First some pictures Imgur Album.
With that out of the way, some backstory. I bought this helmet in New Orleans. It was sold as a “WWII Russian Paratrooper Helmet” which I don’t think it is. The helmet, as you can see from the pictures, is an SSh-39, and is flat OD. Of interest are two markings, one on the front interior, image a 2, crossed swords, and the cyrillic letters meaning BB, or possibly the number 55, and on the rear interior, this stamp image (image I messed around with to make markings clearer)
My question is, simply, what can you tell me about this helmet.
EDIT: Thanks to /u/Subbota for reminding me to double check my cyrillic tranliterations.
I can't help with the history but would like to point out that the markings you identified as either VV or 55 are actually cyrillic for BB.
I am pretty sure that crossed swords marking means it was Czech not Soviet and most likely post war. I am not an expert, but from what I can tell the Soviet helmets had 3 markings and that isn't one of them. They were stamped with CT, 3K0, and LMZ. Emblems like crossed swords weren't bothered with during the war, why waste time and resources they needed those helmets yesterday. The Czechs did use the Ssh-39 helmet and also used the crossed swords emblem, but that was post war. The Czech helmets are a lot more abundant and easier to get ones hands on, and for 99% of people they have to take the word of the seller that it is Soviet and not Russian because they are nearly identical. Don't know about the other markings though.
I might be able to add a little something. If you say that helmet is from Russian airmen, I might have an alternate idea.
The ББ on the third image could refer to Ближний бомбардировщик (Blizhniy Bombardirovshchik). They were a type of pre-war Russian bomber. One possible variant is the ББ-22 which is known as the Yakovlev Yak-2. Or it could refer to the ББ-1 which is more commonly known as the Sukhoi Su-2. Neither plane was large enough to support paratroopers and the ББ-1 was actually used as a fighter by the Soviets early in their war with Germany.
