Bundesluftwaffe Uniforms

[Gordon Craig]

The back of the tunic.

[Gordon Craig]

The makers label. Located inside the left breast interior pocket.

[Gordon Craig]

Gents,

It occured to me after I made the above posts re my newly acquired tunic that it is not necessarily a Bundesluftwaffe one. Since the BH and the BL wore the same grey coloured tunic during this time period it could have been issued to either service. There no distiguishing marks to make it BL and it could be a BH tunic. Early photos of these tunics in the Kunstwald book do not show collar tabs in use. In a rank chart he dates as 1956 it only shows Generals in the Heer and Luftwaffe wearing collar tabs of a stanard German design.
I just noticed for the first time, that this same rank chart indicates that from soldat to Hauptgefreiter there is not metallic trim on the collar. From unteroffizier to Oberstabsfeldwebel there is bronze coloured metallic trim on the collar. From leutnant to oberst there is silver metallic trim on the collar and the shoulder boards. For the three grades of general officer there is gold metallic trim on the collar and the shoulder boards. So we can disregard my earlier question to Uwe.

Regards,

Gordon

[speedytop]

Hi Gordon,

simple questions, hard answers (In English; in German it is easy).

May I answer, nevertheless?

We must first differentiate:

- Paspel = piping/edging; from the beginning in 1955 for NCO (Unteroffizier to Stabsfeldwebel) in bronze only on the collar, not on the shoulder boards; for officers in silver on the collar and on the shoulder boards; for Generals the same in gold. EM without any piping.
For officers see Post 135 left on the collar and right on the shoulder board.
This is metallic, "Metallgespinst" = metal weave.

- Litze = braid/lace (trim?); added 1959 for NCO, see Post 106, here for a Feldwebel, the braid is not metallic at this time. But the piping on the collar is metallic, since 1955. The rank insignia is from metal.

The jacket is made in Juli 1956.
It is an original jacket for officers.

At this time, in July 1956, a Luftwaffe jacket is complete without any collar tabs.
There are only no stars (pips) and if necessary the oak leaves for field officers, but both must be in silver, not in bronze. That changed in July 1956 from the "altgoldenen" (old-golden) stars and "Eichenlaubbalken" (straight oak leaves) to "chromfarbenen" (chrome-coloured) stars and "halbkreisförmigen" (semicircular) oak leaves..

Uwe

[Gordon Craig]

Uwe,

Thanks. That summarizes it very nicely in English and gives us a good reference point for referring to the different items by their correct terminology in German. The English word I would choose would not necessarily be the same word another native English speaker would use. Especially between Americans and Canadians. I have heard it said we are two countries separated by a common language!Thanks again.

Regards,

Gordon

[Asbjoern]

Another piece of leather flight gear. This time a winter set of leather coveralls. It has the usuall plethora of zippered pockets. It has a grey pile lining throughout the interior. Unlike the summer flight suits and the leather jackets, this flight suit has never had any badges of any kind attached to it. This is unusal as they normally have at least the rank displayed on the flight suits. The makers label indicates it was made in July of 1960. This suit does not appear in any of my reference material and is somewhat of a mistery to me. This is the only leather flight suit I have ever seen. There is some slight wear on the top of the left shoulder which is probably due to the parachute harness.

Regards,

Gordon

Hi Gordon !!
Interesting to read that this overall is a mistery at all ! As I had a 1959 manufactured one I tried to find any information on this item ... and I failed. Not a problem as I sold it to a fellow colletor...





Apart from the leather flight suit I own another pilots overall - a 2001 Truppenversuch:






Regards,

Jens

[Gordon Craig]

Jens,

Thanks for your comments. I always associated this type of full leather suit with bomber crews but that certainly didn't apply to the BL. Someday someone will be able to provide more info on them.
I also have a set of the 2001 Truppenversuch pilots overalls. Haven't been able to find out anything about the 2001 uniform trials either. This is the only truppenversuch 2001 marked piece I have ever seen.

Regards,

Gordon

[PaulR]

Awesome thread!! I am most enamored with the Medical General's set!!! WOW!

[Asbjoern]

@gordon: the only further information I could get on this suit was from someone who served in the Luftwaffe in this years... he remembered that this kind of suit was used especially by the prop and heli pilots.

Regards

Jens

[Gordon Craig]

Jens,

Thanks for that info. It would seem logical that it was used in larger aircraft or where one needed protection from the cold. Now if I could only find a picture of one in wear!

Regards,

Gordon

[Guardian 5]

Team - I just received this photo of a young airman in an early uniform.

Total price to include shipping was ninety nine cents. Try buying a TR pic for ninety nine cents!

All the best - TJ

[Gordon Craig]

TJ,

I was going to bid on this photo but decided not to. Glad it went to someone in the clan.

Regards,

Gordon

[Guardian 5]

Sir,
You are a gentleman and scholar. Thanks for not depriving me of my little victory.

All the best,
TJ

[RedCatcher1986]

Great picture there Thomas

[RedCatcher1986]

Here's a contribution to the thread from my collection. Fresh from Germany courtesy of a fellow forum member: