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My US Navy Squadron Cap Collection


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VP_Association

I'm preparing a display of memorabilia for the up-coming VP Association annual reunion which will be held at the Elks Hall in Weymouth, MA on Saturday September 20th 2014. The VP Association is a group composed primarily of veterans who served in the various US Naval Air Reserve patrol squadrons that were assigned to NAS Squantum, NAS South Weymouth, and NAS Brunswick. See www.vpassociation.org for details. This year I intend to put my squadron caps on display in the room reserved for memorabilia. Since I had to gather my caps together anyway, I figured I'd photograph them and put them up here for others to see. These caps are all from units that I was assigned to while I was in the USN and USNR between 1979 and 1999. Note, please don't post any comments, etc. in this thread until I finish putting all the images of my caps up. Thanks!

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Technically, the first squadron I was assigned to was VP-30 at NAS Jacksonville, FLA. I was temporarily attached to VP-30 from June to September 1980. At that time VP-30 provided initial training for aircrew and maintenance personnel assigned to P-3 squadrons in the Atlantic Fleet while VP-31 performed the same service for the Pacific Fleet squadrons. In later years VP-31 was decommissioned and VP-30 now handles initial P-3 and P-8 training for patrol squadrons in both the Atlantic and Pacific fleet. When I was with VP-30 the squadron caps were a navy blue plastic mesh with large ironed-on yellow "VP-30". I know that I picked one up at that time but I appear to have lost it over the years. In recent years, while attending one of the Maritime Patrol Association's reunions and symposiums at NAS Jacksonville, I picked this contemporary example up.

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When I completed training as a P-3B non-acoustic sensor operator I was assigned to VP-8 at NAS Brunswick, ME. When I arrived at the squadron in September 1980 the squadron was using this type of wool cap with applied felt squadron designation. At first I did not buy one. The radio operator on my crew, a guy named Nick Roman, gave me an older style fitted cap that was similar to this but had "TIGERS" hand embroidered in bowling script on the back. These caps had been available a few years previously but were long out of stock by the time I arrived. I had expressed admiration for them and Nick dug one up for me. When he presented it to me I said, "Where did you get this?" and he replied, "I found it in the gutter, just shut up and take it."! This was a really beautiful cap and I proudly wore it through most of my first operational deployment to Rota, Spain and Lajes, Azores from October 1980 to March 1981. However, at some point I misplaced the older cap and replaced it with this one, which I bought at the squadron's geedunk. I'd pay almost anything to obtain one of the older style caps with "TIGERS" embroidered on the back. I've never seen one since.

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Here's a photo showing me wearing the same cap shown in the previous posting on board a VP-8 P-3C while we were transitioning from P-3Bs to P-3Cs during 1982. By this time I was an AW2 and had my rank insignia on the cap. In later years I pulled the rank insignia off this cap and put it on another one. One of these days I'll pick a second class petty officer's crow up and stick it back on the cap as it used to be.

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During the latter half of my tour with VP-8 the patrol squadrons began to transition from the older style caps with large applied squadron designations to this embroidered type of cap. Just before this transition took place the wool caps gave way to plastic mesh back caps with large iron-on squadron designations (i.e. VP-8). These mesh back caps were very cheaply made and did not last. I never bought one, but wish that I had just to complete the collection. I bought this cap at the squadron geedunk when they first showed up. At that time I was an AW3 and I put my rank insignia and aircrew wings on the cap. This is how most of us wore them. I really preferred the older style wool cap with the large applied VP-8 and wore it more often than this one In later years for display purposes I put my old second class petty officer crow on this cap to show my progression in rank as I moved from unit to unit.

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This is a more recent VP-8 squadron cap. In fact, it may be the current issue cap. I picked this up a few years ago during a trip to NAS Jacksonville soon after the squadron was relocated there just before NAS Brunswick was closed.

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I left the regular Navy in September 1983 to attend college at Bridgewater University in Massachusetts. I had originally intended to affiliate with reserve squadron VP-92 at NAS South Weymouth, MA but there was something on the order of a year long waiting list to get into that squadron at that time. I spent a few months in some kind of composite reserve unit at NAS South Weymouth doing corresponsence courses during drill weekends and was bored to death with it. So, tio get back into flying ASAP I affiliated with the VP MAU at NAS Brunswick, ME instead. When I reported to the VP-MAU in January 1984 they had those cheap blue plastic mesh caps with large yellow iron-on MAU letters. These were just awful and I never bought one - though now I wish I had. For months I just wore one of my old VP-8 caps around the hangar until one drill weekend these nice embroidered caps showed up at the squadron geedunk. I wore this cap until I left the VP-MAU in December 1990.

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Technically I was also a member of VP-10 (kind of) for most of the time that I was with the VP-MAU. The VP-MAU was a squadron augmentation unit (SAU) and not a reserve force squadron (RESFORON). What this means is that the VP-MAU's purpose was not to mobilize as a squadron in the event of a national emergency, it was to provide replacements for other squadrons in the event of a national emergency. Each part time reservist in the VP-MAU was assigned a mobilization billet in one of the regular navy patrol squadrons at NAS Brunswick at that time. In my case, I was assigned to VP-10. In the event of mobilization I would have been activated and slotted into a replacement billet in VP-10. On many drill weekends I actually flew VP-10 aircraft on VP-10 flight schedules. When I went on my two weeks annual training I went to wherever VP-10 was and my crew became a VP-10 crew flying VP-10 operational missions. Everyone on my crew wore a red VP-10 nametag on our uniforms and flight suits when we were on annual training and we wore the VP-10 red lance on our flight jackets along with our VP-MAU patch at all times. Though we always wore our VP-MAU squadron caps, in later years I picked up a contemporary VP-10 cap during a trip to NAS Jacksonville.

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Ok, back to the VP-MAU. Here I am wearing my VP-MAU cap on board a VP-MAU P-3C sometime during the mid to late 1980s.

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The VP-MAU was decommissioned during early 1991. It so happened that as the VP-MAU was approaching its end that VP-92, the RESFORON at NAS South Weymouth that I had tried to get into with no success back in 1983, was transitioning from the P-3B to the P-3C and was desparately looking for instructors who were qualified in both aircraft. Most of the guys in the VP-MAU had flown P-3Bs and P-3Cs so VP-92, which had a long waiting list to get in under most circumstances, pulled out all the stops to get VP-MAU people. In my case they created new billets for me and for my wife as well so we could drill together in the squadon. It was a pretty good deal. I reported to VP-92 in December 1990. Many years later I acquired this cap, which I'm told was the very first VP-92 squadron cap after the unit was commissioned in November 1970. This is a very high quality wool cap with sewn on felt letters.

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I've been told that this was the style of cap used by VP-92 during the mid to late 1970s. Its actually very similar to the older VP-8 cap that I lost during my first deployment to Rota/Lajes in 1980/1981 except that it does not have any embroidery in the back. During the early 1980s VP-92 also had those cheaply made blue plastic mesh back caps with iron-on yellow "VP-92". I'd love to acquire one for my collection.

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I've been told that this is the style of cap that VP-92 was using just before I arrived at the squadron. Notice that the lettering is embroidered directly on to the cap. The later style that looked like this had the lettering embroidered on to a separate patch that was ironed on to the cap.

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This is the cap that I picked up at the geedunk when I reported to VP-92 in December 1990. Its similar in style to the VP-8 and VP-MAU caps in the sense that the embroidery was stiched on to a separate patch that was ironed on to the front of the cap.

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Here I am (right) with VP-92 pilot LT Bill McCrillis (left) shaking hands with a former cold war Commie adversary at the Royal Air Force International Air Tattoo in Fairford, UK in 1997. Note that I am wearing the same VP-92 cap shown previously.

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The 1995 Base Realighnment and Closure Commision (BRAC) decided to close NAS South Weymouth in 1997 and transfer VP-92 to NAS Brunswick in 1996. Around this time the squadron changed cap styles to one that featured an embroidered image of a P-3C. Here's the first of several variations of this basic design. This one depicts the propeller arcs.

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Here's a later variant from the squadron's first few years at NAS Brunswick that does not depict the propeller arcs.

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Here's yet another variant, this time identifying the squadron has being based at NAS Brunswick, ME.

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I left VP-92 to go IRR (individual ready reserve) during September 1999 due to work pressures and I left the reserve the following year when my enlistment expired. At that time I had taken to wearing a replica Buzz Rickson's WW2 type B-1 summer flying cap on the aircraft as shown here instead of the regulation squadron cap. Nobody ever gave me any trouble about it.

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In 2006 the Navy decided to close NAS Brunswick. As part of that decision VP-92 was scheduled for decommissioning in 2007. I had remained close to the squadron after I left (many of my friends had remained there through the end) and I actually wrote a book about the squadron ("The Minutemen of VP-92: The Story of New England's Naval Air Reserve Patrol Squadron") that was published in time to be available for the first time at the decommissioning ceremony in September 2007. The image shown above is the last style of cap sold through the VP-92 geedunk when it was decommissioned. Note the propeller detail. This last style of squadron cap was available in the standard navy blue and also in a women's pink. My wife, who was in VP-92 as an AK3 for many years, picked this up at the decommissioning ceremony. Recently the ANA Patriot Squadron's Shea Naval Aviation Museum, which operates on old NAS South Weymouth, tracked down VP-92's last squadron cap vendor. They still had the original embroidery files for the last batch of caps and the museum had some made up. They are still available and can be obtained at the museum during open hours or via mail order. See the "geedunk" page on the ANA Patriot Squadron's web site at www.anapatriotsquadron.org for details. You'll aso find a link there to the book about VP-92.

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Ok, this is it. Not squadron caps, but the two styles of NAS South Weymouth base caps that were available while I was there. The top style was in use on the base when I was first there during the latter half of 1983 just after I got off active duty. The bottom style was in use when I returned to NAS South Weymouth in December 1990 and remained in service until the base was closed in 1997. Similar caps are sold by the ANA Patriot Squadron's Shea Naval Aviation Museum and can be seen on the "geedunk" page at www.anapatriotsquadron.org.

 

Hope this proves educational.

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Here's one that I missed somehow. This was the final command ball cap design produced for VP-92 before the squadron was decommissioned in 2007. Note the propeller blade detail. It seems like every batch of caps was done by a different vendor (on a competitively bid lowest cost basis no doubt) and each had their own way of doing it. As mentioned previously, the ANA Patriot Squadron's Shea Naval Aviation Museum on old NAS South Weymouth, MA tracked down the original manufacturer and had these caps reproduced recently. They are available for $20 each at the museum or for a bit more via mail-order. See www.anapatriotsquadron.org for details.

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Here's the last cap that I found - these were sold at the Navy Exchange at NAS South Weymouth during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Oddly enough, I flew out of NAS South Weymouth for only six years and spent fourteen years at NAS Brunswick but I never bought an NAS Brunswick base cap.

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