BACKGROUND: The Luftwaffe pattern national eagle was originally introduced for wear by Fliegerschaft, (Pilot Base), personnel of the DLV, Deutscher Luftsportsverband, (German Air Sports Association), the clandestine, civilian, forerunner of the Luftwaffe on August 18TH 1934 and was officially adopted for wear by all Luftwaffe personnel on March 1ST 1935. The original first pattern national eagle was utilized until a, slightly modified, second pattern national eagle was introduced in late 1936 or early 1937. Regulations dictated that the national eagle was to be worn on almost all headgear and on the right breast of almost all uniforms with a few minor exceptions. Officers ranks generally utilized hand embroidered national eagles as opposed to the machine embroidered breast and cap eagles or stamped metal visor cap eagles as utilized by EM/NCO ranks. Of Note: Machine woven and even metal alloy national eagles were also utilized in limited quantities. Also Of Note: Officer holding ranks of Generalmajor to Generalfeldmarschall and Reichsmarschall Göring utilized gold colored accoutrements including breast eagles as opposed to the silver versions worn by all other ranks. Personnel serving in Panzer units of the Hermann Göring Division were issued with the black Panzer wrap around tunic and the black overseas and M43 field caps. Airfield Ground crew personnel were also issued with a black overseas work cap. The national eagle worn on the black headgear was identical to the standard issue eagle but was worked on a black background as opposed to the regular Luftwaffe blue/grey background.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Machine embroidered, second pattern, Luftwaffe M43/overseas cap eagle in silvery/grey threads on cut-out black wool base.