Posted 2 years ago This is a rare grouping that belonged to
Leonhard Wagner, a crew member of the U 874. The faded red U on
the face page of the pay book, denotes that he was in the U boat
force. It consists of his pay book, his glider pilot I.D. book,
and two flight log books. He first learned to fly gliders, and
then moved up to various aircraft. The type of aircraft, and the
times he flew them are logged into the two flight logs. He also
learned to fly the Focke-Angelis fa 330A Bachstelze which was a
rotary kite that was teathered by a cable to a moving u boat.
This allowed the pilot to observe targets up to 33 miles away
while at 220 meters high. He would then telephone down to the U
boat where the potential target was located. Only a few U boats
carried these kites, stored below the decks. A U boat paybook is
very rare in itself, but to have this crewman's flight logs as
well was a real find. This man survived the war, and was a POW
for a short time.