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Crush Caps
P.A.Q.

Crush Caps and Crushed Caps

Background

The Visor Cap, or Service Cap, is essentially the primary dress headgear of servicemen and it bears, in the case of the Army and Army Air Corps, the insignia of the coat of arms of the United States. As such, the service cap is a crisply angled cap with stiff support to maintain its respectable posture.

Army Air Corps personnel, while wearing the visor cap in flight, took to removing the stiffening in order to comfortably wear a communications headset over the cap. In time, the cap would become crushed and softened. A cap which had seen a lot of action eventually came to be known as a "50 mission crush cap," and the wearer of such a cap came to be recognized as an experienced veteran.

In deference to the air service the Officer's Guide states, "Officers of the Army Air Forces wear a similar cap [to officers of the Army] except that the front spring stiffening may be omitted and the grommet may be removed."

The front spring stiffening is what supports the insignia and also keeps the front of the cap jutting strongly upward and forward. This can vary from a curled piece of wire spring to a solid metal plate. The grommet is a round support, often simply a stiff piece of metal wire, that keeps the top of the cap round and suspended. While the grommet can be readily extracted from the cap, the front spring stiffening is typically sewn integrally into the cap and is not easily removed.

Eventually, manufacturers began to make caps specifically for aviators. These caps were specially made to be soft and crushable with a thinner and more flexible leather visor, little or no front spring stiffening, and a softer headband. While there was some variation in crushability between the different models, some of these caps could be very easily rolled up and stuffed into a pocket.

Observations

True crush caps are most commonly found in the O.D. shade and seem to be exclusively of elastique material, presumably since the elastique is lighter and more supple than the felt.

Crush caps in khaki shades appear to be primarily of the wool worsted material but, due to the limited numbers of these around, this observation may not be accurate.

While most crush caps were made for officers, there are examples of both O.D. and khaki enlisted men's (E.M.) crush caps. These seem to have been in much more limited quantity compared to the officer's crush caps.

Many service caps these days are pitched to collectors as having a crushed look. As has been described here, however, not all crushed caps are crush caps. In the collector's market, the true crush caps are more highly prized and carry higher market values.

While there are a few sources for reproduction crush caps, only one which has recently come to my attention truly lives up to the quality and character of the originals, the Diamond Cap Co. For a link to Diamond and some other sources, see Section 1.5 of the Previously Asked Questions Page.

Examples

Officers' Crush Caps

Probably the best known and apparently most widely used crush cap was the Flighter by Bancroft. The visor on the Flighter model has a rather distinctive dome shape and had, as claimed on the Flighter logo, "curve control."

Possibly the best quality caps were those produced by Luxenberg, a highly regarded maker of military clothing and also insignia. Luxenberg items are prized by collectors.

• Bancroft example in O.D. elastique and shown with a headset. (29k JPEG)
• Bancroft logo on the sweatband. The words, "curve controlled" are seen rounding the "F." (9k JPEG)
• This example shows how soft and crushable the Flighter is. (21k JPEG)

• This Luxenberg example is in excellent shape. (27k JPEG) Compared to the Flighter and most other crush caps, the Luxenberg pieces were constructed of noticeably higher quality and heavier weight materials. Even though the Luxenberg crusher is softer than a standard cap, it isn't nearly as flimsy other crushers.
• Luxenberg sweatband logo (17k JPEG).

• A Luxenberg cap which belonged to Glenn Miller can be found on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Here is an external view (43k JPEG) and an internal view (53k JPEG).

• The Lewis Fly-Weighter in O.D. elastique.
• Lewis sweatband logo. (24k JPEG)

• This Lee Flight cap by Berkshire is an especially interesting specimen as it is in an unused, uncrushed condition (35k JPEG). A tan khaki wool gabardine example, it has all stiffening still in place and this cap appears crisply at attention.
• Here is the box the cap came in. (41k JPEG)
• And this is a view of the interior of the cap. (50k JPEG)
• Lee sweatband logo. (16k JPEG)

• This cap (28k JPEG) is virtually unmarked inside except for the size (7) and the sweatband logo (17k JPEG).
• Photo of the Airflow with headset. (27k JPEG)

• Here's an example outside of the WWII era, but interesting still. This is an Air Force blue crush cap with a thick but flexible visor, a soft headband, and no stiffening anywhere. It is just as crushable as any WWII crusher. (Cap is from the collection of Jim D.)
• The crown material is not elastique, but rather a wool gabardine.
• A rear chinstrap is applied along with the front, the two being joined by the new Air Force button.
• The cap is marked as made by Dobbs and also has the E-Z Cushion marking on the sweatband.

Enlisted Mens' Crush Caps

The two major differences between the officers' and enlisted mens' caps are the insignia format and the decorative band sewn to the outside of the headband on the officers' version.

• An O.D. elastique example. There are no markings in this cap.(23k JPEG)

• A tan khaki wool gabardine example. (30k JPEG)
• The interior view of this cap shows the logo of the maker, Airflow, as well as the logo of the Belleville Military Store in Belleville, Illinois. (43k JPEG)

Standard Visor Caps

• Luxenberg officer's cap in O.D. felt. (27k JPEG) This particularly nice example is virtually mint except for the small inscription of the owner's name on the underside of the visor. This cap also bears the distinctive Luxenberg marked officer's insignia.
• This side view of the Luxenberg cap illustrates the rear chin strap. (26k JPEG) These rear straps are equipped with a buckle for adjustment, likely to keep the cap held tightly on the head when necessary. They may also have been a decorative embellishment.
• Luxenberg interior view (36k JPEG)and sweatband logo (17k JPEG).

• An enlisted men's cap in O.D. felt. (24k JPEG)

Updated: 8 September 2008.