Is it legal to fly without a radio in Germany? Most people in the aviation world know that it's legal to fly a Super Cub without a radio in the US. Is it legal in other parts of the world, specifically Germany?

I stumbled across this section in a copy of the German AIP VFR:


  GEN 1-12 Radio and Air Navigation Equipment of Aircraft (NfL II-11/05)
  
  ...
  
  
  Radio and air navigation equipment for VFR flights
  
  
  (1) For VFR flights, aeroplanes, rotorcraft, powered gliders, gliders,
  aerodynamically controlled ultralight aircraft, gyrocopters, airships,
  and free balloons shall be equipped with one VHF transceiver covering
  at least those frequencies in the range 118.000 to 136.975 MHz that
  are required for the planned flight; the transmitter output power and
  receiver sensitivity shall be at least such as to ensure clear
  radio-telephony communication with the ATC and AIS units, taking into
  account the operational characteristics of the aircraft and the route
  flown.
  
  ...
  
  (3) Para 1 does not apply to flights at aerodromes without an ATC unit
  which are conducted during the day and which do not leave the vicinity
  of the departure aerodrome (Art. 3a para 3 of the German Aviation
  Regulation [LuftVO]). Local regulations of the responsible authority
  of a Land (Art. 21a para 1 of the German Aviation Regulation [LuftVO])
  shall remain unaffected.


Does this mean cross country flight without a radio is illegal in Germany? Or is the part "shall be equipped with one VHF transceiver covering at least those frequencies ... that required for the planned flight" a loophole meaning you can go as long as you don't cross into any areas where radio is required? (thus effectively rendering 3.(3) above superfluous)

I understand that as long as you remain in class E and G airspace, I don't actually have to talk to anyone; would I still be legally required to carry a radio?

Ignore the other airspace classes for now, as C has mandatory radio communication and F has its own can-of-worms rules in Germany, and neither A or B are used at all (class F is about to be discontinued and replaced with class G and a Radio Mandatory Zone in accordance with EU regulation 923/2012 "SERA")
paragraph 3 clearly states that the only exception to the requirement to carry a radio set is when you're not leaving the immediate vicinity of the airfield, and then only when there's no ATC coverage.
That effectively means you can fly a few circuits at low altitude over a small field, but even then many of those would be close enough to a larger airport that has ATC coverage that they'd be covered by that airport's ATC system rather than having their own.

The only "loophole" would be if you could convince authorities that your flight wasn't planned, good luck with that.
Effectively that'd most likely mean you're having to prove to them that you went to the airfield without wanting to fly, just jumped into an aircraft, took off, and started zooming around the sky. Something that's so far out there nobody's going to buy it.