I just picked up a WAAF Officers visor cap for my wifes impression. I do know there were two patterns utilized, one early war and one late war. My wifes cap is the early war pattern. There is no leather band above the brim as I have seen in the late war patterns and in the OR pattern cap. Is mine missing or did the early war pattern come without the leather strap?

Thanks

Willis

Hi Willis

Are you talking about RAF or RCAF?

In the RAF there was only one pattern of cap throughout the war for both Officers and Other Ranks, each having the leather chin strap as standard.

In the case of the RCAF however, there were two distinct patterns (which you can refer to as 'early' and 'late'), the early modelled on the RAF style. Ive not got an RCAF Officers in the early style, but I have a couple of the Other Ranks ones. For some unexplained reason, some of the RCAF ORs ones have the rear neck flap and others dont, but I have yet to find out why.

In the case of the patent leather chin strap however, a majority sold now seem to have the strap missing and its said that the removal was 'common practise'. However, I have seen no official order to remove them, and all the wartime photographs I have of Canadian WAAFs (known as 'WiDs' as they were RCAF WD - Women's Division) show caps WITH the chin strap, so I suspect the fact that they are usually missing is because they were removed to use on other caps, or the cap is mint and unissued and possibly never fitted with the strap in the first place.

So to answer your question, all the evidence I have suggests that the chin strap was always worn during the war by both Officers and Other Ranks.

Alex,

Thanks for the info. All of the pictures I have seen of originals do indeed have the chinstrap. I thought it odd that this cap not only did not have the chinstrap, but there were not buttons present to mount a strap. To err on the side of caution, I will attach a strap to the cap.

That is very interesting regarding the RCAF caps without the neck flaps. Another mystery worthy of research. I love how one solution to a problem simply leads to more questions. I love all the mysteries that arise in this hobby.

Thanks again for your help.

Willis

Apart from the different peaks on WAAF caps between officer and airwomen is there also a difference in the crown. Are airwomen's caps made with a single piece while officers have a three piece segmented crown?

Spot on. The Officers caps (RAF im talking here) are made in such a way as to have a three fold 'band' across the top, front to back. Officers also have a cloth peak (ORs are patent leather) until air ranks which then follow the same pattern as the male cap. The crown of the officers is also smaller than ORs.

Shide,

The way I understand it, the early war Officers Visor Cap was sectioned while the late war version was one piece. The enlisted WAAF's Visor Cap was one piece.

The other noteable differences were the Officers Caps had the brim covered with cloth and were made of Bereatha Wool, while the enlisted cap had a patent leather brim, and the cloth was Wool Serge.

I'm far from an expert in this area, but slowly learning.

Greg

Greg, youre pretty much correct. In the case of the W.A.A.F. (R.A.F.), the enlisted or 'other ranks' cap was made in wool to match the tunic (not wool serge which was thicker and rougher), and had a patent leather peak, while the officers version was in baretha wool with cloth covered peak and smaller crown. (Although W.A.A.F. Officers of Group Officer (equivalent to Group captain in the R.A.F.) and Air Commandant (equivalent to Air Commodore in the R.A.F.) had patent leather peaks on the cap with one and two rows of bullion oakleaves respectively, as per the male caps. There was no W.A.A.F. rank higher than Air Commandant).

The top of the officers cap also had a folded section that went from front to back and can just be seen on the photograph below (the cap on the left looking at the cap tops). In the W.A.A.F. the caps remained the same throughout the war, and up to February 1949 when the W.A.A.F. (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) became the W.R.A.F. (Women's Royal Air Force).

During the war, both the W.A.A.A.F. (R.A.A.F.) and W.D.'s (R.C.A.F.) changed their style of caps slightly, having started with caps based on the British W.A.A.F. style. The W.A.A.A.F. made only minor changes, but the W.D.'s brought in a totally different style. The R.N.Z.A.F. W.A.A.F.'s began by wearing a wide brimmed soft hat in blue felt, (similar to a panama) but by 1944 this was replaced by a blue wool beret.