Original German Pre-WWII DLV Air Sports Association Unit Marked Belt Buckle by Sachs & Deisselberg – dated 1935 Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a very good condition 1935-dated Pre-WWII German DLV Air Sports Association Belt Buckle (Koppelschloß). It is embossed with the DLV emblem on a pebbled central field, surrounded by a wreath. The rear of the buckle is unmarked.

The leather tab in excellent condition and nicely maker stamped (somewhat faint):

SACHS & DEISSELBERG
HAMBURG
1935

There is also a faint unit markings stamped into the leather, though we have not been able to decipher it.

The buckle is a very early pattern, of die stamped, nickel plated brass construction. At first we thought it was Aluminum, but where the plating is worn, the brass is seen. Also the thickness is far to thin to be aluminum, which would be easily dented.

A very nice Pre-WWII belt buckle, from before Hermann Göring had total domination of the German aviation world. Ready to display!

History of the Deutschen Luftsport-Verbandes
The German Air Sports Association (Deutscher Luftsportverband, or DLV e. V.) was an organisation set up by the NSDAP Party in March 1933 to establish a uniform basis for the training of military pilots. Its chairman was Hermann Göring and its vice-chairman Ernst Röhm.

Since the Treaty of Versailles officially forbade Germany from building fighter planes of any sort, the German Air Sports Association used gliders to train men still officially civilians for the future Luftwaffe. The first steps towards the Luftwaffe’s formation were undertaken just months after Adolf AH came to power. Hermann Göring, a World War I ace with 22 victories and the holder of the Orden Pour le Mérite, became National Kommissar for aviation with former Deutsche Luft Hansa director Erhard Milch as his deputy. On 25 March 1933 the German Air Sports Association absorbed all private and national organizations, whilst retaining its ‘sports’ title. In April 1933 the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM – Reich Air Ministry) was established. The RLM was in charge of development and production of aircraft, and soon afterwards the test site or Erprobungsstelle at Rechlin became its testing ground, a military airfield that had been first established in August 1918. Göring’s control over all aspects of aviation became absolute.

The German Air Sports Association was dissolved in 1937 and replaced with the National Socialist Flyers Corps, a corporation under public law and subordinate to Reichsluftfahrtminister Göring.