Luftwaffe Tropical-Blue Uniform Shirt & Flieger Boards
Price: $695
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Description: Rare, first pattern tropical, light weight, BLUE-cotton shirt with MATCHING slip-on pattern flieger-piped shoulder boards and rare blue-cotton backed breast eagle; The long sleeve pullover shirt features an integral collar, vertical four button, front closure plaquet which runs from the neckline down.The shirt has two pleated, patch, breast pockets with scalloped button down flaps. The right breast has a machine embroidered, tropical breast eagle embroidered on light blue cotton that matches both the shirt and shoulder boards. The left shoulder sleeve shows previous stitching/fading of an unknown triangle insignia. This shirt and its insignia are part of the Luftwaffe’s short-lived and limited use tropical blue-gray period uniforms, headgear & fieldgear.
Background: In 1940, with the impending German entrance into the North African campaign, the army quickly developed and issued tropical uniforms and equipment in time for DAK, Deutsches Afrika Korps, (German Africa Corps), personnel’s arrival in Tripoli in February 1941. At the same time the Luftwaffe also developed and introduced their own version of the tropical uniform and equipment independently from the other branches of service. Originally the tropical uniforms were only intended for wear in North Africa but that was later expanded to include personnel serving in southern areas of continental Europe during the summer months, (May 1st to September 30th). The design of the tropical uniform items were based on the standard continental uniform items but in a different color and material. Although the Luftwaffe’s first choice in 1940 was blue/blue-gray cotton uniforms, caps, tropical helmets and web field gear, they soon defaulted to the khaki color that they and the Army & Navy are most known for throughout the war. WIth its limited, short lived use any early blue/blue gray items are quite scarce.
