2 Mint Flight Luftwaffe Schirmützen

[stonemint]

Heinz Schmidt is like "Joe Smith" in the states. However, there are 2 pilots of note named Heinz Schmidt--the first being an Eichnlaubtraeger with 173 kills (no, I am not getting my hopes up--I cannot find any connection to Dresden):

[stonemint]

Here is another FW-190 pilot named Heinz Schmidt who remained an NCO during the war:

[stonemint]

In any event, we know Herr Schmidt lived in Dresden, and was an NCO in the Flight section of the LW. We have the name, the hat, and the place--all we need is a face!

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Unfortunately, there is no maker on the private-purchase visor, but I suspect, based upon shape, that it is by Otto Dittmann of Dresden (Marke ODD).

However, there is a distributor mark for "William Günther", Konig Georg Allee 15, Dresden, N. 15. Günther is listed in the Wilkins book on p. 293 (it was presumed to be a maker at the time the book was written). The book also used this exact same hat for maker information, which is partially incorrect--(see page 292).

In any event, Günther did not survive the war, and most likely was destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden. (Konig Georg Allee is now Stauffenberg Allee as well).

Stauffenberg Allee is in Dresden Neustadt, on the northern side of the Elbe, in the area of town that was the former center of the Saxon army prior to its end in 1918. The imprint on the sweat band indicates same. The place had many barracks, as well as the quarter master base of the Saxon army. It was not especially hard hit in the 1945 bombing, as a matter of fact. It is presently the locale of the Bundeswehr museum as well as the officer's school of the German army.

The museum of the German air force is in Berlin-Gatow, on the south west headed towards Potsdam, and its staff is very user friendly as regards personnel history and such.

This image is of the Stauffenberg Allee headed to the river, and shows one of many garrison buildings, as well as the famous garrison church. The museum is across the street, as is the officers' school of the German army, a marvelous facility built in the 1990s, when there was still money for such things.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Courtesy of Ben, here is the building Feldwebel Schmidt would have resided at. I would assume that they occupied the third floor. It does not look like cheap rent--apparently Herr Schmidt (or his parents) had some Reichsmarks to their credit:

As a point of information, it was the domestic servants in bourgeois families who lived in the upper stories of such building as this in Dresden, especially they lived in the spaces under the roof. Today, such living space is considered posh and desirable, but when this building was built (1880s), that was not the case.

[KSH]

Two wonderful caps and a most interesting comparison between the contract cap and the private purchase example, Chris! I always enjoy reading your threads such as this one, be it here or on the maroon site. I am trying to learn my way around the EM/NCO caps of the Luftwaffe and I am especially trying to "research" (in lack of a better word) my only example of a Luftwaffe cap which is an interesting but challenging process for an amateur like myself.

You say that the band is made of Rayon (I indeed was not aware of the typical difference between EM/NCO and officer's caps in this regard) on the private purchase piece, is this also the case with my cap here (it looks very similar to my untrained eyes)?:







I am also of the opinion that the peak on my example is made of vulcan fiber with an outer layer of real leather (or leatherette perhaps), I can not be certain of this myself.


And could it ever be possible to identify the maker of my cap? Probably I will never find out who made this excellent cap I am afraid.


Forgive me all my rookie questions and thank you in advance, Chris, if you choose to enlighten me about the questions I have posed and for other insights I might be given on my rather mysterious wonderful cap.


Thank you also for all your informative threads that I have learned so much from.


Hochachtungsvoll,

Kenneth S-H.

[stonemint]

As a point of information, it was the domestic servants in bourgeois families who lived in the upper stories of such building as this in Dresden, especially they lived in the spaces under the roof. Today, such living space is considered posh and desirable, but when this building was built (1880s), that was not the case.

Ahh, yes, the old "Upstairs, Downstairs"--I had forgotten about that.

[stonemint]

Kenneth, there is no doubt yours would be a private purchase visor. The contract caps have the chintz lining and usually have the contract year (lieferjahr) stamped inside them. They also (usually) have the stamp of the unit that issued the visor under the sweatband.

Some contract caps do have the rayon band, but more have the wool band.

A lot of contract visors do have the leather over the vulkanfiber. However, you will also see ersatz materials as well.

[Friedrich-Berthold]

Ahh, yes, the old "Upstairs, Downstairs"--I had forgotten about that.

In the British case, the hired help were in the basement, but in continental Europe, say, in Paris or Vienna, the bourgeois lived on the lower, larger floors, and the help in the attic or the mansard portion.
Whatever, the two caps are nice and one seldom finds a nice private made, Extramuetze for the Luftwaffe with a name and the locale. Dresden is a great city, to be sure, and Saxony has its own fine military tradition.

All far away and very long ago.

[stonemint]

There are at least 8 Heinz Schmidts listed here. Only 2 of them were aces.:

Kracker Luftwaffe Pilot Archive: all known Luftwaffe German pilots 1939 - 1945 S