LUFTWAFFEN origins

[Dave_Watts]

Hi all,

I've always been a student of Fokker and the LMG aircraft guns. I worked for a long time sorting out the meaning of the "L" of the LMG designation. The argument was always, luftgekühlt vs leichte, Machinen Gewehr (air cooled vs light, machine gun). I finally was able to "break the code" when a original parts manual for the aircraft gun surfaced in a military museum in Germany. The manual from the Spandau arsenal had the designation for the gun as lMG, the L in the lower case form, even though the gun is marked with the upper case form, LMG 08. With the aid of the curator when I pointed out the difference and that I thought is was a grammatical format possibility, he confirmed with the lower case usage it would be for luftgekühlt not Leichte.

Later in the war there were several "lightened" machine guns, and these also utilized the "LMG" designation, but with a capital "L" in print and on the gun. I believe the luftgekühlt terminology and usage had actually been superseded by the "Lightened" designation perhaps even before the end of the war and the term applied to both, as in any German manuals etc. I find on the aircraft gun they term it as a "L" or "Lightened" machine gun. I just had to go back to the origins to get the true story.

Recently, I found an ad page for Fokker for sale on ebay. I bought it. It is from the publication MOTOR and is from the Mai/Juni issue of 1918. Note the use of the term "LUFTWAFFEN". This surprised me as I had not heard of the term's usage until WW2 and in the form of "Luftwaffe".

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350558190225...84.m1423.l2649

Scroll down to see the large image.

Anyhow, my question to you is what do you think the term "LUFTWAFFEN" means here? I have some ideas, but I would like to hear from others.

Best wishes to all,
Dave W.

P.S. Check the other WW1 ads for sale by these chaps...very nice.

[Ransom E. Olds]

I believe that in this context Luftwaffen means "Aerial weapons." Ransom

[Tork1945]

Luftwaffen means so much as "weapons used in the air". The German language could easily 'connect' two words into one, here LUFT and WAFFEN (plural of WAFFE).

Interesting page from the German magazine MOTOR - principal subject cars (automobiles). Note the Hungarian text at the bottom of the advertisement 'Tudakozódás esetén tessek kérem a "MOTOR"-ra hivatkozni' which means something like 'In the case of enquiries please refer to MOTOR'. This means at least that the magazine was also read in the Hungarian reading part of the Austro-hungrian empire.

The German magazine MOTOR (Gustav Braunbeck) had an exceptionally long run from 1913 till 1941 (29 issues in 1941). Which surprisingly are complete available in the DNB [Deutsche National Bibliothek] here.

Tork1945

[rammjaeger]

The question was already answered. It means "aerial weapons" or "weapons used in the air".

However, the term "Luftwaffe" (singular) was already in being as (future) replacement for "Luftstreitkräfte" late in 1917/18. Furthermore, already before WWI the terms "Luftwaffe" was used sometimes to make a difference to the "Landwaffe" or "Seewaffe" (Landstreitkräfte/Seestreitkräfte).

[Dave_Watts]

Hi all,

Thanks for the input.

The interesting aspect of this ad is the depiction of the bird with the gun, so the emphasis is on the "air weapon", not so much Fokker-the aircraft, as Fokker-the air weapon maker. I've seen Fokker ads depicting a Fokker D.VII or a Fokker D.VIII, but this is different. There is the early Fokker ad depicting the head on view of an Eindecker with the pilot lining up on the gun sight. That ad is promoting both the Fokker aircraft as well as the "armed fighter aircraft" aspect.

At the time of the ad, (May/June 1918), Fokker had secured a monopoly on the production of aircraft gun synchronization equipment with his FWF company in Spandau/Berlin, Germany. By then, the Albatros' Hedetke system had been replaced with Fokker's system.

Thanks for the insight on the Luftwaffe usage during WW1, I wasn't aware of it.

Best wishes,
Dave W.

[captrick]

Does anyone know what significance the RED DOT on the caps in the German armed forces during WW1 and WW2

captrick

[Hans]

Do you mean the black-white-red cocardes? Take a look at the german flag at this time: black-white-red.

H