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Can a German soldier holding the rank of private qualify as Pilot?

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    Can a German soldier holding the rank of private qualify as Pilot?

    Can a German soldier holding the rank of private qualify as Pilot?

    I saw on a WW2 german pilot's cert the rank of the soldier is private first class, is it because the new pilot received their promotions later?

    I had the impression all pilots, especially those fighter pilots were officers.

    #2
    No,. in the German Luftwaffe the majority were EM´s as pilots.

    So Gefreite/Obergefreite were not unusual.

    Comment


      #3
      The rank of Gefreiter for a freshly qualified pilot is quite normal.
      Collecting German award documents, other paperwork and photos relating to Norway and Finland.

      Comment


        #4
        Thanks Hoover and Simon.
        just 1 last question:-
        Will the new pilots automatically be promoted to officers or they have to work and move up the various NCO ranks while flying?

        I just find it odd because in most armies, pilots are the most "invested" soldiers because of the amount of training and expensive equipment/planes they handle so most pilots automatically get promoted to officers.

        thank you.

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          #5
          Hi Ian,

          No, new pilots will not automatically be promoted to officers.

          I do have some fighter pilots Soldbücher and Wehrpäße.

          This is information taken from Jagdgeschwader 26 pilots material I have.

          Men went up through the ranks :
          Started as Flieger, Gefreiter to Unteroffizier, Feldwebel, Oberfeldwebel, Fahnenjunker Oberfeldwebel, to Leutnant and Oberleutnant.

          While others did have the intention to become an officer right away from the beginning :
          Started as Flieger, Fahnenjunker Gefreiter, Fahnenjunker Unteroffizier, Fähnrich, Oberfähnrich, to Leutnant etc.

          Note that others never made it up above NCO.

          yours friendly

          Eric-Jan

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            #6
            Ian, the RAF also had a system of NCO pilots\aircrew. Two seperate career paths.


            In the luftwaffe a pilot on multicrew aircraft was not the aircraft commander. This was the beobachter or observer so you will often find crews with perhaps an unteroffizier as pilot and an oberleutnant as beobachter.


            In RAF bomber command you could sometimes find crews that included a sergeant pilot yet have say a flying officer as an air gunner.
            Collecting German award documents, other paperwork and photos relating to Norway and Finland.

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              #7
              Hi Simon,

              I know of Nightfighter crews, 2 men crew, 3 men crew, 4 men crew, where the pilot was also the commander.

              Once I received this answer for a question concerning a small group I have for Karl Becker.

              Here the pilot is also the aircraft commander.

              yours friendly

              Eric-Jan

              The plane lost on the mission was a regular Fw 200 C-3, Werknummer 0043, and coded F8+AB, showing that it belonged to Stab I./K.G. 40 and in fact the pilot in command was Hptm. Fritz Fliegel, Gruppenkommandeur of I. Gruppe K.G. 40 and Ritterkreuz holder.

              The crew on his last flight on 18 July 1941 was as follows:

              Hptm. Fritz Fliegel, born 30 November 1907, pilot in command
              Lt. Wolf-Dietrich Kadelke, born 21 May 1921, 2nd pilot
              Ofw. Johannes Rottke, born 6 September 1913, 1st radio operator
              Gefr. Karl Becker, born 22 March 1921, 2nd radio operator
              Uffz. Johann Kothe, born 11 Novemeber 1916, mechanic
              Uffz. Karl Maurer, born 12 September 1914, gunner

              On that day they were on an armed reconaissance Northwest of Ireland and attacked the British vessel "Norman Prince" but the plane suffered hits by return fire and failed returning to base at Merignac airfield near Bordeaux.

              Karl Becker flew with K.G. 40 since December 1940 and had been awarded with E.K. I and E.K. II, being involved with his crew in the sinking of 4 ships with a total of 31.000 BRT and damaging another 2 ships with a total of 11.000 BRT.<O</O
              <O</O

              <O</O
              18.07.1941: Angriff auf Geleitzug OB346 340 sm westlich Donegal Bay

              F8+AB Fw 200C-3/0043, Hptm. Fliegel, 54°23' N / 16°53' W

              Bei Angriff auf Dampfer "Pilar de Larrinaga" (7046 BRT), der schwer beschädigt wurde, Flaktreffer in rechte Fläche durch Abwehr der "Norman Prince" (1913 BRT). Ein Teil der Fläche löste sich, die Maschine schlug in Rückenlage auf das Wasser und versank sofort. Es gab keine Überlebenden.

              Fliegel and his crew would have been lost anyhow since Lt. E.W.H. Everett with Hurricane W9227 from CAM-ship "Maplin" was just about to attack the Fw 200 head-on when she was hit by ship guns and crashed into the sea.<O</O

              Comment


                #8
                Thank you Eric and Simmon for the further clarifications.

                just to share in my country Singapore, all trainee pilot have to pass 2 courses (1) officers training course and (2) pilots course.

                so all pilots are officers and commanders. opposite of the RAF, the rest of the crew are usually NCOs and are not qualified pilots.

                training a pilot these days is very expensive so only a selected few out of hundreds actually go on to be pilots so they are expected to be good both academic and soldier+commander material.

                I guess in WW2 Luft ,they were short of manpower so anyone with the potential get to the chance to become a pilot.

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