Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

Gentlemen!

Larry and I wish to announce that our Luftwaffe Officer career database is now available for download by any interested party via the Michael Holm's website at www.ww2.dk.

It contains everything we currently have about officer careers and follows our rules for content and format.
It is in the form of several pdfs which can be downloaded, viewed, searched and, in segments, copied. Please read the copyright disclaimer.

It is our intention that this be made available to interested parties for the purpose of preserving our work for the future and to further the general good of development of the field.

Periodically (once in a year or two) we will replace the segments with updated sections as worthwhile amounts of change accumulate.

Please send any corrections/ updates/ elaborations to me (Doug) at : Luftoffzfeedback@shaw.ca. Please include substantiation for the change because without confidence in it, we can't incorporate it.


Enjoy!

HLdZ
DGS

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

As far as I know you via your posts here and the Schlachtflieger-book, this supposedly is a truly great piece of information! Also the adress where it can be found supports this very positive prejudice.

Thank you very much in advance. I am sure this will help my hobby-work and also I hope to be able to support this project.

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

Dear Larry and Doug,
What a tremendous piece of work, the list of abbreviations is in itself a nugget.
I very much look forward to going through the lists and using them in my research.
One small point. You have like scores of others before you translated zbV almost literally to "for special purpose". The correct transliteration is "provisional" i.e. "not in the normal establishment/organisation". Knowing Larry's attention to detail I trust my comment will be appreciated.
bregds
SES

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

Truely outstanding and everyone who collects items (and/or researches) Luftwaffe officers will owe you a debt of gratitude for the publication of these lists.

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

What an excellent source of info on Lw officers! And a truly selfish act of sharing it with everyone interested in the topic. Thank you Larry and Doug!

One of the first names I checked was Lt. Dietric Orth, who trained the Rumanians to fly the outstanding Henschel Hs 129 ground attack aircraft.

What I can add to his bio is his date and location of death, in action: he was shot down in a combat sortie, reportedly by ground fire, at Sviatogorovka, on 1943. Sept. 08. Source: Combat Diary of the Rumanian 8th Assault Group.

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

Great! Thank you Larry and Doug!

Andrey

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

Hi SES,

Many thanks for your commentary on "z.b.V." (zu besonderer Verwendung, or zur besonderen Verwendung). The reason we translated it as we did is because we used the translations provided in: Air Ministry (A.I.12), "Manual of German Air Force Terminology, German - English, Part I - Administrative and General Terms" (London, Air Intelligence Directorate, n.d.), p.13. We used this Manual with premeditated intent for just this purpose: to avoid squabbles over terminology. However, since your translation as "provisional" and accompanying definition also fits very nicely indeed, Doug will add it to our list of future amendments as an "add on". In other words, we will add "provisional - not in the normal establishment or organisation" to what we already give. Since this meaning and definition was well-known to the Allies and one they used for their own units when applicable, it must have been an omission of error on their part not to include it. Interestingly, there was another term that is usually translated as "provisional": an der Kommandoweg aufgestellt. This was used for units formed in the field by a senior field command on a provisional basis with a duration of no longer than 6 months. Its existence past 6 months could only be authorized by the Organisationsabteilung/Ob.d.L.

Cheers,

Larry

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

Hi Larry,
Thank you very much for your long response and I'm so glad you saw my point. As we both know ADI documents have to taken with a grain of salt.
bregds
SES

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

Hi Larry, etc.
Congratulation on a great site. Now we have the task to analise/peruse in order to help with our research; the ball is in our court.
Great work, I like it.
berkyboy

Re: Luftwaffe Officer Career database now available
 

Not bad, you just saved me from making a very big mistake. Thanks !
Carsten