Just looking at a May 1957 copy of the Aeroplane (yes I’m a bit behind with my reading!!) and theres a feature on the new West German Airforce.. included is a picture of 2 German WW2 pilots who are wearing RAF ‘wings’ on their new German uniforms… Just wondered why this was ??
Neil.
By: Guzzineil - 30th November 2004 at 14:23
yep its Barkhorn in the picture..
Neil.
By: Firebird - 30th November 2004 at 11:07
The top 3 Luftwaffe aces all rejoined the West German airforce, and the 1st and 3rd ranking (Hartmann and Rall) were retrained in the USA by the USAF, and the 2nd ranking, Barkhorn was retrained by the RAF, IIRC.
By: Guzzineil - 30th November 2004 at 10:31
oh ok, so as they were trained/re-trained by the RAF they’d gained their RAF ‘wings’ so were entitled to wear them.. must’ve been strange for all concerned as they’d been trying to shoot each other down up untill 12 years earlier..?
Neil.
By: Firebird - 30th November 2004 at 08:04
Until their own training system was up and running the new West German Airforce relied on the RAF and USAF for the training or refresher training of it’s pilots.
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November 29, 2004 at 7:50 pm