German Luftwaffe Flak Artillery Kanonier’s Collar Insignia

Bright red collar insignia with one aluminum gull, likely added later. In very good condition.

The Reichsluftwaffe was officially established on February 26th 1935 as the third branch of service of the German Armed Forces. On May 21st 1935 the Reichsluftwaffe designation was altered to Luftwaffe. Collar tabs were adopted by the newly formed Luftwaffe on April 14th 1935 and followed the basic pattern of the collar tabs that had been utilized by the DLV, Deutscher Luftsportsverband, (German Air Sports Association), the Luftwaffe’s clandestine civilian forerunner.

The collar tabs were worn in matching pairs and indicated the branch of service and rank of the wearer. The different branches of service within the Luftwaffe were allocated specific, identifying, waffenfarbe, (Branch of Service Color), with bright red being chosen for personnel serving with the Flugzeugabwehrartillerie, (Anti-Aircraft Artillery), units which was generally displayed as the base color of the collar tabs.