Luftwaffe Sonderfuhrer auf Kriegsdauer

[Paul R]

Here is another set I have acquired.

[Paul R]

Here is a very small portion of a large group photo of some LW Officials. Most of the other men were administrative officials, but here is the one Sonderfuhrer. Most likely, he is the instructor/in charge of this "class photo". The photo has about 50-75 officials.

[Paul R]

I was able to score two Sonderfuhrer tunics over the past 10 months. As you all may know, these are beyond rare. I felt lucky to find the one in the initial post... but to find two was like a dream come true. The first is a complete uniform to an officer. I even have his photo.

[Paul R]

The second tunic is a recycle heap rescue by a friend in Europe. It came complete with the SA Sports Badge in Bronze, which fit the loops perfectly. Also, there are signs that the badge has been on the tunic(pressed into it) for years. Perhaps the tunic was folded on the bottom of a chest, under the weight of other garments for years?

[Yellow3]

Paul
Just read this, following our recent communication. Very useful information. Good work!
Regards,
J.

[Paul R]

Thanks J! I really like uncommon stuff.

[Walter]

How exactly does one tell a Sonderführer from a Beamter a.K.?

[HPL2008]

How exactly does one tell a Sonderführer from a Beamter a.K.?

For example from the branch color as displayed on the collar patches: Those for Beamte a.K. were dark green, or in the case of judicial officials claret red/wine red. Those for Sonderführer were in the respective Waffenfarbe [branch color], such as yellow for the flying branch, brown for signals, cornflower blue for the medical service etc.

Collar-patch piping is another aspect. Beamte a.K. of NCO rank wore collar patches with piping in aluminum/blue-grey twist cord (as seen in post ## 1, 2 and 14), NCO-ranked Sonderführer wore unpiped collar patches. Beamte a.K. of the high-grade career group wore gold-colored cord piping (as seen in the sixth photo of post # 2) whereas officer-ranked Sonderführer always wore aluminum cord piping.

The shoulder cords for NCO-ranked personnel were also quite different: Sonderführer wore shoulder cords of blueish-dark green cord, while those for Beamte a.K. were dark green with a central aluminum cord. (As seen in post # 1 and the fourth and seventh photo from the top in post # 2.)

On flight coveralls and other special clothing without shoulder cords/collar patches, Sonderführer wore the sleeve badges as worn by soldiers (with bars and wings), whereas Beamte a.K. wore those as worn by regular officials (with bars and three-pointed stars).

There were other subtle differences and some unoffical practices unique to the respective groups as well.

In period photographs, it is not always simple to tell Sonderführer and Beamte a.K. apart, especially in the case of officer-ranked personnel.

[Walter]

Thanks, this makes it a lot clearer.

[Paul R]

It is not always as it seems... the yellow tabs are not for flight, but for airfield firefighters, who were not physically able to integrate into the regular Luftwaffe in 1944. They instead became merged from the LW Airfield Fire Fighters(another branch of officials) to the Wartime Specialist Officials.