Luftmensch

Stogie, you talking about the pin?--which I've never seen before--otherwise, from the front, it's like 99% of the badges I see, some with Meybauer markings. most with not. What's bizarre?

Yeah, with the only wrinkle that no one can find a WW1 Turkish made badge to compare it with...unless this is the first one we're seeing?

Fascinating, Tim. Thanks!

That's the funny thing, in my ignorance I didn't feel any rush. Just a s l o w creeping realization of what I had......kind of like a monkey in a cage.....with colored buttons.....and tasty food pellets once I figured it all out. Tomorrow I'll do a group shot for Rick's 2006 wall calendar...

Wow, I forgot you had your Uncle's Urkunde! As for the Ehrenpokal, why don't you take out an ad in Military Trader, maybe ask them when they're running a related Luftwaffe article and run it opposite. It would do my head in knowing it's out there...somewhere... Rgds John PS I know a woodworker who has an Ehrenbecher + original base. He's planning to handmake a few copies. I'll let you know.

Hi, Stogie--I'm losing my ability to play devil's advocate with you and Cmdr. Bob now that mine has become a "no crown" household. Can I get a special icon next to my name for making that declaration??? Hi, Rick--Thies...quite a character. But he got, if I remember rightly, over 20,000 EUROS for the Khoresm. By the way Vince asks what happened to son Heinz Wieprich. Is he in your Luftwaffe book? Hi, Vince--My dream was for an Ehrenbecher with wooden base, Urkunde, and other silver awards from Weimar (don't care for NSFK stuff). I guess I'll settle for the Red Banner! Rgds John

I'll tell ya...She was a researching demon. There were letters back and forth from several of the aviation guys at the other forum during her 20 year search for service records. Eventually she talked to O'Connor and others at OVER THE FRONT, and expressed a desire to sell her father's group. They gave her Ken's name! He had his eyes open for a Becher for me for years that would have some Weimar artefacts with it--not easy to find. He had her send it direct and we've corresponded ever since. But I never could have afforded this if any one of us knew a damn about Soviet orders! Whaddya mean reinforcement on the markings...moral reinforcement?

Hi, Jim--I have very little info on the Aero Club, but it was patterned along the same lines as the Auto Club as Flying Dutchman described it. Here is the typical version one sees, quite crude-- The average Auto Club seems to be a much better quality piece, but I've yet to see one with automobiles etched on the blade! Rgds John

I never leave home without `em (my badges, not my socks). I'd ask if you have a spare room, but Alberta is waaaay to cold for this Toronto boy... Rgds John

So next time you're in doubt at a show, chant Ommmm Stogiemani padme hummm for enlightenment but carry a picture of Otto's badge in your wallet.

Yeah, if I didn't start wearing new socks my girlfriend was going to throw me and my smelly old badges out... Rgds John

Thanks, Dan. I couldn't get the light right. The disc rivetted behind the crown shows nice red enamel with incised details, completely missing in the photos!

Dutchman's Auto Club dagger gave me the idea to post my Aero Club dagger. I've seen a few that were wartime manufacture, guessing from their crudeness, and all had plain blades. The etched Taube and Wright Flyer on this one definitely dates it to pre-war. The Navy knot has been on there a long time.

Crown is separately riveted. Hallmarks say: CF ROTHE WIEN FA AA Looks good with socks

BIG lungs on this bird, wings just shy of 70 mm tip to tip. 67 mm high

On second thought, if it's cast, it's from a bogus badge. I don't like the lettering or spacing. Here's Otto's...

Okay, I've been burning incense and meditating to try and tap into Stogie's higher consciousness on this one... Could the weak hallmarking be a tipoff of a cast job? The hallmarking could have been rolled but it just looks weak, the letters even a little dubious, and maybe chemically darkened? I guess you'd really need a loupe to confirm that everything has sharp edges. And that box is bogus.

Ach so, now I see. Thies' July catalogue lists three Red Banners... BELORUSSISCHE SOZIALISTICHE SOWJETREPUBLIC Orden des Roten Arbeitsbanners ARMENISCHE SOZIALISTICHE SOWJETREPUBLIC Orden des Roten Arbeitsbanners SOWJETISCHE VOLKSREPUBLIK CHORESM Rotbannerorden etc. etc. And yes, Rick, the dates do fall into sequence. Man, all I was looking for at the time was an Ehrenbecher with SOMETHING else to go with it!

That's a strange looking thing! You and the Ricks call this a "Khoresm" Red Banner, so presumably this is for the action in Turkestan that the article credits him with getting the Dobrolets pin. I guess the action made the news and the further award went unreported--I don't see it in the scrapbook. If Khoresm is a region in Turkestan I suppose the document shows more Islamic influence than Soviet, but the badge shows all Soviet design! Was there a Red Banner design slightly adapted for different regions? Maybe I ought to look for your book. Thanks for the info, Doug.

Not easy...the case is completely not standard, and maybe a tip-off that someone's dressing up a sow's ear. Has that uneven hallmark been darkened?

Ah...I see Stogieman scooped me!

I'm told he did join the Luftwaffe, just refused to wear the uniform. Rick, do you have a record of him on the Lufthansa payroll after May 1945? And no record of him in the Luftwaffe in that Feb 1945 list?