German Imperial Air Service

[Dan Morton]

Came across this pic on a militaria site and was surprised. I really thought that the Imperial Air Service had no specific uniforms for officers and that they wore the uniforms of their respective regiments prior to becoming aviators. Either that or just infantry uniforms. Is my face red?! Here is an Imperial Air Service tunic from reputedly 1918 in a blue color.

All the best,
Dan

 

[captnenglish]

Dan thanks for posting this. It is my understanding, and I am no expert that those that joined the Air Service wore this uniform, while those that transfered in wore the uniform from the original branch of service. Again I am no expert, and I can't my source for this, but I believe this is what I have read

 

[Bruno]

Hi Dan,

About 30 years ago I did intensive research in the history of the German Army Air Service and published some articles.
The Imperial German Aurservice had no own Uniform. All members of the Airservice were only detached to this an had their old uniforms. The only sign was a propeller on the Arm. The pilots had a Pilots sign, like seen on the Uniform in the photo, the Observer the Observer sign and the gunners a gunners sign. I have never herad of a special Uniform of the Air service. As the Air service was no permanent part of the Imperial Army, like Army ore Navy, they could not have a own uniform.

The Uniform look more like a peace time Uniform, worn on parade with a pilots sign.

Best regards from Germany

Bruno

 

[Dani A.]

Hello,

As has been explained, WW1 German Air Service had no specific uniform. I think the most likely explanation is, simply, that the photograph shows a field grey uniform that has reproduced with a strong blue cast, and looks like the later field blue. Probably the actual tunic does not look so bluish. Of course, WW1 field grey uniforms show many variations in field gray hue, so it could be that the tunic has really a very unusual blue dominant. In any case, it would not have nothing to do with a specific Air Force association.

Regards,

Dani

 

[Manfred]

I think its a photographic blue-shift.

If the wall behind the tunic is white, and you compare that to the forum background colour you have an indicator about how much the colours shifted.

As far as I know even the planned new peace time uniforms for post war use based on field grey, not traditional blue anymore.

 

[dave mosher]

Dan:

The picture you posted is no longer there, but I will state emphatically there was a specific aviation uniform prior to and during WW1. At the start of the war there were four Prussian Flieger Btlns and one Bavarian Flieger Btln. The officer's dress uniform was that of a guard pioneer (blue cloth, black standing velvet color and Swedish cuff with red piping and silver double litzen and buttons) the boards are piped in light grey and have the gild prop on them. The Prussian boards also had a second piping which matched the old seniority color scheme of white-1st Batln; red-2nd Batln; yellow-3rd Batln and blue-4th Batln. Also, either the pilot or observer's badge was worn below the left breast. Early on, prior to the use of combat in the air, pilots were typically NCOs who were just chauffeurs for the observers who were officers. As the war progressed, personnel from other units could transfer to the air service and the officers retained their old unit uniforms, but wore props on their boards. You see many cavalry officers transfering to the air service because the static ground war made their use obsolete.

For an early war officer's feldgrau aviation uniform, guard pioneer distictions were again used. This meant black piping on the color and swedish cuff, red piping down the front and in the scalloped back, litzen on the collar and cuffs and dull silver buttons with crowns on them. The litzen on the collar are on black velvet tabs, piped in red which is shown below, along with a set of 1. Batln Flieger boards for a leutnant. The cap would be that of a pioneer or artillery officer with a black velvet band and red piping. The descriptions above were just for the officer's M-1910 uniform. The M-1915 future piecetime and field uniforms are another thread....

Regards

Dave

M-1910 Collar Insignia and Shoulder Boards for the 1. Flieger Batln



Cap for Technical Troops (incl Pioneer, Artillery, Kraftfahr and Aviation)

 

[billyturnip]

Very interesting Dave, thanks for posting that and some more pics for my collection


Roger

 

[Dan Morton]

Dave - I'm absolutely not an expert on uniforms. I'm more or less constantly combing the web for uniforms, militaria, equipment, weapons, etc. I also use references like the Wooley books on German uniforms. I can only pass on info that I pick up from various sources, so what you're saying doesn't surprise me. Sure, I seem to answer a lot of WWI uniform questions, but I think I've always presented the answers with caveats. At least I hope I have!!!

Here's the original picture of the feldbluse.

I found this on a militaria site. Most of the time the militaria sites get the description of their materials right, but they make mistakes just like everybody else. This is the only one in that color that I've ever seen. So...take it with several large grains of salt please.

Looking thru the Wooley book section on Imperial Air Service uniforms, there are Sanke photos, posed studio shots, field shots with aircraft, you name it. I have to agree with you I do see at least a few uniforms that appear to be distinctive and look more like the feldbluse picture above. But what I think is more striking is the wide variation of uniform in the photos - cavalry, Hussaren, infantry, marineflieger abteilung, jager - you name it - the pilots and observers wore it. So, whereas you're apparently right and I was wrong about the existence of the German Imperial Air Service uniform, the impression given in this photographic record is that many more pilots and observers were wearing variations of other uniforms vs. those wearing the actual air service uniform. I don't think this is too surprising. In my experience (USAF) air crew, if allowed any variation or choice in uniform, will express their individuality. Pilots do not have trivial or small egos.

And that's a good thing.

All the best,
Dan

 

[dave mosher]

Dan:

I don't know if this tunic was original or not, but the tunic in the picture you posted appears to be a regulation Prussian-style M-1915 Bluse for an aviation officer. Keep in mind, collar litzen (double, single or old Prussian) was carried over from M-1910 tunic that wore litzen to the new Bluse. For an aviator Bluse, double subdued litzen, and subdued braiding with state flecking on the shoulder straps and the prior single or double piping underlay as before. By the way, the EK1 would always have prescedence above a qualification badge or wound badge, so on your picture they have been reversed at some time. Here are some examples of the double litzen worn on the Bluse.




Also, remember that many previous units that may have transfered into the air service did not wear litzen on their previous tunics or wore single/ Old Prussian litzen as on their prior uniforms, so you will see v. Richtofen wearing a Bluse with no litzen (he was formerly with U.R.1) and Gontermann wearing his Bluse with 80th Fusilier collar tabs.

Here are a couple of officer Bluses to look at. The bottom one is for Jager Batn Nr. 7 with the distictive uniform color for those units and the top one is for the Baden Leib Grenadier Rgt. Nr. 109 with the double litzen and shoulder board piping and cypher for this unit. Neither are aviation tunics.



Regards

Dave

P.S. We haven't addressed the double breasted undress Kleinerrock tunic and the Future Peacetime (Friedensrock) tunic which also had specific insignia for aviators.

 

[Dan Morton]

Dave - Those are gorgeous, guy! Thanks for posting them! What a collection you must have! Do you own a museum or somethin'? You probably get a tax exemption from all the moth balls you have to purchase annually, right? Color me green with envy!

The tunic I posted came directly off the internet from a well known militaria sale site. I had nothin' ta do with pinning medals in the wrong places.

All the best,
Dan

 

[dave mosher]

Dan:

Thanks much for your comments. I collect primarily M-1910 officer's field tunics now, but here is something that might be of interest: This is a M-1915 future peacetime (Friedensrock) aviation tunic. Notice that it correspends closely to the pre-war blue waffenrock except there are no contingencies for the pre-war banjo epaulettes, which were no longer used.

Dave

 

[dave mosher]

As a final note, here are a couple more pics of actual WW1 german air service uniforms which I hope will help for future painting questions.

Dave

This is a textbook example of a M-1910 officer's waffenrock...



and this a close up of the collar, cuff and shoulder strap for the M-1910 waffenrock of a senior NCO (vizefeldwebel) pilot. Both of these tunics would wear the prussian pilot's qualification badge on the lower left breast.

 

[Dan Morton]

Very interesting stuff, Dave! I savored looking at that last one - that's in perfect condition. From the stitching on the right side, I'd infer that the original owner had some medals or insignia there.

All the best,
Dan

 

[dave mosher]

Dan

The two awards vertically would most likely be the EK1 (iron first class) above and either the prussian observer's qualification badge (shown below) or the prussian pilot's badge directly below it. To identify the third award, closer to the centerline of the tunic, would just be conjecture. There were several pinback bravery awards from the smaller states that could be used here. A possible candidate is the Hessian Krieger-Ehernzeichen in Eisen, based on the Hessian bravery medal ribbon (pale blue w/ red stripes) in the ribbon hole below the EK2 on the tunic. In order to be awarded this medal, you had to already have been awarded the EK 1 and 2, had been wounded and had been decorated w/ the Hessian bravery medal and subsequently qualified more than a second time for the medal, was at the front for an extended period of time AND was born and lived in Hessen!!!

Here is what it would look like on the tunic.

Dave