MKIIa Lightweight Respirator

The MKIIa mask is undoubtedly a very important and characteristic mask of the British army and, after the war, the Danish army. The MKI and MKII masks paved the way for future British lightweight assault masks and their influence can still be seen today on current gas masks such as the S10. But returning to the subject of mask, it is necessary to say a little about the MKI mask, so the first of them were created in 1941 on the basis of the L1 form used in the Civilian Duty Respirator (I will write CDR for short), hence you can also see things like the triangle at the front in where in the CDR mask there was a "Nose", i.e. an exhaust valve, L1 forms also have a characteristic bracket inside the mask. MKII and MKIIa masks were mostly produced from the improved L2 form in several variants, the "LH" variant was a variant with a combined filter on the right side, which was created for left-handed shooters (standard ones, such as mine, have it on the left). There were also three different types of rubber, the first basic one was just black rubber, the second one I have was a variant made of synthetic rubber which is much harder than regular rubber, this variant is marked with a red dot under the mounting of the carrying straps, the last variant is the "DERM" variant i.e. a mixture produced for people suffering from dermatitis caused by wearing the basic version of the mask. The L2 form was only produced in the "Normal" size, which was a negative change compared to the earlier L1 forms. This was changed only with the transition to the L3 form, when it was already available in 3 sizes: Small, Normal (medium) and Large. Visors are another issue inherited from the CDR mask because, just like in it and the Light anti gas series masks, the visors were unscrewed, which ensured easy replacement in the event of damage. Due to their size, you can see very well in the mask and the field of view is really large, their biggest disadvantage is the lack of any system to prevent them from fogging. The next thing is the combination filter, i.e. L MKII, after the war it was replaced with the L MKIII combination filter which I have. It differed practically only in size and weight and was almost identical to the L MKI. The mask bag is made of hard, good quality material. After the war, the masks were used by the Danish army and then by the Danish civil defense.

Now about my example itself. The MKIIa Lightweight Respirator gas mask visible in the photos was manufactured by Universal Rubber Paviors Ltd (URP) in December 1943 (see photo 13), but it was not put into use until November 20, 1944 (see markings in photo 14). It was probably used in the British Army until around the 1950s, when older models of gas masks were issued to the Danish army. The fact that mine was also in it is confirmed by the original Danish instructions and the stamps on the mask and bag. Then, or even earlier, the combined filter was changed from the older L MKII to the newer L MKIII. My combined filter was manufactured on June 19, 1953. Unfortunately, apart from the Danish army stamp and the inscription "Light MKII", I cannot read the manufacturer's stamp on the bag. Returning to the mask, it is made of a test version of rubber, i.e. synthetic rubber, as evidenced by its hardness and the red dot that marked masks made of this type of rubber. An interesting feature is a small dog tag with the number 1303 sewn into the headrest. Unfortunately, I cannot determine whether it comes from the Second World War or is post-war. What I know for sure is that it was approved and inspected long after the war, because the last inspection date (at least from those that can be read) is September 21, 1967 (see photo 18).

The article was partially based on the Baroque4Days article link to the article: https://gasmaskandrespirator.fandom.com/wiki/Respirator,_Anti-Gas,_Light_(WWII)#Facepiece_Assembly: