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The Luftwaffe ▶(?) (German: "air force", IPA: 'luftvafə) is the commonly used term for the German air force. The history of the Luftwaffe began in 1910 with the founding of the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte), yet it has not been continuous, owing to the fact that Germany lost both World Wars (1914a href="1918.html" title="1918">1918 and 1939a href="1945.html" title="1945">1945). As a result, the Germans had no military air force between 1918 and 1935 and again between 1945 and 1955.
For many English speakers, the term "Luftwaffe" is synonymous with the air force of Nazi Germany. In 1939-1940, this Luftwaffe helped the German army to astonishingly rapid success in both Eastern and Western Europe, but which failed to win control of the skies over England. Later on, despite its best efforts, it could not prevent the defeat of the Third Reich either by day, or by night, owing to constant Allied bombing of Germany's factories and cities by a numerically overwhelming force of bombers based in England. This was coupled with the advances of the Soviet armies from the East, as numbers of available German aircraft dwindled in the face of ever-growing numbers of Soviet aircraft. The Luftwaffe was, however, notable in putting the world's first jet fighter and the world's only rocket-powered fighter into action during the war.
Between 1955 and 1990, there were two German air forces as a result of the splitting of the defeated Germany in 1945 into two, but the air force of the GDR was dissolved and its structure taken over by the Luftwaffe in 1990 upon the German reunification. Only in Bosnia in 1999 has the Luftwaffe ever seen war action since the end of World War II.
Although Luftwaffe simply means "air force" in the German language, some English speakers prefer to refer to Germany's modern air force as the German Air Force to avoid potential confusion with the Nazi-era air force, since this force is often referred to as the Luftwaffe in English.
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History
World War I
The forerunner of the Luftwaffe, the Imperial German Army Air Service—the Luftstreitkräfte, was founded in 1910 before the outbreak of World War I (1914–1918) with the emergence of military aircraft, although they were intended to be used primarily for reconnaissance in support of armies on the ground, just as balloons had been used in the same fashion during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871 and even as far back as the Napoleonic Wars. It was not the world's first air force, however, because France's embryonic army air service, which eventually became the L'Armée de l'Air, had also been founded in 1910, and Britain's Royal Flying Corps,( which merged in 1918 with the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force), was founded in 1912.
During the war, the Imperial Army Air Service utilised a wide variety of aircraft, ranging from fighters (such as those manufactured by Albatros-Flugzeugwerke and Fokker), reconnaissance aircraft (Aviatik and DFW) and heavy bombers (Gothaer Waggonfabrik, better known simply as Gotha, and Zeppelin-Staaken).
Portrait of Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron", who shot down 80 Allied aircraft before being shot down and killed on April 21, 1918. The Pour le Mérite medal is clearly in view here.However, the fighters received the most attention in the annals of military aviation, since it produced "aces" such as Manfred von Richthofen, popularly known as "The Red Baron", Ernst Udet, Hermann Göring, Oswald Boelcke (considered the first master tactician of "dogfighting"), Max Immelmann (the first airman to win the Pour le Mérite, Imperial Germany's highest decoration for gallantry, as a result of which the decoration became popularly known as the "Blue Max"), and Werner Voss. As well as the German Navy, the German Army also used Zeppelins as airships for bombing military and civilian targets in occupied France and Belgium as well as the United Kingdom.
All aircraft in service until early 1918 were distinguishable as being German from the Iron Cross that was being used as the German military aircraft insignia. (It should be noted, though, that Germany's closest ally, Austria-Hungary, also adopted the Iron Cross for its aircraft.)
The Fokker Dr.I (Dreidecker = three-wing) was the mount of Manfred von Richthofen and so became one of the best-known fighter planes of World War I.From early 1918, German military aircraft began to sport the straight-line Balken Cross (Balkenkreuz, Balken = beam), which would become better known the world over during the era of the Third Reich.
After the war ended in German defeat, the service was dissolved completely under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, which demanded that its aeroplanes be completely destroyed. As a result of this disbanding, the present-day Luftwaffe (which dates from 1955, in any case) is not the oldest independent air force in the world, since the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom is older, having been founded on 1 April 1918.
Inter-war period
Since Germany had been banned by the Treaty of Versailles from having an air force, there existed the need to train its pilots for a future war in secret. Initially, civil aviation schools within Germany were used, yet only light training planes could be used in order to maintain the facade that the trainees were going to fly with civil airlines such as Lufthansa. In order to train its pilots on the latest combat aircraft, Germany solicited the help of its future enemy, the USSR. A secret training airfield was established at Lipetsk in 1924 and operated for approximately nine years using mostly Dutch and Russian, but also some German, training aircraft before being closed in 1933.
Collar tabs of a major in the Luftwaffe (1935–1945). Specifically, the tabs with a yellow background denoted those officers who were in the flying divisions of the Luftwaffe, whereas officers in other divisions, such as anti-aircraft artillery (Flak) and parachute troops (Fallschirmjäger), had patches with different coloured backgrounds.On February 26, 1935, Adolf Hitler ordered Hermann Göring to reinstate the Luftwaffe, breaking the Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919. Germany broke it without sanction from Britain and France or the League of Nations, yet neither the two nations nor the League did anything to oppose either this or any other action which broke the provisions of the Treaty. Although the new air force was to be run totally separately from the army, it retained the tradition of according army ranks to its officers and airmen, a tradition retained today by the Bundesluftwaffe of the unified Germany and by many air forces throughout the world. However, it is worth noting that, before the official promulgation of the Luftwaffe, what was a paramilitary air force was known as the Deutscher Luftverband (DLV), with Ernst Udet as its head, and the DLV uniform insignia became those of the new Luftwaffe, although the DLV "ranks" were actually given special names that made them sound more civilian than military.
It is of interest to note that Dr. Fritz Todt, the engineer who founded the Organisation Todt that organised the construction of roads before the war and of fortifications, such as the so-called "Atlantic Wall", using thousands of forced labourers during World War II, was appointed to the rank of Generalmajor in the Luftwaffe even if he was not, strictly speaking, an airman, although he had served in an observation squadron during World War I, winning the Iron Cross. (Ironically, he died in an air crash in February 1942.)
The Luftwaffe had the ideal opportunity to test its pilots, aircraft and tactics in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, when the Condor Legion was sent to Spain in support of the anti-Republican government revolt led by Francisco Franco. Modern machines included names which would become world famous: the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bomber and the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter plane. However, as aircraft seconded to Franco's Nationalist air force, Luftwaffe markings were replaced so as not to make the world believe that Germany was actively supporting the revolt. Instead of the Nazi Party's swastika on the tailplane, the German planes used the Nationalist air force aircraft markings (a Saint Andrew's cross over a white background, painted on the rudder of the aircraft and, on the fuselage and wings, meanwhile, instead of the Balkankreuz, there was a black disc. All aircraft in the Legion were affiliated to units given a designation ending in the number 88. For example, bombers were in Kampfgruppe (bomber group) 88, abbreviated to K/88, and fighters in Jagdgruppe (fighter group) 88, J/88.
An aerial view of the devastation to the Basque city of Guernica after the attack by Condor Legion bombers on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.A grim foretaste of the systematic bombing of cities during World War II came in April 1937 when a combined force of German and Italian bombers under National Spanish command destroyed most of the Basque city of Guernica in north-east Spain. This bombing received worldwide condemnation, and the collective memory of the horror of the bombing of civilians has ever since become most acute via the famous painting, named after the town, by the Cubist artist, Pablo Picasso. Many feared that this would be the way that future air wars would be conducted, since the Italian strategist, General Giulio Douhet (who had died in 1930), had formulated theories regarding what would be dubbed "strategic bombing", the idea that wars would be won by striking from the air at the heart of the industrial muscle of a warring nation, and thus demoralising the civilian population to the point where the government of that nation would be driven to sue for peace—a portent of things to come, certainly, and not just during the war which would break out in Europe only months after the end of the civil war in Spain.
World War II
Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive-bombers in formation circa 1939–1940.By the summer of 1939, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II, the Luftwaffe had become the most powerful air force in the world. As such it played a major role in Germany's early successes in the war and formed a key part of the Blitzkrieg concept, much due to the use of the innovative Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber (Sturzkampfflugzeug—Stuka). Germany swept through Poland, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, The Netherlands and France in a matter of months between September 1939 and June 1940 due in no small part to the Luftwaffe, which seemed invincible, causing Göring to become over-confident in its abilities and boasting that the RAF would be defeated in a matter of a month before the planned launch of Operation Sealion (Seelöwe), the invasion of the United Kingdom. However, the fact that the English Channel was between occupied France and Norway (since Luftflotte (Air Fleet) V under Generaloberst Hugo Sperrle operated from Norway) did as much to save the UK from invasion as the unexpectedly fierce resistance from the squadrons consisting of pilots of many nationalities, not just British.
Ultimately, the inability of the Luftwaffe to control the skies in what became world famous as the Battle of Britain (so-called after Winston Churchill made a radio broadcast announcing the end of the campaign in France) formed a key point in the war. Ostensibly, Hitler's decision to shift the focus of operations to bombing industrial targets in cities instead of British airfields was a tactical mistake. German air power, which suffered increasingly from a shortage of aviation fuels, raw materials (especially aluminium) for the construction of aircraft and frequently flawed leadership by Göring (who managed to deflect blame onto others like Udet), diminished further with the entry of the United States into the conflict in December 1941.
Unlike the Germans, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), under the command of General Henry H. Arnold, developed a strategic bomber force. The USAAF bombers, along with fighters such as the P-51 when fitted with drop tanks, were capable of very deep penetration into Reich territory and maintained daylight bombing of industrial targets, while their RAF colleagues continued with the offensive by conducting night operations.
Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe remained strong, and both the day fighters and the night fighters (see below) were able to shoot down hundreds of Allied bombers, including 95 on a single night (October 30–31, 1944) when the RAF bombed the southern city of Nuremberg, famous as the place where pre-war Nazi Party rallies took place (and, post-war, where the trials of Nazi criminals, including Göring, would take place).
Junkers Ju 87D Stuka dive-bombers on a mission over the Russian countryside. Hans-Ulrich Rudel would become the most successful and most highly decorated German pilot of World War II flying the Stuka, whose Ju 87G variant was used to devastating effect as a "tankbuster" with twin 37 mm cannons fitted under the wings.German superiority was especially felt on the Eastern Front, given that the Luftwaffe enjoyed an advanced technical standard as well as employing highly trained and experienced pilots such as Hans-Ulrich Rudel, who, flying the Stuka, was to become the most highly decorated pilot of the war, winning the Knight's Cross with Golden Oakleaves, Swords and Diamonds (Das Ritterkreuz mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten) by the end of 1944 and being promoted to Oberst (Colonel). Unlike other officers of such high rank, Oberst Rudel would remain in the front line until his surrender as Kommodore of SG 2 (a combined dive-bomber and fighter unit) to the U.S. Army at Kitzingen in Czechoslovakia on V-E Day, May 8, 1945.
Amongst the Experten (the name given to the fighter pilots), Erich Hartmann would emerge at the end of the war with the highest number of enemy aircraft shot down—352, a total initially disputed but eventually accepted. In contrast, the highest number of aircraft shot down by any Allied pilot was 62, achieved by Colonel (later Colonel-General) Ivan Kozhedub of the Soviet Army Air Force. Nevertheless, the vast land mass of Russia allowed the Soviets to manufacture war matériel well away from the front line, and so it was partly due to overwhelming numbers of weapons made available to the ground and air forces of the USSR that the Soviets managed to push the Germans back west, especially after the crushing defeats of the German Army at both Kursk and Stalingrad and the Germans' failure to take Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
The Luftwaffe saw action on many fronts, including in North Africa in support of ground operations conducted by General Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, and in the offensives against Yugoslavia and Greece prior to the invasion of the USSR in June 1941. Many Luftwaffe units were stationed in Italy, including after the Italians switched sides in September 1943 and remained there until the end of the war in May 1945. There were units also present in Romania, since fighter units stationed there were charged with the protection of the oilfields at Ploesti that were providing vital fuel for the German war machine in its continuation of its offensive against the USSR.
Fallschirmjäger over Rotterdam during the invasion of the Low Countries, May 10, 1940.One of the unique characteristics of the Luftwaffe (as opposed to other independent air forces) was the possession of an organic paratrooper elite force, termed Fallschirmjäger. These paratroops saw action during 1940–1941, most notably in the operations to capture the Belgian army fortress at Eben-Emael in May 1940 and to capture the island of Crete in May 1941. However, more than 3,000 Fallschirmjäger were killed during the Crete operation, and a shocked Adolf Hitler ordered that these elite paratroopers would never be used for such large-scale operations again, but only for smaller-scale operations, such as the successful rescue of Benito Mussolini, the then-deposed dictator of Italy, in 1943.
Although night fighting had been undertaken in embryonic form way back in World War I, the German night fighter force, the Nachtjagd, had virtually to start from scratch when British bombers began to attack targets in Germany in strength from 1940 as far as tactics were concerned. A chain of radar stations was established all across the Reich territory from Norway to the border with Switzerland known as the "Kammhuber Line", named for Generalleutnant Josef Kammhuber, and nearby night fighter wings, Nachtjagdgeschwader (NJG), were alerted to the presence of the enemy. These wings were equipped mostly with Messerschmitt Bf 110 and Junkers Ju 88 aircraft, which would later be outfitted with the Lichtenstein nose-mounted radar.
Captured Heinkel He 219A night fighter wearing RAF roundels.The Heinkel He 219 "Uhu" (Owl) was considered one of the best night fighters in the Luftwaffe's inventory, yet thankfully for the Allies, not enough of them were built to stem the tide of bombers, which became effective at using strips of aluminium foil called "Window" (more commonly, chaff) to jam the radar screens. Two notable names amongst the night fighter pilots were Helmut Lent, who shot down 110 enemy aircraft before being killed in a landing accident in October 1944, and Wolfgang Schnaufer, who shot down 102 enemy aircraft and survived the war, only to die in a car crash in France in 1950.
The Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a was the world's first operational jet fighter plane.After playing a pioneering role in the development of aircraft powered by jet engines ("TL Triebwerke") with prototypes such as the Heinkel He 178 and Heinkel He 280, the Luftwaffe became the first air force in the world to press an operational jet fighter into service—the twin-engine Messerschmitt Me 262. The aircraft was still plagued by reliability problems of its powerplants; however, while the Junkers Jumo 004 engines were of the advanced axial-flow design, they suffered from a lack of high-quality strategic materials required during the manufacturing process, a result of the Allied bombing offensive and the turn of war fortunes for Germany. The Me 262 was soon joined by other highly advanced aircraft designs, such as the Arado Ar 234 twin- and four-engine jet bomber/reconnaissance aircraft, the Heinkel He 162 single-engine jet fighter (powered by a BMW jet engine), the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter and others. A variety of further highly advanced aircraft designs, such as the Horten Ho 229 flying wing (originally designated Horten Ho IX and later to be manufactured by the Gothaer Waggonfabrik aircraft factory), were either at the testing stage or even ordered into production by the time the war ended. The German aviation industry also developed the first cruise missile used operationally on large scale, the Fieseler Fi 103 V-1 flying bomb, and the first ballistic missile, the V-2.
As modern as these aircraft were, they could not prevent Germany's total defeat in the air. The Luftwaffe lacked fuel, trained pilots, organisational unity and "safe" airfields. The final, fully blown offensive conducted by the Luftwaffe was on January 1, 1945, when it launched Operation Bodenplatte (Baseplate). The idea here was to destroy as many Allied aircraft on the ground, yet the Germans lost over 300 aircraft and were henceforward very much on the defensive as the western Allies and the Soviets closed in and invaded the Reich itself. The Allies were able to harvest Germany's advanced technical efforts as many German aircraft were abandoned after being deliberately wrecked for the most part; Operation Paperclip, for example, was one of many designed in 1944–45 to obtain either technical specimens, data, or the design personnel themselves and "evacuate" them to the United States, England, the USSR or France.
The early U.S. and Soviet space programs employed German hardware and were staffed with many German scientists and engineers, the most famous of which was Wernher von Braun, subsequently the head of the design team of the American Saturn V moon rocket. Many aircraft designers were also captured by the Red Army and sent to the USSR to design and build potential fighters and bombers for the Soviet Army and Navy Air Forces.
The Junkers Ju 287 was the world's first forward-swept-wing jet bomber, yet it never saw operational service.Amongst the designers sent to Russia was Dr. Hans Wocke, the man who designed the world's first forward-swept-wing jet bomber, the Junkers Ju 287, the first prototype of which, the Ju 287V1, had flown during the war on test flights. The Ju 287 design work was incorporated into the Junkers EF (Erprobungsflugzeug = test aircraft) 140 bomber prototype, yet neither this nor any other aircraft designed by the Germans would ever be accepted into the Soviet Army or Navy Air Forces, since the Germans themselves were technically prisoners and were denied access to the latest facilities for designing and perfecting modern warplanes. Most of the captured designers had been allowed to return to either West or East Germany by the end of 1953.
Wolfram von Richthofen was a cousin of the late Manfred von Richthofen and one of only a few select officers in the Luftwaffe to have attained the highest rank of Generalfeldmarschall. However, he was retired on medical grounds in late 1944 and died of a brain tumour in the American POW camp at Bad Ischl on July 12, 1945.Throughout the history of the Third Reich, the Luftwaffe had only two commanders-in-chief. The first was, of course, Göring, yet he was fired by Hitler near the end of the war in Europe on account of his having contacted (western) Allied forces without his authorisation with a view to securing a ceasefire before the Soviets overran Berlin. Hitler thus appointed Generaloberst Robert Ritter von Greim as the second (and last) commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, concomitant with his promotion to Generalfeldmarschall, the last German officer in World War II to be promoted to the highest rank. One other officer, who happened to have been promoted to this rank himself, had been Wolfram von Richthofen, the cousin of the "Red Baron", but he had retired in late 1944 on medical grounds and would die of a brain tumour while in American captivity at Bad Ischl on July 12, 1945.
Operational and training units of the Luftwaffe were organised roughly similarly to those of the U.S. Army Air Corps (which later became the U.S. Army Air Forces). Fighter wings (Jagdgeschwader) (JG) consisted of groups (Gruppen), which in turn consisted of fighter squadrons (Jagdstaffel). Hence, Fighter Wing 1 was JG 1, its first group was I/JG 1 and its first squadron was 1./JG 1. (As a point of interest, JG 1 was operating the aforementioned Heinkel He 162 at the end of the war. In the final two months, JG 1 lost 22 of them, mostly in crashes, resulting in ten pilots being killed and another six injured.)
Similarly, a bomber wing was a Kampfgeschwader (KG), a night fighter wing was a Nachtjagdgeschwader (NJG), a dive-bomber wing was a Stukageschwader (StG), and units equivalent to those in RAF Coastal Command, with specific responsibilities for coastal patrols and search and rescue duties, were Küstenfliegergruppen (Kü.Fl.Gr.). Specialist bomber groups were known as Kampfgruppen (KGr).
Each Geschwader was commanded by a Kommodore, a Gruppe by a Kommandeur, and a Staffel by a Staffelkapitãn. However, these were appointments, not ranks, within the Luftwaffe. Usually, the Kommodore would hold the rank of Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) or, exceptionally, an Oberst (colonel). Even a Leutnant (second lieutenant) could find himself commanding a Staffel.
Some of the Luftwaffe's units came from countries under German control such as 13 JG 52 (Slovakia) and Luftwaffen-Legion Lettland (Latvia).
From before the war, the German Ministry of Propaganda disseminated a magazine specialising in the Luftwaffe called Der Adler (The Eagle), not just in German but also in the first languages, including French, of several countries which eventually became incorporated into the Reich territory. While the U.S. remained officially neutral (from September 1939 until December 1941), the magazine was also published in English. Many colour photographs of the Luftwaffe in action during the war originally came from this publication.
See also
Cold war
The Canadian version of the North American F-86 Sabre, the Canadair CL-13, had a long career in the Luftwaffe, with which seventy-five examples served. This model is in the markings of 1. Staffel of Waffenschule 10 (1. / WaSLw 10), based at Oldenburg in 1959.(Model by Peter Mojzisek 1)
Following the war, German aviation in general was severely curtailed, and military aviation was completely forbidden when the Luftwaffe was officially disbanded in August 1946 by the Allied Control Commission. This changed when West Germany joined NATO in 1955, as the Western Allies believed that Germany was needed in view of the increasing threat militarily from the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies. Throughout the following decades, the West German Luftwaffe was equipped mostly with U.S.esigned aircraft manufactured locally under licence. All aircraft sported—and continue to sport—the Iron Cross on the fuselage, harking back to the days of World War I, while the national flag of West Germany could be seen on the tailplanes.
Many well-known fighter pilots, who had fought with the Luftwaffe in World War II, joined the new post-war air force and underwent refresher training in the U.S. before returning to West Germany to upgrade on the latest U.S.-supplied hardware. These included Erich Hartmann, the highest-ever scoring ace (352 enemy aircraft destroyed), Gerhard Barkhorn (301), Günther Rall (275) and Johannes Steinhoff (176). Steinhoff, who suffered a crash in a Messerschmitt Me 262 shortly before the end of the war which resulted in lifelong scarring of his face and other parts of his body, would eventually become commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, with Rall as his immediate successor. Hartmann retired as an Oberst (colonel) in 1970 aged 48. The aforementioned Josef Kammhuber also served with the post-war Luftwaffe, retiring in 1962 as Inspekteur der Bundesluftwaffe.
During the 1960s, the "Starfighter crisis" was a big problem for German politics, as many of these Lockheed F-104 fighters crashed after being modified to serve for Luftwaffe purposes. Therefore, the Starfighter was dubbed the "widow maker" (German: Witwenmacher). (It is of note that the F-104 served with the USAF for only a few years.) On the other hand, the Canadian version of the North American F-86 Sabre, the Canadair CL-13, enjoyed a long career with Luftwaffe fighter squadrons, since seventy-five of them entered service in and after 1957.
The United States provides nuclear weapons for use by Germany under a NATO nuclear sharing agreement. As of 2005, 60 tactical B61 nuclear bombs are provided, stored at Büchel and Ramstein Air Bases, which in time of war would be delivered by Luftwaffe Panavia Tornados 2. Many countries believe this violates Articles I and II of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Reunification
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder with a new Luftwaffe Eurofighter Typhoon. The name "Typhoon" caused controversy since the Hawker Typhoon was an RAF ground-attack aircraft which destroyed many targets in support of the ground forces invading France in June 1944 and afterwards.The air force of the Communist German Democratic Republic /East Germany used the same name as the one used during World War I, that is, the Luftstreitkräfte. It flew Sovietuilt aircraft, such as the Sukhoi Su-7 "Fitter" and the more famous Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG) family of aircraft, such as the MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-29 fighters. Unlike the West German Luftwaffe, however, the markings sported on the aircraft reflected the identity of the country as belonging to the Communist bloc. As such, the markings consisted of a diamond-shaped design, in which could be seen the vertically oriented three stripes in black, red and gold surmounted by the stylised hammer, compass and wreath-like ears-of-grain design, which was also seen on the Flag of East Germany, although the stripes were a 90-degree orientation from those to be seen on either national flag of the two German nations between 1959 and 1990.
After the GDR and West Germany were reunified in October 1990, the aircraft of the Luftstreitkräfte were taken over by the unified Federal Republic of Germany, and their GDR markings replaced by those of the Iron Cross, thus creating the somewhat anomalous situation of Soviet-built aircraft serving in a NATO air force. However, most of these would eventually be taken out of service altogether, in many cases being sold to the new Eastern European allies now part of NATO, such as Poland and the Baltic states. The exception to this is the 73rd Steinhoff Fighter Wing in Laage, Germany. The pilots of this squadron fly MiG-29s aquired during the reunification and are the most experienced MiG-29 pilots in the world. One of their primary duties is to serve as aggressor pilots, training other pilots in dissimilar combat tactics. The United States has sent a group of fighter pilots to Germany during the Red October exercise to practice real tactics against the type aircraft they are most likely to meet in real combat.
Since the 1970s, the Luftwaffe of West Germany and later the reunited Germany has actively pursued the construction of European combat aircraft such as the Panavia Tornado and more recently the Eurofighter Typhoon.
In 1999, for the first time since 1945, the Luftwaffe engaged in combat operations as part of the NATOed Kosovo War. No strike sorties were flown, and the role of the Luftwaffe was restricted to providing support, for example, with suppression of enemy air defence (SEAD) sorties.
No Luftwaffe aircraft were lost during the campaign, but the force's role proved to be controversial in Germany because of the strong pacifist sentiment still present in the population that is opposed to the use of force by Germany in international affairs. Moreover, there were constitutional concerns, because Germany was not and, indeed, still is not—allowed to participate in "wars of aggression" owing to its 1949 Grundgesetz (loosely: constitution). Because of something like a paradigm shift, Germany can use its Luftwaffe for crisis reaction and conflict prevention.
See also
- List of military aircraft of Germany
- Luftwaffe serviceable aircraft strengths (1940-1945)
- Luftwaffe Organization
- Flak Tower
- A list of current units of the Luftwaffe may be found by linking to the German language article Deutsche Luftwaffe 3 and looking at the section entitled Verbände & Dienststellen.
External links
- Luftwaffe official website (in German)
- Galaxy.com (a link to other aviation web sites of interest)
- German Democratic Republic (1955-1990) Air Force website (in German)
- Luftwaffe Archives & Records Reference Group (LWAG) (dedicated to research into the history of the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich)
- Luftwaffe Experten (detailing many aspects of 1939-1945 Luftwaffe operations)
- Luftwaffe Experten (English-language Czech website containing biographies of leading Luftwaffe pilots)
- Luft46.com (paintings of "might-have-been" Luftwaffe aircraft)
- Rod's Warbirds (more than 1,000 photos of World War II Luftwaffe aircraft)
- ww2images.com (photos of World War II aircraft from all nations)
- Luftwaffe, 1933-1945
- 12 O'clock High - Luftwaffe and Allied Forces discussion forum
Select bibliography
There have been literally hundreds of books, magazines and articles written about the Luftwaffe. It is only possible to list a select few here.
- Aders, Gebhard (1992), History of the German Night-Fighter Force, 1917-1945 (ed and translated by Alex Vanags-Baginskis), Crecy. ISBN 0947554211. (Originally published by Jane's in 1979.)
- Amadio, Jill (2002), Günther Rall: A Memoir, Seven Locks Press. ISBN 0971553300.
- Galland, Adolf (2000 1957), The First and the Last, Buccaneer Books, Inc. ISBN 0899667287.
- Green, William (1990), Warplanes of the Third Reich, Galahad. Second ion, following from original work published in 1970. ISBN 0883656663.
- Held, Werner and Nauroth, Holger (1982), The Defence of the Reich: Hitler's Nightfighter Planes and Pilots (translated by David Roberts), London, Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 0853684146.
- Mermet, Jean-Claude and Ehrengardt, Christian-Jacques (2002), Les Jets de la Luftwaffe: Aéro-Journal Hors-Série No.4, Aéro-Éditions International (French language ion only). ISSN 03361055.
- Orbis Publishing Limited, London (1974-77), Wings, a part-work encyclopedia of aviation in eight volumes, which included many articles about the battles during World War II in which the Luftwaffe took part, as well as biographies of some of its high-profile airmen.
- Orbis Publishing Limited, London (1981-84) (second ion), World War II, a part-work encyclopedia in eight volumes about the 1939-1945 War.
- Philpott, Bryan (1986), History of the German Air Force, Hamlyn. ISBN 0600502937.
- Price, Alfred (2005), Battle Over The Reich: The Strategic Bomber Offensive Against Germany 1939-1945, Classic Publications. Revised, second ion based on the previous work with the same title first published in 1973. ISBN 1903223474.
- Price, Alfred (2000), Blitz on Britain, 1939-1945, Sutton. Revised ion of Blitz on Britain : the bomber attacks on the United Kingdom, 1939-1945, first published by Ian Allan in 1977. ISBN 0711007233 (1977 ion).
- Sobolev, D. A. and Khazanov, D.B. (2001), The German Imprint on the History of Russian Aviation, Moscow, Rusavia (English ion). ISBN 5900078086.
- Wood, Tony, and Gunston, Bill (1984), Hitler's Luftwaffe: A Pictorial History and Technical Encyclopedia of Hitler's Air Power in World War II, Book Sales (originally published by Salamander Books). ISBN 0890097585.
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