Luftwaffe Silver ?C? Certificate glider proficiency badge

[J Temple-West]

I?ve been asked if there?s such a thing as a ?C? grade certificate glider proficiency badge with an oak leaf wreath, and if there is, what the qualification requirements for this level were.

According to source material the badge was referred to as the ?Silver ?C? Certificate? but the exact qualifications are unknown.

Going on the qualifications for the ?A?, ?B?, and ?C? certificates;

?A? (single gull) 30 second solo free flight without manoeuvres.

?B? (two gulls) 60 second solo flight with ?S? turn manoeuvre.

?C? (three gulls) five minute solo flight, plus an oral examination. This level drew a distinction between gliding and soaring.

I can only think that the ?Silver ?C? Certificate? would be along the same lines, but for flights of a longer duration.

If anyone has anything further on this particular ?C? certificate level, the information would be much appreciated.

In the meantime, here are the ?A-C? level badges with the mini (marked B.H Mayer- Pforzheim) in ?925? silver for the ?Silver ?C? Certificate?.

[Scott]

Super nice set! Here are their embroidered brethren - minus the 'Silver C'. I believe H.Weitze was offering an embroidered Silver C a while back.

Scott

Edited November 19, 2006 by Scott

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Silver C?, did someone say silver C ?

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Here is a link towards a thread that has information on the subject - silver C

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=3523...amp;#entry36883

Post nr. 11 does show a original award document (there does exist 2 patterns of that one by the way - the shown example by Chris is the first pattern) for what is commonly known as the Silver C.

The silver C award (correct German name : Leistungsabzeichen im Silber), in the 1930 & early 1940's this was a very hard badge to obtain, one had to fullfill quite a few conditions to earn it. And with the planes they used that was no piece of cake for sure.

The numbers do speak for themselves - between 1931 and 1942 there where only about 2.000 awarded

Iff someone does have a certain (glider)pilot that he does wisch to be checked - feel free to mail or PM me, as i have the complete list (once upon a time it will be published

As depicted on the document, on had to fullfill 3 different archievements to get that one:

More to follow ...

ps: Iff someone does have a certain (glider)pilot that he does wisch to be checked iff he was a holde rof the famous Silver C - feel free to mail or PM me, as i have the complete list (once upon a time it will be published

[J Temple-West]

Excellent, Stijn. I hoped you would see the thread

That will teach me to do searches!

@Scott, That's a very clean set of cloth you have there.

[Stijn David]

Hi John,

No problem => iff one does ask questions we can't learn + im always happy to help out when possible.

There where approx. 2.000 Silver C awarded from 1931 towards 1943 (believe me, known numbers are lower then 2.000) , from this i have made already a breakdown and have found out at this very point that the following country's did hold a Silver C in the above mentioned period:

1.444 : Germany

208 : Poland

133 : Hungary

54 : U.K.

40 : France

31 : Switzerland

27 : U.S.A.

And then we have multiple country's with a few silver C's earned

More research is needed but once upon a time i will launch a (hopefully) nice article about this subject, with name listst, etc ....

ps: we have to see this all in its context, after the 2 nd. WW aerial inventions etc ... did result in much higher performances of planes, etc ... and it has resulted that the Silver C is nowadays a much more easy to archieve award. But lets not forget that with the glider from before 1945 it was a hard to archieve award.

[Stijn David]

Hello,

And here is a cloth version of the silver C from the collection.

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

In this thread there was also info on this subject, altough abit more hidden;

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=4883&hl=

Attached is a original sample board from the company of S & L, we can see a comercial produced Silver C in the second row from the S & L production.

Cordila greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Here are the conditions that one had to fullfill to earn that silver C,

* 1x 5hrs flight

* 1x cross-country flight covering 50KM of distance

* 1x flight with the starting height risen of 1000m

Cordial greetings,

[Gary B]

Hi Everyone,

I recently purchased a glider B proficiency stickpin with the letter "N" enamelled over the 2 gulls (many thanks to Stijn for identifiying it for me...and yes I do know that I was supposed to post a pic of this piece...I promise I'll get to it!) I have also seen these pins with another letter (not N but I can not recall which letter).

Anyway while trying to find out what this piece was I looked in Detlevs reference and, if I read it correctly, Detlev states that there was a rare version with diamonds and also one with a gold wreath? I might have misread it but I thought I would throw that out here for discussion.

Gary B

BTW, lovely pieces John and Stijn! Are these still being awarded? And if so how does one tell the difference between a WWII piece and a post war piece?

Edited November 20, 2006 by Gary B

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Thank you for the reaction Gary, indeed Detlev does state that there does exist a version with diamonds. He is correct in that but is mistaking into the time when these where awarded.

The only official and awarded versions from 1932 towards 1943 are:

A Profiency

B Profiency

C Profiency

Silver C badge

Gold C badge

The Gold versions with diamonds are from after WWII, the reason is rather simple. After WWII the construction and materials of the glider planes did change so it did become needed to make a higher grade of profiency badge.

So please Detlev if you do read this, take note of this and correct it in the book.

All above named grades are indeed still awarded nowadays, you can distinguish the recent made pieces simply by the construction etc ... Also be aware that the pieces from during 1950's etc ... are exactly the same as their 30's and 40's counterparts when speaking of the A, B & C grade. The silver C has differences already.

Here is a picture of a cloth version of the silver C in wear

Cordial greetings,

[Chris Boonzaier]

a note to the link above, the silber "C" as it was known was a very high award at the time, In fact, all the badges were. My wifes greatgrandfather had it, as well as the nsfk one. The great uncle was very involved with gliders before and after the war. he said modern gliders are so, so, so much more advanced, even an absolute beginner can get the lower grades nowdays. Maybe that is why they introduced a gold one?

[Stijn David]

Hello,

And as the goal is a informative thread offcoarse => here is the second pattern of the Silver C certificate.

The personal details are hidden for the moment as upon recipients request

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

The thing that Chris does say as told by his gandfather is 100 % accurate, the Silver C was a very high distinction at that very time.

I can find and post other such evidence as written down by silver C holders.

To make it more clear how difficult this one was to get at that time,

* The shown second pattern document by me did belong towards a world record holder during 1938 in gliding.

* Almost 90 % of the glider pilots involved in the Eben Emael mission where holders of the Silver C.

* The glider pilots in the Crete assault where of the very same caliber, etc ... .

* etc ...

So iff you guys encounter such a thing, do look at it with respect

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

ANd here is a closing written down diary report from such a Silver C holder.

He was active in Afrika (Tunesia) and was lucky enough to survive and been drafter back towards Germany to start the officers course.

He and some comrades where flewn back from Tunesia towards Italy in Ju 52 transport planes. During the flight over the Sea 2 of the Ju 52 began to play and did fly as close as they could + hit each other wings etc ...

The flight guest did become nervous from this dangerous play and he did point out his Silver C as in order to get something to say against the pilot of the plane he was in. Effect was apparently that the dangerous game was stopped.

" Ich konnte schon eine kleine Lippe riskieren, denn auf meiner sch?bigen Afrikajacke klebte das stofferne Abbild des "Silbernen Leistungsabzeichen f?r den motorlosen Flug" damals noch recht selten und begehrt "

Mayby some native German can translate this in perfect Englisch?

It does show that amongst pilots etc ... this particular badge was held in high regard !!

Cordial greetings

[Kev in Deva]

Hello,

" Ich konnte schon eine kleine Lippe riskieren, denn auf meiner sch?bigen Afrikajacke klebte das stofferne Abbild des "Silbernen Leistungsabzeichen f?r den motorlosen Flug" damals noch recht selten und begehrt "

Cordial greetings

Hallo Stijn David,

while my German is not quite perfect, I believe it translate loosely to :

"I could risk a small (thick) lip, because on my worn Africa jacket was stuck the cloth image of the silver achievement badge for the engineless flight, at that time still quite rare and desireable."

Kevin in Deva

[Stijn David]

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for the transliteration

Cordial greetings,

ps: do not feel shy to add anything towards this thread, it is a fun subject (at least IMHO )

[Scott]

Excellent information gentlemen! Thanks for sharing.

Scott