The many hats of Late Communist and Early Democratic Hungary

Hi all,

A few weeks ago I had to sort through my Hungarian hats to purge for dupes and look for missing examples. I was about to put them all away again and instead decided I should take some pics of them first. The following pictures are almost all the hats I have and are from either the late 1980s (late Communist) or early 1990s (early Democratic). The immediate post Communist period was a time of experimentation with old and new, so lots of fun stuff from that period!

First up are the specialized Air Crew hats designed for ground crews. 87M swirl camo was worn by them, Airborne, and Borderguards only. The summer cap consists of a velcro chin strap hidden under the flap of material running around the exterior of the hat. Unlike a traditional M43, this flap does NOT fold down around the ears. The chin strap is simply to prevent the hat from being blown off the wearer's head. The winter hat is a more traditional flap cap style.

Communist Green style with the chin strap partially, and incorrectly, visible just below the badge. It should be tucked down lower


Communist 87M with flap in down position. Same construction as above


Same as above but customized to allow the flap to go down around the ears and over the mouth. Chin strap carefully removed


Winter 87M cap. Fake leather goggle strap? holders on front and rear of the hat



Next up are the standard field caps in various patterns:

Communist Green style


Communist winter 87M. Oddly designed. Ear flaps are stored INSIDE the hat when not in use. This was traditionally badged for rank, but the stuff on the left side was removed.


Standard early 1990s issue 87M


Standard early 1990s issue 87M with traditional rank display on left side


Standard issue Hurrikan tropical cap


Standard issue Pakistani desert cap with usual plastic badging


Standard issue Pakistan desert cap with cloth badging


Standard issue 90M cap with standard cloth badging


Same as above but with experimental plastic badging and traditional rank


Same as above but with experimental cloth badging


Experimental? winter 90M cap with cloth badge and velcro attached rank on left side. Note this is not the same rank badging used on the collars



And lastly, a service cap worn with the dress uniform. I don't know if this is standard or experimental



That's all!

Steve

A képet a Képfeltöltés.hu tárolja. http://www.kepfeltoltes.hu

Another item to this theme: the 3 colour print pattern beret of the Anti-Terror Police unit. This is a scarce item (this particular piece was found on a flea-market last Saturday) as it was worn only for a very short time (cca. 1987-1989). Note the beret was worn withouth any badge (as it was common among Special police members) although the uniform regulation shows this headgear with the standard embroidered Police beret badge.

Sweet Hats !!

More variations:

Summer cap with velcro rank. First time I've seen one of these:



Summer cap for aircraft ground crew. Special design with chin strap so the hat doesn't go flying off with all the prop/turbine wash on the runways:



Winter 90M cap, perhaps for aircraft ground crew:



Steve

Hi Steve! The last one is M93 winter cap, worn by paratroops and AFGC.

Thanks! Always nice to have an airborne item. Is this a particularly rare item? It's the first I've seen.

Steve

The "rarity rate" is as the M93 para uniform vs simple M90 combat suit...