History

The German Wehrmacht was composed of three main branches, the Heer, the Kriegsmarine, and the Luftwaffe. The Heer and Kriegsmarine uniforms were based upon the designs utilized by their predecessor organizations, the Deutsches Heer and the Kaiserliche Marine. Conversely, the Luftwaffe uniforms were based upon the uniforms worn in the sports and para-military organizations that were the forerunners of the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe uniforms were specifically designed to deviate from the designs of the other Wehrmacht service branches. It was also necessary that the uniforms differentiate between military and civilian pilots.

There were two main organizational precursors of the Luftwaffe, the German Air Sports Association (DLV or Deutscher Luftsportverband), and the National Air Raid Protection League (RLB or Reichs Luftschutzbund).

The DLV and the RLB were created in 1933. These civilian organizations were used to secretly train members for future roles in the Luftwaffe. The DLV became obsolete after Hitler’s official introduction of the Luftwaffe in 1935, and it was disbanded and replaced by the National Socialist Flyers Corps (NSFK or Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps).

The Paratrooper trousers (Hose für Fallschirmjäger) were worn by Luftwaffe personnel when participating in jumps.

There are two main models of these trousers, an earlier and a later one. The general design of these trouser versions is the same, wherein they feature a field-grey woolen cloth, a buttoned front fly, an adjustable waistband, several pockets, and “V” slashes at the bottom of each leg.

The fly generally has five buttons.

The waistband may be composed of silk, artificial silk, cotton, or linen. The external waistband features eight belt loops, and straps and buckles on either side of the waist to facilitate size adjustments. The internal waistband may be stamped with the Reich numbers (Reichsbetriebsnummer) (RB-), and the wearer's name. There are also buttons located along the internal waistband for the attachment of suspenders.

The early trousers feature a total of seven pockets, with two diagonal hip pockets, two horizontal back pockets, one fob pocket, and two vertical knee pockets. The hip, back, and fob pockets have a wedge flap cover with a single press-stud button. The knee pockets are located along the exterior leg seams. The right pocket was used to hold the Paratrooper utility knife (“gravity” knife) and is held closed by three internal press-stud buttons, and two external press-stud buttons on the curved flap cover. The left pocket was a simple “slash” pocket with three internal press-studs buttons and no cover. The late trousers have the same pockets as the early trousers design, but they lack the knee pockets.

The bottom of each trouser leg features a small “V” shaped slash that may be tightened by cords attached to either side of the slash. These slashes were meant to gather and secure the bottom leg around the ankle of the wearer’s jump boots (Fallschirmschnürschuhe).