Luftwaffe Airmens' Waffenfarbe?

[sb98]

Hi gents,

I hope I'm not missing something obvious. I have several photos from the man on the left. He and others with him (in the other photos too) wear flight crew badges yet their collar tabs don't appear to be yellow. Were there airmen who did not wear yellow Waffenfarbe? One of his buddies is wearing a Radio operator/air gunner badge and a naval badge. Not sure if this is a clue or not. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Tim

[François SAEZ]

Hi Tim,

Nice pic - I remember seing several cases where LW guys had KM badges, some possible reasons is to have a LW unit attached to the KM - in this case it will probably be more for support and protection or it could be that your guy was previously in the KM before being transfered to the LW.

Do you have more pics or more info: unit name................

[Akira Takiguchi]

If the picture was made with non-panchromatic (then ordinary) film, the waffenfarbe might well have been yellow.

The difference is shown in this page: http://www.photo.net/photo/edscott/pss00030.htm

I feel very good when I don't have to rely on such a guess game

[François SAEZ]

Going by logic, all seem to have the same waffenfarbe and as one is pilot and the other is observer and as yellow is the regular color for them, there are very good chance that your guy has yellow waffenbarde

[stogieman]

Recently....

... There was another foto on eBay.de, where a gentleman wearing an enlisted ranks Naval Uniform was wearing a Luftwaffe Badge! I will attempt to find the item and post a link.

[Akira Takiguchi]

Here is a photo that describes how deceiving a black/white photo can be. What's the color of the cross? The same vehicle, taken by the same cameraman successively with the same film, just slight change of position.

[François SAEZ]

Sun exposition?

Is the sun behind or on the left of the photographer?

[Angel Farré]

Regarding LW soldiers wearing Km badges I remember a document groups seçold by Regimentals to a LW man serving abroad a KM vessel winning th Destroyer Badge, EK II and KVK II with swords, he was in charge of the radar, so maybe your soldier was in a similar position.

Angel

[Gene]

If you guys have Volume 2 of Brian Davis' book Uniforms and Insignia of the Luftwaffe 1940-1945, look on page 115. There's a photo of a Feldwebel identified as Rudolf Harbig, wearing what looks like to be a black piped Fliegerbluse and visor yet he's got an embroidered paratrooper badge. Is he a paratrooper or a jump qualified Pionier, or?? One thing's for sure: it ain't yellow piping.

[sb98]

Thanks guys,

Akira - Thanks for the link, that's really interesting. I know the photographic process used during WWI can often times make colors on a soldiers uniform appear to be something completely different. I'll dig out some more photos from this guy and post a couple. If I remember right, I only saw one man with a naval badge. That would seem to make sense if he was a radioman, it wouldn't take to much extra training to get ready for an aircrew.

Tim

[sb98]

In the first pic I posted to start this thread the cloth wreaths on the tunics clearly stand out as a light color, either yellow or the light grey color of their eagles. Their tabs in that scan look much darker.

Here's the other photos I have of this man and his buddies. Unfortunately there is nothing written on the back. In these, it seems their collar tabs are a lighter color, but they're not nearly as light as other photos I have of men from the flight branch. Pretty interesting. I think it must be film related, ie they are most likely yellow tabs. But man, it's hard to tell, I guess you have to trust in the "science" behind it. I would swear they weren't yellow looking at my first post.

Tim

[sb98]

Next.

[Akira Takiguchi]

Sun exposition?

I believe so, the Sun is right behind the photographer - I assume it is some kind of red tone, but not sure.

Tim, nice images --- I can't say for sure whether it is Goldgelb or not still... It is always nice to have as many photos as possible from one man though. There might be some clue in other subtle photos... That's the reason why I never throw out a scenery, building or any seemingly unimportant photos from a group... Even if I cannot identify it, somebody else may can in the future.

Not my way to extract only good images from a group and sell (or throw out) the rest, I find it most absurd to ask questions about a single good photo after discarding the rest... (please note that I'm not speaking of you Tim!) This is also true for studio portraits. When you have an extraordinary uniform combination in a portrait, there is a better chance to prove its authenticity when you have all the photos from him --- otherwise not easy to persuade those who believes that it is a postwar fabrication.

[Jos L C]

In some cases you can find pictures of flightcrew wearing the " Minensuch" = minesweeper badge on their uniforms..
These units destroyed mines on open sea with their plane...,so ,a Navy award rewarded while being a luft member..
IMO any luft member who was aboard of a ship when there was action could earn a Navy badge for that at that time and the conditions..,sometimes only by getting wounded during some action..and a wound badge ofcourse..
Luft and Navy were working close together in some cases etc..
So,the field wasn't that narrow having/earning only luftbadges when luft and Navybadges when being a Navy member...or Army ..

Ofcourse going from Navy to Luftwaffe and the other way around gave you the right to wear your earned badges too..

I can also imagine medical people having flightclasps etc..the piping and patches are blue though..
One of Stuka ace Rudel's Radio operator/gunner was a officer and doctor !
I think his name was Gadermann or something ,not sure..

Jos.