Chief Engineer Luft Gen tabs

[hi-revr]

sdhshshs

Gary, Thanks for sharing. Which room of the Smithsonian do you keep these in?

Anybody else with engineer, navigator, air traffic controlor, or other uncommon luft tabs?


Eric

[Drew Wright]

VERY nice collection, Gary. Thanks for posting. I used to collect Luft tabs, as well, and had a fairly nice collection. The orange backed tabs always eluded me, though. Great find!

Regards,

Drew

[Wallace]

Good god amazing collection you've got there Gary

[Gary B]

I have a new found affection for Luft tabs/boards and flight engineer in particular. So far I have not found much info on the job they actually did. Can anyone point me to a thread, website, or book with an indepth look at Luft ranks? I already have Third Reich cloth Insignia and Badges & Insignia of the TR. Of all the theads I have found a lot of guys think they were an administrative classification. That seems odd considering their title. I am creating a word doc with all the rank tabs and titles. Not sure if I can post word docs here but I will try.

Eric,

There is no single source for info on tabs. The 2 best books are Angolias: Uniforms and Traditions of the Luftwaffe (3 Volumes - Vol 1 & 2 have tab info) and Mike Davis' book (I can not recall the title). Unfortunately Angolia's 3 volume series is out of print and VOL 2 alone can sell for up to $400 on e-bay.

As I mentioned in this thread, Paul R and I are working on articles which should cover each of the differnt branches of the Luft, with respect to tabs/boards. You can see some good back grouind info at the GMIC site in their Luft uniform section. Paul and I have posted our tabs there.

As for the job of the Engineers (pink tabs), they were technical officers who were not really claissified as soldiers (I think that is right) They were school trained engineers who were responsible for design/testing/eval of equipment, aircraft etc. They were given their rank depending on their level of education and experience. The Engineers were eventually made into a Corps (same insignia) but not all members transferred over. Late in the war the insignia was changed from the propeller on pink waffenfarbe to the gulls on pink waffenfarbe - I have only seen one such set, which Paul R has.

There were also Engineer (construcion) personnel who had a black waffenfarbe. I believe these guys were similar to our Seebees or Red Horse constructiuon units. Black was also the color of RLM personnel and, if I recall correctly, Luft officers assigned to civil defense duties.

Gary B

[NickG]

Here's my meager constribution. LW Admin Captain.
Sorry about the glare...its behind glass...

[hi-revr]

njkijloll

Gary,

Thanks again for the help. I have taken your advice and spent some time researching. Between you and Paul there is a museum quality collection. One of the things I love about TR collecting. There is always something new and undiscovered by most people.

Eric

[hi-revr]

ddhdhdfhdhdfhdh

Gary,

I would like to file a complaint. Post 21 picture. Field Division Major is lined up in Leutnant Column. Please correct this hideous visual error.

[hi-revr]

sssshjjkhmhm

Gary,

Post 21 top row, Are these your TSD tabs? difficult to tell in the pic. I assume in person they look teal like the other TSD tabs I have seen.

[Gary B]

Gary,

Post 21 top row, Are these your TSD tabs? difficult to tell in the pic. I assume in person they look teal like the other TSD tabs I have seen.

Hi Eric,

Yes, these are TSD.

Gary B

[luftwaffeguy]

Here are the boards for the rank of Leitender Fl.-Chefingenieur.

[luftwaffeguy]

Fl.Ingenieur a.K. (wartime offical) boards

[luftwaffeguy]

Fl.Stabsingenieur a.K. (wartime official) private purchase as the regulations do not mention the use of the pink backing.

[luftwaffeguy]

The Ingenierkorps der Luftwaffe also had reserve officers. Here is a pair of tabs for a Fl.Stabsingenieur in the reserves.

[luftwaffeguy]

Here is a pair of navigator tabs in the rank of Fl.Obernautiker

[luftwaffeguy]

These are for the rank of Fl.Hauptnautiker.