Luftwaffe/Wiking

[wallonien]

Look at this pic, this LW man(pilot?) appears to be wearing a SS cufftitle(Wiking?). I find this very interesting but I know nothing about it, anyone have info?

[Mike C]

Hello,

I understand that each W-SS Division had a fliegerstaffel of Storch aircraft - the Bender/Taylor series (Vol 2) shows a LW pilot of the Prinz Eugen. And of course, Eicke (commanding 3 SS-Panzer-Grenadier Division "Totenkopf") was KIA when his Storch was shot down during the Kharkov counter-offensive in Feb. 1942.

So...I suspect that this NCO is a member of the Wiking fliegerstaffel and wears the cuftitle because of it. Nice picture.

Mike

[Jonathan M]

Hello,

I understand that each W-SS Division had a fliegerstaffel of Storch aircraft - the Bender/Taylor series (Vol 2) shows a LW pilot of the Prinz Eugen. And of course, Eicke (commanding 3 SS-Panzer-Grenadier Division "Totenkopf") was KIA when his Storch was shot down during the Kharkov counter-offensive in Feb. 1942.

So...I suspect that this NCO is a member of the Wiking fliegerstaffel and wears the cuftitle because of it. Nice picture.

Mike

so were these personnel Luftwaffe attached to SS units or SS personnel that wore Luftwaffe uniforms and insignia in their capacity as pilots?

[Larry deZeng]

Most of the SS-Divisionen numbered 1 to 12 were authorized a Verbindungskette (3 aircraft) or Verbindungsschwarm (4 aircraft), but it practice only a few had them. Usually there were only 1 or 2 planes instead of the 3 or 4 specified in the KStN and KAN. The pilots were Luftwaffe NCO personnel attached (kommandierende) to the Division in question. The planes also belonged to the Luftwaffe. The Waffen-SS was not authorized its own aircraft and pilots. If it flew, it belong to Hermann the Fat. This subject was recently discussed on Axis History Forum in detail.

--BHS1956

[Jonathan M]

Most of the SS-Divisionen numbered 1 to 12 were authorized a Verbindungskette (3 aircraft) or Verbindungsschwarm (4 aircraft), but it practice only a few had them. Usually there were only 1 or 2 planes instead of the 3 or 4 specified in the KStN and KAN. The pilots were Luftwaffe NCO personnel attached (kommandierende) to the Division in question. The planes also belonged to the Luftwaffe. The Waffen-SS was not authorized its own aircraft and pilots. If it flew, it belong to Hermann the Fat. This subject was recently discussed on Axis History Forum in detail.

--BHS1956

i was wondering as i posted earlier where i had read about this recently