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Luftwaffe

American  
[looft-vahf-uh] / ˈlʊftˌvɑf ə /

noun

German.
  1. air force.


Luftwaffe British  
/ ˈlʊftvafə /

noun

  1. the German Air Force

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Luftwaffe Cultural  
  1. The German air force in World War II. (See blitzkrieg and Battle of Britain.)


Etymology

Origin of Luftwaffe

C20: German, literally: air weapon

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Germany this time is personified by a defendant: Hermann Göring, head of the Luftwaffe and second only to the Führer in the military command.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025

At 21, he was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, a three-month period when air force personnel defended the skies against a large-scale assault by the German air force, the Luftwaffe.

From BBC • Mar. 17, 2025

In September 1938, just as the Munich crisis was heating up, he told the French government that the Luftwaffe possessed 8,000 aircraft and could produce 1,500 per month.

From Salon • Sep. 21, 2024

One B-17 survives Luftwaffe attacks and crash-lands in Northern Africa.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2024

When they spotted a group of German bombers, Lilya followed her leader straight into such a forceful attack that the Luftwaffe aircraft scattered.

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein