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.

The Dress Belt Buckle was only worn by Officer ranks, and only with the dress uniform. Even though the new Luftwaffe belts were introduced in the same year as the DLV Dress Belts, the DLV versions were worn by DLV Officers until the end of the wearing out period in April 1936.

The dress belts mirrored the design used on the Enlisted Ranks belts, but they utilized a circular buckle instead of a rectangular buckle. The circumference of the buckle has a laurel wreath design. The centre of the obverse buckle features an eagle with straight spread wings and an enwreathed swastika clutched in its claws; the swastika may or may not be enamelled/painted black.

The buckle is generally silver-coloured for all Officer ranks, but there are also rare gold-coloured buckles that were produced for Generals in the DLV, such as Hermann Göring and Erhard Milch.

On May 27, 1935, an order was released that delineated the official forms of the Luftwaffe uniforms. This edict removed DLV belts from circulation and wear by Luftwaffe personnel, and introduced official Luftwaffe belt buckle and strap regulations.