Warbird Information Exchange

For the pilots who held the rank "Flight Officer", for dress uniform headwear, were they issued an officer's type of hat (like the "50 mission crush" cap), or was their hat more like an enlisted man's? I'm trying to decipher a very poor image of a B-24 crew where the copilot held the rank of Flight Officer, but not sure if he is in this picture specifically. The facial details of those in the picture are very faint and out of focus, so I can't confirm the identity by facial recognition.

Three of the crew's officers are wearing the standard "50 mission crush" hat, while the four one is wearing an enlisted-type cap. The individual is definitely an officer as the picture has the four officers: pilot, copilot, navigator, bombardier, in one row, with the six enlisted men in a second row.

I assume by "enlisted man's cap", you're referring to the standard issue garrison cap worn by both officers and men alike. Although I don't know the specific regs offhand, I've always assumed that in normal day-to-day duties, the use of either garrison hats or crush hats was left up to the discretion of the wearer (someone please correct me if I'm wrong). Thus it is not uncommon to see photos of officers wearing garrison caps in lieu of crush caps, and vice-versa.

As far as crush caps for Flight Officers, yes they were issued them, the difference being that the standard officer's eagle was replaced by the Warrant Officer insignia as shown below:

Thank you. That was the answer I needed. So, technically a 1st Lieutenant could wear a garrison cap as well?

Visor caps and garrison caps were regulation issue for both officers and enlisted. The Warrant Officer's badge is shown (and it caused some resentment amongst Flight Officers), the Officer's badge is a large spread eagle, while the enlisted badge is a small eagle on a large disc. There are differences in the material and details of construction, but that is the easy way to tell in photos, especially black and white.

All ranks wore the garrison cap (cunt cap, envelope, schiffchen etc). Officers hats were piped with black and silver, or black and gold braid, while enlisted personnel had optional piping in branch of service colour. This was added after the fact, or on private purchase (PX) hats.

Withe massive build up of the US Army, general issue of the visor cap to enlisted personnel ceased - along with a number of cloth saving changes to the dress uniform. The garrison cap was cheaper to make, and easier to store, and easier in general to deal with, as it could be tucked into the belt upon entering a building, instead of tucked under the arm.
Officers, who expected to purchase their own uniforms, were given greater baggage and living spaces, continued to favor the visor cap for it's 'officeriness'

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Lest Hero-worship raise it's head and cloud our vision, remember that World War II was fought and won by the same sort of twenty-something punks we wouldn't let our daughters date.

so what was a "Flight Officer"?