Luftwaffe

The {{Audio|De-Luftwaffe-pronunciation.ogg|Luftwaffe}} (German: "air force", IPA: ) is the commonly used term for the German air force. The history of the Luftwaffe began in 1910 with the founding of the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte), yet it has not been continuous, owing to the fact that Germany lost both World Wars (1914-1918 and 1939-1945). As a result, the Germans had no military air force between 1918 and 1935 and again between 1945 and 1955.

Related Topics:
German - IPA - German - Air force - 1910 - 1914 - 1918 - 1939 - 1945 - 1935 - 1955

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For many English speakers, the term "Luftwaffe" is synonymous with the air force of Nazi Germany. In 1939-1940, this Luftwaffe helped the German army to astonishingly rapid success in both Eastern and Western Europe, but which failed to win control of the skies over England. Later on, despite its best efforts, it could not prevent the defeat of the Third Reich either by day, or by night, owing to constant Allied bombing of Germany's factories and cities by a numerically overwhelming force of bombers based in England. This was coupled with the advances of the Soviet armies from the East, as numbers of available German aircraft dwindled in the face of ever-growing numbers of Soviet aircraft. The Luftwaffe was, however, notable in putting the world's first jet fighter and the world's only rocket-powered fighter into action during the war.

Related Topics:
English - Nazi Germany - 1940 - Third Reich

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Between 1955 and 1990, there were two German air forces as a result of the splitting of the defeated Germany in 1945 into two, but the air force of the GDR was dissolved and its structure taken over by the Luftwaffe in 1990 upon the German reunification. Only in Bosnia in 1999 has the Luftwaffe ever seen war action since the end of World War II.

Related Topics:
1990 - 1999 - World War II

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Although Luftwaffe simply means "air force" in the German language, some English speakers prefer to refer to Germany's modern air force as the German Air Force to avoid potential confusion with the Nazi-era air force, since this force is often referred to as the Luftwaffe in English.

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