Ailsby Collection: Combined Pilots and Observers Badge in Gold with Diamonds

Combined Pilots and Observers Badge in Gold with Diamonds

Instituted on.

Numbers awarded were;70

Rarity – Extremely Rare

Known Makers. Rudolf Stübiger

Reichsmarschall Herman Göring's with the Badge badge in wear.

This award was conceived during the summer of 1935 with the first bestowal-taking place on 11 November 1935. It is interesting to note that both the inception and first presentation pre-date the introduction of the Combined Pilots and Observers Badge, which was introduced on 26 March 1936. Furthermore, the Viennese jeweller, Rudolf Stübiger, produced the badge in Austria. The construction is quite unique with the whole of the badge being hand produced.

The wreath is cast and then hand finished in the same design as that employed on the Pilots Badge. The wreath measures 52.5 mm by 41.5 mm with a width of 7.5 mm. The general appearance of the eagle differs from that of the Pilots Badge with the wings being enlarged, the wingspan measuring 65 mm while the depth of the left wing is 12 mm and the right, 15 mm. The eagle is constructed to allow the stones in the wings to have light coming from behind, enhancing the fire of the diamonds. The edges of the feathers are all slightly pebbled, as is the outside of the swastika. This measures 12 mm across and the individual arms are 3 mm wide. The upper parts of the wings are highly polished, which compliments and enhances the appearance of the fletching. The general appearance of the eagle is larger and the legs are spread with a gap between them. The legs of the eagle are finely detailed. There are 36 diamonds in the right wing and 31 in the left. A total of 19 are inlaid in the eagle's body. 18 small diamonds are inlaid in the arms of the swastika. The whole of the eagle's frame is constructed in platinum while the wreath is made of 22 ct real gold.

The reverse of the wreath is flat and has a matt finish with a thin barrel hinge at the apex. The pin is of a thin, needle type and is retained in a unique holder acting as a safety catch.

The eagle has a 3 mm flat frame running round the edge of the wing and the body, which is employed to strengthen the structure of the eagle. The wings have a strut of similar construction running across them, which is covered by the wreath. On to this is attached a screw post which fits through individual holes drilled in the wreath, securing the eagle to the body of the wreath. The eagle is held on to the wreath by two massive screws.

In correspondence with the firm of Rudolf Stübiger, his son indicated that they produced 70 of these badges. On the first of these badges only the shop number was scratched on the reverse of the badge in the position of the hinge. After 1938, when Austria became part of the Greater German Reich, they placed their logo on the reverse of the eagle. This information gives one a good clue to the period and therefore the person to whom a badge was possibly awarded.

This badge was possibly the most exciting flying badge of any country. Apart from its obvious beauty, the rarity and the people to whom it was awarded, notably Herman Göring himself, it also rewarded some of the bravest of the Luftwaffe pilots. The first award of the badge was presented to the chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff, Generalleutnant Wever, on 11 November 1935 and led to the award of 70 other persons.

The Known Recipients were;

Name	Christian name	Rank	Award Date	Nationality
Angerstein	Karl	Generalleutnant		Germany
ANTONESCU	Ion	President		Rumania
BALBO	Italo	Governor General and Commander-in-chief of Italian Forces in Libya		Italy
BÄR	Heinz	Oberstleutnant		Germany
BAUMBACH	Werner	Oberst	August 1940	Germany
BAUR	Hans	SS-Brigadeführer		Germany
BELOW	Nicolaus Von	Oberst		Germany
BLOMBERG	Werner von	Generalfeldmarschall		Germany
BODENSCHATZ	Karl	General		Germany
BRAUCHITSCH	Bernard von	Oberst	Summer 1944	Germany
CHRISTIAN	Eckhard
CHRISTIANSEN	Friedrich	General der Flieger	Autumn 1940	Germany
D'ASTIER DE LA VIGERIE	François-Pierre-Raoul
DE GEFFRIER	Hubert-Marie-Joseph
DE ORLEANS Y BORBÓN	Alfonso
DESCLOCH	Otto	Generaloberst		Germany
DIETL	Eduard	Generalleutnant		Germany
DIETRICH	Sepp	SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer, Panzer-Generaloberst der Waffen SS	1943	Germany
DÖNITZ	Karl	Grossadmiral	January 1943	Germany
DRUSCHEL	Alfred
FRANCO	Francisco	President		Spain
GABLENS	Carl - August von	Generalmajor, Chef des Planungsamtes im Reichsluftfahrt-ministerium		Germany
GALLAND	Adolf	Generalleutnant	20 August 1940	Germany
GOLLOB	Gordon	Oberst		Germany
GÖRING	Hermann	Reichsmarschall		Germany
GRAFF	Hermann	Oberst		Germany
GRAUERT	Hans			Germany
GREIM	Robert Ritter von	Generalfeldmarschall	17 April 1945	Germany
HARLINGHAUSEN	Martin	Generalleutnant		Germany
HARTMANN	Erich	Major	August 1944	Germany
HELBIG	Joachim	Oberst		Germany
HEYDRICH	Reinhard Eugen Tristan	SS-Obergruppenführer		Germany
HIMMLER	Heinrich	SS u. Chef der Deutschen Polizei	July 1942	Germany
HORTY	Niklos	Regent of Hungary - Admiral		Hungary
JESCHONNEK	Hans	Generaloberst		Germany
KAMMHUBER	Josef	General der Luftwaffe		Germany
KARADJORDJEVIC	Paul
KASTNER - KIRDORF	Gustav	General der Luftwaffe		Germany
KELLER	Alfred	Korpsführer der NSFK		Germany
KESSELRING	Albert	Generalfeldmarschall		Germany
KETTENBEIL	Hans			Germany
KINDELAN	Alfredo	Air General		Spanish
KING BORIS		King of Bulgaria		Bulgaria
KOLLER	Karl	General der Flieger General der Artillerie		Germany
KORTEN	Günter	General der Luftwaffe	1940	Germany
LENT	Helmut	Oberst		Germany
LÖHR	Alexander			Germany
LÖRZER	Bruno	General der Luftwaffe		Germany
LUTZOW	Gunther	Oberst		Germany
MANNERHEIM	Carl Gustav Emil Baron von	Field Marshal	July 1942	Finland
MANSTEIN	Erich von	Generalfeldmarschall		Germany
MARSEILLE	Hans - Joachim	Hauptmann	1940	Germany
MILCH	Erhard	Feldmarschall	11 November 1935	Germany
MÖLDERS	Werner	Oberst	August 1940	Germany
Moragilia		General d Astiè de la Vìgerie Colonel		France
MUSSOLINI	Benito	President	28 September 1937	Italy
NAVRATIL	Frederick Miroslav			Croatia
NOWOTNY	Walter	Major		Germany
OESAU	Walter	Oberst		Germany
PARIANI	Alberto			Italy
PELTZ	Diedrich	General	1940	Germany
Petitjean	Jacques	Colonel de Geffrièr Commandent (Mejòr)		France
PFLUGBEIL	Kurt	General		German
PRINCE PAUL		Prince Regent of Yugoslavia		Yugoslavia
RAMCKE	Bernard - Bernhard	General der Fallschirmtruppe		Germany
REITSCH	Hanna	Flugkapitän	March 1941	Germany
RICHTHOFEN	Wolfram von	Generalfeldmarschall	1940	Germany
ROMMEL	Erwin	Generalfeldmarschall		Germany
RUDEL	Hans - Ulrich	Oberst	March 1944	Germany
Schmidlein		Capitaine		France
SCHNAUFER	Heiz - Wolfgang	Major		Germany
SKORZENY	Otto	SS-Sturmbannführer	16 September 1943	Germany
SPERRLE	Hugo	Generalfeldmarschall	19 November 1937	Germany
STAUFFENBERG	Melitta – Schiller, Grafin von			Germany
STEHLIN	Paul
STUDENT	Kurt	General der Luftwaffe	2 September 1940	Germany
STUMPFF	Hans -Jurgen	General der Luftwaffe		Germany
TODT	Fritz,Prof. Dr. Ing.	Reichsminister für Bewaffnung u. Munition		Germany
TRETTNER	Heinrich	Generalleutnant		Germany
UDET	Ernst	Generaloberst		Germany
VALLE	Giuseppe	General of the Italian Air force		Italy
Vuillemin	Joseph	General		France
WEVER	Walther	Chief of the Luftwaffe General Staff	11 November 1935	Germany

Many misbelieves have been constructed around the award of the Combined Pilots Badge with Diamonds and the reason why some of the officers had been awarded the badge.

The Combined Pilot and Observers Badge was authorised to be awarded in special cases to foreigners in recognition of special services rendered to the Luftwaffe. An honorary presentation of this badge was normally made to foreign attachés upon their return to their home station. It is interesting to note that one of the first honorary awards of the badge was to Benito Mussolini, who was awarded the badge in April 1937. The citation clearly states that it was for, 'Das Goldene Flugzeugführer und Beobachter-Abzeichen', which translates to, The Golden Pilot and Observer Badge. However, Angolia has stated that this citation was for the Combined Pilots Badge with Diamonds. Göring, who personally pinned it to his tunic, conferred the Combined Pilots Badge with Diamonds upon Mussolini on 28 September 1937.

The Luftwaffe's Highest award is bestowed upon the Duce.

After the presentation of the Combined Pilots and Observers Badge in Gold with Diamonds, Mussolini converses with GÖRING and General der Luftwaffe Bruno LÖRZER.

Andrew Mollow, in a letter to 'Guns, Weapons & Militaria' in December 1981 entitled, 'Mit or Mitout Diamonds?', said, 'In pointing out the error in Chris Ailsby's article on the Order of the German Eagle, David Littlejohn has contributed to a basic misunderstanding which exists concerning the Luftwaffe Pilot/Observer Badge. David Littlejohn refers to the Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold and Diamonds awarded to Benito Mussolini in September 1937. Whereas most post war publications on German orders and medals refer to only two classes or categories of this badge, I believe there were three.

The basic badge with silver eagle on an upright gilt metal wreath was awarded to Luftwaffe aircrew on successful completion of their flight training.

As a special personal award, Göring introduced sometime in 1935 a Pilot/Observer Badge in Gold and Diamonds. This badge was awarded to prominent members of the Luftwaffe, most or all of whom had been at one time or another qualified pilots.

The third class of this badge was a version in which both the eagle and wreath were in solid gold. This badge Göring awarded to foreign heads of state such as King Boris of Bulgaria and Benito Mussolini and a very few eminent Germans such as the Reichsführer of the SS, Heinrich Himmler and SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer, Panzer-Generaloberst der Waffen SS Sepp Dietrich.

SS-Oberst-Gruppenführer, Panzer-Generaloberst der Waffen SS Sepp Dietrich.

This poses an interesting question as to whether there was such an animal as the Golden Pilot and Observers Badge and was it upgraded to the diamond award, as those named eventually received the award with diamonds and was this form used to reward friendly nations' politically appointed air personnel. As yet, a gold badge produced in gold has not been observed.

The criteria for the award was that each recipient must be the holder of a pilot's licence. This pilot's licence could have been either in the civil form, to encompass single engine aeroplanes and even to have allowed the consideration of the holder of a glider pilot's licence. This would have qualified them for the badge. This explains the entitlement of the badge for some of the more unusual bestowals namely, Himmler and Dietrich. It is also believed that Dr. Fritz Todt was a recipient of the award but this has yet to be fully confirmed. Upon the death of the holder, the badge had to be returned to Göring's personal office. This was the case with General Korten who was mortally wounded in the bomb plot attempt of 20 July 1944. After his death, the badge was not immediately returned and Göring's office was most indiscreet in requesting its return before his body was cold in its grave.

Hansen-Nootbar recalls one argument between Dönitz and Göring which ended when Göring unpinned the diamond studded pilots decoration from his exquisite uniform and handed it to Dönitz who, to the delight of the officers watching them, unpinned the U-boat decoration from his own service blue jacket and handed it to Göring. It was a typically nimble and appropriate response.

Von Puttkamer gives a shorter version of this episode in his memoirs, implying that from then on Dönitz made his way successfully with Göring. One is left wondering about the incident. Was it the force of Göring's personality and intelligence or the aura of his power and the long established position he held in the Nazi hierarchy or loyalty to the Führer perhaps, that caused Dönitz to respond as he did and humour and get along with the Reichsmarschall in public, while privately regarding him as a national disaster. For, when he and Hansen-Nootbar were alone they referred to Göring as, 'the grave digger of the Reich' or 'the fat one'. Whether this symbolic gesture actually constituted the award of the two badges to the two personages is doubtful but undoubtedly Dönitz was awarded the badge. It is less likelylikely that Göring received the Submarine Badge with Diamonds from Dönitz.

The box for this decoration is uncertain and it is considered that it was just a jeweller’s case, which transported the badge to the award ceremony.

Fakes and Fantasies.