Another OM Pilot's Badge Again?

[Yuri D.]

This one is very interesting because it came with a bunch of paperwork belonging to the pilot. The pin has been professionally repaired, but the wreath retains most of its frosting, while the eagle retains most of its blueing.

Yuri

[Yuri D.]

Reverse

[Yuri D.]

And here is all the paper-work. It includes:

Pilot's License
Trade school diploma
Leutenant promotion document
Pilot's Badge award document
And a 1961-dated Bundesarchiv researched history of this Luftwaffe officer

Cool, huh?

[Lorenzo Brown]

Another nice piece. Looks like you've been doing some Christmas shopping .
Gonna 'have yourself a Merry little Christmas'?

[Tim Calvert]

Very nice Yuri!
What did he fly?? Also, what is the date on his pilot's badge doc????

[Yuri D.]

It gets merrier than that. I have an extra special badge to share with everyone next year!

Yuri

[Yuri D.]

Tim,

The award doc is dated December 21, 1941.

None of the docs state the airplane model. I wish I had his flight book.

The Bundesarchiv record looks like this:

[Yuri D.]

Reverse of the doc:

[skip]

Looks like he was a bomber pilot (schlachtflieger)

Nice OM Yuri, strange how the pins on these are very often repaired. The tube of the hinge appears to be made of a very thin material. Even so very nice with all the Docs.

Skip

[Tim Calvert]

Looks like he flew the fw-190 in the ground attack role. An unglamorous job that took tremendous balls!


Yuri, "next year" meaning with-in two weeks????????

[Dirk]

.

Yuri- Checked Michael Holms site and it looks like the pilot was a FW190A and 190F driver. If I am reading the doc correctly he did some Italy time. Nice grouping.

[Yuri D.]

Dirk,

Thanks for the quick research. And Tim, next year is less than 2 weeks away .

Yuri

Yuri- Checked Michael Holms site and it looks like the pilot was a FW190A and 190F driver. If I am reading the doc correctly he did some Italy time. Nice grouping.

[Robin Lumsden]

Did anyone ever see one of these 'OM' marked Pilot's Badges prior to the 1980s?? And does anyone know what firm 'OM' is meant to relate to??

They are very impressive, but I am told that the eagle can actually be bent under normal hand pressure, which is not usually the case with nickel/buntmetall awards.

Has anyone been brave enough to try this??

[Mike Kenny]

Hi Yuri,

A nice honest badge! Good grouping too!!

Robin, OMs have been very well reproduced for some time now - don't confuse a good cast with an example like Yuri's! The eagle on my example will not bend. The quality and finish on my example makes it one of my favourites (it came out of an old English collection).

As far as I know, the maker remains unknown. As for pre 80s examples, I wasn't collecting quite that far back. I know Huff has an example in his book which was published in 1985 (copyright 1981). I also understand that a forum member has possibly identified one in wear in a period photo. Like BSWs, the OMs are failry distinctive, unlike Juncker/Deumer/Imme badges which can all look the same!

Regards
Mike K

[RPN]

For what it's worth I bought my well-worn "OM" in 1978 ... complete with replaced pin!

Great group Yuri ... congrats.
Paul