page_title: Luftwaffe
section_title: Trivia
hierarchical_section_title: Luftwaffe / Trivia
context_page_description: The Luftwaffe is the name for the air force of Germany.
  This was the name for the air force of Germany during the Third Reich when Adolf Hitler was in power. It has also been the name for the air force since it was re-established in 1955 during the era of the Cold War. Luftwaffe means Air weapon in English.
context_section_description: Germany became famous as the country, which flew the first jet aeroplanes. In 1944, the Luftwaffe started to use the world’s first operational jet fighter plane, the Messerschmitt Me-262, even if the engines sometimes did not work properly. Once again, the shortage of materials needed to build the plane as well as the continuing bombing of Germany meant that not as many Me-262s were built as Germany would have liked. Even so, Germany also built and flew the world's first jet bomber, the Arado Ar 234, the world’s first fighter plane powered by a rocket, the Messerschmitt Me-163, the world’s first "cruise missile", the V-1, and the world’s first ballistic missile, the V-2.
  After the war the allies were quite impressed with Germany's technical know how & gleaned all they could from the vast array of Luftwaffe aircraft strewn across Germany.
caption: The Messerschmitt Me 262
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