In April 1937 the Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (National Socialist Flying Corps or NSFK) was formed to actively recruit German boys to become pilots. The NSFK replaced the Deutscher Luftsportverband (German Air Sports Association or DLV) which had been set up in 1933 by the Nazis as a way of circumventing the ban on building fighter planes imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Both organisations came under the jurisdiction of the head of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring.56
Nominally a civilian organisation, the NSFK was heavily publicised by the Nazis as a way of interesting boys in learning to fly from a very early age. Flying manuals, books, badges and promotional films were used to entice boys into the NSFK, which was portrayed as being an elite organisation. Training was mainly carried out firstly in gliders and then private aircraft. In contradiction of its civilian status, the NSFK had its own paramilitary rank insignia, starting from Mann (Trooper) all the way up to Korpsführer (Corps Leader). The position of Korpsführer from 1937 to 1943 was held by Friedrich Christiansen (1879–1972), a German general and First World War flying ace who later commanded the German army in the occupied Netherlands during the final years of the war.
With the onset of war in 1940, a game called Fliegerstaffel auf Feindflug (Air Squadron on Enemy Flight) was rushed into German toy shops to encourage boys to join the NSFK. The game was composed of an elaborate playing board which folded into three with a pocket in the side containing six paper aeroplanes, straws, scoring cards and counters. The large playing board, which measured 42 x 52 centimetres, was particularly notable for the quality of its artwork, it showing an enemy coastal garrison complete with a harbour, railway warehouses, oil depots, factories, a fortified gun emplacement (closely resembling the Maginot Line), tanks, artillery, houses and a church. The idea of the game was using the straw to blow your plane onto different targets on the board, the first pilot to reach twenty-four points being declared the winner.
The game Fliegerstaffel auf Feindflug (Air Squadron on Enemy Flight) was rushed into German toy shops to encourage boys to join the Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (National Socialist Flying Corps).
The instructions read:
Your squadron chief has gathered his squadron captains around him. The order is to carry out a bombing raid on an enemy coastal area. You can select the targets. If you want to fly in the attack you need to take one of the aircraft, a scoring card and a coloured token. 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 pilots can take part. The starting order is chosen by lot.
The first pilot begins and tries to use the tube to blow his plane onto the start and finish point. He has three attempts to do this. If he is successful, he can start the game and can choose his target. A hit is scored when the tip of the aircraft lies in the target circle. For scoring purposes, the pilot in question places his or her coloured counter on the specified number of spaces in front, or in event of failure, back. Whoever reaches number 24 on the scoring card first is the winner.
Each target was indicated by a red circle and had a different score. For example, a red circle with tanks in it stated, ‘Panzerdivision erfolgreich angegriffen. Dafur 2 Felder vorrücken’ (Tank division successfully attacked. Move forward 2 spaces). Another target of a bunker said, ‘Beim Angriff auf den Bunker zu tief ins MG-Feuer gelaten, ein Motor setzt aus. 2 Felder zurück’ (You receive heavy machine gun fire when attacking a bunker, the engine cuts out. Move back 2 spaces). Other targets included a picture of some factories with the caption, ‘Vorsicht Industriewerk durch Sperrballons gesicht. Umfliegent Das kostet zeit. Einmal aussetzen’ (Caution industrial plant protected by barrage balloons. Flying around it takes time. Miss a go) and by the harbour ‘Schwimmdock durch mehrere Volltreffer schwer eschadigit, 4 felder vorrücken’ (Floating dock badly damaged by several direct hits, advance 4 spaces).
The idea was to use the straw to blow your plane onto different targets on the board, the game encouraging young children to destroy the enemy.
What made Fliegerstaffel auf Feindflug particularly insidious, apart from its artwork, was the age range the game was designed to attract. A military version of blow football, it was designed to indoctrinate children from the age of 6 upwards. This was the age that all ‘Aryan’ boys and girls in Germany were required to join a Nazi youth group reflecting the regime’s desire to teach children about war from their first days in school.