Shenandoah County Library Archives

Shenandoah County Library Digital Archives

WWII U.S. A.A.F. Lieutenant

Files

http://10.10.10.10/zach/Morrison04000jpg/04861.jpg

Dublin Core

Title

WWII U.S. A.A.F. Lieutenant

Subject

Military personnel - United States - Virginia - Shenandoah County

Description

Portrait of an unidentified U.S. Army Air Force Lieutenant wearing his WWII-era uniform.

His hat shows the "50 mission crush", a telltale sign of a missing stiffener.

Normally, this cap had stiffeners – a support piece behind the cap device and a wire around the inside top perimeter to maintain the cap's round shape. However, since pilots wore headsets over their caps during flights, they would remove the wire stiffener to make headset wear more comfortable, causing the sides of the caps to become crushed.

Eventually, the caps retained their floppy "crushed" look, giving the pilot who wore it the look of a seasoned veteran, like in this photograph.

The crush cap identified its wearer as an experienced pro, and was as much a part of his identity as his leather flight jacket.

Creator

Morrison Studio

Source

Morrison Studio Collection - Shenandoah County Historical Society

Publisher

Shenandoah County Library

Date

WWII

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT - NON-COMMERCIAL USE PERMITTED

Relation

Information about "crush caps" came from Wikipedia.

Identifier

004861

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Glass Negative

Citation

Morrison Studio, “WWII U.S. A.A.F. Lieutenant,” Shenandoah County Library Archives, accessed March 28, 2024, https://archives.countylib.org/items/show/34628.

Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>