Amazing Luftwaffe German Air Force.
The first volunteers of the Luftwaffe arrived at the Nörvenich Air Base in January 1956. In the same year, the Luftwaffe was given with its first aircraft, the US-made Republic F-84 Thunderstreak. At first, the Luftwaffe was divided into two operational commands, one in Northern Germany, aligned with the British-led Second Allied Tactical Air Force, and the other in Southern Germany, aligned with the American-led Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force.
After World War II, German aviation was severely curtailed, and military aviation was completely forbidden after the Allied Control Commission disbanded the Nazi-era Luftwaffe in August 1946. This changed in 1955 when West Germany joined NATO, as the Western Allies believed that Germany was needed to counter the increasing military threat posed by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. Therefore, on 9 January 1956, a new German Air Force called Luftwaffe was founded as a branch of the new Bundeswehr.
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.S.-supplied hardware. These included Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, Günther Rall and Johannes Steinhoff. Steinhoff became commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, with Rall as his immediate successor. Another pilot of World War II, Josef Kammhuber, also made a significant career in the post-war Luftwaffe, retiring in 1962 as Chief Inspector of the Air Force (Inspekteur der Luftwaffe).
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Current aircraft German Air Force "Luftwaffe"
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Air Defence
| Name | Origin | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIM-104 Patriot | United States | SAM | 11 in service, 4 new systems ordered |
| Ozelot | Germany | Mobile SAM system | 67 units – armed with FIM-92 Stingers |
| IRIS-T SLM | Germany | SAM system | Luftverteidigungssystem Nah- und Nächstbereichsschutz (LVS NNbS): 6 systems ordered, 2 more planned, first system to be delivered in 2024 |
| Arrow 3 | Israel | Ballistic missile defense system | Deliveries planned for 2025, 3 systems |
Netherlands Coastguard
Luftwaffe Airbus A400M "54+21" Air Defender 23 livery
In April 2020, the German government announced its intention to gain approval for the purchase of 30 Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, 15 EA-18G Growlers, and 55 Eurofighter Typhoons as replacements for the Tornado fleet. However, as of the same month such approval was unlikely to occur before 2022. The Super Hornet was selected due to its compatibility with nuclear weapons and availability of an electronic attack version. As of March 2022, the Super Hornet has not been certified for the B61 Mod 12 nuclear bombs, but Dan Gillian, head of Boeing's Super Hornet program, previously stated that "We certainly think that we, working with the U.S. government, can meet the German requirements there on the [German's] timeline." In December 2021, Air Transport Wing 63 in Hohn Air Base and with it, the last remaining German C-160 Transalls were disbanded, with the A400M and C-130J serving as the German tactical transport aircraft in the future.
British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline from 1946 until 1974.
The Vickers VC10 is a mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner.
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| RAF Tornado GR4 in 2012 | |
| Role | Multirole aircraft, strike aircraft |
|---|---|
| National origin | Italy, West Germany, United Kingdom |
| Manufacturer | Panavia Aircraft GmbH |
| First flight | 14 August 1974 |
| Introduction | 1979 |
| Retired | 2019 (RAF) |
| Status | In service |
| Primary users | German Air Force
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| Produced | 1979–1998 |
| Number built |
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| Variants | Panavia Tornado ADV |
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