Early Schiffchen with piping in the arm of service colour

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Before I start with pictures of the first schiffchen that were piped in the arm of colour of the wearer, I am going to list the Waffenfarbe colours from page 29 of Von der Affenjacke zum Tropentaranzug by Walter Kunstwadl.

1-Rosa - Panzertruppe;
2-Mittelblau - Technische Truppe;
3-Weiß - Militärmusikdienst;
4-Hochrot - Artillertruppe; Topographietruppe;
5-Dunkleblau - Sanitätstruppe;
6-Zitronengelb - Fernmeldtruppe;
7-Bordeauxrot - ABC-Abwehrtruppe;
8-Orange - Feldjäggertruppe;
9-Jägergrün - Infanterie (Fallschirmjäger, Gebirgsjäger), Panzergrenadiertruppe;
10-Hellgrau - Heeresfliegertruppe;
11-Korallenrot - Heeresflugabwehrtruppe;
12-Schwarz - Pioniertruppe;
13-Goldgelb - Panzeraufklärungstruppe;

On page 214 of his book, Kunstwadl shows head gear of the BW. In this list are;
Die Schiffchen der ersten Stunde hatten für die Mannschaften/Unteroffiziere eine Paspelierung in Waffenfarbe (The first overseas caps for Enlisted men and Non Commissioned Officers which had piping in the arm of colour). These early caps are all made from the same dark coloured material used in the tunics of that date.


The first pictures will show a cap pipied in Hochrot; The second cap is piped in Jägergrün; The third cap in Zitronengelb. If you have a cap piped in one of the other colours please post it in this thread.

Rgeards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

#2,

[Gordon Craig]

#2a

[Gordon Craig]

#3,

[Asbjoern]

...Panzerrosa and middle blue

[Asbjoern]

Found another picture on my HD ... ABC Abwehr bordeaux red...:

[usmedalman]

Two more; first the Goldgelb, which is dated 1962 and is cord-like material similiar to the collar piping or shoulder board piping, and then Zitronegelb which is dated 1966 and is piece of felt, perhaps a half-inch wide, which is folded and stitched to produce the look of piping.

[usmedalman]

This is a little off topic but I also wanted to show my officer version with embroidered cockade.

[Gordon Craig]

usmedalman,

Interesting label in your schiffchen. That's an early label used by Helvetia and I have only seen it in visor caps up until this post.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

Gentlemen,

Some schiffchen from my collection to illustrate the different shapes these caps can be found in; comparison of the piping colours and makers labels.

Regards,

Gordon

from top to bottm we have
Mittelblau - Technische Truppe;
Bordeauxrot - ABC-Abwehrtruppe;
Hochrot - Artillertruppe; Topographietruppe;
Malino - probably BW Brandschutz.

[Gordon Craig]

The labels from top to bottom;

[Gordon Craig]

There is no makers label in the Brandschutz cap. Just a size label of 59.

[Proud Kraut]

Great Schiffchen, thanks for sharing them. The blue one looks indeed like a Feuerwehr-Schiffchen.

Lars

[LuckyStrike23]

Gentlemen,

Some schiffchen from my collection to illustrate the different shapes these caps can be found in; comparison of the piping colours and makers labels.

Regards,

Gordon

from top to bottm we have
Mittelblau - Technische Truppe;
Bordeauxrot - ABC-Abwehrtruppe;
Hochrot - Artillertruppe; Topographietruppe;
Malino - probably BW Brandschutz.

Not bad! Those heads with branch piping are really rare. They appear seldom on market - even in Germany.

[Steve 5]

A quick question......was the schiffchen worn from the inception the Bundeswehr, 1955 or did it appear later, and if so. were they, as the peak cap not piped (before 1962) ?
Thanks in advance, S.L.