Bundesluftwaffe Uniforms

[Gordon Craig]

The shoulderboards.

[Gordon Craig]

The cuffband.

[Gordon Craig]

While we are on cuffbands, there were others that should be considered in this thread. Those were the "Traditionelles am Ärmel". On April 21, 1961 Generalleutnant Josef Kammhuber presented Traditions armbands for three WWI squadrons. Geschwader Immelman to AG 51 "I", Geschawader Boelcke to JaboG 31 "B", and Geschwader Richtofen to JG 71 "R". Here is a photo of the Commanding Officers of the units to receive the cuffbands at the award ceremony.

[Gordon Craig]

A picture of the three traditions cuffbands.

[Gordon Craig]

At a later date the Traditions armband "Geschwader Steinhoff was awarded". Here are some pictures of the tunic of a Colonel from that Geschwader. This Geshwader was of dual interest to me as it spanned both my East and West German collections. Only one aircraft of the former DDR air force was flown operationally by the West Germans and that was the MiG 29. Geschwader Steinhoff was the squadron that flew the MiG 29.

[Gordon Craig]

The cuffband for Geschwader Steinhoff.

[Gordon Craig]

A picture showing the Bundesluftwaffe pilots wings, USAF pilots wings and the squadron emblem suspended from the right breast pocket.

[Gordon Craig]

The shoulderboards on this uniform.

[Gordon Craig]

In 1973 JG 74 was given the right to wear the traditions cuffband "Geschwader Molders". I don't have a picture of the this cuffband with me. In my collection of Bundesluftwaffe uniforms with Traditions cuffbands I have identified three different types. For enlisted men there appears to be two. A grey cotton thread embroidered Geschwader and wing for the everyday uniform and a better quality grey, two toned, cotton thread Geschwader and wing for the parade uniform. I have only seen officers cuffbands embroidered in the silver bullion manner.

Regards,

Gordon

[Guardian 5]

Gordon - A truly outdstanding collection. I send my congratulations with the hope that the show isn't over.

TJ

[Klaus1989]

I have never understood why BW sees to think cufftitle is needed on both sleeves. Kaiserreich, Third Reich and DDR all wore only on left sleeve. Were they trying to break with tradition?

Speaking of cufftitles, do you have Berlin Wachbataillon Luftwaffe tunic to show too?

Klaus

[Gordon Craig]

Klaus,

Sorry. No Luft Wachregiment tunic to show. It is in storeage in Canada.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

Not quite done yet but unfortunately there are some other uniforms I would like to post pictures of but they are not with me. So instead, here is an enlisted man's cuffband from Geschwader Richthofen. In its uncut state it is 45cm (18") long, and 3cm (1 3/8") high. The machine embroidered front is made of a vertically ribbed material. The silver tape on the edge is sewn on. The sewing on this tape also attaches the plain blue, unribbed cloth material, to the rear of the cuffband. Something to note about how West German cuffband were attached to the uniforms. The DDR followed the previous German custom of having the cuffband sewn on while the uniform was being made and tucked the ends of the cuffband into the seam of the arm. The West Germans did not do this. The cuffband was still applied during the manufacture of the tunic but it was not sewn into the sleeve seam. It was folded over on the ends, with the two ends butting together and then sewn to the tunic. West German cuffbands should not be sewn through the lining of the tunic. This makes it virtually impossible to tell from pictures if the tunic you intend to purchase had the cuffband attached originally or was added later by someone to enhance the value of the tunic. This happened to me once on a Panzerbrigade9 tunic and I haven't bought one off ebay.de since.
Now on to the cuffband.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

A close up of the embroidered text.

[Gordon Craig]

A close up of the embroidered wing.