Looking for ID on many hats, berets etc...

Hey guys any help appreciated identifying:

1. US WW2 glider cap?





2. 6 colour BDU cap, is it commercial or contract?



3. Woodland USMC cover, commercial or contract?



4. DCU cap, issue or commercial?



5. USMC cap, only "03" on inside, current period?



7. RAF or RAAF? Current?



8. Para beret, UK? No markings. Any way to tell if the badge ir real or repro?



9. 1982 RAAF beret. Ground crew?



10. Green cap. No idea...



11. Arctic mittens. UK?



Any help or information appreciated.

Regards,

12. West German cap, Airforce?

Martin,

The choco chip, USMC woodland and 3 color caps look issue to me and the Para beret. Tags are correct.

Philip

I think the 6 color cap is commercial. As far as I know there are no caps in this pattern except the baseball cap.
The woodland MC cover looks pretty good but I can't say for sure that it is an issue item. Weird contract DCA110-
The 3 color patrol cap is 100% real.

Wow... that's a lot to identify at once I'll give it a shot:

1. Standard US Army Airborne sidecap. The badge was used for many decades after the war. Very nice one too!

2. Commercial 6 color hat.

3. Genuine Marines 8 corner cover. I didn't know they were made 50/50 mix.

4. Genuine 3 color desert hat.

5. Marines side cap. I don't know enough about the dress uniform, but it likely is the same model now as decades past.

6. Not shown

7. RAAF for sure, not RAF. Apparently fairly recent issue:

http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-badges/raaf-hat.htm

8. Para berets are a speciality all on their own. It does appear to be a legit Brit para beret.

9. RAAF enlisted rank beret. See above link.

10. No idea. I don't know what the inside of a Vietnam issued OG-107 cap looks like. Many other nations used similar caps.

11. UK arctic mitten shells. No idea what the timeframe is on these. I have a set and have thought of them as 1990s issue.

12. Very interesting. There is a "Q" number and there is an "A" stamp, which indicates Bundeswehr. However, the date appears to be 1979 and I can't think of anything with this color that would be used by the BW at that date. Earlier they used dark gray sidecaps like this BUT they had piping on them. I'll see what I can find out about this.

Steve

#6 is a really good camo pattern. So good you can't see it.

Thanks so far.

So there were no contract 6 colour BDU caps? What about the one Stormin Norman always wore?

The BW - maybe navy? It also has a chin strap that can be folded out.

Not as far as I know. I know the pic with Gen Schwarzkopf but I think it was privately purchased. There are also pics with marine covers around.
I was told that there are only boonie, baseball cap, k-pot cover and M1 cover.

Are you sure six color DCU hat is commercial? It has "DLA100-83-8-22015" on the tag. The "DLA" is Government's contact number of time period of 1975-90 (Not sure what is the exact date). It showed that it is made in 1983. Also it is common for six color DCUs to have green tags.

I think it was a contract item but wasn't an issue item. I may be wrong though.

Green tags? Common? Never seen 6 color issue items with green labels. Just white and tan/light brown.
Sometimes you see contract numbers on commercial items...

All my 6 colors that were issued to me had either tan or white labels. I saw some with brown labels too. Green was after we used it in Desert Storm. I have a hat in that pattern, but it came from one of the interpreters we had. I don't know where he got it.

The 1st hat is a WW2 officer's piped hat, but the patch is from the 60's when marrowed edging was done on the patches. It is an officer's version tho. I've seen number 12 at stores here. Only difference is that the ones here still have the tri-color cockade on the front. They are marked as West German Navy at one place.

Fins..

9. RAAF beret - worn exclusively by Airfield Defence Guards (ADG) the 'infantry' component of the RAAF and equivalent to the RAF Regiment.

Philip wrote:Green tags? Common? Never seen 6 color issue items with green labels. Just white and tan/light brown.
Sometimes you see contract numbers on commercial items...

Really? My patched six color DCU has green tags.

Hm... post pics please!

Here's my take on things:

Put together glider cap

Commercial 6 color and USMC hat (I've seen them for sale at surplus stores new)

Issue 3 Color Hat

The USMC hat looks to be WWII after comparing it with mine

AndrewA74 wrote:Here's my take on things:

Put together glider cap

Commercial 6 color and USMC hat (I've seen them for sale at surplus stores new)

Issue 3 Color Hat

The USMC hat looks to be WWII after comparing it with mine

The Marine cap is from between Approximately 1964 to current. There are 2 weights of wool.. This is the light weight. Very common during Vietnam and the 70's. WW2, Korea, and early Vietnam are a wool flannel. Somewhat fuzzy. EGA would alsio not have the rope on the ankor. That was added in the late 50's to the device.

Fins...

Thanks for all the help so far guys, much appreciated.

RE 6 colour hat. Not saying the one above is contract, but I just watched a documentary about Desert Storm/Shield and there were lots of US soldiers wearing 6 colour BDU caps, including Stormin Norman, Colin Powell, other Generals etc...

Surely they weren't all "private purchase"...

I don't know what you mean by the "ball cap" Philip? Never seen one. Do you have pics?

Martin.

When the US started gearing up for Desert Shield there were many, many units that did not have supplies of desert camouflage (and other gear) available to them. Some went into the field with their Woodland stuff, others ran down to their local surplus shops and bought non-standard gear in desert patterns (3 Color was just starting to get around). So yeah, a lot of non-standard stuff went into the combat zone.

As for the authenticity of the three camouflage hats... yes, it would appear that all three are legit issue since they all have government stock numbers on them. But there are some things wrong with the 6 color cap label in particular. Specifically it lacks:

1. Manufacturing company name
2. Cloth fiber content

I also think the lack of properly sewn interior seams might be an issue. However, my period caps aren't sitting in front of me so I can't say for sure what 1980s caps looked like.

The Marines Woodland hat could be legitimate. At least I see no overt signs to suggest it is a fake. The label looks to have good and full information.

The DCU cap also shows no signs of being faked, but I don't see anybody suggesting that

Steve

From Wikipedia:

As overall commander, Schwarzkopf initially was concerned that operational forces in the theater were inadequately supplied and equipped for large-scale combat in a desert environment. During preparations for Desert Storm, as the result of initiatives by General Schwarzkopf, the Desert camouflage combat uniform was produced in 100% cotton poplin without reinforcement panels in order to improve comfort for U.S. troops operating in the hot, dry desert conditions. A total of 500,000 improved cotton BDUs were ordered. However, cost concerns caused the cotton six-color Desert BDU to be discontinued shortly after the Gulf War.[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_schwartzkopf

Don't know how true it is...

I have never seen a 100% cotton 6 color BDU.

I don't know what you mean by the "ball cap" Philip? Never seen one. Do you have pics?

Philip wrote:Hm... post pics please!

I stand corrected. I checked my 1st cav six color dcu and it has tan tags!

Ah, you could be right about the 50/50 mix on the 6 color desert stuff. I just quickly checked a 1986 dated jacket and it has that mix. The tag is tan.

Steve

the marine dress cap looks like its from Vietnam should have a tag some where inside the cap

The last Cap ( in German we say "Schiffchen")is fron the Bundesmarine

like this one here:

http://www.raeer.com/images/full/32036i-BW-Schiffchen-Mannsc.gif


reguards

oliver

the number 10. might be a Dutch cap they were were similiar to those patrol caps worn in Korea/ early Vietnam