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M132 - Polish Winged Hussar

ref. EK Castings figurine M132

Polish Winged Hussar - Poland - 2nd half of the XVII century
Battles involving the Polish Hussars, or Winged Hussars, were never lost for 125 years (1500-1625). They surmounted all odds, even when fighting enemies outnumbering them five to one. They were one of the main types of the cavalry in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the 16th and 18th centuries. When this cavalry type was first introduced by the Serbian and Hungarian mercenary horsemen at the beginning of the 16th century, they served as light cavalry banners in the Polish army; by the second half of the 16th century and after Stephen Báthory's reforms, hussars had been transformed into heavily armored shock cavalry. Until the reforms of the 1770s, the husaria banners were considered the elite of the Polish cavalry.
Source: Wikipedia - Nice Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8WH5bmXlYU
The elite of the Polish-Lithuanian army - hussars stood out with their protective gear. Each horseman had a steel half-armor consisting of a steel cuirass, necklace, shoulder pads, a bracer and a helmet. A characteristic detail of the hussar's breastplate was the symbolic signs of the Christian faith: to the left was placed the image of the Mother of God, and to the right - the "Maltese" cross.
Over the armor hussars wore animal skins. At the bulk of the "postal" they were wolves. Those who are richer are bearish. The richest "comrades" flaunted in the skins of lynxes, leopards, leopards, lions and tigers. Under the armor worn zhupany of cloth of various colors.
To protect the head of the hussars wore steel helmets, of which the most common "shishak" with a sinker, visor, naoshami and on the back. Famous hussars "wings" were made from real feathers of an eagle, a sip or a falcon (more rarely - from goose, painted under eagles). The basis of the construction was wooden bent blocks, wrapped in leather, and rich and noble "comrades" additionally decorated with brass and expensive stones.