Luftwaffe Its been a while

[Stijn David]

Hello dear forumfriends,

After long preparations, research on other terrains, alot of work in the house, a voyage towards Greece, etc.... i had finally the opportunity to do my absolute favorite waste of time => travelling towards Germany and visit some of my glider friends.

It was quite a trip, 3 days underway, meeting with approx. 9 glider pilot veterans and 2 daughters of 1 deceased glider friend. I had a superb time to say at least. Among the glider pilots i have met veterans of the following missions : Cholm, Drvar (Tito), Vassieux (against French resistance) , Sicily, etc... etc..... These guys are the absolute top for me and they always share many story's, etc....

In attachement the goodies that i managed to aquire for the collection as a gift from these glide rpilots:

* Bordclock (Junghans) => taken from a damaged DFS230 by its pilot, kept safe for over 60 years and now in a belgian collection

* Award document 'glider pilots badge' + the absolute pristine matching glider pilots badge (BSW) !!!

Needles to say, i am a very happy with these little goodies

More pictures to follow real soon

ps: also did a terrible discovery, a vilain (German) is also visiting these veterans + has done damage once again => i have found more proof of this persons practices. He did change the original glider badge against a fake one. (And sadly enough the glide rpilot never became aware of this, he believes he has still his original awarde dpiece. This is the 3 thd. such case i am aware of. Such guys should be

[Stijn David]

Hello,

ANd here is the glider pilots badge. This piece is the actual awarded piece towards Gefr. X (later on Uffz.) from June 1942. It is a superbly conserved Type 2 made by the company of BSW. As in most cases this one is also unmarked. The badge is a Buntmetalpiece (both eagle and wreath), almost never worn => the reason for this is because the glider pilot was quite proud on his awarded badge and did obtain a second piece for wear, this one only did come out for more ornamental occasion (read not for daily use).

The catch is also still present (quite rarely seen as when worn these BSW badges seems to be delicate on the catch and in quite a few cases that one did break of + was replaced.

The glider pilot was later active in the mission of Drvar (against Tito and his partisans) + did survive quite well, he earned the followinga wards during WWII:

* Lw. gider pilots badge (the shown piece)

* Iron cross 2 nd. class

* Lw. Erdkampfabzeichen

* Croatian Ante Pavlcic bravery medal in Silver

The last 3 awards where all for his actions in the Drvar mission.

He survived and went in 1945 in Russian captivity (in fact in US captivity and was rendered a few days afterwards towards the Russian by US troops with many of his comrades.) and spent no less then 4 years in Russian POW camps. In 1949 he was released from captivity but could not return home (he was born in Silesia) and settled down in Western Germany.

Once back in Germany he was able to find some of his relatives who where driven out of their homeland by the polisch gouvernement, there he did find back his mother and sister. His mother could save a few of her sons items (such as the award document + his awarded glider pilots badge) wich he had at home before 1945. So these items did survive the war and i have been honoured by the veteran in that way that i have received his precious pieces for safekeeping in the humble collection.

ENjoy,

[J Temple-West]

Stijn, dear friend? Welcome home!

It sounds like a good trip was had? a well deserved rest after the publication of the book, I?m sure.

Thank you so much for sharing the history of Uffz X. It must have been difficult for him giving you his prized award and I can only think that he reached his decision based on your steadfast character and dedication to history. Bravo Uffz X!

This situation with the badge thief is not good!! There must be something we can do to catch this bast#@d. If you have a list of addresses of vet?s, or there?s a vet?s association, perhaps a warning letter with a description of this person?

Stijn, when you have a minute, a shot of the reverse of that wonderful badge please.

[Stijn David]

Hi John,

Thank you for hopping in towards this thread => i feel offcoarse very honoured that i might be the one who does own this small grouping from Uffz.X. I can asure you it is a thrill when such a thing happens and i will do everything to honour these glider veterans.

ABout the lowlife who is doing his work => there is a initiative amongst the glider veterans who are still member so these have been informed. The threath does still remain however and i think it will always be that way, the sad perverse effect of the scarcity of these things and way they can be traded, etc..... it makes one wonder howmuch of the stuff that is ciculating arround is actually robbed first hand yesterday and sold the day afetrwards through a second person (for example a dealer ) who did also obtain it in good order and does sell it towards a collector in good faith. Quite a chain of problems for sure.

Anyway, the person is known and i will be furtherly active in making his way of acting known => he has done already quite some damage and al for 1 simple reason => MONEY. And i think he is not the only one with no collecting ethics, we must realize that this will always remain a problem. But do not let that spoil our collecting fun my friends as honesty will always be much more rewarded in the long end

ANd here as asked, the reverse of this precious

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

And here is a more close up picture of one of those typical cracks

More to follow

[Stijn David]

Hello John,

And a shot of the rarely seen (as in most cases broken of) original catch

Cordial greetings,

[Rosenberg]

Thats a great heritage you were handed over!

[norwest78]

Your hard work has certainly paid off, many-fold. Good for you!

[Jan Arne S]

Hi Stijn !

lovely Glider badge and Document .

Jan Arne

[Stijn David]

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the flowers => it is indeed nowadays a very rare occasion to find such treasures first hand, but they still exist as this small legacy does proove

The eagle on the front is very nicely blackened and that is also something not often seen on a BSW glider badge. ANyway it is nice to see that these badges (BSW Buntmetal) products where still handed out in June 1942, such untouched legacy's do give us a wonderfull research opportunity and it does help understanding the badge better.

Cordial greetings,

[Luftwaffe Rules]

Great looking items!! When I need a Glider badge I know who to come to now . All the best, Jonathan

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply's guys => hehehe, these birdies love each others company and they are very shy

There is a very interesting observation on this almost unworn badge, iff you look good at the eagle then you will notice that the front does retain 95 % of its original finish. When looking at the reverse its does not have any finish? The only explanation is that the eagle was treated on the front (lying on its back) and that it was finished that way. The reverse was never treated ( lower production costs?) .

Damn i love these gliding birds

Cordial greetings,