Sergio
Airman
I am writing a factual book that includes a section set in 1930s Germany. This is when one of its characters acquires flying skills by initially joining the Deutsches Jungvolk. The reason behind my later question is simply to add detail and to help readers visualise how this was achieved.
Before my question, a little bit of aeronautical history that I think is interesting.
In Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War One placed restrictions on Germany's manufacture of arms and on its recruitment and training of armed forces. Hitler squeezed around both constraints, carefully at first but more blatantly as WW2 approached. He skirted around the armed forces constraint by creating organisations like the Deutsches Jungvolk (German youth) for 10–14-year-olds. that was little more than a feeder organisation into HJ, the famed Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) for 14 to 18-year-olds. These organisations were roughly similar to Baden Powell's Boy Scouts movement which was fed by its junior section, the Cubs - although the scouting movement had no political affiliations.
The Nazi idea was that as its members grew older, they seamlessly transferred to sister organisations that built upon the beliefs and skills already learned. To further aid this plan, in 1939 Hitler dramatically increased HJ membership to 8.7 million by making membership compulsory by law.
One of the skills acquired during DJ membership, was an understanding of the science of flight, which at a time when flight was quite a modern concept, was a magnetic attraction to their target audience, young German boys. This learning was aided by DJ's curriculum that included the building and flying of model aircraft.
Later, after transferring to the HJ, members studied full-size gliders and their construction and were taught a deeper understanding of aeronautical theory. Eventually when HJ members became 18 years old, they could transfer into the DLV, the Deutscher Luftsport Verband (German Air-sport Association).
Established in 1933 and headed by Herman Göring, Hitler's Reichsminister for the German Air Force, this was again, a similar idea to say the UK's ATC (Air Training Corps) which eventually fed the Royal Air Force with keen recruits.
In 1937, the DLV was succeeded by a more up-front organisation, the NSFK, the Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (National Socialists Flyers Corps).
The DLV/NSFK owned hundreds of full-size gliders giving its members their earliest flying experiences, first in a glider and then in small powered aircraft. In Nazi Germany, as WW2 approached, Hitler openly ignored the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the NSFK members were fed straight into the Luftwaffe ready for battles to come.
Now here is my question, does anybody know the make and model of glider purchased by the DLV/NSFK in their hundreds in the years preceding WW2? Can anybody share any photographs?
Before my question, a little bit of aeronautical history that I think is interesting.
In Nazi Germany in the 1930s, the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War One placed restrictions on Germany's manufacture of arms and on its recruitment and training of armed forces. Hitler squeezed around both constraints, carefully at first but more blatantly as WW2 approached. He skirted around the armed forces constraint by creating organisations like the Deutsches Jungvolk (German youth) for 10–14-year-olds. that was little more than a feeder organisation into HJ, the famed Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) for 14 to 18-year-olds. These organisations were roughly similar to Baden Powell's Boy Scouts movement which was fed by its junior section, the Cubs - although the scouting movement had no political affiliations.
The Nazi idea was that as its members grew older, they seamlessly transferred to sister organisations that built upon the beliefs and skills already learned. To further aid this plan, in 1939 Hitler dramatically increased HJ membership to 8.7 million by making membership compulsory by law.
One of the skills acquired during DJ membership, was an understanding of the science of flight, which at a time when flight was quite a modern concept, was a magnetic attraction to their target audience, young German boys. This learning was aided by DJ's curriculum that included the building and flying of model aircraft.
Later, after transferring to the HJ, members studied full-size gliders and their construction and were taught a deeper understanding of aeronautical theory. Eventually when HJ members became 18 years old, they could transfer into the DLV, the Deutscher Luftsport Verband (German Air-sport Association).
Established in 1933 and headed by Herman Göring, Hitler's Reichsminister for the German Air Force, this was again, a similar idea to say the UK's ATC (Air Training Corps) which eventually fed the Royal Air Force with keen recruits.
In 1937, the DLV was succeeded by a more up-front organisation, the NSFK, the Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (National Socialists Flyers Corps).
The DLV/NSFK owned hundreds of full-size gliders giving its members their earliest flying experiences, first in a glider and then in small powered aircraft. In Nazi Germany, as WW2 approached, Hitler openly ignored the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and the NSFK members were fed straight into the Luftwaffe ready for battles to come.
Now here is my question, does anybody know the make and model of glider purchased by the DLV/NSFK in their hundreds in the years preceding WW2? Can anybody share any photographs?
