Snapper Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 I'm in the process of restoring some old pix at work and one shows a first aid drill in Croydon with a stretcher party putting a "casualty" into an ambulance. The bearers are all wearing helmets with SP7 on them. I am assuming 7 is the district and 'S' might be for Surrey. The party is led by a St John Ambulance man - his helmet is white with two stripes -so I know he is senior. But I'd like to know what this SP7 does signify for captioning purposes. I am sorry, I am unable to show you the pics due to copyright restrictions. Any firm leads? I am aware there is no book on British helmets...which is a shame. I also know these are mild steel versions of the MkII. MB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woa2 Posted October 14, 2010 Share Posted October 14, 2010 SP means Street Patrol. Unsure what the 7 refers to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnwardle Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 If you buy the latest edition (november 2010) of 'Military Times' there is an article in there about air raid shelters and a reproduction of the Civil Defence helmet regognition chart, it is rather surprising how many different styles & colours there were. According to this chart SP means Stretcher Party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapper Posted October 15, 2010 Author Share Posted October 15, 2010 Thanks a million. This makes complete sense. The original caption sheet refers to a stretcher party depot and I didn't twig it. Therefore the individual parties had numbered helmets. There were so many variations of these helmets, which are now all very collectable. I know many civil defence examples were made of a mild steel unlike the combat versions and they even made some from composite materials in the same shape. I will look for the article. Mark If you buy the latest edition (november 2010) of 'Military Times' there is an article in there about air raid shelters and a reproduction of the Civil Defence helmet regognition chart, it is rather surprising how many different styles & colours there were. According to this chart SP means Stretcher Party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 SP means Street Patrol. Unsure what the 7 refers to. Always thought that SFP was Street Fire Party Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.