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Original Hartmann

m444uk

Active Member
Aviator said:
m444uk said:
Aviator said:
I can´t see any stitch holes where the eagle and rank insignia should have been and no eppaulettes. The Luftwaffe tolerated when pilots privately purchased their leather jackets and wear them. The Luftwaffe never issued leather clothing to their pilots officially. But what the LW wanted their pilots to do ist to wear the LW and rank insignia.
Have a close look onto the left cuff. There´s no typical wear caused by having the left arm on the throttle. ;) Of course only clues but I´m sceptical that this suit has ever been worn by a LW pilot or in a cockpit at all.

The Luftwaffe did issue leather outfits. Look for the Rb nr.that most Reichs gear was tagged with.
The gray jackets seem to have been issued in quite large numbers as there are numerous examples around.
This style also came in brown.
There where also more specialist leather outfits issued to jet pilots.
The last pics show the U-boat type jacket.

According to my grand uncle who was a pilot in the luftwaffe from 1941 to 1945 during WWII (and survived) the luftwaffe did not issue leather jackets for pilots officially. The Wehrmacht did hand out jackets for other parts of the german army like the navy and tankcrews. That´s why the most jackets are tagged and so many jackets were gray because the were supposed to go to the u- boat crews. But they did not go to the Luftwaffe officially but traded from other german army members. You will see high ranked officers or aces with leathterjackets mostly, because they were able to afford them, but not the lower ranks. The Luftwaffe pilots´ official clothing was a simple flight suit.

Here's another issue leather jacket. Note the electrical heating connector, these were designed for high altitude flight.

http://cas.awm.gov.au/heraldry/REL/18105.001

The other issued jacket was the sheepskin kanal jacket. The white version was widely used on the eastern front.
They can also be found in brown which seem to have been Hungarian issue and blue variants found in the west
issued to units using the summer channel cloth jacket.

LW1.jpg


Hungarian kanals and 1944 pattern luftwaffe
HartmanPottyondy-2.jpg


Try to get hold of this book from your library and you will see the vast array of flying clothing the Luftwaffe issued.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Luftwaffe-vs-RA ... 16-8306553
 

m444uk

Active Member
Aviator said:
The second pic is a nice one. Anybody have a bigger version of it?

It's from one of Bernd Barbas's books.

The original wartime Signal magazine has loads of this sort of stuff
 

m444uk

Active Member
mini sub crew

seehundminisub-12.jpg


2 white kanals one being worn by Galland, 1 private purchase black sheepskin owned by Hannes Trautloft who served
in the Luftwaffe for 40 years retiring in 1970.

Image5.jpg


trautloft2.jpg


Img_6085.jpg


Image4.jpg
 

TankBuster

Active Member
Excellent collection of Luft flight jackets! I have a small group myself. They are tough to find.
Luftwaffe pilots were definitely issued leather flight jackets. There are a few different types
that were used as M444 UK has shown.

These were all issued, although 2 are cloth. The 1st is the heated leather issued later in the war.

Issued Heated Leather Flight Jacket

006-3.jpg


Heated Cloth Version

001-2.jpg


Non Heated Cloth Version

002-3.jpg
 

Aviator

New Member
Hannes Trautloft who served
in the Luftwaffe for 40 years retiring in 1970.

Let´s say he served for 26 years. ;) Luftwaffe from 1932 -45 and Bundesluftwaffe from 1957 -70. There was no German airforce between 1945 and 1956.
 

Andrew

Well-Known Member
TankBuster said:
Excellent collection of Luft flight jackets! I have a small group myself. They are tough to find.
Luftwaffe pilots were definitely issued leather flight jackets. There are a few different types
that were used as M444 UK has shown.

Wow Jeff, didn't know you had these as well. Your certainly have a fabulous Collection. Thanks for posting these.
 

TankBuster

Active Member
Thanks Andrew. That is all I have left. I used to have some others,
but sold them off to fund more A-2 groups. I kept these 3 due to
their great condition, and the fact they were my best issued examples.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hi Tankbuster do you have any aircraft we should see ! that we do not know about . :lol:
Nice collection of Luft jackets there Jeff .

All the best Jeff
 

TankBuster

Active Member
Miles,
I'm sure some did. The issued style leather jackets however were not available until 1942 or
later. Most private purchase jackets were purchased during the B.O.B. because there was really
nothing else (Leather) available at the time. Once the issued leather came about, they were
worn readily. There are tons of pictures with Luftwaffe pilots wearing them.

DSC00484.jpg
 

m444uk

Active Member
TankBuster said:

The way the HE 162's are neatly lined up in the open might suggest this was taken just after the surrender ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_162

In fact, under the jackets appear dress uniforms not the functional flight trousers etc.

Those cloth jackets in your collection are in amazing condition.
Do you have a photo you can post of the inside of the electrically heated one ?
 

TankBuster

Active Member
Good eye! Yes, that makes sense. I always loved that picture showing these
jackets in wear.
Thanks for the compliment. There is a little more wear than appears, but they
are very clean for the most part. I will get some inside shots taken this evening.
The label is intact as is all the electrical connectors/cords.
 

Aa12

New Member
mini sub crew

seehundminisub-12.jpg


2 white kanals one being worn by Galland, 1 private purchase black sheepskin owned by Hannes Trautloft who served
in the Luftwaffe for 40 years retiring in 1970.

Image5.jpg


trautloft2.jpg


Img_6085.jpg


Image4.jpg
Hello, I'm not sure you will get this message.. But I am a huge admirer of this jacket worn by Hannes Trautloft .. I am attempting to have this jacket custom made, is there anyway you could post more detailed photos of the jacket?? It would help me immensely!
 

Aa12

New Member
Hello, I'm not sure you will get this message.. But I am a huge admirer of this jacket worn by Hannes Trautloft .. I am attempting to have this jacket custom made, is there anyway you could post more detailed photos of the jacket?? It would help me immensely!
^ I meant the black sheepskin jacket worn by Trautloft, just to clarify
 
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