Original Item: Only One available. This is an excellent condition Luftwaffe Civil Fire Brigade NCO’s Schirmmütze (Visor Cap), which is dated 1941 and size marked 55. The celluloid diamond sweat shield inside the crown of the cap is fully intact, with the makers markings underneath:
CARL HALFAR
UNIFORM-MÜTZENFABRIK
BERLIN. 20
Prinzenallee 74
= 55 =
Lieferjahr 1941
“Lieferjahr” translates to “Delivery Year”, so that is when the cap was slated to be delivered to the luftwaffe. This excellent wartime NCO Visor Cap is a high quality example, and is identical to the standard Feuerschutzpolizei (Fire Protection Police) visor cap in construction, with different insignia. it is fabricated from deep navy blue doeskin wool, with a black velvet centerband and Feuerschutzpolizei carmine wool truppenfarbe, (Corps Color).
The peak visor cap retains an excellent, Luftwaffe Civil Employee insignia on the top, which is the standard spread wing reichsadler. The cap band has a “winged” swas inside a wreath, the civil employee “Wings”. The black leather NCO chinstrap and buttons are still present and in very good condition. The visor is a classic vulcanfibre construction example, gloss pattern with very little age at all. It is light brown on the underside, and the stitching is fully intact.
The cap is lined with light brown canvas, and has brown oilcloth on the inside of the top. The sweatshield is fully retained, and the sweatband is tan finished leather, which is still supple. There is however a tear through the ventilated forehead area, which does not show up in the photographs.
The cap overall is in very good condition, with just a bit of mothing to the piping. The body shows little to no mothing, and no age related degradation.
This is the first example of one of these Luftwaffe Civic Fire Brigade caps that we have had, and it’s a fantastic example, most likely unissued, with wear from age and storage. Ready to display!
The German Schirmmütze Visor Cap:
The visor cap (Schirmmütze) was an important part of the headgear worn by German uniformed military, civil, paramilitary and political organizations during the Third Reich. This was the standard cloth headgear worn as a part of the service uniform. Visor caps were worn outdoors as well as indoors, and were often required to be worn by all personnel on duty. Visor caps were made in versions specific to each organization and were often further differentiated through the use of insignia, colored piping, or style of chin cord, to indicate rank, role or branch. The insignia used on these caps ranged from simple stamped metal emblems, to elaborate hand embroidery. Visor caps were issued to enlisted soldiers and NCOs in the military and in some other organizations. Officers had to purchase their own hats, and lower ranks could choose to purchase caps that were of a higher quality than the rather basic, issue examples. The private purchase caps were generally made in very high quality, with fine materials. A wide variety of fabrics were used, from Trikot and doeskin, to heavy wool, or even lightweight white fabric for summer wear. In the military, issue of these caps was generally suspended shortly after the outbreak of the war, but they continued to be worn by some troops until the end of the war.