The German Air Force as part of the Bundeswehr was founded in during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed luft gävär of then West Germany. After the reunification of West and East Germany init integrated parts of the air force of the former German Democratic Republicwhich itself had been founded in as part of the National People's Army.
The term Luftwaffe that is used for both the historic and the current German air force is the German-language generic designation of any air force. As ofthe German Air Force uses eleven air bases, two of which host no flying units.
Furthermore, the Air Force has a presence at three civil airports. Inthe German Air Force had an authorized strength of 28, active airmen and 4, reservists. Many well-known fighter pilots of the Wehrmacht ' s Luftwaffe joined the new post-war air force and underwent refresher training in the US before returning to West Germany to upgrade on the latest U.
Steinhoff became commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffewith Rall as his immediate successor. Despite the partial reliance of the new air force on airmen who had served in the Wehrmacht 's air arm, there was no organizational continuity between the old and the new Luftwaffe.
This is in line with the policy of the Bundeswehr on the whole, which does not consider itself a successor of the Wehrmacht and does not follow the traditions of any other previous German military organization. Inthe Luftwaffe took command of the Army Air Defence Troops located in Rendsburg and began the expansion of its own air defense missile capabilities.
Inthe Luftwaffe received its first conscripts. Inthe Luftwaffe declared the 11th Missile Group in Kaufbeuren armed with MGM-1 Matador surface-to-surface tactical nuclear cruise missiles operational. All aircraft sported—and continue to sport—the Iron Cross on the fuselage, harking back to the pre-March days of World War Iwhile the national flag of West Germany is displayed Miljö och teknik the tail.
Inthe Luftwaffe saw its first major reorganization. Additionally, a 7th Air Force division was raised in Schleswig-Holstein containing flying units, missile units, support units, and the German Navy's naval aviation and placed under command of Allied Forces Baltic Approaches.
Inthe Luftwaffe received its first Lockheed F Starfighter jets. The Starfighter remained in service for the entire duration of the Cold War, with the last being taken out of service in The Luftwaffe received Starfighters, of which crashed, resulting in the deaths of pilots.
The disastrous service record of the Starfighter led to the Starfighter crisis in as a reaction to 27 Starfighter crashes with 17 casualties in alone. The West German public referred to the Starfighter as the Witwenmacher widow-makerfliegender Sarg flying coffinFallfighter falling fighter and Erdnagel tent pegliterally "ground nail".
Steinhoff and his deputy Günther Rall noted that the non-German Fs proved much safer. The Americans blamed the high loss rate of the Luftwaffe Fs on the extremely low-level and aggressive flying of German pilots rather than any faults in the aircraft.
Steinhoff and Rall, therefore, changed the training regimen for the F pilots, and the accident rates fell to those comparable or better than other air forces. They also brought about the high level of training and professionalism seen today throughout the Luftwaffeand the start of a strategic direction for Luftwaffe pilots to engage in tactical and combat training outside of Germany.