General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Fibre cap with leather, synthetic and metal elements.

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

27.5 cm

Width

24.5 cm

Height

13.8 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Aviation

Category

Clothing

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Scully

Country

Canada

State/Province

Québec

City

Montréal

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

British Columbia

Period

ca. 1998-2013

Canada

Lieutenant-Colonel Steven P. Deschamps CD (Ret’d) was born in Cornwall, Ontario in 1956. He served as a Royal Canadian Air Cadet from 1969 to 1974. Deschamps enrolled in the RCAF Reserve in 1975 and in the Regular Forces in 1979. In 1982, Deschamps was discharged from the RCAF for being gay as part of the “LGBT Purge,” the name given to the systematic discrimination by the CAF, RCMP, and federal public service against 2SLGBTQIA+ members from the 1950s until the 1990s. In 1992, the policy that formalized the LGBT Purge in the military was repealed (Ref. 2), and Deschamps rejoined the RCAF as a Reserve Officer, serving with the Air Cadets until his retirement in 2013. In 2022, Deschamps was appointed Honorary Colonel of RCAF 443 Squadron, Victoria, British Columbia. This service dress cap, known as a forage cap, was worn by Deschamps from 1998, when he became a Major (Ref. 3), until the late 2000s, when it was phased out of the RCAF service dress uniform. Worn by senior officers, this cap illustrates his advancement in RCAF rank, and his time serving with the Cadet Instructor Cadre and Royal Canadian Air Cadets. This cap is not only representative of Deschamps’ individual career; worn by an openly gay service member in the wake of the LGBT Purge, it speaks to wider social change within the RCAF and CAF.

Function

Worn for a broad range of duties and could be worn unrestricted in public.

Technical

This forage cap was part of the blue service dress uniform of senior officers in the Royal Canadian Air Force after the Canadian Armed Forces’ return to Distinctive Environmental Uniforms began in 1984 (Ref. 4) and until the forage cap was phased out of the RCAF in the late 2000s.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Label on the inside: "WILLIAM SCULLY LTD./ CAP, SERVICE DRESS, OFFICERS, AIR/ 8405-21-899-0827/ SIZE 7-1/8/ JANUARY 1986/ 8PX85-00116"/ Handwritten on inside: "SPD/ LCOL"

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Predominantly dark blue fabric with a black band, visor and strap, red, silver and gold-coloured cap badge, and gold-coloured buttons on the sides and embellishment on the visor.

Decoration

Cap badge consists of an eagle with outstrechetched wings and a crown over top of a maple leaf.