Luftwaffe Disk

[Eike41]

Hi all,

I have an opportunity to buy this disk the seller claims it is from Luftwaffe Aufklarungsgruppe 14 and it was found near Cholm in Russia, is the disk from that group? It looks like an authentic disk to me by I do not have a resource for the Luftwaffe codes.

[Matt L]

Well there was an Aufklärungsstaffel 3. (H)/14, so the text is accurate, and the disc certainly appears authentic; and that's problematic considering the idea that the Luftwaffe flying units used coded discs, and the fact that the unit did have a code: B1c 71102. Aufklärungsgruppe 14's bases put it rather south of Cholm- on the order of 250-300km, which isn't exactly close (Aufklärungsgruppe 14)- but I see nothing that would make me suspect the disc isn't real. So it would seem that there were sometimes plain text discs issued or maybe they were only issued to the actual aircrew and ground personnel got plain ones like this?

[Eike41]

Matt, Thanks as always. I plan to take the disk I see no problem with the disk itself, if anyone has any info on ground crews vs flying crews that would be helpful.

[Eike41]

Matt,

I have done some research and pre-war flight groups had erkennungsmarken that were distributed before MOB numbers were started. When the war started only flying members got numbered disks. this may explain this tag not being updated as this unit existed pre-war. This is information from other forums that I have searched (feldgrau.com and wehrmacht-awards) I am not saying it is gospel but it seems very plausible.

[Matt L]

Yeah, that's the tough part- it's normally suggested that discs weren't issued until mobilization, but then for flying personnel there's much more chance of dying in an accident and a means of identification might be necessary, so I always wondered if they got discs earlier. It also seems the only personnel needing coded discs would be those who flew, however it'd be more complicated to have two types of disc- it's rather more efficient to have just one.

Statements on online fora really aren't terribly reliable unless people reference them- for all anyone knows they're just stating theories and not qualifying them as they should; even experts talk about things as fact when they're not. I bet if you asked any of those who posted these 'facts', they'd admit to not being able to support them. Although if they can, that'd be really great

I'd think Soldbücher would hold the answer- if one could find an example a flier and a member of the ground personnel that show plain text disc entries, then they are a real. The trick would be to find such books...

[Eike41]

Matt,

I am sure they had disks before the war, I have seen photos. I have a Soldbücher and a dogtag from a ground crewman from JG 1 who has no "MOB" number I will get some pics tonight and post.

[Eike41]

Matt,

I apologize, life is getting in my way for posting the pics but I will get those up at some point.

[Matt L]

Ah yes, I know all about that LOL No worries.

[Eike41]

I found my ground crew Soldbücher and tag...

[Matt L]

Right, well JG1 wasn't his first unit, so this demonstrates that new discs weren't, or weren't always, issued certainly- just as was the normal practice everywhere really. It also demonstrates that the MOB code type wasn't issued universally. But it doesn't speak to whether there would be plain text versions of flying unit discs, which is part of the question.