Luftwaffe document fonts or typefaces

[Richard T Eger]

From 12 O'Clock High!:

Gordon
What font do the original LW docs use?
Sun Sep 23 04:30:10 2001


I can't seem to find the exact font -- does anyone have it..?

Thanks in advance.
v/r
Gordon

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Jim P.
Re: What font do the original LW docs use?
Sun Sep 23 04:50:57 2001


Not exactly sure what you mean, but the original LW docs were typed --which I think should equate to a Courier type font. Now whether todays Courier equates to that of 55+ years ago is another story. It would also seem that German typewriters of that time also included umlauted characters.

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Rabe Anton
German Typefaces
Sun Sep 23 21:43:17 2001


The term to be applied is, I believe, typefaces and not fonts.

I may be reading too much into what Jim Perry has written, but I would suggest that the modern Courier typeface was not the standard for German typewriters during the World War II period—indeed, Courier may not even have existed then. So far as I can tell, Courier was introduced as the corporate standard typeface by IBM for its Selectric typewriters in the 1960s and later. During the wartime era and for long after, American and British typewriters featured variations of a traditional typewriter face in either pica (12 pt.) or elite (10 pt.). German faces of the war period appear similar to those of the U.S. and G.B., but what the typographers would title them is beyond me.

RA

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Gordon
ok, thats a good answer - thanks. n/t
Mon Sep 24 00:22:15 2001

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Lars Sundin
Re: What font do the original LW docs use?
Sun Sep 23 08:22:53 2001

As to the font, I guess there was no formal standard, even if a certain "department" within the Luftwaffe or RLM probably tried to keep to one and the same.

As to characters available with the keys I think the German keyboard you can see on http://humansciences.king.ac.uk/crc/intkeyboards.shtml is fairly represenative for what was used 60 years ago. At least it shows how the "umlaut characters" were easily rendered with each one having a key of its own. Note also that the "sharp s" (which Swedes learn to call "double s" when they learn the language) has a key of its own.

You may compare the German keyboard with the French one and see the significant differences with respect to the " French accented characters" which are given each one a key.

It seems that German WW2 documents have sometimes been easily detected as false because the forger lacked basic knowledge of the German alphabet and language.

Regards/Lars

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Gordon
very good point --
Mon Sep 24 00:07:39 2001


-- I have seen some of those lousy forgeries myself. On Ebay recently, some joker was selling "Scnaufer's" IC2, and to prove it, the date it was awarded was roughly inscribed on the back. The forger was not the brightest bulb in the bunch, as he inadvertantly inscribed the manner in the US/British order instead of the German way of giving dates. Of course, the seller feigned full innocense and passed along his red herring to an uneducated buyer that will probably someday pass along"Schnaufer's Iron Cross" to some other dupe.

v/r
Gordon

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Christoph Vernaleken
Fonts...
Sun Sep 23 09:34:47 2001


Dear Gordon,

most factory and RLM documents were simply done on a typewriter. As I am not a typography expert, I cannot tell you the exact differences between Windows fonts like Courier new and WWII German typewriter. If you want to forge WWII documents, I suggest finding out what typewriter models werre commonly used in WWII Germany and buying one via ebay (just kidding). Quite interesingly, I found that many Junkers technical documents use 'ss' instead of the special character 'ß', called "sz" in Germany, which only exists in lowercase letters. I have not really paid attention to the Umlauts, but I think I would have noticed if they had been paraphrased by 'ae', 'oe' and 'ue' (instead of ä, ö and ü).
Nowadays, in CAPTIAL LETTERS, we mostly 'SS', while it becomes evident fom some facsimiles of telegrams that people obviously used "SZ".
The aircraft manuals which Junkers issued were often set and printed at C. Dünnhaupt KG in Dessau; the font that was used is, in my experience, cloeses to the font "Century Gothic" in the bold face. I think that font ships with Microsoft Office.
Hope this is of some help.

Cheers,

Christoph

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Gordon
Forge? no - here is my reason
Mon Sep 24 00:20:54 2001


I am writing a book, together with two primary partners and a whole host of helpers and kind souls. Almost all of the documents that we use in our research features a very similar font, familiar to anyone in this branch of study.

My intention, if I can determine the correct font, is to type our manuscript in that type style.

I am no forger, sir. My evenings are filled with quite enough old paper already -- I certainly don't need to make more.

v/r
Gordon

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Christoph Vernaleken
I was REALLY just kidding...
Mon Sep 24 09:29:49 2001


Hey Gordon,

I was really just kidding - for pretty much the same reasons as you, I have tried to find out what the font in the Junkers manuals was to use it on my website. Did not in the least mean to accuse you of forging.
By the way, what subject will your book be on? Perhaps we can exchange documents, as I am also working on a book together with a Viennese friend.

Cheers,

Christoph

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Andreas Brekken
Try to find Adler typewriter fonts
Mon Sep 24 21:35:36 2001


Hi, Gordon.

I believe You should look for typewriter fonts made to look like the ones produced by typewriters from among others the "Adler" company.

Fitting name, not??

They are still in the business today, the Adler was originally a license built Wellington Parker Kidder for the German market. I have been told that they made large numbers of these...

If You find what You are looking for, pls let me know. I have looked through hundreds of free so-called typewriter fonts, but haven't found an exact match yet. A lot of the font artists seems to like to make the image of a worn-down typewriter, I would like to have one with fresh types and ribbons...

Regards,

Andreas

[Richard T Eger]

From TOCH!:

Gordon
great advice - thanks Andreas! n/t
Mon Sep 24 21:54:21 2001