France, Republic. A Free French Air Force Officer's Visor Cap & Wing

This fine quality cap has a navy blue wool exterior, with a 40 mm black wool band on the sidewall, the cap in the traditional flat top design with raised peak, the sidewall with a 10 mm wide band in fine gold-coloured bullion wire. The front is adorned with a 92 mm (w) x 35 mm (h) FreeFrench Air Force Officer's wing in rolled gold-coloured bullion wire, the Free French insignia in silver gilt, on a navy blue wool base, stiff-framed, the badge with hooks at either end on the reverse and clipped in place to threaded loops on the cap. The black patent leather visor has a chin strap composed of two strands of twisted gold-coloured bullion wire resting along the top edge, with length adjustment knots at both ends, held in position via brass buttons on both sides, each of the buttons bearing French Air Force insignia. The underside of the visor has a black synthetic finish, the visor itself very stiff. The 37 mm wide sweatband is fabricated from leather, with a black pebbled finish, the two ends stitched together at the rear and completed by a white ribbon which is finished in a bow-tie. Immediately to the left of the ribbon are two red enamelled oval aluminum badges bearing the owner's initials "A" and "M", each of the badges held in place by dual prongs. The interior sidewalls and dome are lined in black rayon, the owner's name sleeve on the celluloid moisture shield in the dome remaining empty. The cap measures 262 mm (w) x 260 (l) x 122 mm (h), exhibiting slight discolouration in the gold-coloured bullion wire on the chin strap and knots, the cap free of mothing. Extremely fine. Accompanied by a Pre-1940 French Air Force Officer's Wing in rolled gold-coloured bullion wire, on a navy blue wool base, stiff-framed, the reverse of the badge in black rayon with hooks at either end marked "DEPOSE", measuring 92 mm (w) x 38 mm (h), with slight discolouration in the bullion.