Homefront - Gasmasks

SpitfireIV

Dont know whether 'Militaria' is the right place for this, perhaps its more suited to 'Collectables and Antiques'? but as it has to do with the British homefront and WW2 I stuck it in here, but Mods, feel free to move if necessary.

Anyway, the item is a pretty common, British, 'General Civilian Respirator C.1' these were made by the millions pre and during WW2 and issued to the general population, they were also issued here in Ireland.



This particular one was made in 1938, it still has its original cardboard box, over which someone has made a new 'skin' out of simulated leather, probably to make it more 'fashionable', as when going out and about in the early years of WW2 it was compulsorary to carry your gasmask with you! This mask is marked inside 'A.R.P' (air raid precautionists) so perhaps Bert worked for them, doing the rounds int he evening/night making sure everyone was complying with the rules and regs.

Removing the covering back off the lid reveals the name of the owner, 'Bert', and we also see Berts address, curiously he has put two address down, you'd have to wonder why, perhaps if one address was bombed it could be sent to the other? Who knows, the writing is:



BERT

H.Poole
86 MayField Gdns
Hanwell
W.7

OR

12 Rosaline RD
Fullham
S.W.6


Another nice feature of this gasmask is again, like the writing, a personal feature, under a flap in the box is a leaf, as you can see in the pictures below, you'd have to wonder, how, or why that leaf is there? A momento from a sweetheart? A reminder of home? Or simply a leaf that slipped into the box........if only it could talk








These things were as common as muck years back, but I think they are slowly disapearing, and being that they were made fairly cheaply they havent stood up to the test of time, aslo the fact that after the war many simply destroyed there masks or used them for other purposes, my granmother recalled using the filter off her gasmask as a stand for the iron :rolleyes:

Dr Strange

Very nice, CB1798!

Yes, gas masks count as part of militaria collectibles. No problem there

A colleague of mine told me about the gas-mask in his father's house (probably the type in your pictures) and that they were given out during the 'Emergency'. He played with it as a kid and doesn't know where it is now. What a shame!

What's also collectable is the flyer in your pic.

I somewhere have an original receipt from Swastika Laundries in Donnybrook. Found it in an old second-hand book. I posted it on a German collector's website and they thought it was funny...."we blitz your whites".

marcsignal

I was given a present of one of these by a friend last year, it had been in his grannys house since the war. It is in absolutely perfect condition, still in the box, complete with instructions, and with the name "John" written in crayon on the side.
When I brought it home and showed my dad (Who's 76 yrs old) it almost brought tears to his eyes.

Dr Strange

marcsignal wrote: »

I was given a present of one of these by a friend last year, it had been in his grannys house since the war. It is in absolutely perfect condition, still in the box, complete with instructions. When I brought it home and showed my dad (Who's 76 yrs old) it almost brought tears to his eyes.

Sounds good, marcsignal. Would you put some picture up? I know, some people might say "seen one, seen them all" but it's different for collectors. The more pics of different masks of the same make the better. Goes for all militaria really. It's also a good indicator of condition and completeness of the item.

Best,
Preusse

Hagar

There was also a Swaztika laundry on the SCR near Dolphin's Barn Church, I remember it as a child.

marcsignal

I will when i get home Preusse, im in Germany at the moment.

Years ago i worked in Rentokil and the Swastika Laundry was one of my calls (but by then it had a different name) I found a framed pic in an old store room explaining why the company used the name, (which fell into my van) a pic of which i uploaded to boards before, see below.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6034073/uploads/attachments/23565/40969.jpg

Have some nazi German currency here i can photograph and upload in a bit, you can get some unreal stuff in 'flea markets' here in germany, last year I got an ss helmet, an ss black officers cap, collar Runes, a K98 rifle bayonet (for 25euro) and various Reich Ausweiss and Workers Ausweiss ID Books, as well as original hand written letters from the front from soldiers serving in Russia, written in pencil and stamped by the censor. Most of it is back in Dublin but will upload pics at xmas when I'm home. The letters were particularlly poigniant, I had them translated by a German friend, and most of them were requests for food, new socks, warm jumpers, from their parents. Sad to read really. Dated late 1942, early 43.

Dr Strange

Great stuff marcsignal,

it would be great to see your items from the flea markets. Yes, I miss the flea markets. There is nothing really comparable here in Ireland. Even the car boot sales in England are bigger.
If you want I will look at all your items and will give you an indication as to their originality. The flea markets in Germany are awash with fakes and done-up items, particularly helmets. A godd condition SS helmet would cost you a least over €1000! Similar with caps. You have to be very careful buying them on markets. Put up the picks and we'll have a look And for 25 Euro you can't do anything wrong.

Hagar,

I will post the receipt I got as soon as I can scan it in.

Best,

Preusse

SpitfireIV

Cheers for the comments guys!

You know, about that gasmask belonging to 'Bert', I've often thought to rattle a letter off to those addresses just out of sheer curiousity to see if I'd get any form of reply! I doubth Bert himself is still alive (perhaps he is) or perhaps he could have moved since, who knows, might be interesting though. Be GREAT if he was alive though and I could get some stories.

Ah well.....one can dream





Ok, so here are some pics of the next gasmask, a British MkIV General Service Respirator, this particular gasmask came from my great aunt, whom it was supposedly issued to pre WW2, this type of mask is however is better known for being supplied to British soldiers, and the type of filter fitted to this mask, a type 'F' is strange again:

'This version of the Mk. IV Service Respirator came equipped with a Type F filter, which was most likely a special purpose filter designed for protecting against a specific agent.' www.gasmasks.net

Strange type of gasmask to be issuing to the general public, no?








Unfortunately the bag that originally came with it has long since gone, last reported sighting of it was being used as a fishing bag :rolleyes:, so the bag you see here is a replacement, and was, at some stage in its life blanco'ed green, much of which has worn away.

SpitfireIV

continued....


The mask itself has a lot of dates, the rubber facepiece is dated 1937 (made by Dunlop) as well as the filter and the eyepieces 1936. The filter also has a 'broad arrow' on the top, a 'broad arrow' would signify ownership by the British Goverment, no?

marcsignal

Great pics CB1798

German WW2 Childs Gas Mask, notice the pink spotty design on the filter so as to make it less scary for the kids

marcsignal

Got this Gas mask as a present from a good mate. It's in remarkable condition as it sat in a bag in an attic for 60 odd years.

marcsignal

and some more

arnhem44

Now heres todays find,if your familiar with my posts on the forum I said in one of them that one time a few years back that we dug up a grenade when clearing out a garden of a house,well I happened to run into the guy who owns the house yesterday and happened to mention the grenade,he proceeded to tell me after we left the job he went about renevating the house,stuck up in the attic jammed in by a rafter was a homefront gas mask in its original box,there is a name written on the top in pencil to Shiela Ga??????,he said there was also a leaflet in it when he found it but this is sadly missing:( he brought in the mask to me today and gave it to me,he said he would rather see it go to someone who would enjoy having it rather than see it go in the bin sometime in the future,then he told me that he had put in a new floor as the old one was only made up of flag stone,what did he find only an smle completely corroded away,he said you could make out where the timber work was from the imprint on the ground but he chucked the rest away as all that was left was badly rusted metalwork,we shifted nearly 300 ton of rubble that day from his house and makes me wonder what we could be after dumping:(,anyway heres the mask

SpitfireIV

arnhem44 wrote: »

what did he find only an smle completely corroded away,he said you could make out where the timber work was from the imprint on the ground but he chucked the rest away as all that was left was badly rusted metalwork

Wow! A memento from the War of Independance days or what!! :eek: Pity he threw out the remains, really wonder what condition they were in, ie corroded, badly corroded or just an orange blob. If it were an MkIII (made pre 1916) the buttstock would have had a unit disc with perhaps regimental details on it which 'may' have given some info as to which regiment last had it. The brass would have gone black almost in those conditions and may have been tossed

arnhem44

I didn't even think of that to be honest,I would guess he most likely overlooked this himself,there is around six other houses built in a row with this one and were owned by a very large mill and let to the workers,origanally there was a wall around ten feet high as a boundary to the back and sides of these houses and would of given great privacy to the occupants,if the owner of the rifle was involved in the war maybe some of his neighbours were too,who knows,there could be possibly more buried or hidden there still,he went on to tell me that an old man that went to his local had shown him an old revolver from the war,the man is dead now and he does not know where or who has this now,this man was also from this area so i would guess theres a good story to be uncovered there with a bit of investigating

SpitfireIV

arnhem44 wrote: »

who knows,there could be possibly more buried or hidden there still,he went on to tell me that an old man that went to his local had shown him an old revolver from the war,the man is dead now and he does not know where or who has this now,this man was also from this area so i would guess theres a good story to be uncovered there with a bit of investigating

Yep, god only knows what gems are hidden, rusting away as we speak, hidden in attics, rafters, in thatch roofs, up chimneys etc etc. A few years back me and the bro got a metal detector, he was more interested in finding Celtic stuff, I was searching around old trees and old walls (ie old landmarks) hoping to find an old revolver or rifle, but alas I never came up with any :rolleyes:.



Anyhoo, heres another gasmask, got this about 7 or so years back, back when it cost me £20 anyway :pac:.



It appears to be a Czech made 'Fatra' mask that was issued as a civilian mask in Denmark.



The following site lists this particular mask as being a 'F.M.-3d'
http://www.gasmasks.net/database/czech/czech.htm

TYPE: F.M.-3d
ALIASES: n/a
DATE: c. late 1930s
FREQUENCY: Uncommon/Rare
USAGE: Czech Republic
FUNCTION: Military/Civilian
LMàG REFERENCE CODE: CZ-015
NOTES: The Fatra F.M. series gas masks were manufactured in many different styles and variations throughout the war years. The differences between the masks are usually slight, and may have been due to material availability and/or function modifications. The F.M.-3 series was most likely an updated version of the F.M.-1 series.




The instruction booklet is quiet detailed and has many pages, unfortunately my Danish skills are non-existant so I have no idea what it says, the last page however is a foldout page showing how to put the mask on - the important stuff!

arnhem44

That is a real gem,its amazing how these kind of things stay in the condition they are.I do have a German one but the rubber is starting to dry out a little,also the lense on one side became curved from been in the tin,I decided to take the lense out and put it under a weight to see if it would straighten by itself,the wife came along and thought it was rubbish and chucked it:eek:,I keep meaning to get replacements but never think of them,did you ever find anything with the metal detector??,it would be a good way of finding things especially in and around buildings,talking to people through work you tend to hear a lot of storys of weapons finds and the likes,I know another person who found an old pistol in the wall of his cottage,I've never actually seen it and from what I'm told it was an old flintlock,as you say theres probarly stuff hidden all over the place still(must rush out and buy a metal detector:rolleyes:)

Wibbs

I have a German WW2 one for women in it's box along with instructions. I'll try and get a few photos of it. It's in great condition too.

arnhem44

This one I got the other day,a very nice WW2 British gasmask,this one is the Avon model dated 1941,I have the bag coming also for this,