Germany, Luftwaffe. An Unusual Flight Personnel Sahariana Service Tunic

(Luftwaffe Waffenrock für Leutnant der Fliegertruppe). An unusual and well-preserved Luftwaffe Leutnant’s Sahariana-style service tunic, constructed of a non-regulation black cotton-blended twill. It features a turned-down collar, fully trimmed with twisted and rolled silver aluminum wire piping, which transitions into double breast lapels. The collar is flanked on each side by tabs constructed of golden-yellow wool with buckram cores, trimmed with twisted and rolled silver aluminum wire piping, and bearing a hand-embroidered gull above an oak leaf wreath, also of silver aluminum wire construction. Each tab measures 40 mm (w) x 55 mm (l). Affixed to the shoulders are boards constructed of card stock-reinforced golden yellow wool and bearing four bands of silver aluminum wire piping. The boards are secured in place with stitching at the outer edge and pebbled aluminum buttons on the inner edge. Each cuff features a slight closing with a single reinforced buttonhole meeting two black bakelite buttons for an adjustable fit. A panel of identical material with scalloped edges is draped over the shoulders and descends down both the chest and upper back, with the former forming the flaps of the upper breast pockets. Two additional lower breast pockets similarly close with scalloped flaps with reinforced buttonholes meeting pebbled magnetic metal buttons. Stitched onto the panel just above the upper right pocket is an insignia consisting of a black wool backer bearing a hand-embroidered silver aluminum wire Luftwaffe eagle clutching a mobile swastika, measuring 95 mm (w) x 60 mm (h). The interior features an array of reinforced ventilation holes throughout both armpits, as well as a drawstring looped through a hollow channel in the waistband for secure closure. Fully unmarked, the tunic measures approximately 465 mm across the shoulders, with an arm length of 605 mm, and an overall body length of 650 mm. The collar tabs demonstrate degraded stitching with partial detachment from the tunic and loosening of the wire trim, and slight soiling is visible to the outer material. This unusual Luftwaffe service tunic is in an overall near extremely fine condition.