Message 3374, Jul 7, 2001
Hello all, I thought this might be as good a time as any to bring up a French mfr. helmet I picked up several years ago. It is a Gueneau 316 w/mask that belonged to a pilot from the South African Air Force. I found it in Victoria B.C. and was able to get a reply from a life support guy in the SAAF via the web to confirm the sellers claim. The SAAF member gave me the full name, rank, years served and even the planes flown by the previous owner. I had seen several pictures of SAAF pilots with French and British helmets and assumed it might have something to do with the type of plane they were flying (a nice mix of UK, French and older US designs) or maybe pilots preference. The Life support guy said no, they wore what they were issued and what the AF had procured at the time.
An image is attached of the helmet which shows a chin strap like the German 316 as well as a type 82 mask which is marked LEEP in raised letters where Ulmer should be, it also has a S/A prefix for the serial number and 'LEEP' cast in the MC-3A type oxygen connector. Any ideas on who LEEP is/was?
Thanks, Jerry