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WW2 Officer's Lewis Fly-Weighter Crusher Visor Cap


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Here is another opinion I dug up on the web.

 

 

The Crush Cap is a storied article of WWII Army Air Corps gear. Nothing made an aviator look more seasoned than when sporting a floppy, crumpled cap riding at a jaunty angle atop his head.

The Visor Cap, or Service Cap, is essentially the primary dress headgear of servicemen and it bears, in the case of the Army and Army Air Corps, the insignia of the coat of arms of the United States. As such, the service cap is a crisply angled cap with stiff support to maintain its respectable posture.

 

Army Air Corps personnel, while wearing the visor cap in flight, took to removing the stiffening in order to comfortably wear a communications headset over the cap. In time, the cap would become crushed and softened. A cap which had seen a lot of action eventually came to be known as a "50 mission crush cap," and the wearer of such a cap came to be recognized as an experienced veteran.

 

In deference to the air service the Officer's Guide states, "Officers of the Army Air Forces wear a similar cap [to officers of the Army] except that the front spring stiffening may be omitted and the grommet may be removed."

 

The front spring stiffening is what supports the insignia and also keeps the front of the cap jutting strongly upward and forward. This can vary from a curled piece of wire spring to a solid metal plate. The grommet is a round support, often simply a stiff piece of metal wire, that keeps the top of the cap round and suspended. While the grommet can be readily extracted from the cap, the front spring stiffening is typically sewn integrally into the cap and is not easily removed.

 

Eventually, manufacturers began to make caps specifically for aviators. These caps were specially made to be soft and crushable with a thinner and more flexible leather visor, little or no front spring stiffening, and a softer headband. While there was some variation in crushability between the different models, some of these caps could be very easily rolled up and stuffed into a pocket.

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Here is another opinion I dug up on the web.

 

 

Whew! I'm glad they mentioned that "all crushers had a single layer leather visor"! That cleared that up!!!

 

Oh...wait...they didn't...hmmmm.... :think:

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Whew! I'm glad they mentioned that "all crushers had a single layer leather visor"! That cleared that up!!!

 

Oh...wait...they didn't...hmmmm.... :think:

 

 

To funny :lol::lol::lol:

 

I did see some merit in the part about manufactures making hats specifically for crushing after the market started modifying standard hats. It makes sense to me that manufactures saw a market and went after it.

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Yep. Which is what we've been saying all along. The caps that were made to feed that market are only a portion of the "True Crushers" out there. The true crusher preceded the manufactured crusher.

Thanks for posting this as it sums it all up.

Dave

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Jamecharles

Guys do you wanna see an incredible AAF crusher?

1938 version blue dress enlisted aaf visor ;)

bluedressaf005.th.jpg

 

I've also an officer crusher aaf blue dress visor

 

GS

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Guys do you wanna see an incredible AAF crusher?

1938 version blue dress enlisted aaf visor ;)

bluedressaf005.th.jpg

 

I've also an officer crusher aaf blue dress visor

 

GS

 

 

That is a nice early example, lets see the officer's cap!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Bill,

Can't see that last one. I'd really like to see that!

Dave

Sorry for the delay. I just revisited this thread and saw the question. I don't know what happened to the picture earlier. Here it is again....hopefully the picture will show up this time.

 

post-1107-1306848248.jpg

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  • 2 years later...

Posted Yesterday, 06:10 PM



Hi everybody !


I am new here, happy to join this forum ! :)



I'm french, and WW2 USAAF militaria collector since 2 years.


I own in my collection one LEWIS FLY-WEIGHTER crusher cap, and I'm in search of informations on this manufacturer.


In spite of numerous searches on the web, I found no piece of information on the manufacturer, neither over her year of creation, nor on the city where she was implanted. :(



I come to inquire with you in the hope that you can help me.



Thank you beforehand !


Best regards !


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Our French member brings up a good point, little is known about Lewis caps. I know there was a 'Lewis Ltd.' hat maker in Canada, but I don't think these Lewis caps were made in Canada. Anyone know anything about Lewis caps?

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