Original Items: Very Few Available. We have just acquired a small number of these late  Deutschen Luftsport-Verbandes (German Air Sports Association) Gliding Proficiency Badges (Segelflugzeug Leistungsabzeichen). These are all the "buttonhole" style, and are constructed of steel with silver paint and multi-colored enamel work. These are typical of the type issued later during the war, and the round enameled emblem is 21.5mm in diameter.

Gliding Proficiency Badges were awarded in the following grades: "A" Proficiency, "B" Proficiency, "C" Proficiency, Silver "C" Proficiency & Gold "C" Proficiency. There is a Gold version with diamonds from after WWII when the construction and materials of the glider planes did change so it did become needed to make a higher grade of proficiency badge. All above named grades are indeed still awarded nowadays. The number of the gulls represents the grade, "A" is one gull, "B" is two gulls, etc.. The Silver and Gold grades have a wreath around the badge. We have seen these in stick pin form, as well as these buttonhole forms. They were also issued as a cloth badge as well.

To qualify for the "B" grade, the glider pilot had to perform a 60 second solo free flight with an "S" turn maneuver.

Offered in excellent unissued condition, ready to display!

History of the Deutschen Luftsport-Verbandes
The German Air Sports Association (Deutscher Luftsportverband, or DLV e. V.) was an organisation set up by the NSDAP Party in March 1933 to establish a uniform basis for the training of military pilots. Its chairman was Hermann Göring and its vice-chairman Ernst Röhm.

Since the Treaty of Versailles officially forbade Germany from building fighter planes of any sort, the German Air Sports Association used gliders to train men still officially civilians for the future Luftwaffe. The first steps towards the Luftwaffe's formation were undertaken just months after Adolf AH came to power. Hermann Göring, a World War I ace with 22 victories and the holder of the Orden Pour le Mérite, became National Kommissar for aviation with former Deutsche Luft Hansa director Erhard Milch as his deputy. On 25 March 1933 the German Air Sports Association absorbed all private and national organizations, whilst retaining its 'sports' title. In April 1933 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM – Reich Air Ministry) was established. The RLM was in charge of development and production of aircraft, and soon afterwards the test site or Erprobungsstelle at Rechlin became its testing ground, a military airfield that had been first established in August 1918. Göring's control over all aspects of aviation became absolute.

The German Air Sports Association was dissolved in 1937 and replaced with the National Socialist Flyers Corps, a corporation under public law and subordinate to Reichsluftfahrtminister Göring.