Flight Ace cap

[shotgunneeley]

Picked up a vintage Flight Ace officer's cap from a local antique shop. The shopkeeper didn't know anything about it, just that it was very old and probably from WW2. For $20 I felt like picking it up, but I don't know any details about it.

On the inside, the cream-colored fabric is covered in plastic:
Flight Ace logo (trade mark registered)
ALL WOOL
Except ornamentations
Ace Manufacturing co., Inc.
San Antonio, Texas
Size - 6 5/8"

On the outside:
The wool is green. The visor rim is black with no designs or ornaments. On the front, there is a copper-colored tin insignia of the eagle with arrow and olive branches on top of a separate circular piece. The same design is on two smaller versions the band on both sides of the hat.

No date or personal details. Any clues?

[Ratsy]

Sounds like an officer's visor cap to me.

What color leather is the visor?

Does the upper part of the hat have a rather large rubber 'gasket' that holds the circular shape?  If it does, it probably didn't belong to a flyer.  Air crews were known to remove the gasket to help develop the 50-mission crush which identified them as veterans.  Impressed the lassies, so I've read.  It would look like this:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warrelics.eu%2Fforum%2Fattachments%2Fcloth-headgear-western-allies%2F696234d1401327067-ww2-usaaf-crusher-dsc_0122.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.warrelics.eu%2Fforum%2Fcloth-headgear-western-allies%2Fww2-usaaf-crusher-439173%2F&h=1746&w=2609&tbnid=bswf-9e4gR4mkM%3A&zoom=1&docid=o2Hj0oZIXHqbgM&ei=eljcU-vhGsOeyATGjoCAAw&tbm=isch&client=firefox-a&ved=0CGYQMyheMF44ZA&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=3094&page=6&start=191&ndsp=38

If the whole visor is black, then I'm pretty sure it is not WWII era.

San Antonio was once (and to a degree is still) known as "Military City".  During the war years, Randolph AFB, Kelly Field, and Lackland AFB were training and logistics centers.  Ft. Sam Houston still trains Army Medics and hosts the Brook Army Medical Center.  Brooks AFB (now closed) was once home to the Aerospace Medical Research Center.  Randolph Field, as it was known before 1947, commissioned a large number of student pilots during the war.  Job one after commissioning was for the cadet to rush into town and have a proper officer's uniform tailored.

I researched Ace Manufacturing, but all I could find was a reference of the company going out of business in the 1990's.  They were making Flight Ace caps up to that time.  I also saw a modern-era Army cap up for auction as a 'Flight Ace'.  It had a 'class A' green (not Khaki) top and a black visor.

If you paid $20 bucks for a brown-visored cap in good condition, you got a bargain.

 

[shotgunneeley]

The green wool bothers me. Like you said, i always remembered the khaki brown in ww2 pictures, but i thought this could've been from some other unit or branch. Next is the size is very small, the user was a pea-head at best. Maybe just a junior cadet hat from a latter period. The top has some moth holes in it, i figure it is pretty old anyway.

[smoe]

Maybe it never sold because of its small size.

[Ack-Ack]

It's a US Army NCO Visor cap from the 1950's.

ack-ack

[Ratsy]

Ack-Ack is correct.  The key is the circle around the eagle on the badge.

This style of cap was in use during the Korea and Viet Nam eras at a minimum.  Yours is in great shape.

 

 

[shotgunneeley]

Disappointing it is neither from ww2 nor from an aviation branch, but not unexpected. I felt comfortable adding it to my growing collection for $20 without finding out much about it first.

[CASHEW]

Disappointing it is neither from ww2 nor from an aviation branch, but not unexpected. I felt comfortable adding it to my growing collection for $20 without finding out much about it first.

Its a interesting find!!

[Raven3]

Ack-Ack is correct.  The key is the circle around the eagle on the badge.

This style of cap was in use during the Korea and Viet Nam eras at a minimum.  Yours is in great shape.

 

 

Yes, 50's, 60's early 70's, maybe later.  Had several of the Ace hats myself.

Retired Army