History

On March 25, 1933 the DLV (Deutscher Luftsportverband = German Air Sports Association) was created as a civilian sports organisation, the umbrella organisation of all air-related sports. However, from the very beginning, the DLV was used to secretly train its members for future roles in the newly emerging Luftwaffe, a breach of the terms of the Versailles Treaty.
The organisation should not be confused with the Deutscher Luftfahrtverband (also abbreviated DLV), which was formed in 1902, but disbanded in favour of the new DLV under Third Reich rule.

The DLV was split into two groups, the civilian section and the secret military section, known as the “Fliegerschaft” (air crew). The organisation eventually became obsolete after the official unveiling of the Luftwaffe in 1935, and it was disbanded and replaced by the National Socialist Flyers Corps (NSFK or Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps) in 1937.

Members of the DLV only wore one shoulder strap, on the right shoulder. Members of the “Fliegerschaft”, however, wore two, one on each shoulder.

The shoulder boards for the higher ranks have a branch coloured cloth underlay. The bars used by the ranks of Schwarmführer and Fliegerkapitän initially were gold-coloured, but later changed to aluminum.

Branch colours were as follows:
Light Blue was worn by all DLV personnel, excluding members of the Glider section.
Royal Blue was worn by members of the Glider section.
Yellow was worn by personnel of the Deutsche Verkehrfliegerschule (German Commercial Aviation School)
Black was worn by personnel from the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (National Aviation Ministry)
White was worn by Generals and Ministers

Schwarmführer wore shoulder boards made of two double-laid aluminum twist cords with a fixed bar in the centre.