Original Item: Only One available. This is a very good service worn condition Flight Branch Luftwaffe EM & NCO Visor Cap. A wonderful honest example with a fantastic swept back shape. It has the slightly indented saddle form appearance which we all love. This excellent wartime EM & NCO Schirmmütze Visor Cap was a high quality manufactured visor. It is fabricated in Luftwaffe grey blue wool, with wide black wool cap band, plus three rows of goldgelb (Gold-Yellow) color piping for the flight branch (Waffenfarbe) around the circumference. This included Aviator troops such as pilots and ground personnel as well as Fallschirmjäger (parachute troops).
The peak visor cap retains an excellent, high quality, aluminum pin Luftwaffe eagle with swas as well as centrally mounted “winged” aluminum oak leaves with cockade. Chinstrap and buttons are still present and in very good condition. The visor is a classic vulcanfibre construction example, matte pattern with the usual age crazing and degrading on the top. The underside is a nice green color, and the original edge trim is unfortunately missing on the entire visor.
The body with its gold-yellow piping is in very good shape, with just a bit of moth damage to the very rear of the cap crown. The cap is lined with light brown canvas, which no longer has the top sweat shield. It now shows staining from oil and sweat overall. The sweatband is dark blue leather, which is still supple, however it also is torn at the rear. The stitching on the sweatband has pulled near the front visor, so it is now somewhat delicate in that area. Size is about a 57-58cm.
The underside of the leather has what looks to be a unit marking: 3 in a square next to be T.S. Jüterbog in a rectangle. Formerly a Glider Training location, it was taken over by the Luftwaffe in 1933 and then developed into a military airfield. It was later captured in 1945 by the Red Army, and later had units of the Soviet Air Force stationed there throughout the war.
This is an excellent totally honest Luftwaffe NCO peaked visor cap offered with a beautiful shape and look. Ready to research and 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.