Flightblouse made of ital. camo material

[Gran Sasso]

From yesterdays fleamarket:

[RamJet]

Nice pics, Patrick!

[NickG]

Outstanding! Thanks for showing and congrats on this find!
No breast eagles? or were these edited out for some reason?

[Gustav 43]

The missing eagles are interesting,nice photos Patrick

[Gran Sasso]

No breast eagles? or were these edited out for some reason?

No idea why there are no eagles - any ideas?

[frank savage]

Very interesting!

I have got in the past heer 4 pocket jacket made in camo casnvas, but never heard or seen fliegerbluse cut from the same cloth!

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers!

[Zauberflöte]

No idea why there are no eagles - any ideas?

I've noticed these lacking more often on tropical 4 pocket LW clothing. Nice example is the book Deutsche truppen in Italian; about 1/3 of the LW tropical images published lack the breast eagle, the troops appear to be German regulars so it has in this case nothing to do with foreign volunteers.

Indeed great photo's you've shown!

[Adam S.]

I have a document set and photo album to a flak man who is shown here also without breast eagle:

[NickG]

The lack of a LW breast eagle in the last image (Flak trooper) is because that was the norm until early 1940....
Based on the Tanker's pz beret it is an early image, so that is to be expected to see a fl.blouse tunic without any eagle.
The LW tunic also lacks hip pockets another indicator that it is indeed a first model fl.blouse and these came without any factory applied LW breast eagles.

The Italian images on the other hand are no doubt post September 1943...where you would expect to see a breast eagle!
I thought maybe these were sanatized ebay images (photo shopped)

[kaiserwilhelm2]

The lack of a LW breast eagle in the last image (Flak trooper) is because that was the norm until early 1940....

This is correct for non-officers - also stated in the Angolia German one volume edition of the Luftwaffe!

As for later in the war, various Luft items were worn without eagles: leather jackets both private purchase and the later Reichsverteidigungs jackets were worn with or without eagles (personal choice). The same goes for tropical Luft tunics various possibilities (officers with fabric sewn EM eagles, bullion eagles, metal eagles or no eagles). Blue winter channel suits or Bulgarian suits quite often without eagles. All this can be seen in period pics and appears to be the result of personal preference and/or refelects what was available at the time.

[Zauberflöte]

...

As for later in the war, various Luft items were worn without eagles: leather jackets both private purchase and the later Reichsverteidigungs jackets were worn with or without eagles (personal choice). The same goes for tropical Luft tunics various possibilities (officers with fabric sewn EM eagles, bullion eagles, metal eagles or no eagles). Blue winter channel suits or Bulgarian suits quite often without eagles. All this can be seen in period pics and appears to be the result of personal preference and/or refelects what was available at the time.

Partly true, since in this case these camo FB are indeed very likely localy (field)tailor made and probably not even proper breast eagles were available. But the situation I describe in my previous post with the 4 pocket tropical tunic, concerns officially manufactured tunics i.e. something different then the private purchace jackets and personal preferences you refere to. I've always found that intriguing since this "practice" seems to have occurred more often then within the Heer or SS were of course also the production numbers were at least equally high.

[kaiserwilhelm2]

Partly true, since in this case these camo FB are indeed very likely localy (field)tailor made and probably not even proper breast eagles were available. But the situation I describe in my previous post with the 4 pocket tropical tunic, concerns officially manufactured tunics i.e. something different then the private purchace jackets and personal preferences you refere to. I've always found that intriguing since this "practice" seems to have occurred more often then within the Heer or SS were of course also the production numbers were at least equally high.

F,

I am not quite sure if we have a difference of opinion here. May be a question whether or not there were tropical tunics produced without the eagle on it. This could very well be possible for officers so they could put an eagle of choice on them or not. That this practice could have been more widespread in the Luftwaffe is not that suprising. Pilots had by far the most freedom of all military personell to dress according to personal taste.

[Zauberflöte]

F,

I am not quite sure if we have a difference of opinion here. May be a question whether or not there were tropical tunics produced without the eagle on it. This could very well be possible for officers so they could put an eagle of choice on them or not. That this practice could have been more widespread in the Luftwaffe is not that suprising. Pilots had by far the most freedom of all military personell to dress according to personal taste.

It's not necessarily pilots or officers in particular I'm refering to but actualy more LW groundforces (like the men in the camo tunics in the pics).
Therefore no problem of course, but I think you are missing the point I'm trying to make. I meant the 4 pocket tropical EM tunic coming from depot without breasteagle. (Btw often indicated by officer use by meaning of adding officer boards only).
Anyway, let us not divert too much, points are clear.

[John Hodgin]

Very nice photos Patrick.

[Ross Lee]

Yes very interesting pictures.