Hi all, just starting to get kit together for a British impression and wanted to know a bit more about the helmet choice. From my research i've gleaned that Mk III's came in round about Operation Overlord, but how prevalant were they? Were the majority of helmets in the field after this time Mk II's or were the majority replaced with the updated model???
I know that getting a Mk II will allow me to portray most of the war, but would like an idea of the spread after 1944.
Thanks in advance!
MKII will still have been pretty common after D-Day. Some units may have had them replaced with MKIIIs though.
So, if you're doing a specific unit then you may want a MkIII and you'll have to do some research to find out whether you do or not.
For instance our research shows that the Hallamshire Battalion went over with MkIIIs, but post D-Day replacements were more likely to have MkIIs (I think I got that the right way around.) This meant that later on there actually was a mix of MkIIs and MkIIIs in the unit.
If you're looking for the best generic choice the MkII is the one to go for.
Thanks Yith, think i'll go for a Mk II. Would Sabre Sales be a starting point for a cheap one?
They might be, though a lot of their stock is low these days.
SoF do reasonable ones with nice new liners.
Great, thanks for teh advice Yith, much obliged 
As a rule of thumb the normandy first and second wave assault divisions were issued MKIIIs while in training, casualty replacements joining them were rapidly exchanged their MKiis to Mkiiis and told the importance of lots of scrim (source 'montys left flank')
Many lads did the entire war with the same MKIIbut the 3rd and 49th divisions for example recieved fairly substantial issuers of the new helmet.
For airsoft if you're not chasing a specific impression you'remuch better off with a mkii as its good for all the war whereas you'll look a bit odd doing a 'dunkirk' or 'mediteranian' scenario with a MKIII.
If you do (or plan to do ) cold war airsoft as well though a MKIII is probabbly better vlaue for money as with scrim and netting on it looks pretty much the same as MKIV and MKV helmets used up until the early 90s.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
Cheers Gadge, definately going for a Mk II I think, now to find one for a resonable price...
I went for a Mark II, but I've also a Mark V I use for 'modern' (70s/80s) airsoft which is so scrimmed up it could easily pass for a Mark III.
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
