Original Item: Only One Available. Development of protective flight uniforms and equipment began with the advent of military aircraft in WWI and continued on into the Weimar and the Third Reich eras, resulting in three distinct one-piece combination pattern flight suits being approved before WWII and worn for the duration of the war. There were also many two piece types, which had the advantage of allowing the jacket to be worn separately.

This is a very nice Luftwaffe Officer's leather flight jacket, offered in very good condition with signs of moderate wear during service. There is wear to the black finish, but no tears or cracking that we can see. This example is a very high quality, private purchase, non-regulation flight jacket, featuring multi-panel black leather construction. The interior of this waist length jacket is fully lined, and features a lay down collar. It still has the original maker label on the interior, though it is deteriorated. It originally would have read:

=(PMB)=
Litex Sport
LUXURY
CONFECTION
52

Research indicates that Litex is a European company, currently with offices in the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria. We believe that it was originally a company in the Netherlands, which were overrun early in the war. The Luftwaffe operated many airfields in the country during the war for battle with the British, and local industry was turned to supplying the German war machine.

The jacket features a vertical front double row button closure, and the front features two slanted pockets on each side, which are secured with buttons matching the main closure. There are also button closures for the ends of the sleeves for a more snug fit. The lay down collar has a button under the right side for securing the top of the closure when used in flight as opposed to on the ground. The buttons are all bakelite, and do not look to have any maker markings on them.

Left breast features a lovely silver bullion officers 'Droop Tail" Luftwaffe Eagle insignia, which shows some light wear. The button retained company officer schulterklappen (shoulder boards) installed on this flight jacket are constructed with two rows of fine silver flatware "Russia Braid" double piping, with Goldgelb (Gold-Yellow) base material, straps, and piping. This is the correct Luftwaffe Waffenfarbe (Corps Color) for the "Flight Branch", which includes Aviator troops such as pilots and ground personnel, as well as Fallschirmjäger (parachute troops). There are no rank pips installed, but we can see there in the past there most likely had been pips and possibly a unit number installed. In the current configuration the rank represented would be Leutnant, equivalent to a U.S. Army Air Forces 2nd Lieutenant. Condition is very good with a fantastic broken in look, and all button are working as best we can tell.

The included leather flight pants are a really nice example, made with a black leather exterior, and lined with a blue fleece type fabric liner. It features a double zipper front closure and has belt loops, but no belt is included. The bottoms of the legs have laced closures to help the feet pass through as well. The two front zipper closures are marked by the German ZIPP brand, based in Nuremberg, and are both fully functional. Condition is very good, with the exterior leather shell in great shape with just a few small repairs that we can see. The interior is very nice, though unfortunately there is just a remnant of the original maker tag on the left rear interior.

A great WWII Luftwaffe Officers Leather flight uniform set, most likely from a pilot, ready to display!

Approximate Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 9.5"
Shoulder to sleeve: 27”
Shoulder to shoulder: 19”
Chest width: 21.5”
Waist width: 20"
Hip width: 20”
Front length: 26"

Pants -
Waist: 17"
Inseam: 23"

Regulations of July 4TH 1940 and April 24TH 1941 introduced two piece protective flight suits for fighter pilots designed to increase the wearer's mobility and not be as restrictive in the close confines of a cockpit. The two piece flight suits consist of separate jacket and pants and was commonly referred to as the "Kanalanzug", (Channel Uniform).

Officers and certain senior NCO’s were responsible for purchasing their own uniforms and were allotted a clothing allowance. Generally speaking officers bought nice quality, private purchase, uniform items but they could also choose to buy their uniforms directly from the military clothing depots. Besides the standard issue flight garments Luftwaffe personnel also utilized a wide variety of private purchase leather jackets in contradiction of regulations. These private purchase jackets appear to have been quite popular as they can be commonly seen in period photographs.