National Socialist Flyers Corps
Encyclopedia
The National Socialist Flyers Corps was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that was founded in 1937 as a successor to the German Air Sports Association
German Air Sports Association
The German Air Sports Association was an organisation set up by the Nazi Party in March 1933 to establish a uniform basis for the training of military pilots...

, during the years when a German Air Force was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

. The organization was based closely on the organization of the Sturmabteilung
Sturmabteilung
The Sturmabteilung functioned as a paramilitary organization of the National Socialist German Workers' Party . It played a key role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s...

(SA) and maintained a system of paramilitary ranks
Ranks and insignia of the National Socialist Flyers Corps
The Ranks and insignia of the National Socialist Flyer Corps were a paramilitary rank system in use by the National Socialist Flyers Corps between the years of 1933 and 1945. The ranks were designed after paramilitary rank titles of the Sturmabteilung...

 closely associated with the SA. A similar group was the National Socialist Motor Corps
National Socialist Motor Corps
The National Socialist Motor Corps , also known as the National Socialist Drivers Corps, was a paramilitary organization of the Nazi Party that existed from 1931 to 1945. The group was a successor organization to the older National Socialist Automobile Corps, which had existed since the beginning...

.

During the early years of its existence, the NSFK conducted military aviation training in gliders
Glider aircraft
Glider aircraft are heavier-than-air craft that are supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against their lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Mostly these types of aircraft are intended for routine operation without engines, though engine failure can...

 and private airplane
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...

s. When Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 formed the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe 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....

, many NSFK members transferred. As all such prior NSFK members were also Nazi Party members; this gave the new Luftwaffe a strong Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

 ideological base in contrast to the other branches of the German military, who were composed of "Old Guard" officers from the German aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...

. They were also used to transport Jews and homosexuals into concentration camps.

The National Socialist Flyers Corps continued to exist after the Luftwaffe was founded, but to a much smaller degree. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the NSFK mainly performed air defense duties such as reserve anti-aircraft service.

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