Eyes in the Skies
In English, there is little primary information available about the goggles used by the German Air Forces during WWI. The best primary sources for identifying the goggle types used by German airmen during WWI are period photographs. Those early photos shows one obvious thing — after 1916 there was one type which predominated. They are distinguished by quite large, curved, “comma-shaped” lenses, with wire sprung and cloth covered cups. These goggles are referred to as the “Standard Type”.
This style became the recommended pattern following a program of testing and experimentation undertaken by the technical section of IdFlieg during the early war years. The reasons for this type’s official recommendation are usefully summarized by a German doctor named Bennewitz in 1922. Dr. Bennewitz was a pre-war scientist, front line pilot, and then for the last 1 1/2 years of the war the Technical Adjutant for the department supervising the aircraft industry. He was selected for the job of writing up war-time Germany’s research and developments in aviation technology by Felix Wagenführ, Major and Commander of the Aircraft Master’s Office during the Great War.
Part of the rationalization and research that lead to the recommendation of this goggle type by IdFlieg is described by Bennewitz and is translated and edited as follows:
