[John D.]

Hello Panu,

First Welcome! Your friend actually has a very rare Krieghoff â?? but first, a bit about Heinrich Krieghoff Waffenfabrik (which Iâ??ll refer to as â??HKâ?�) and your questions on that Luger specifically.

In 1934, HK was awarded a contract for producing Lugers. The initial military contract was for a quantity of 10,000 9mm Military production for the Luftwaffe â?? and by the end of 1937, there were enough frames/toggles/parts to produce roughly 13.000 HK Lugers, fulfilling the original military contract and allowing HK to sell some 9mm/7.65 in the commercial market and providing several presentation Lugers. To note your comment about the affiliation to G�¶ring, yes â?? the HK contract was a special contract in appreciation for HK principle contract, other armaments for the Luftwaffe. Frankly â?? I could write a book about all this â?? so, if you are interested in the complete history â?? I would suggest â??The Krieghoff Parabellumâ?� by Mr. Randall Gibson as an excellent source of information.

Regarding the 1936 HK production and your example. Estimated production for â??1936â?� HKs was approximately 2,900 pieces. They are somewhat more common then other variations as the next largest production run was â??1937â?�.

For â??1936â?� Serial Number 6410 â?? I am familiar with 640X (just below that), and therefore would perceive that yours would have a â??C-1â?� type toggle, which you appear to describe. However â?? a photo of the Toggle would be most appreciated to confirm.

Also â?? under the right grip panel, you should see either a six-point star stamp, or the number â??7â?� Inspection mark. Since serial number 640X has the Six Point Star, Iâ??m predisposing yours will as too â?? but at that number (6410), it could be either.

As for the LWaA markings â?? if you do a â??searchâ?� in the Krieghoff section of this Forum â?? Iâ??m certain you will find a great deal posted on the subject. In short â?? I believe what you are trying to describe is noted as LWaA 1st Acceptance â?? Stage 2 (Early Variation (hence the â??circle around the â??Lâ?� with the â??2â?� at the base. Again â?? a picture would be simply wonderful!

Finally â?? for those not familiar with the historical milestones of the Finnish Air Force (â??Suomen Ilmavoimatâ?�) during WW2, itâ??s somewhat interesting. These are from my notes, so I may stand to be corrected, especially by Panu.

Of relevance â?? in August of 1939, Germany and Russia sign Treaty of Non-Aggression. Since they were â??alliesâ?� at the time â?? it precluded Germany from supporting Finland when the Soviets â?? out of frustration in non-compliance of the Finns (Germany and Russia in the Treaty of Non-Aggression â??splitâ?� up Denmark, Norway and Finland for themselves), and Russia invaded Finland in the winter of 1939 â?? commonly referred to as the â??Winter Warâ?� 1939-1940). As a side note â?? Britain had been negotiating and trying to offer military assistance to Finland before and for a short time â?? during the â??Winter Warâ?�)..

In early March, 1940 â?? Finland then signed a â??Treatyâ?� with Russia â?? and while Russia had only made small advances into Finland, in the Treaty she abdicated 10% of her land mass to the Russians (which there was a loud public outcry about at the time).

Soon after in April 1940 - Germany occupied Denmark and invaded Norway, and Norway capitulated in June of that same year. It was not until 1941 that Finland had any Luftwaffe field or flying troops, and according to the National Archives, as in June 1941, Germany invaded Russia and barely a week later - Finland declared war on their old rival the Soviets. Therefore, in June 1941 - Germany and Finland became "reluctant" Allies - which is when German Luftwaffe (field/flying/bases became prevelant in Finland) presence became a reality.

Now â?? about your HK and why all this is important - it precludes the chance that a "1936" was delivered to the FAF in 1936/1937..!! According to the records at the Finnish Air Force Museum in Tikkakoski, the British Imperial War Archives and historians, an initial order was placed in either November or December 1942 for thirty Me 109-G-2 fighters by Finland. In February 1943 17 (seventeen) Messerschmitt Me-109s were initially completed and started making their way to Finland and left the factory for Wiener Neustadt (one crashed en route â?? leaving a total of 16 to be initially delivered). With the Finnish pilot training at Wiener Neustadt Luftwaffe Base concluding in the first week of March 1943 - the newly trained Finn Pilots took off from Wiener Neustadt on March 10, 1943 and headed to Breslau â?? in possession of the first shipment of 16 aircraft - and their Lugers (see below). However - I do not know if the Finnish Pilots recieved their HKs at Wiener Neustadt - or - if they were included in the shipment of Me-109s as they left the factory, as there is no historical record to that point.

Further â?? in the records as delivered to Wiener Neustadt and accepted by the FAF, you will see that these remaining 16 were included with â??1 - small armsâ?� (it was translated for me â?? so I do not know if that is verbatim). I believe my source for that was the Tikkakoski archive, but I would need to check â??my notesâ?� â?? which are scattered all over the place. (Further, the following shipments of Me 109s apparently did NOT include Lugers â?? but, the remaining ship records are a mess for example: include airframe numbers which â??were deliveredâ?� but never existed?). Further, when the original shipment of 16 planes landed in Finland to their base, all articles were inspected and stamped as Finnish Military property (your â??SAâ?�) â?? and the FAF Insignia applied along with the FAF numbers.

In so far as HK having done this on previous occasions â?? yes, there is historical evidence as well that the Luftwaffe did previously with a shipment of aircraft to the Turkish Airforce (Early Series â??Sâ?� production).

However â?? the question you should have is why a â??1936â?� was delivered in 1943? My respected reply is that there is absolutely no documentation that exists (that I am aware of â?? in any form) â?? which states that all chamber dated HKs were delivered the year of the chamber dated stamp "for field use/troops". Further â?? based on the condition of many of the early HK production coupled with verified capture documents â?? Iâ??m somewhat convinced that not all HKs were field issued, but may have been passed out of the factory (so it counted towards the contract fulfillment) to a Luftwaffe facility. Is it then more then plausible that a â??1936â?� would appear un-issued as late as 1943? Yes â?? based on the evidence, I believe so â?? especially in a limited variation quantity of up to 30 pieces (again, I could write pages on this aspect alone â?? but I will spare you.)

Therefore â?? it sounds like your friend has an extremely rare HK. In fact, one of a production series of 2900 pieces - BUT a very rare variation of either â??16â?� or â??30â?� total, depending on how the second shipment of Me-109s were delivered and whether they included an HK (I would want factual archive information on the subsequent Me-109s delivered, which I have never found).

In either case, this is the second piece I am aware of in this variation. The first lives in Europe - and I verified that HK several years ago for that collector - from where the preponderance of this research stems (which originally took me months to conduct for that owner).