Gordon Williamson

Here is a wartime "Tag der Wehrmacht" propaganda postcard with photo of the Hymenn style badge.

Very interesting Michel. Clearly this type of flimsy needle pin WAS used on original solid badges of the period as well as hollow-backs.

The badge itself is absolutely correct for a wartime original Hymmen style badge. The solid area around the neck, the lack of a propeller etc are all perfectly good characteristics of a wartime piece. The only anomaly is the flimsy pin which is a type personally I have only so far seen on the hollow back Imperial U-Boat Badges, but this style of pin was indeed used on real badges of the period. Its the combination of this type of pin with a solid backed badge which is anomalous. The Hymmen style however, were produced in a wider range of variants than any other maker of the period ( tombak, zink, vertical pin, horizontal pin, hollow back etc). The problem is that this type of badge was heavily reproduced by a certain US dealer in Arizona, and usually came with spurious Schwerin markings. This and the unusual design ( without propeller etc) has a lot of people thinking this type of badge is wrong. It is NOT. This style badge was most certainly manufactured during WW2 by Hymmen & Co and is even featured on a period propaganda postcard, all its unusual features being clearly visible.

Very, very nice Peter, and indicative of the fact that a recipient didn't necessarily go from KVK1 with Swords to Knight's Cross with Swords, but could go from KVK1 without Swords to Knight's Cross with Swords.

Looked down on by some today, but even the lowly KVK2 was accorded a degree of respect at the time. Here the whole unit is paraded to see some of their number being awarded the KVK2 with Swords by the commanding officer.

WOW!!!!!! These are fabulous. More please !!

I'll be going through the whole thing start to finish, changing whatever needs changed/removed, updating whatever I can and putting in as much fresh info and pics as possible. It will be Rogers decision however in setting the balance between what needs changed and what I'd like to change. The more change, the more expensive the re-vamp.

Close up of the L/15 stamp

As Roger Bender has informed me that my Iron CRoss book is virtually sold out and will shortly be out of print I have been looking around for fresh material to go into the reprint. Though you might like to see this rather nice Otto Schickle L/15 marked EK2.

The type Weitze shows is the type I have seen before . I think this is the type that Michel has also. The Hymenn style also used this type hinge/hook set up on the hollow back version.

Thanks Rick, I'd seen your doc on the other thread and noted the date. Of course "30 Januar" being the significant anniversary in the Nazi calendar, they probably made group issues on that date each year. Kai Br?ggemann has two of these in his collection, one with the hand executed lettering like the Knight's Cross Urkunden, and another with typewritten details. Interestingly both of these too were on the same date, 1 September, but one in 1943 and one in 1944. Must have been some significance in the 1 September date also.

Here is the award doc for the KVK1. Rare type, note the Gold eagle / swastika and issued at F?hrerhauptquartier. Facsimile Hitler sig as usual, but genuine ink Meissner sig.

Its the Hymenn & Co. (L/53) style. Normally would expect this type to have a more robust pin. Michel has one of these Hymenn style badges with the horizontal needle pin. This pin though is more like the type found on the hollow back 1930s version of the Imperial U-Boat Badge made by Steinhauer. Haven't seen this type of pin before on a solid Hymenn badge. Hymenn did make hollow back U-Boat badges though.

First Luftwaffe aircraft to see combat in WW2 was a Ju87 "Stuka" from St.G. 1 which led the assault on Poland by attacking a blockhouse containing the detonators for explosives the Polish troops had attached to a strategically important bridge. The last dogfight is more interesting as it involved totally different aircraft than you'd expect. It was actually between a Fieseler Fi156 "Storch" and a US Piper "Cub" spotter plane. The American plane spotted the Storch and attacked. Of course the Cub is unarmed, so how did it attack and shot down the Storch --------- The answer is the crew took pot shots at the Storch with their Colt .45 automatic pistols and managed to damage it enough to bring it down.

Couple of bits of info I just came across. What was the first Luftwaffe aircraft type to see combat action in WW2 ? What was the last Luftwaffe aircraft to be shot down in a dogfight in WW2 ?

[Well spotted John. Now the tricky part. Is there any way to tell from this angle whether its the common "C" model, or the "V-1" variant which was used as an air-ambulance ? I think, though I'm not sure, the only difference was in the cargo doors but they aren't visible on this shot.

Can anyone identify this plane ????

Re von Thoma, all veterans stories have to be taken with a "pich of salt" of course but I remember back around the early 1970s a friend of mine had an antique shop. A vet came in and sold him some stuff which if I recall correctly was reputedly taken from von Thoma when he surrendered . Amongst the items ( again I am working from a 30+ year old memory,) were a Generals shoulder strap, collar patch and a beautiful CEJ Spanish Cross in Gold. All the items were 100% original, no doubt of that. Whether the story can be believed is another matter, but the old guy would have no reason to make the story up especially as the price he asked for them was, I recall, very cheap.

Firing the enamel

Enamelling

Plating bath

Here the stamped out components are being hand finished. Note the initial finishing process is done using a fairly large, coarse file to remove any flashing, then a fine cut jewellers needle fine is used to finish the job

Here, the award components are being stamped out. Modern presses are often hydraulic as the one shown here. The pressure required of course will vary dependant on the metal. Going by its size this one looks like a 20 / 25 ton press. Note the die inserts with the shape of the award are cut into circular steel steel. This is then hardened and when in use fits into a recess in a normal mild steel die block. The second example shown is a 25 ton press but with the pressure produced by a large flywheel on the side of the machine rather than by hydraulics, in the 30s/40s, most presses were flywheel types.

A pantograph milling machine cuts the x10 or whatever pattern, scaled down to 1:1 into a steel block.

This series of photos showing the manufacture of an award isn't actually 3rd Reich, but Japanese. The procedure is pretty universal however and gives an good basic overview of how the awards were produced. The first shows the pattern maker hand cutting the large (usually at least x4, often x10 ) master of the award which will by scaled down on a pantograph milling machine to actual size in the die insert. Traditional methods here, none of your laser cut dies used today. The second photo shows the store rooom for these hand cut master patterns ( I suspect at the Osaka Mint)