MKII from Sketty in Swansea, NFS district 21, and the rank/position make it an uncommon example.

Also uncommon is it being a Briggs Motor Bodies raw edge shell, which were only made in 1941. Of note is the clear indicator that there was another insignia above the badge, perhaps a pip or star for rank, that is now missing, perhaps he was promoted and removed it.

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for sharing. This one has a lovely look to it, well done, a great piece.

Cheerio,

Roy

Blue banded helmets for Admin staff are not common. White banded examples for Women Officers are probably equally rare.

Jon

Yep, I'm with Roy, great to see, and interesting to hear about them

Thanks Jerry

Slightly off topic-can someone tell me if there was a common Army helmet colour for troops in the UK post Dunkirk. I had it in my head that black was common but when I recently tried to find info to back this up I could not, so wondering if I have imagined this or read or heard some duff info at some point. Regards, Paul.

Army helmets, at home or abroad were post Dunkirk in textured khaki green or khaki brown, and I include the Home Guard in this, and an example from the HG is shown below.

Black was used for home front units, especially Wardens but not by the army or any of the armed forces as far as I am aware.

Sorry to 'stretch' the topic a little chaps,

But has anyone ever seen an example with the RWAFF insignia on it?

That's one I wouldn't mind owning.

Cheerio and again, sorry for my slight diversion.

Roy

Was black not used on RN helmets at one time?

Is the NFS helmet in the original post Kings Crown ? from the picture it almost looks like it could be post 1952 Queens crown?

Rob

Definitely KC but a little of the crown at the top has been rubbed off. The NFS disappeared in 1948 so there never was a QC version.

Jon

What Jon said.

Another NFS helmet, this time with matt black over paint and an unusual placement of the district numeral being below the NFS decal but still on the dome rather than lower down on the brim as is the norm. The district number is 26 for Liverpool.

a list of NFS, Fire Force Regional Numbers of WW2.


England and Wales.


1. Gosforth.

2. Middlesborough.

3. Rotherham.

4. Leeds.

5. Bradford.

6. Hessle.

7. Derby.

8. Nottingham.

9. Leicester.

10. Louth.

11. Southend.

12. Stevenage.

13. Hethersett.

14. Durley.

15. Taplow.

16. Lyndhurst.

17. Bristol.

18. Exeter.

19. Yelverton.

20. LLanishen.

21. Sketty.

22. Colwyn Bay.

23. Worcester.

24. Birmingham.

25. Stone.

26. Liverpool.

27. Cheadle.

28. Bolton.

29. Preston.

30. Maidstone.

31. Brighton.

32. Woking.

33. London ( Administrative ).

34 London ( Ealing ).

35. London ( Highgate ).

36. London ( Ilford ).

37. London ( Eltham ).

38. London ( Wimbledon ).

39. Swindon.

40. Wolverhampton.

41. Warrington.

42. Stalybridge.

43. Kendal.



Scotland.

1. Glasgow ( Western No1 ).

2. Paisley. ( Western No2 ).

3. Edinburgh ( South Eastern )

4. Dundee. ( Eastern ).

5. Aberdeen. ( North Eastern ).

6. Inverness. ( Northern ).

Unfortunately, these are being reproduced too :(

Police used a textured, dark blue, helmet.

Home Front helmets
 

The black helmet was worn by Civil Defence members who were allowed to be members of both CD and Home Guard. I believe that camouflage nets were worn over them operationally. This was to negate the need to issue them two helmets. I'm struggling to find the source of this info now though.

Stephen.

Great helmet! ! !

Phil,

I have seen quite a few POLICE helmets over the years including barn finds and I do not remember them having textured paint. The example I own is smooth and relatively shiny.