Officer's cap : Flying Officer P C Firkins, 460 Squadron, RAAF

Royal Australian Air Force blue peaked officer's cap. The cap has a woven black mohair hat band and patent leather black chin strap secured by plain black buttons. An embroidered officer's RAAF badge is attached to the front of the hat band. The sweatband is made of brown leather and impressed 'Real Boar Leather'. The inside of the cap is lined with polished cotton and a maker's label is sewn inside the crown beneath a diamond-shaped plastic panel.

Worn by Flying Officer Peter Charles Firkins during his service with 460 Squadron, RAAF. Born in 1925, Firkins was educated at Guildford Grammar School, Western Australia. In 1943, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force and served as an NCO rear gunner with 460 Squadron, RAAF. He had completed his tour of twenty-nine operations and received his commission before he turned nineteen. He became the historian of 460 Squadron and wrote the squadron's history, 'Strike and Return' as well as several other widely read military history books, including 'The Australians in Nine Wars'. An active and prominent member of the Perth business community, Peter Firkins died at his home in Perth in late 2002.