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 breast eagles as opposed to the machine embroidered breast eagles as utilized by EM/NCO ranks. Officers ranks were permitted optional wear of a white summer uniform between April 1ST and September 30TH annually and generally the insignia worn on these uniforms was removable for ease of cleaning. As a result a removable metal breast eagle was manufactured exclusively for wear on the white summer tunic and were originally constructed of brass or tombac until 1938 when aluminum and assorted alloys were utilized. Of Note: Officers holding ranks of Generalmajor to Generalfeldmarschall and Reichsmarschall Göring utilized gold colored accoutrements including breast eagles as opposed to the silver version sworn by all other ranks.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Silver washed, injection molded, solid backed, aluminum alloy construction, second pattern, (Circa 1937/38-1945), Luftwaffe breast eagle clutching a canted, swastika in it’s talons. The eagle shows nice detailing and has a wingspan of roughly, 85mm from wing tip to wing tip. The solid reverse has an integral hinge, a thin round horizontal pin and catch with a circular base plate all intact. Marked to Assmann. These are getting hard to find. Nice!