Ferry pilots in Luftwaffe ... (?)

[Mikeo1938]

How were aircraft delivered from factories to operational units of the Luftwaffe? Was the set-up similar to that in Britain ... ATA / Ferry Command and so on? Did it include women pilots?

What is the German term for 'ferry pilot'?

Comments greatly appreciated ...

M

[Nick Beale]

There were full-time ferry pilots but sometimes a unit sent pilots to a factory or depot to collect new aircraft. Sometimes a pilot posted to a unit would bring a new aircraft with him.

I don't know about the early part of the war but later on the ferry units were the Flugzeugüberführungsgeschwader.

I think I've seen the term Überführungspilot for ferry pilot, but that's just from memory

There was a least one woman involved, Beate Uhse (who started a chain of sex shops in Germany after the war). Ages ago a German magazine, either Flugzeug or Jet&Prop, did an article about her flying career. Her husband was a Luftwaffe pilot, as I recall.

[Mikeo1938]

Thanks for the reply.

I've just read the Beate Uhse article on Wiki/de ... an amazing story! Her background is like that of those nice young 'gals' of ATA.

There are various references to the term Überführungspilot via Google.

M

[Larry deZeng]

Also several Google hits for the term: Überführungsflugzeugführer . I have seen this compound noun used repeatedly in the Luftwaffenpersonalamt correspondence and records.

Before the Überführungsgeschwader was formed, it was called an Überführungsgruppe. Prior to that, there were Flugzeug-Überführungskommandos and Flugzeug-Überführungsstellen. The Heimat Luftzeuggruppen even delivered aircraft. So there was a systematic process in place for moving the aircraft forward from Germany to the front units right from the beginning of the war.

[hanshauprich]

Also ex-pow russian pilots served als Überführungspiloten mostly for Bf 109.