Belgium Adrian helmet?

[montythetommy]

I'm almost done with my brit kit, and since rewatching the young indiana jones, I thought it a jolly good idea to try and put a Belgium Kit together.

I've found uniform and all on shipper, but can't seem to find a Belgium Helmet... Does anyone know a vendor of Belgium Adrian helmets? Or would I have to modify another nationality adrian helmet?

Any ifo is helpful!
Cheers, Monty

P.S. I honest don't know much about french adrians other than they are french and they are helmets.

[1886lebel]

The Belgians used the same Model 1915 Adrian helmets that other nationalities used except for the badge, liner and color.
The badge was the 'Lion Head', the liner was made of brown leather that had seven or eight fingered design depending on the size of the helmet shell. The color of these helmets were a 'brownish' type.

You can find complete ones for sale on Ebay every once in awhile but be advised there were two different model helmets and one is post-war version and is not corect for WWI. You can tell the difference by looking at the bowl of the helmet, if it has two rivets in the front under the badge, it is the post-war version, if it has what looks like a single seam that seperates the visor from the bowl it is the WWI version.
You of course can buy a French one, purchase a reproduction Belgian badge which can be found on Ebay ... cgi.ebay.com/b0052-Belgium-ww1-ww2-adrian-helmet-plate-replica-/350399222489?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51956bd2d9 ... and re-paint it. The correct liner and chinstrap can be purchased from Prairie Flower Leather Company ... pflco.com/belgian.htm
Patrick

[1886lebel]

One thing to understand about Adrian helemts .... The Adrian helmets were sized to the shell itself and ranged from small to extra large, the three sizes were Size A (53-55 cm) Size B (56-57 cm) and size C (58-59). They had a one piece leather chinstrap with adjustable buckle and a one piece wool-backed, leather liners which also were sized, A 54 to 56 cm; B 57 to 59 cm; and C 60 to 62 cm with aluminum spacers which can decrease the inside diameter of the shell even though this was not what they were used for, these were to help the flow of air inside the helmet.
One of the best places to purchase a restored helmet is from our own GWHS member, Jacob Caputo of Alexander and Sons German Helmet Restoration. He does an excellent job of restoration on these, the quality is excellent. He also does have complete helmets for sale as well for excellent prices. Please contact him via PM or via email to see what he has available, I highly recommend his helmets. alexanderandsonsrestorations.com/ ... I am sure he would be willing to do a 'Belgian' helmet for you.
Patrick

[montythetommy]

I'm in Jacob's WW2 unit! So that might be better, I'll call him up when I get the chance and see what he's got. Thank you patrick for all the helpful info, there are a hundreds of websites that all "claim" to be experts in adrian helmets and were saying getting 2 rivited one were ok.

[1886lebel]

The series did have them wearing this type if you look closely but they are incorrect but hey it it is a movie production and got whatever they could get thier hands on at the time. The funnist episode was "Verdun, September 1916" ... The Belgians never fought there at all, they were confined to the far North Western part of the Western front inside thier homeland but it made good 'movie plot'. The best episodes were the WWI East Africa and Congo ones, alot of people did not know that the Belgians did play a very significant role in that part of the world during the war with Force Publique.

Patrick

[montythetommy]

Haha. Yeah they made quite a few mistakes. Like German's on the western front carring Lebel guns, russians with enfields, and austrailian light horsemen having 2 P03 bandoliers of ammo, a rifle, 2 revolvers, and a sword. XD

The african ones are my favorite, showing a different front of the war, with Fredrick Selous, General Smuts, and Paul Von-Lettow Vorbeck.

[1886lebel]

What I hated about the portayal of Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck in the series which showed him as an arrogant ass and had Nazi like qualities which in reality he was far from. He was one of the only people to actually tell Hitler off and get away with it with out getting killed or sent to a concentration camp. His book, My Reminiscences of East Africa or U.S. edition entitled East African Campaigns is excellent BTW if you ever get a chance to read it it is an excellent read.
Patrick

[montythetommy]

Vorbeck was a GREAT man, he always played by the rules, was a gentleman, and humble even though he always won. After WW1, he and General Smuts were pals. While Vorbeck lived in poverty after WW2 smuts sent him regular passals of food and money.

I'll have to look up that book! Sounds cool.

[kingkaiser]

In many ways, Lettow-Vorbeck and Rommel were quite similar. Both were "gentleman soldiers"----they played by the rules and fought honorably. Both respected, and were respected by, their adversaries. Both were cunning and novel tacticians.

It's a shame that Lettow-Vorbeck was not portrayed accurately in the TV series. The producers likely did very little research, and chose to portray him in a stereotypical fashion.

Lettow-Vorbeck remains an obscure historical figure. The African Front, while an important part of WWI, remains overshadowed by the Western Front (as is the Eastern Front).

[1886lebel]

He was actually receiving parcels during WWII as well from Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke, authoress of Out of Africa, whom he had meet on the ship to Dar es Salaam to take over command of German East Africa in January of 1914.

Some excellent books on the War in Africa are:
Anderson, Ross, The Forgotten Front: The East African Campaign, 1914-1918
Farwell, Byron, The Great War in Africa, 1914-1918, this one covers all of the areas in quite good detail
Hoyt, Edwin P, Guerilla: Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck and Germany's East African Empire
Sibley, J.R., Tanganyikan Guerrilla

Patrick

[jcaputo]

Patrick,
and the rest of you interested in the Great War in Africa, pick up a copy of World War I: The African Front: An Imperial War on the Dark Continent by, Edward Paice. I read this book when it came out. Its an excellent read on a almost unknown aspect of the Greart War. The authors did a ton of reseach and it paid off. He also interviewed one of the last surviving German askaris right before his death. Which in itself is pretty interesting. Nick had an good point about Vorbeck. He was an amazing military leader. I'm not sure there are too many other military leaders of the 20th century that compare.

Oh and Monty I have a number of Adrian helmets in stock right now. I even have the correct color paint for a Belgium helmet (although no one has ever asked me to do a Belgium Adrian, but I do have the paint). If you'd like to stop over and try a Adrian on give me a call.