The Reichsluftwaffe, (National Air-Force), was officially established on February 26TH 1935 as the third branch of service of the Wehrmacht, (Armed Forces). On March 9TH 1935 the formation of the new Reichsluftwaffe was announced to the foreign press and on March 16TH conscription was reintroduced for all three branches of service. On May 21ST 1935 the Reichsluftwaffe designation was altered to Luftwaffe, (Air-Force). On April 14TH 1935 collar tabs were adopted by the newly formed Luftwaffe which followed the basic pattern of the collar tabs that had been utilized by the DLV, Deutscher Luftsportsverband, (German Air Sports Association), the Luftwaffe’s clandestine civilian forerunner. The collar tabs were worn in matching pairs and usually indicated the branch of service and rank/position of the wearer. The different branches of service within the Luftwaffe were allocated specific, identifying, waffenfarbe, (Branch of Service Color), with pink being chosen for personnel serving with Ingenieurkorps der Luftwaffe, (Corps of Engineers of the Air-Force). The Corps of Engineers was a separate branch of service that was classed as an administrative service and personnel serving with the Engineering branch held the status of administrative officials with equivalent Officers ranks. The Corps of Engineers personnel’s collar tabs were a departure from the standard Luftwaffe collar tabs as they utilized distinctive two, three or four bladed rank "propellers", as opposed to the rank "gulls", utilized by the other branches of service. Of Note: The Corps of Engineers underwent minor internal restructuring a couple of times during it’s existence that resulted in rank re-designations in some cases. Further production of collar tabs was discontinued by regulations of October 12th 1944, although on hand stocks were to be issued and collar tabs already issued continued to be worn.
