xplanes:Battle of Britain prelude: the birth of the...

xplanes:

Battle of Britain prelude: the birth of the...:

xplanes:

Battle of Britain prelude: the birth of the Luftwaffe

(Wolfgang Klemperer in the glider “Blaue Maus”, 1921)



The end of the First World War in 1918 brought the German aircraft industry - largely military orientated - to a grinding halt. At least a hundred companies were suddenly without work.

The Treaty of Versailles in 1919, which imposed limits on military aviation, had a marked effect on the people of Germany - the belief being that a ban on all powered flight had either happened, or was imminent. In this atmosphere of pride and resentment, gliding began to prosper

(link: “Wings of the Wasserkuppe”)

Typical of the youth of Germany was an eighteen year old called Adolf Galland, who very much caught the gliding bug. As he awaited the delivery of his first glider in 1931 - a time when the prospect of aviation as a profession in Germany was not exactly promising - he wrote:

“On 11 and 12 February the matriculation examination had taken place at the Hindenburg Gymnasium in Buer. In the report and certificate which was solemnly presented to me by the Director there was a column headed ‘Chosen profession’; it was filled in ‘Galland wants to be a pilot.’

Of Galland, it’s safe to say, there will be more written..