The Sierra Hotel Flight Operations Crew Cap

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During wartime, flight crews quickly discovered that baseball caps not only provided better protection from the glaring sun when spotting enemy aircraft, but also enabled a more comfortable fit under their headsets. Long missions under the sun soaked canopy caused fatigue and a reduction of flight crew readyness. For this reason many crews began to fly with baseball caps in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

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During the Second World War, St. Louis Cardinals manager Billy Southworth received a unique handwritten request.

It seems that a commander of a Marine fighter squadron in the Pacific made an offer to Southworth that he could not refuse. If the St Louis Cardinals sent baseball caps to his squadron based in the South Pacific, he and his pilots would guarantee to shoot down one Japanese fighter for each cap received.