A link to my past - Photos of dad in his hat

[Flieger]

Growing up I heard a lot about my dad wearing hats when he was younger but as far back as I can remember I never saw him in anything but his beloved Greek skipper cap. He passed away in 1987, and of course, I never thought to ask him about this while he was alive.

Fast-forward 20 years and my ever increasing interest for hats led me to raid one of those old shoe boxes filled with unsorted pictures showing people I've never met or knew. Among those I found these:

The guy to the left, wringing out his wet socks, is my dad.... and golly, he's wearing a lovely tan, thin ribbon fedora AND a leather jacket! Just the style I love so much myself!

Here's another photo from the same occation. (Must have been a wet hike)

Now, naturally I'd like to find a similar hat for myself so any pointers in that direction would be much appreaciated.

Sorry for the largish scans but I thought some of you might enjoy seeing these. In the top photo you can make out a rather gaudy tie as well.

Cheers

Flieger

 

[Baron Kurtz]

That's pretty cool. Do you have an approximate date on the pictures?

bk

 

[Flieger]

That's pretty cool. Do you have an approximate date on the pictures?

bk

I can't see any wedding band on him so it's probably before 1949... -46-49 maybe.

/F

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Hiking with a tie, now that's style!

 

[Benny Holiday]

Photos like these are priceless. Your Dad looks so young - doesn't it make you wish you could go back in time and meet him as a young man? The fedora he's wearing doesn't look too dissimilar to an Open Road or Akubra Campdraft.

Thanks for sharing Flieger!

 

[Flieger]

Hiking with a tie, now that's style!

lol Yeah, you don't see something like that often today.

Photos like these are priceless. Your Dad looks so young - doesn't it make you wish you could go back in time and meet him as a young man? The fedora he's wearing doesn't look too dissimilar to an Open Road or Akubra Campdraft.

Thanks for sharing Flieger!

He must have been 19-22 in these shots. I would have loved to meet him back then. He loved aircraft and had just come back from the Air Force where he'd worked as a mechanic on the Beechcraft 18 and the Norseman.

Thanks for the hat tips!

/F

 

[Russ]

The combination of fedora and leather jacket seemed to be popular back then. Too bad we can't do it today without people assuming we are trying to look like Indiana Jones.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

The combination of fedora and leather jacket seemed to be popular back then. Too bad we can't do it today without people assuming we are trying to look like Indiana Jones.

The dog was named Indiana.




Sorry I couldn't resist.

 

[tonyb]

Further evidence for why we refer to the 1930s and '40s as the "Golden Era," eh?
Sorry that your dad didn't live to see a ripe age (if I'm doing the arithmetic correctly, he must have been about 60 when he passed away, right?), but it's great that you have those photos. He certainly had a fine sense of style.

 

[Flieger]

Further evidence for why we refer to the 1930s and '40s as the "Golden Era," eh?
Sorry that your dad didn't live to see a ripe age (if I'm doing the arithmetic correctly, he must have been about 60 when he passed away, right?), but it's great that you have those photos. He certainly had a fine sense of style.

Thanks Tony. Yeah, you are bang on target. He'd just turned 60 when he passed away. I'm glad to have the photos but also glad to have met some of his friends, from back before he married mom, that told me a little bit about the guy he was then... quite different from the man I knew.

/F

 

[bolthead]

Cool....

Great Stuff Flieger.
In that 2nd photo, I don't know if any of you watch the Sopranos or not, but if so...I think he's a ringer for the character of Christopher on there.
Cool pics, I envy you, I wish I had some.

 

[Flieger]

Great Stuff Flieger.
In that 2nd photo, I don't know if any of you watch the Sopranos or not, but if so...I think he's a ringer for the character of Christopher on there.
Cool pics, I envy you, I wish I had some.

Thanks Bolthead!

I've never watched Sopranos so I had to visit IMDB... and, yes. I can see the likeness. But only in profile.

/F

 

[DOUGLAS]

Very ,very cool!!:eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[BegintheBeguine]

What a nice tribute to your Dad, Flieger.

 

[WEEGEE]

Flieger,


A big thank you for sharing.

 

[Flieger]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.


/F

 

[carter]

Flieger, Thanks for sharing those photos of your Dad. My Dad served in the Army Air Corps as a mechanic during WWII and the only photos of him in a hat show him in military headgear.

 

[Flieger]

Flieger, Thanks for sharing those photos of your Dad. My Dad served in the Army Air Corps as a mechanic during WWII and the only photos of him in a hat show him in military headgear.

Thanks, bncarter! Funny, my dad was also a aircraft mechanic...but a couple of years after WWII. Finding those pictures was what started my interest in Aviation History.


/F

 

[AlanC]

Fantastic photos! It looks like his feet would have been cold with all that snow in the background. Thanks for sharing them.

I'm hoping to dig some photos up the next time I get home to see my parents.

 

[Flieger]

Thanks AlanC! I hope you find some photos of your own "hat history" at your parents place and I hope you feel like sharing them with us.

In the meantime, here's another one I found of my dad in a hat - It's a bit more posed then the two I posted before. I guess it was taken a couple of years later as well... say mid-late 50's.

The hat looks like a dark pork-pie but it's hard to tell the way 'ol rubberface is wearing it.

/F