Deumer Pilot Badge – Deumer

Product Description: This Deumer Pilot Badge has outstanding eye appeal, and is a very rare badge to find. This is a true Deumer produced piece, and is the variant known to collectors as the “D2” pattern. It’s a high quality, early production piece, made of nickel silver. The wreath of oak and laurel leaves retains nice original silver finish, with some expected age toning, as well as some original shine. The eagle is a great Deumer produced example, regarded as one of the best-looking eagle designs made by any of the manufacturers. It retains nearly all of the original dark burnishing, with only slight wear. The obverse of this badge shows wonderful detail throughout. On the reverse, this handsome badge is nicely marked behind the eagle with “W. Deumer, Lüdenscheid.” The hardware is correct for this maker, with textbook Deumer rivets. The attachment pin is functional, and remains nice and straight, with a blunt tip to the end. This Deumer Pilot Badge is a choice example of a seldom encountered badge. The condition rates as excellent.

Historical Description: The Luftwaffe Pilot Badge was instituted by Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring on August 12, 1935. It was among the earliest badges introduced in the German Wehrmacht and was worn by all qualified pilots in the German Air Force, similar to the “wings” worn by some other armies. The design of the badge featured a large, swooping eagle clutching the German national swastika emblem, surrounded by a wreath of oak and laurel leaves. The badge was normally presented in a blue hinged case. It was worn on the upper left uniform pocket, and a cloth version was also authorized for field use. In the nearly ten years from the introduction of this badge, to the end of WWII, the manufacturers of these awards made many changes in the features of the designs. Some companies, like Juncker, Assmann, and Deumer, had early first pattern badges which looked completely different from later pieces by the same manufacturers. Pilot badges were made of aluminum, nickel silver, plated Tombak, and zinc. The eagle was always a separate piece, riveted to the wreath, with different manufacturers using different rivet designs. As the war progressed, and dies wore out, many makers produced badges with subtle changes. All of these changes, over time, opened up a large spectrum of variation collecting for Luftwaffe badge collectors.

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