Cased Luftwaffe Pilots Badge by BSW (1936 Flugzeugführerabzeichen)
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Description: Superb quality, early die-struck tombak of two piece construction secured by two perfectly mushroomed rivets, typical of ‘BSW’;The smooth reverse of the wreath has an early quality long, thin barrel-type hinge with a thin round vertical pin and round wire catch assy. The reverse of the eagle is well marked with the impressed manufacturer’s logo consisting of the initials “BSW” within an inverted three-leaf clover indicating manufacture by “Brüder Schneider, Wien”. Its accompanying hard case of issuance is excellent only showing some minor age handling and still retains its gold ID lettering on its lid.
BACKGROUND: The pilot’s qualification badge was originally introduced on January 19th 1935 for award to personnel of the DLV, Deutscher Luftsportverband Fliegerschaft, the secret forerunner of the Luftwaffe. The badge was officially adopted by the Luftwaffe on March 26th 1936, by order of Hermann Göring. As with other flyer’s specialty badges a cloth version of the pilot’s badge was authorized for wear on the flight blouse with a machine embroidered pattern for EM/NCO’s and a hand embroidered pattern for Officers. Of Note: Originally the cloth version of the pilot’s badge was only authorized for wear by Officers ranks until regulations of November 18th 1937 extended the authorized wear of the cloth versions to EM/NCO’s. Further regulations of May 8th 1942 discontinued production of the cloth versions although they continued to be worn through-out the war.
