History

The Condor Legion was a German military unit that fought alongside the Spanish nationalists in the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. It became known mainly for its air force detachment that used the conflict to develop new bombing tactics. These were then widely used during the Second World War.

The ground unit was known as Gruppe Imker (Group Beekeeper), and the Panzer units of Gruppe Imker were known as Gruppe Drohne (Group Drone).

Members of the air force, as opposed to naval or army ground personnel of the Condor Legion, up to the rank of Oberstleutnant wore Spanish wings above their right breast pocket, either in silver-coloured embroidery or as a metal pin-back. Pre 1938 there was no crown on the wings, but this changed in 1938 when it was included. In the centre of the wings is a red circle with a gold-coloured emblem. This emblem depicted the wearer’s trade. Pilots wore a crossed propeller, radio operators wore two crossed bolts of lightning, observers wore a five-pointed star, and bombardiers wore a crossed bomb and rifle.

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