History
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It was also the official name for the Nazi air force founded in 1935. Led by Hermann Goering, it became the largest and most powerful in Europe by the start of World War Two.
Photo: The aircrew of a Heinkel 111 bomber look out on an accompanying plane, circa 1940. (Roger Viollet/Getty Images)
Features in:
The Battle of Britain
Luftwaffe
Christmas in the local air-raid shelter
Eyewitness Joanna Roberts describes Christmas 1940 spent sheltering from the bombs.
Eyewitness Joanna Roberts describes Christmas 1940 spent sheltering from the bombs and the time spent thinking about relatives killed in the Blitz.
How St. Paul's Cathedral was saved from the Blitz
Richard Holmes describes how St. Paul's Cathedral was saved from the bombing that was destroying the City of London.
Richard Holmes describes how St. Paul's Cathedral was saved from the bombing that was destroying the City of London on 29 December 1940.
The Second Great Fire of London
Alan Bennett describes the devastating bombing raid on London on 29 December 1940.
Alan Bennett describes the devastating bombing raid on London on 29 December 1940 with eyewitness testimony from Joanna Roberts.
Michael Foot's Christmas 1940 newspaper report
Alan Bennett recounts future MP Michael Foot's view of Christmas 1940.
Alan Bennett recounts future MP Michael Foot's view of Christmas 1940 in his editorial for the London Evening Standard.
Aerial duels over Dunkirk
Wing Commander Robert Standford Tuck discusses aerial combat over Dunkirk.
Wing Commander Robert Standford Tuck, a highly decorated Spitfire and Hurricane pilot, is interviewed in 1979 by David Jacobs. They discuss the Wing Commander’s combat flights over Dunkirk and how a penny saved his life.
Luftwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈlʊftvafə] ( listen)) is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.
Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air Force in German. Two other historic German air forces are the World War I-era Luftstreitkräfte of the era of the German Empire, and the Luftstreitkräfte der NVA in the GDR. The air force of Austria is called Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte.
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Germany advances through Europe
Germany bombs British towns and cities
Germany bombs British coastal airfields
Germany attacks RAF Fighter Command
Germany bombs London
Battle of Britain Day
Radio 4: WW2 Evacuees
Radio 4: Evacuation
Radio 4: War in the C20th
Radio 4: WW2 Defences
Radio 4: Hitler in History
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