SONDERAUSWEIS

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Good night to all.
I am currently reading the book JG 300 by J-Y Lorant and found a description of the special SONDERAUSWEIS carried out by Reich Defense pilots. I would like to ask, to those who have more knowledge on the subject, if:
a) This SONDERAUSWEIS was issued only to Day Fighters on Reich Defense duties or to Night-Fighter pilots as well? ( other branches like Reconaissance or Bomber units also received this special pass while serving over the Reich? )
b) Could some collector or someone who has in his possession one of this SONDERAUSWEIS scan it and show us how or what the appearance of this special ausweis? ( I mean the collor, the format, what was written in it..)
Thank you so much for clarification and information on this subject.
Yours
Adriano Baumgartner

[Stormfighter]

Adriano,

I happen to have a Sonderausweis for a Reichsluftverteidigung pilot. It belonged to Unteroffizier Heinz Papenberg of the 6.(Sturm)/J.G. 4, who is credited with ramming a bomber on 27 September 1944. The Ausweis has seven pages in it. The pages are actually on photo paper. The first page is signed by Major Gerhard Schroeder, the Gruppenkommandeur of the II.(Sturm)/J.G. 4. The Sonderausweis gave downed pilots permission to use the German telephone system, which was operated by the postal service, to make contact with his unit and also allowed the pilot to use the German rail system to get back to his base.

I am quite surprised that I have never seen another example of the Sonderausweis in more than thirty years of collecting. I am sure they are out there, but for some reason, I have not seen any offered.

Regards,

Barry

[Adriano Baumgartner]

Barry!
Thanks a lot for posting here an example of a SONDERAUSWEIS! It is quite different from what I have imagined. Quite interesting indeed. As I told you, I was reading the book of J-Y Lorant and came around this information. It seems the pilots were obliged to carry this out on every flight, and on the excellent book about JG 300, one pilot was nearly killed by very uppset German civilians, he was only saved because someone looked for his documents and found this Sonderausweis!
Do you know IF the Nachtjagd pilots and aicrew also were issued this kind of document? As I told you, I had never before read about it and it was very interesting to find out more about it. Thank you again for sharing and showing us this very unic document.
Friendly yours
Adriano

[Stormfighter]

Adriano,

Yes, the Sonderausweis looks different than I had originally imagined myself; however, there could be many variations, especially because they apparently were issued on a unit level like mine was.

Yes, by 1944, I am sure that every RLV pilot was carrying a Sonderausweis. It's ironic that these pilots had to be worried about being killed by their own people. My example is the only example of a Sonderausweis that I have seen, so I can't tell you for sure if pilots of bomber, Nachtjagd and Aufklaerung units were issued them. I am quite sure that Nachtjagd pilots had them. I would doubt that bomber or Aufklaerung units were issued them, but I wouldn't rule it out (however, had they been, I think we would see many examples of them being offered).

Barry