Recently got in this cap from a dealer. Someone told me that the cap might be a reproduction from the 90's. I normally don't collect USAAF items, so I ask for your opinions.

 

The cap lacks a cloth label, it has a small paper label. It a bit dry and out of shape. Small crack in the edge of the bill. Thank you

not a bad looking cap but looks like a 1940s civilian cap

issued caps didn't have leather trim around the ear flap and the spec tag is sewn in on the back right panel

I would tend to agree that this is not a USAAF contract B-2. There are a bunch like that with synthetic parts that never have signs of a woven label and that I too have been told were older replicas. Personally, I would walk away from any one of them that doesn't have the woven label. IMA and others have sold obvious civi caps calling them B-2s when they clearly aren't even that pattern.

I was trying to find an original example with the HH reinforcement strips and I cannot. There is always one around the crown where the ear flap is joined but no where else.  IIRC Shaw-Barton and Werber were the main contractors. I have a Shaw. Neither has the strips but the Werbers must've used a different shearling machine. The Werbers have the stitches visible outside whereas the Shaw-Bartons don't. Not sure who else made them but I'd like to see one with those reinforcement strips like the B-3s had.

The shearling was really thin - spec'd at 1/4".

They aren't hard to pattern or make. The USN shearling was thinner than the USAAF but still too thick. I used an old rotten pair of USN trousers. Wearable but I sense the stitches are barely holding! This was done Shaw-Burton style as I don't have a shearling machine.

I agree I think the cap that started this thread was made for ther civilian market. You see the same thing with the A-10 flight gloves and several other pieces of flight material made for the civilian market in the 40’s.  I have an original Perry Sportswear and Shaw-Barton in my collection. I did a thread on them a while back. You can see lots of pics here. I think Shaw-Burton, Perry and Werber were the three original contractors if I recall correctly. 

 

 

 

Thank you all for your help. Nice caps Warguy! Learn something new everyday. 

My redskin HLB

I cant say this for 100% but imagine any of the sheepskin jacket manufactures most likely had a contract for the B-2, but would make sense, they had the tooling and the material..

it would be interesting to see a list of B-2 contractors

Ahhhh yes, I remember now HLB was a contractor. I kept thinking when I posted yesterday I thought there were four I had actually seen. There was an extensive discussion I was involved in about six months ago on the VLJ site. If I had a better memory I would be a genius. Those four contractors were the ones shown in that thread. HLB, Werber, Perry and Shaw-Burton. In another thread, a poster said he has only ever seen contract information on the Shaw Burton, but suggested (like Phantom said) that most B3 contractors were probably making them.  Like Phantom said, if anyone knows of any others it would be nice to hear, or better yet see an example, but again, those were the ones that came up on the other site. Nice cap Phantom. There are a number of nice reproductions out there of these on the market today, a few of which command more money than an original. 

It would make sense based on methods and machines but do remember the material was a shorter shearling than the jackets. Does anyone know if shearling was ever processed for a shorter nap after it was finished? For example, could drops and leftover hides be reduced in thickness after mfg?

I miss the old VLJ. Great pics!

Dave

I had to go back and re-read my old post on this forum. There was info shared here and the VLJ forum and its all jumbled in my mind. Looks like the pst referred to above actually cites five makers. Great discussion and a great hat. Dave there was an interesting discussion not too long ago on VLJ about a light weight British Irving jacket that had a shorter nap. ELJ is now reproducing that as well as some other reproduction jacket makers. I don’t know if anything similar was ever done with the B3, but the whole prospect of different thicknesses in shearling jackets was definitely in place wartime at least in England.

Indeed. If you recall the D-1 had quite a bit shorter nap as well. Maybe the same as the B-2s.

You mean they started talking about vintage leather jackets over there again? LOL. VLJ became a place where showing stuff I make was appropriate but I'm not sure it should have been. To me it's part of knowing more about the real items. Despite contributing to that repro side, when fashion and "what's the cheapest" repros appeared to be 95% of the topics I just didn't feel it anymore. Fedora's Lounge was that side to me.

JC and many on VLJ are beasts of knowledge. Knowledge I hope isn't lost.

Dave

I cant argue with you Dave. I enjoy the site because I also enjoy repro jackets. I have done what I can to share some of my original stuff as well in the hopes of turning the tide a touch. For what its worth that has been well received, but you make a good point. 

Oh, can't fault them. It seamed a lot of collectors of original stuff began leaving for some reason. FB groups, etc. Must have been some politics behind the scenes.