My 1939 Dated Fliegerblouse

**gbalke** · 09-27-2011, 01:37 AM

As promised in an earlier post, this thread is about the Fliegerbluse that was given to me by my late Father-in-Law. He served with the 103rd Division and "found" this tunic in a farm house in France, left by the previous tenants.

The overall condition of the jacket, in my estamation, is very good to excellant with no signs of wear, tears or moth damage.

Please examine the posted photos and express your opinions, share your knowledge and, if possible, please give me your thoughts on the current value of this Fliegerbluse.

**Espenlaub Militaria** · 09-27-2011 01:37 AM

We also buy and trade your items and full collections!

**Mark K** · 09-27-2011, 02:19 AM

It would appear that all of the badges have been hand sewn on and the Luftwaffe collar tab on the right hand side was applied crooked .

Regards Mark K

**Adrian Stevenson** · 09-27-2011, 07:47 AM

Hi Gary, super item. The sewing does leave a bit to be desired quality wise. I am not up to speed on current values.

Cheers, Ade.

**gbalke** · 09-27-2011, 03:08 PM

Ade,

Some years ago I had the jacket appraised by a local militaria dealer. He thought this might be a filed conversion of an enlistedman's Fliegerbluse. Can you offer me your opinion on this? Perhaps this could explain the hand sewing.

**Adrian Stevenson** · 09-28-2011, 10:31 AM

Hi Gary, usually officers quality blouses were often made of "Trikot" weave wool or similar material of much higher quality being privatly purchased tailored items.

Officers blouses had open slash pockets (as yours) without the pocket flap found on enlisted/NCO's blouses. I suspect yours had these carefully removed? The presence of the belt hook supports plus of course the lining and markings show this was once an enlisted mans blouse. Note a dagger hanger has also been added.

Both the Heer and the Luftwaffe allowed Officers to purchase enlisted mens uniforms from the unit QM and have these converted for cheaper field wear. Officers had to buy their own kit.

Hand stitching is fine and in a lot of cases, pre and early war, it was actually more the norm than machine stitching. There is certainly a discrepancy between the quality of some of the sewing. Look at the sew in pattern shoulder boards: these are a swine to fit if missing and get right! But these are neatly and expertly done. The breast eagle is not too bad. But the right collar tab is really poorly done and would not have passed muster at the time.

Cheers, Ade.