Building A New Luftwaffe: The United States Air Force and Bundeswehr Planning for Rearmament, 1950–60

Abstract

Rearming Germany was a long and complicated process. It was especially difficult to create a new German air force. The army generals who dominated the Bundeswehr cadre did not even want an air force but rather a small arm air corps. Moreover, Adenauer's defense staff failed to adequately budget or plan for a new air force. As rearmament began, US Air Force leaders, working closely with the small Luftwaffe staff in West Germany's shadow Defense Ministry, basically took charge of the process to ensure that the Germans built a new Luftwaffe on the American model – a large, multipurpose force organized as an independent service and fully integrated into NATO. The first Bundesluftwaffe commanders allied themselves to the Americans, often in opposition to their army comrades, to overcome the political problems caused by Adenauer's poor defense planning and create a modern air force on American lines.

Notes

James S. Corum holds graduate degrees in history from Brown and Oxford Universities and a PhD in history from Queen's University, Canada. He is author of four military history books, most recently Airpower in Small Wars (University Press of Kansas, 2003). He is author of more than 30 journal articles and book chapters on airpower history, military history and small wars. He is currently a professor at the USAF School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. As a US Army Reserve lieutenant colonel he also teaches at the US Army War College. He recently served in Iraq with the US Army.

David Clay Large, Germans to the Front (Univ. of North Carolina Press 1996) pp.97–9.

The complete text of the Himmerod conference is found in Hans-Jürgen Rautenberg and Norbert Wiggershaus (eds.), Die ‘Himmeroder Denkschrift’ vom Oktober 1950, MGFA (Karlsruhe: G. Braun 1985) pp.36–56. This work also contains an extensive commentary on the Denkschrift and the texts of other documents relating to German security planning in 1950. On the German air force see Section 2 Luftwaffe paras a–f, pp.45–8.

See Large (note 1) pp.98–9.

Richard Emmons, USAFE Profile: Personnel Strength and Organizational Change 1945–1985, Report from USAFE Historian, pp.8–9. USAF HRA Doc. K570.04-13 1945–1985.

Ibid. p.11.

MGFA, Anfänge westdeutsche Sicherheitspolitik 1945–1956 (note 14), Band 2, pp.27–31.

On Norstad, see the excellent biography by Robert Jordan, Norstad: Cold War NATO Supreme Commander (NY: St Martin's Press 2000).

Wolfgang Schmidt, ‘Von der “Befehlsausgabe” zum “Briefing”: die Amerikanisierung der Luftwaffe während der Aufbauphase der Bundeswehr’, Militärgeschichte 3 (2001) p.44.

Letter from Gen. Norstad to Lt. Gen. White, 7 July 1952, USAF HRA Doc. K570.04-13, 1945–1985.

USAFE Historical Branch, USAFE's Assistance to Create a New German Air Force, 1956 p.5 USAF HRA Doc K570.04M 1952–1955.

Ibid. pp.7–10.

Anfänge westdeutscher Sicherheitspolitik, Band 4 (1997) pp.74–7, 164–8.

See T.N. Dupuy, A Genius for War (McClean, VA: Dupuy Institute 1984); and Martin van Creveld, Fighting Power (Westport, CT: Greenwood 1982).

See MGFA Werner Abelshauser and Walter Schwengler, Anfänge westdeutsche Sicherheitspolitik 1945–1956, Band 4 (Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag 1997) pp.156–70. Many items of US-made army equipment, such as the US M-47 tank, were criticized by the German army as mediocre. They were accepted by the defense ministry as a short-term measure until German tanks could be produced. The German army in the 1950s was able to produce rifles and machine guns of their own design. The Bundeswehr's jeeps and motor vehicles were all new German-made models. The Bundeswehr's first armored personnel carrier was of Swiss design and license built by Hanomag and Rheinmetall. Much of the army's equipment, such as the rifle, machine gun, mortars etc. was of European design and built under license. The German Army developed the superb Leopard I battle tank in 1960–61, even before all of the army's mechanized divisions had been organized.

Bruce Quarrie, Encyclopedia of the German Army in the 20th Century (Wellingborough, UK: Patrick Stephens 1989) pp.336–9.

Historical Branch, USAFE (note 10) p.6.

Ibid.

Monttescue Lowry, The Forge of West German Rearmament: Theodor Blank and the Amt Blank (NY: Peter Lang 1990) pp.108–16.

Large (note 1) p.94.

Ibid.

USAFE (note 10) pp.9–10.

Ibid. pp.11–12.

Ibid. p.15.

Ibid. p.15.

Ibid. p.16.

Ibid. p.13.

Schmidt (note 8) p.44.

Historical Branch USAFE (note 10) pp.17–21.

Lowry (note 18) p.327.

CINC USAFE, ‘Technical Agreement for Joint Tenancy of USAFE 3-Base Training Complex’ – USAF HRA doc. KWG-7330-HI, Jan.–June 1955.

History of the 7330th Flying Training Wing, USAF HRA Doc. K-WG-7330-HI Jan.–June 1956, pp.2–4.

For organization charts of Amt Blank and the Luftwaffe planning staff of the early 1950s, see Dieter Krüger (ed.), ‘Dienststellen zur Vorbereitung des Westdeutschen Verteidigingsbeitrages’, Teil 1 in Findbücher zu Beständen des Bundesarchivs, Band 40 (Koblenz: Bundesarchiv Koblenz 1992) pp.XCII–XCIII.

‘USAFE's Assistance’ (note 10) pp.13–20.

Ibid. p.31.

Ibid. pp.69–70.

Ibid. pp.70–83.

USAF HRA, History of Headquarters USAFE, 1 Jan.–31 Dec. 1955, Doc. K 570.01 Vol. II Letter of Gen Twining to Gen. Tunner 2 May 1955.

HQ USAFE, CINCUSAFE's Monthly Summary, Aug. 1955, Para. 9 in USAF HRA Doc. K. 507.01 Vol. II, Jan.–Dec. 1955.

History of the 7330th Flying Training Wing, 1 Jan. 1957–30 June 1957, p.10. USAF HRA Doc. KW-7330-HI, Jan.–June 1957.

USAFE's Assistance (note 10) pp.89–90.

Ibid. p.90.

Ibid. p.89.

Ibid. pp.89–93.

History of the 7330th Flying Training Wing, 1 July–31 Dec. 1956, p.6, USAF HRA Doc. KWG 7330-HI July–Dec. 1956.

Lowry (note 18) pp.202–3.

Ibid. p.290.

Large (note 1) p.261.

Julian Lider, Origins and Development of West German Military Thought Vol. 1 (Brookfield, VT: 1986) pp.304–5.

Ibid. pp.304–30.

Wolfgang Schmidt's article ‘Von der ‘Befehlsausgabe’ zum ‘Briefing’ … provides a detailed account of the German views of USAF training in the 1950s.

Quarterly Unit Historical Data Report, 3600th Combat Crew Training Wing (Fighter), Luke AFB, 1 Jan. 1958–31 March 1958, USAF HRA Doc K 285.79-30 Jan.–March 1958, pp.11–14.

Lider (note 48) pp.304–9; see also Anfänge westdeutsche Sicherheitspolitik (note 14), Band 3 (1993) p.834.

History of the Headquarters United States Air Forces Europe, 1 July–31 December 1955, in USAF HRA Doc. K570.01 Jan.–Dec. 1955, vol.1 p.76. The aircraft equipment plan had first been proposed as the ‘Nash Plan’ in 1953, see p.60.

Ibid., pp.60–1.

Anfänge westdeutscher Sicherheitspolitik, (note 14) pp.72, 158.

Ibid. pp.158–61.

Ibid. pp.167–8.

For a full account of Adenauer's policy to acquire a German nuclear force, see Christoph Hoppe, Zwischen Teilhabe und Mitsprache: Die Nuclearfrage in der Allianzpolitik Deutschlands 1959–1966 (Baden-Baden: Nomos 1993) pp.31–9.

On the F-104 program, see Marcelle Knaack, Post World War II Fighters 1945–1973, (Washington DC: Office of Air Force History 1986) pp.184–7. On US nuclear weapons see James Gibson, The History of the US Nuclear Arsenal (London: Bison 1989) p.84.

Robert Jordan, Norstad: Cold War NATO Supreme Commander (NY: St Martin's Press 2000) pp.108–10.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James S Corum

James S. Corum holds graduate degrees in history from Brown and Oxford Universities and a PhD in history from Queen's University, Canada. He is author of four military history books, most recently Airpower in Small Wars (University Press of Kansas, 2003). He is author of more than 30 journal articles and book chapters on airpower history, military history and small wars. He is currently a professor at the USAF School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. As a US Army Reserve lieutenant colonel he also teaches at the US Army War College. He recently served in Iraq with the US Army.