Why Do Aviators Wear Hats? How many hats did Amelia have?

Aviators wore what was called an “aviator hat,” also known as the “bomber hat.” The caps were made from leather and had large earflaps. And it was already quite popular among pilots during the early 20th century. If you watch Charles Lindbergh’s or Amelia Earhart’s old films, you can see them wearing these caps. Mentalfloss.com had some interesting history on aviation hats.

The cap had a lot of purposes: it kept the pilots’ heads warm when they were flying with their cockpit canopy open. It had goggles to help give a better view when taking off, landing, or looking for landmarks. The hat also held radio earphones, oxygen masks, and throat mikes.

If you wore a hat during war or when doing high-speed maneuvering, it would protect a pilot’s head getting knocked around.

Read the text below the picture of Amelia Earhart in her hat. It says she was called by the Los Angeles Court to be an expert witness for a law suit concerning a airplane crash. That sounds like something we should look up and read more about.

Written by Heather Roesch

Director of the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum

1/6/2021