German Luftwaffa Cap

[Remember Me]

I have a 1952 M38. The man I bought the jeep off of his cousin was a WW2 veteran. His name was Clifford but I can't  remember his last name. When Don still owned the jeep we went to a parade with Clifford. When it was over we went to Clifford's  house.  Clifford told me he had been in the combat engineers. He had landed at Normandy on D-day.  He said when they landed the frogmen were taking care of the obstacles in the water and they were clearing obstacles  on land. Said they were ahead of the infantry. He was told to find anybody left from his landing craft and head to St. Lo. . He said he was the only one left. Later in the war they had slept in a German officers house and took his things. He had medals,bayonets a bunch of things he showed me. When he passed on his family kept everything but this hat. They gave it to Don's wife to give it to me. The visor is coming off. Clifford said if he knew he was going to live as long as he did he would of treated his body better. He was  a tall thin man. Don has passed on also and I didn't  want to bother his wife to as Clifford's  last name.

 

 

[warguy]

Not sure how much discussion can take place on the hat on this forum, but you have listed it under spoils of war so I will offer a few details in the hopes I wont offend forum rules. The hat color is tough to see in these photos. You say the hat is Luftwaffe in the title. Assuming the hat color is blue it might make some sense BUT the hat currently has an Army wreath and cockade on it, not a Luftwaffe. The silver bullion piping would be consistent with what you would see on a Luftwaffe officers hat, but the correct insignia would be a silver bullion eagle and silver bullion luftwaffe “wings” wreath and cockade and both would have been sewn on. Perhaps over the years it was stripped of insignia and someone put the wrong wreath back on? Interesting story. 

[Remember Me]

I know next to nothing about German things and that's  being generous. I'm  just going by what he told me. He had a bunch of little gold eagles that looked like the luftwaffe eagles that would go on a ribbon bar or something  similar . I will try and get ahold of Don 's wife and get his last name. It is Grey in color. Like you said it is more about Clifford than the hat. He was a nice man to talk to. Thank you.

[manayunkman]

Better pictures with better light are needed. 
 

Looks like an army visor on a Luftwaffe cap.

[Bodes]

The celluloid diamond on the inside looks like it says Pekuro (Peter Kupper) as its manufacturer and Otto Gotze (Adolf Hitler Strasse 13) as distributor.....The style of the bill looks correct for a WW2 era peak visor but appears to be Heer (Army) Branch instead of Luftwaffe...The piping is likely dirty white which would indicate infantry....Bodes

 

 

[warguy]

Let’s hope for better photos but that piping looks like bullion to me. Also you can’t ignore mohair band (army caps are doe skin wool). While less encountered than the more common stitched brim, you will find the Vulcan fiber visors on Luftwaffe caps as well. 

[Remember Me]

I took a couple of outside pictures. Is this cap WW2 or later. I just assumed  it was Luftwaffa because his other things he brought back were. Thanks for the help. 

[manayunkman]

Here is a Luft Officer visor with the proper insignia and visor.

 

 

 

[warguy]

 

4 hours ago, manayunkman said:

Here is a Luft Officer visor with the proper insignia and visor.

 

 

 

Proper insignia yes, however I will reiterate that while this style of visor is the most common on Luftwaffe caps, the Army “style” vulcanized visor is occasionally seen on original Luftwaffe hats as well. Here are but two examples from another forum. Each of these caps were vetted as original (the first one has a replaced breast eagle on it, it is much too large for the hat). But the hats themselves and this style of visor once again is occasionally seen on good LW caps, usually late war models. Regarding the cap that started this thread, the close up photos are better but what really bothers me is the lack of evidence of stitched insignia once on the cap. The two holes in the front just don't appear correct for a LW officers visor, they look too low on the cap and the original insignia should have been stitched. Perhaps someone along the way had added improper insignia there as well and it has since been removed?