Luftwaffe visor cap question

[Red Baroness]

Good evening, ladies and gents (and hello to old friends!)

I was wondering if any of you could provide me with some information on the "crusher" cap worn by the Luftwaffe.

My husband is trying to recreate the uniform of an Oberst, and we have the crusher cap (aka without the wire insert in the top) but we are having trouble with information - was the cockade and wreath/wings combination on the brim metal, or was it embroidery?

With many thanks in advance.

Cori(and Peter) von Hauer-Dowling

[Revi16]

Hi,

The Luft. eagle and wreath/cockade insignia would normally be made of bullion thread for an Officers visor, NCO's would have metal insignia.

Regards,
Mike

[Red Baroness]

Thanks, Mike -

And that's a nice cap too. It was hard finding a size 60, but I did find the right size.

We had asked Landser for the cloth one and they sent the metal. I'm sure we can probably get them to change it.

Best Regards,

[David Ransome]

Hi,

Nice cap mike, especially with it having the earlier tail down eagle!

Regards,

David

[Bob Lyons]

Yes a lovely example, although technically a 'crusher' would have a soft leather visor, and they are very rare, most officers just took the stiffener out of their normal visors and it gave them that bashed look, here is one of mine, this is an 'Erel' officer visor cap, with a jaunty look to it, and the later style of eagle...

Bob

[Bob Lyons]

and another view, this is the normal type of visor used by the officers of the Luftwaffe, and not one of the 'crusher' types with a soft visor.

Bob

[Bob Lyons]

And an early officer visor cap, with the early style of short winged eagle,
this cap is also made by 'Erel' (Robert Lubstein of Berlin).

Bob

[Bob Lyons]

And this is a close up of the Other Ranks and NCO's type of visor cap, this one is piped in yellow for flight troops, and has a chin strap as opposed to officers who wore chin cords on their caps, and it has metal (aluminium) insignia.

Bob

[Bob Lyons]

And just to close, here is a Luftwaffe generals visor cap, note that this one has gold bullion (again early in this instance) insignia and piping, this cap is also manufactured by the Berlin cap manufacturer 'Erel'.

Bob

[Revi16]

The crush look from a non-crusher.

Nice caps Bob!

Regards,
Mike