As requested, here are some photos of my newly arrived Luft DD M35 with the early drooptail eagle.

I decided to grab my other Luft M35 DD that I have owned for many years and throw it in there too. The very sharp-eyed may notice that one has a reproduction chin strap on it. It’s a place holder until I can get an appropriate original, but I have never gotten around to finding one for it all these years. Such that the fittings on the repop are showing signs of aging! LOL.

The original strap on the earlier M35 is period shortened, cut to a point with a knife. The soldier may have had a thin face and needed to cinch the strap tight and didn’t like the excess strap poking out under the brim of the helmet.

Click to enlarge the picture