A Set of Second War Luftwaffe Model 306 Luftwaffe Flying Goggles

Googles in the standard teardrop design, with aviator-style clear glass lenses, olive green painted aluminum frames with rubber eye sockets, each of the eye sockets stitched to the framework of the googles, each of the frames have five ventilation vents along the top and bottom edges, the frames linked together by an aluminum nose bridge with a dual screw fit adjustment, maker marked "O.W." (O.W. Wagener & Co., Rathenow) on the reverse of the nose bridge, ribbed olive green elasticized headband strap with sliding metal fit adjustment buckle, elongated loops with hooks attaching the headband to the frames on either side, the googles themselves attached to the frames by small metal clips which also act as locking clips to secure the lenses in the frames. Accompanied by two pairs of glass lenses encased in felt sleeves, one of the pairs is clear, the other is tinted dark green for protection from the sun, along with a glass lenses cleaning cloth. The googles, additional lenses and cleaning cloth come in their cardboard box of issue, the box marked in handwritten black ink "Woock" on the lid, stamped with the "O.W. Wagener & Co. Rathenow" maker mark in black ink on the underside of the lid, a floating divider in the box separating the goggles from the additional lenses and cleaning cloth, the box dual-slotted on both sides. Scattered paint chipping on the frames, oxidation evident on the nose bridge, the rubber having hardened with age but is intact. Near extremely fine. Footnote: Early First World War pilots in military aircraft soon discovered that appropriate protective flight goggles were a necessity, due to the cold, sun glare and the all too frequent occurrence of oil leaking into the slipstream and covering the pilot. Originally the German military was caught unprepared and no specific protective goggles for pilots were available, which resulted in the pilots utilizing commercially produced or captured enemy protective goggles. Early in the war, the Carl Zeiss optics firm of Jena developed specific protective flight goggles that became the standard pattern for other manufacturers. Further improvements and refinements of assorted protective flight goggles continued in the inter-war years and by the start of the Second World War, there were no fewer then nine types of protective flight goggles available and nine main manufacturers including, Carl Zeiss, Ernst Leitz, Phillip Winter, O.W. Wagner, Nitsche & Günther, Knothe, Cellowaro, Bauer, Uvex and Auer.