Luftwaffe Obergefreiter 4 pocket tunic for a Radio Op/Air Gunner in LG1
marked to III (K)./LG 1 ( III./Lehrgeschwader ), which was a bomber unit that was heavily involved in the war in
the Mediterranean theatre, and flew predominantly Ju 88’s. They flew ops against Malta, Crete and also in north
Africa (based at Derna for a while).
This one is piped for flight personnel, and has the rank of Obergefreiter, with ‘Kreta’ and ‘Afrika’ cuff titles, and was
a reasonably recent pick up via the daughter of the US veteran who brought it back to the ‘States as his memento
of his service in Europe. The Marksman’s lanyard is original to the tunic, I have added the ribbon bar and the SA
sports badge only (and of course the cap and the belt). I tried a smaller ribbon bar and a DRL sports badge but that
didn’t look quite right to me, so changed the badge and ribbon bar to what is now on it. (the cloth Radio Op/Air Gunner
badge is also wartime applied to the tunic). My guess is that this was probably the airman’s best walking out jacket and
was kept at home for special occasions, and was hardly worn.
Hope you like the photos
Cheers
Bob