WW2 German Luftwaffe Uniform

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Here is a nice item I picked up not long ago, a WW2 German Luftwaffe tunic for a engineer/construction unteroffizier. This 1935 pattern tunic has the bright pre-war/early war tresse around the collar and on the shoulder straps. The tunic is well marked inside, as evident of the pictures below. On the wearer's left breast pocket there is evidence that a badge was worn. Luftwaffe engineer/construction troops were not front line combat units, they were involved in construction, maintenance and repair of air bases. However, another one of their duties was to destroy air strips, bases, aircraft and equipment as the enemy advanced, and to provide their own security (still a task of Air Force Engineers to this day). 

In 1939 the Luftwaffe started its construction units by getting manpower from the RAD. In 1941, the Luftwaffe had regiments and brigades of these troops, with 56 companies serving in the west by 1942. There were also 14 battalions as Luftwaffen pioniere. Most of these troops were transferred to Org Todt in 1944, with the remainder becoming Luftwaffe Pioneers.  

The tunic is rather nice, with only a few scattered moth nips here and there, but they don't detract from the appearance. 

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The tunic has been repaired at some point as well, along the bottom pockets. I don't have any history on this, but it appears period and professionally done. Still a hard tunic to get though...

[Fritz]

Manufacturer name is not quite legible in the picture. The black Waffenfarbe could also be Reichsluftministerium personnel.

With a second look, the maker could be Feiltz or similar.

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Here are some better pictures of the markings.

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The first stamp is hard to make out, reads something like "Fellz or Fellg - Mogelin" The numbers should be 40: length of tunic back, 42: collar size, 90: Chest size, 68: tunic length, 61: sleeve length and the LBA 39, 39 should be the year of manufacture. 

[Fritz]

There is a place in Saxony called Mögelin or Mügeln - Oschatz and Riesa are the nearest biggest towns - halfway between Leipzig and Dresden - have just googled it.

The name looks like Feiltz.

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Yes Fritz, the Luftwaffe personnel did also work Luftwaffenbeute under the Reichsluftministerium as well. It's hard to tell with this one, especially with to name or history. The troops that worked for the Air ministry had the unenviable task of salvaging downed and disabled planes for repair or recycling. I have read that the black waffenfarbe was used for Luftwaffe construction/pioniere. There does not seem to be a lot of in depth information online so far...do you have any sources on your end?

[Gildwiller1918]

Awesome work on nailing down the location Fritz!

[Fritz]

quite easy, simply google, the postcode today is

14715 Mogelin (Mügeln)

or 
14715 Mögelin

 

[Gildwiller1918]

Thanks again for your help. Any ideas on what badge this tunic may have had? My bet would be a wound badge or sports badge. From what I read most of the members of these units were in the 40's. 

[Fritz]

I would think a sports badge if nothing else.

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Most likely, it would not have any of the other Luftwaffe badges I suspect or combat badges. Would have been nice to get the trousers as well, those are hard to find also.

[Fritz]

and the peaked cap with black piping. The trousers can be expensive, as they are rare. You would also need a dress shirt and tie to go with this.  For normal service wear, a bluegrey fresco material shirt was worn - separate shirt and collar, and for special occasions, white.

I have just seen an identical example in the internet - described as "Reichsluftfahrministerium" -
- Kammerstück, graues Tuch, komplett mit Brustadler 1. Modell für Mannschaften, per Hand vernäht, die Kragenspiegel maschinell vernäht. Schulterklappen ...  - except this has the 1st. pattern LW eagle, otherwise absolutely identical.

On one shoulder strap in the photo, there are marks where possibly insignia (embroidered) has been removed?

For ranks up to Unteroffizier the cyphers were embroidered, as from Unterfeldwebel, they were aluminium or zinc, officers had gold.
Examples: KS = Kriegsschule, AS = Artillerieschule, NS = Nachrichtenschule, WS = Waffenschule

Unterfeldwebel for Fliegerbluse, cyphers here zink. These examples were made from scraps of cloth by the unit's workshop, a common procedure.
When the candidate left the school to be posted to an active unit, the cyphers were removed.

Other ranks as Unteroffizieranwärter, for 4 pocket tunic

Unterwachtenmeister, (Flak-) Artillerieschule

Feldwebel, Nachrichtenschule

 

Luftkriegsschule:  Unteroffizier for Fliegerbluse

Last 4 sets are just examples. As a rule shoulder straps to the rank of Unteroffizier had embroidered cyphers, as from Unterfeldwebel, metal cyphers. Exceptions may be found.

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I have seen some examples of the black piped peaked cap, very expensive! The trousers appear every now and then, I will get it all eventually, lol.

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Fritz, I went back and checked the shoulder boards, one has a couple of small holes from moths, the other is pristine, no evidence of any pins, sewing, etc. 

[Fritz]

A few more examples added.
Have you ever thought of getting some items invisibly mended? I got this done on one uniform many years ago invisible mending - it cost 30 Euros per hole - so I ended up paying around 180 Euros, but I thought it was worth it. It is rare to find someone, who can do invisible mending, as it is a highly skilled trade - these people are often engaged by film and costume studios, but it has to be worthwhile. A dealer I know also gets this done occasionally. This is better than any normal patching or repair. On the other hand, in order to carry out the repair, you need some exact matching spare cloth, sometimes this is unravelled from an underlying seam, which is not then not noticeable.

[Gildwiller1918]

Hmm, interesting idea. I will have to look into that. I appreciate the info! Normally I don't mess around with the uniforms too much, I do like putting them back in original configuration they were in (as much as possible). 

[Fritz]

I agree to that! See further addition.

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Nice shoulder boards Fritz! I used to have a lot of these about 25+ years ago. Sold it all, somewhat regret that now, oh well. 

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I picked up a period Luftwaffe shirt recently, it has a permanent collar, with a sew on eagle and flight unteroffizier shoulder boards. I have a repro tie, until I can find a real one. I have it paired up with the tunic shown above for a comparison look. 

[Fritz]

That's good. The tie should have a very small even knot! Look at old photos. Did the tunic come with the wound badge and the small Feldspange?
For the early period, a bronze sports badge could have been worn.  A bit of further research revealed that the black Waffenfarbe would have been for LW-Bautrupps and not as previously thought RLM.  RLM personnel wore their previous colours with "RLM" on the shoulder boards, either embroidered for junior ranks, or metal for NCOs and officers.
Nice brown belt. For this type of tunic the bright aluminium buckle would have been worn. The steel bluegrey buckle was more for the field uniform.
The hip pockets seem to have been reinforced at the bottom, have not seen this before.

What you need now is a LW peaked cap for other ranks and NCOs with black piping. The earlier ones have nice aluminium insignia, the later ones zink.

N.B.: That is definitely not the right breasteagle for the shirt, as it is on a wool backing. The LW shirt eagle was of Bevo type manufacture all rayon silk, whitish on a dark bluegrey edge. These could be washed with the shirt. Wool items were never washed!
There was also a special version of the shoulder pieces made in the same material as the shirt.

This is how the shirt eagle should look (from internet source, my own example is mounted on a cloth backing for a flying suit, which I shall post at later date)

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Thanks Fritz, I appreciate the feedback. I am not the best person for ties, I don't have a bright buckle yet, on my list. I do have the side cap, the black piped peaked cap is very expensive, I will have to save up for that one.

[Fritz]

They don't turn up too often, mainly flight, signals and flak.
Ties: In the former NVA East German army, you had an easy tie, that looked and sat perfectly. It was on an elastic band with a hook and eye.
I used to often wear one myself with a grey shirt.

Here is one example of the shirt and tie worn with the Fliegerbluse, in this case, very long pointed collar, small knot.

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Here are some Luftwaffe items I recently got, this is a pair of slip on shoulder straps that are black piped for construction troops, with the cyphers for Air Traffic Control School: LS (Reichsschule für  Luftfahrtaufsicht). From what I could find was that the construction/engineer units were in this role to help with the air raid service (Luftschutz), to help train them in response and post attack actions. 

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Here are some enlisted Luftwaffe collar tabs, first is for the signal corps branch, a Unteroffizier rank. These tabs were used on the great coat. Next is a black piped tab set for engineers, the rank is soldat/private or could be an unteroffizier if the litzen was added to the collar. Last is another black piped set, this rank would be obergefreiter or feldwebel if used with tresse as a NCO.