Luftwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈlʊftvafə] ( listen)) is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.
Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air Force in German. Two other historic German air forces are the World War I-era Luftstreitkräfte of the era o...
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Luftwaffe (German pronunciation: [ˈlʊftvafə] ( listen)) is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956.
Schweizer Luftwaffe is also the name of the Swiss Air Force in German. Two other historic German air forces are the World War I-era Luftstreitkräfte of the era of the German Empire, and the Luftstreitkräfte der NVA in the GDR. The air force of Austria is called Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte.
The forerunner of the Luftwaffe, the Imperial German Army Air Service (Luftstreitkräfte), was founded in 1910 with the name Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, and changed to the name "Luftstreitkräfte" by the end of 1916, with the emergence of military aircraft, although they were intended to be used primarily for reconnaissance in support of armies on the ground, just as balloons had been used in...
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