German Naval Aviation
German naval aviation is an air arm with no carrier and no fighters, concentrated on a single airfield at Nordholz, and it has just replaced almost everything it flies — the P-3C Orion gone in November 2025 after a modernisation that was abandoned when its costs stopped being calculable, the Sea King retired in 2024, the Sea Lynx going by the end of 2026, and the P-8A Poseidon, the NH90 Sea Lion and the NH90 Sea Tiger arriving in its place.
The German Naval Aviation story: no carrier, no fighters, one airfield — and a fleet replaced twice over
1913–1918: a cabinet order, twenty seaplanes and the Zeppelin sheds at Nordholz
German naval aviation began with a cabinet order of 3 May 1913 that set up an airship section at Berlin-Johannisthal and a group of aeroplanes at Putzig on the Baltic. When the war started in August 1914 the Kaiserliche Marine had about twenty usable seaplanes, fifteen civil machines taken over on mobilisation, and thirty trained naval flying officers. What it had instead of aeroplanes was airships, and the base it built for them was Nordholz, laid out from 17 December 1912 in the marshes behind Cuxhaven; the Zeppelin L 3 landed there on 2 September 1914 and the raids on England began from there in 1915. It is a strange founding story for a service that now hunts submarines: the first thing German naval aviation did at scale was bomb cities from lighter-than-air craft, badly and at ruinous cost in crews. On 23 June 1919, the day the fleet was scuttled at Scapa Flow, the ground crews at Nordholz destroyed six Zeppelins in their sheds rather than hand them over.
1935–1945: Göring takes the aeroplanes, and a carrier that never sailed
Between the wars the Reichsmarine officially had no naval aviation at all, and kept a hidden one through cover firms such as SEVERA. When rearmament came, the navy lost the argument that mattered: Hermann Göring’s principle that everything that flies belongs to him was applied to naval aviation too, and on 27 January 1939 the naval flying units passed formally to the Luftwaffe. What was left was a compromise. From 21 August 1939 tactical control of the coastal units went to the navy through two commands, Führer der Luft (West) at Jever and Führer der Luft (Ost) at Dievenow, and the shipboard flight, Bordfliegergruppe 196, put Arado Ar 196 floatplanes on the battleships and cruisers with a Luftwaffe crew and a Kriegsmarine observer. Germany went to war with sixteen seaplane squadrons and three carrier squadrons. The carrier they were meant to fly from, Graf Zeppelin, was laid down on 28 December 1936 and launched on 8 December 1938, and never carried an aeroplane; her air group, Trägergruppe 186, formed at Kiel-Holtenau in 1939 and was absorbed into ordinary Luftwaffe units. In 1942 the coastal squadrons were stripped to fill bomber wings, and in March 1944 the last maritime air command, Fliegerführer Atlantik, was folded into X. Fliegerkorps. The lesson the Bundesmarine drew from all of this was simple and is still the organising principle of the Marineflieger: a navy that does not own its own aircraft does not get any.
1956–1965: Sea Hawks, Gannets and a naval air arm built from nothing
The Bundesmarine therefore built an air arm of its own from the first year it was allowed to. The Kommando der Marineflieger was set up at Kiel-Holtenau on 16 July 1956, the 1. Marinefliegergruppe followed on 1 April 1957 at Jagel and the 2. Marinefliegergruppe on 1 April 1958, and the first aircraft were British: sixty-eight Hawker Sea Hawk Mk 100 and Mk 101 fighter-bombers delivered between November 1957 and February 1959, and sixteen Fairey Gannets — fifteen AS.4 and one T.5 trainer — which began flying from Jagel on 1 August 1958 as the arm’s first submarine hunters. Crews trained with the Royal Navy and the United States Navy because there was nobody in Germany left to teach them. It was a hard start. Fifteen Sea Hawks were written off between 1957 and 1965 and ten pilots were killed, which would have been a scandal in any other decade; it was about to be overtaken by something worse.
1963–1986: the Starfighter years, and what the Baltic mission really was
From the spring of 1963 the Marineflieger converted to the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, and took 168 of the 916 Starfighters delivered to the Bundeswehr. The type is remembered in Germany as the Witwenmacher, and the naval share of the crisis was real: MFG 1 alone flew about 112,000 hours on the F-104 and lost thirty-eight aircraft in major accidents with eleven pilots killed. What the naval Starfighters were actually for is less well known than the accident figures. They were the Baltic anti-shipping force — a low-level, single-pass strike arm meant to hit Warsaw Pact amphibious shipping in the narrows, first with French air-to-surface missiles and from 1977 with the German Kormoran sea-skimmer — while the RF-104G reconnaissance machines flew the Eastern Express sorties over the eastern Baltic to watch the Soviet and Polish fleets. MFG 1 gave up its Starfighters in 1981, MFG 2 in the summer of 1986.
1981–2005: the Tornado, the Kormoran, and the end of naval fighter-bomber flying
The Tornado replaced them, and the Marineflieger got it first: MFG 1 at Jagel took the Bundeswehr’s first aircraft in 1981 and became its first operational Tornado unit on 2 July 1982, ahead of the Luftwaffe. The navy received 112 of the 357 Tornados built for Germany, split between MFG 1 at Jagel and MFG 2 at Eggebek, armed with the Kormoran against ships and later with HARM against radars. The end came for political and budget reasons rather than operational ones. MFG 1 was disbanded on 31 December 1993, ten of its Tornados and its second squadron going to MFG 2; the decision to give up naval fighter-bombers altogether was taken in 2003, the last aircraft left Eggebek for Nörvenich in June 2005 and MFG 2 was deactivated on 9 August 2005. The maritime strike role went to the Luftwaffe wing at Jagel, which had inherited the airfield. Germany has had no naval combat aircraft since.
2006–2026: the Orion that cost a billion euros, and the fleet that replaced everything
What was left was maritime patrol and helicopters, and both have been rebuilt in the last three years after a long and unhappy interval. The Breguet Atlantic served from 1965 to 2005 and its five converted signals-intelligence aircraft to 20 June 2010. Their replacement was eight second-hand Dutch P-3C Orions, agreed on 13 July 2004 and contracted on 22 November 2004 for an estimated 366 million euros; the aircraft arrived at Nordholz in poor condition, costs passed a billion euros by 2014, the Bundesrechnungshof said so in public, and in 2025 the modernisation was abandoned because the total cost could no longer be calculated. The Orion went out of service on 20 November 2025, ten years earlier than planned, on the same day the first Boeing P-8A Poseidon was commissioned at Nordholz. The helicopters went the same way: the Sea King Mk 41 flew its last sortie on 15 August 2024 after 14,645 rescue missions and was replaced by eighteen NH90 Sea Lions, and the Sea Lynx Mk 88A, in service since 1981, past 120,000 flying hours and grounded fleet-wide twice, in 2014 and again from 2023, gives way to thirty-one NH90 Sea Tigers from January 2027. It is the most complete re-equipment in the arm’s history, and it happened because the previous attempt failed so expensively that doing nothing stopped being possible.
The German Naval Aviation in numbers
Service
- Native name
- Marineflieger
- The command is the Marinefliegerkommando at Nordholz
- Its two flying units are Marinefliegergeschwader 3 "Graf Zeppelin" and Marinefliegergeschwader 5
The word covers the whole air arm of the Deutsche Marine. It is not a separate service: the Marineflieger are part of the navy, and the navy is one of the Bundeswehr’s military branches alongside the Heer, the Luftwaffe, the Streitkräftebasis and the Cyber- und Informationsraum.
- Founded
- 16 July 1956 (origins 3 May 1913)The Kommando der Marineflieger was set up at Kiel-Holtenau on 16 July 1956 with the status of a brigade staff. The lineage runs back to the cabinet order of 3 May 1913 that created an airship section at Berlin-Johannisthal and an aeroplane group at Putzig, but the Bundeswehr does not treat itself as the continuation of either the Kaiserliche Marine’s or the Kriegsmarine’s flying service.
- Part of
- Deutsche MarineThree major commands make up the operational navy: Einsatzflottille 1 at Kiel, Einsatzflottille 2 at Wilhelmshaven and the Marinefliegerkommando at Nordholz. The naval air arm answers to the Marinekommando at Rostock and through it to the Inspekteur der Marine.
- Command lineage
-
- Kommando der Marineflieger, Kiel-Holtenau, 16 July 1956
- Division status from 7 February 1964; Marinefliegerkommando from 1 January 1967
- Marinefliegerdivision from 11 July 1969
- Flottille der Marineflieger from 1 April 1994, back to brigade level
- Disbanded 30 June 2006; wings placed directly under the Flottenkommando
- Marinefliegerkommando re-established at Nordholz on 8 October 2012
The 2006 disbandment left German naval aviation with no commander of its own for six years, which is one reason the P-3C programme drifted as long as it did. The 2012 re-establishment put both wings and every naval airframe back under a single one-star-equivalent command on one airfield.
- What it does not have
- No carrier, no fighters, no fixed-wing combat aircraftGerman naval fighter-bomber aviation ended on 9 August 2005 with the deactivation of Marinefliegergeschwader 2, and the maritime strike role passed to the Luftwaffe’s Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51 "Immelmann" at Jagel. The only German aircraft carrier ever launched, Graf Zeppelin, never embarked an aeroplane and was sunk as a target in 1947.
- Who flies what in Germany
-
- Marine — the NH90 NTH Sea Lion and the NH90 MRFH Sea Tiger, the P-8A Poseidon, the Sea Lynx and the Do 228 LM
- Heer — the NH90 TTH, the H145M LUH SOF and the H145 LUH SAR, and the Tiger
- Luftwaffe — no NH90 of any version
This trips up almost every published order of battle for Germany. The Luftwaffe operates no NH90: the tactical transport version belongs to the army and the two naval versions belong to the navy. The H145 LUH SAR that flies the national search and rescue service from Holzdorf, Niederstetten and Nörvenich is an army aircraft, not an air force one.
Strength
- Personnel
- about 2,500Roughly 2,500 military and civilian personnel across Marinefliegergeschwader 3 and Marinefliegergeschwader 5, plus a command staff of about seventy at the Marinefliegerkommando. The navy as a whole is about 16,000 strong, so naval aviation is close to a sixth of it.
- Aircraft
- about 45
- Maritime patrol — 3 P-8A Poseidon confirmed delivered, of eight contracted
- Pollution surveillance — 2 Dornier 228 LM
- Search and rescue and transport — 18 NH90 NTH Sea Lion
- Shipborne anti-submarine — about 22 Sea Lynx Mk 88A, out of service by the end of 2026
- Shipborne anti-submarine, incoming — NH90 MRFH Sea Tiger, first delivered 16 December 2025
A moving target in 2026, because three types are arriving and one is leaving in the same year. The Sea Lynx figure is the fleet total rather than the number flying; the type is in its run-down year.
- The Poseidon buy
- 8 contracted, 3 confirmed deliveredFive aircraft were contracted in June 2021 and finalised in September 2021 for about 1.31 billion dollars, and the Bundestag budget committee approved three more plus a simulator in November 2023, making eight. Three had been delivered by April 2026 and the navy expected two more by September 2026. Published cost figures differ because they count different things: the defence ministry has given about 3.1 billion euros for the programme, while a figure of about 2.4 billion euros circulates for the aircraft alone.
- Helicopters
- 18 Sea Lion, 31 Sea Tiger on contractEighteen NH90 NTH Sea Lion, contracted in 2015, with the last of them handed over at Donauwörth on 26 January 2023 and flown to Nordholz on 31 January. Thirty-one NH90 MRFH Sea Tiger are on order for the frigates of the F124, F125 and F126 classes, the first handed over on 16 December 2025 and the rest running to 2030.
- Serviceability
- the Wehrbeauftragte’s long-running complaintThe Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces reported repeatedly through the 2010s that the P-3C fleet could rarely put more than a fraction of its eight aircraft in the air, and the Bundesrechnungshof found the aircraft had been bought in poor technical condition. The Sea Lynx fleet was grounded in September 2014 over structural cracks in the tail rotor heads and flight restrictions were not fully lifted until January 2017. On charge and available have never been the same number in this arm.
- Ships that carry them
- frigates, corvettes and support shipsThe Sea Lynx and its Sea Tiger successor fly from the navy’s frigates; the Sea Lion flies from the Berlin-class replenishment ships and ashore on search and rescue. The navy has no aviation ship of its own beyond that — no carrier, no landing platform dock — which is why the whole arm is based ashore at one airfield.
Infrastructure
- Air stations
- 1
- Marinefliegerstützpunkt Nordholz (ETMN) — everything
German naval aviation flies from exactly one airfield. Kiel-Holtenau was given up in 2012, Eggebek closed in 2005, Jagel went to the Luftwaffe in the 1990s, and the Marinefliegerlehrgruppe left Westerland on Sylt in 1997. A helicopter detachment goes to sea in a ship rather than to another base.
- Runway
- 2,440 m at NordholzOne runway, 08/26, 2,440 by 45 metres in concrete, at an elevation of 23 metres. It is shared with a small civil airport, Cuxhaven-Nordholz, which uses the IATA code FCN.
- Closed naval air stations
- 5 in this dataset
- Kiel-Holtenau — MFG 5 moved out between June and November 2012 and the last naval aircraft left on 28 March 2013; now a civil airfield
- Eggebek — closed 2005, now a solar park
- Westerland on Sylt — naval training left in 1997, the last military unit in March 2006
- Seefliegerhorst Schleswig on the Schlei — a Luftwaffe seaplane station, the barracks given up in 2003
- Parow near Stralsund — the Volksmarine helicopter base, now the Marinetechnikschule
Jagel is not closed: it is an active Luftwaffe base and the wing there, Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51 "Immelmann", is the direct successor to the Marineflieger’s strike role.
- The museum next door
- Aeronauticum, NordholzThe German airship and naval aviation museum stands on the site of the old Zeppelin sheds beside the base. It has a Bréguet Atlantic and, since 2025, one of the retired P-3C Orions, which had to be moved by road from the airfield — the reason a good many people in Germany know Nordholz at all.
- Fleet base served
- Wilhelmshaven (Heppenser Groden)The largest German naval base, opened on 9 August 1968, about 292 hectares of which 96 are water, headquarters of Einsatzflottille 2 and home to the frigates the shipborne helicopters embark in. Nordholz is roughly seventy kilometres up the coast from it.
How the German Naval Aviation is organised
One command at Nordholz over two flying wings, and nothing else. German naval aviation had no commander of its own at all between 30 June 2006 and 8 October 2012, which is part of why the P-3C Orion programme was allowed to drift into a billion-euro failure with nobody in the navy owning it.
Marinefliegerkommando
The organic command of German naval aviation, at Nordholz, under the Marinekommando at Rostock. It owns every naval aircraft and both flying wings and is responsible for personnel, operations, technical and logistic support, and doctrine and training. Re-established on 8 October 2012, taking over the Abteilung M Air of the disbanded Flottenkommando; its own staff is about seventy. Commanded by Kapitän zur See Broder Nielsen since 18 November 2022.
Marinefliegergeschwader 3 "Graf Zeppelin"
The fixed-wing wing, formed on 1 June 1964 and named on 9 July 1967 after the airship pioneer whose sheds stood on the same ground. Wide-area maritime surveillance, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, and marine pollution monitoring with the Boeing P-8A Poseidon and two Dornier 228 LM. It will operate the MQ-9B SeaGuardian from 2028. Commanded by Kapitän zur See Oliver Ottmüller since 3 April 2020.
Marinefliegergeschwader 5
The helicopter wing, formed at Kiel-Holtenau on 4 January 1958 to meet West Germany’s ICAO obligation to provide air rescue, and at Nordholz since 2012. It runs maritime search and rescue over the North Sea and the Baltic with the NH90 NTH Sea Lion, provides the shipborne helicopters for the frigates with the Sea Lynx and now the NH90 MRFH Sea Tiger, and supports the naval special forces. Commanded by Fregattenkapitän Thorsten Werning since 5 September 2025.
Einsatzflottille 2
The surface flotilla at Wilhelmshaven whose frigates embark the naval helicopters. Aircraft do not belong to ships in the German Navy: a section of aircraft, crews and maintainers is assigned to a ship from MFG 5 for a deployment and returns to Nordholz afterwards.
Marinefliegergeschwader 1 und 2
The Baltic anti-shipping force. MFG 1 at Jagel from 1 April 1957 and MFG 2 at Eggebek from 1965, flying Sea Hawks, then 168 F-104G Starfighters, then 112 Tornado IDS with the Kormoran and later the HARM. MFG 1 was disbanded on 31 December 1993 and MFG 2 deactivated on 9 August 2005, ending German naval fighter-bomber aviation. The role passed to the Luftwaffe’s Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51 at Jagel.
Marinefliegerlehrgruppe
The naval air arm’s school, formed 1 April 1963 at Eckernförde, re-formed 1 October 1968 at Jagel and at Westerland on Sylt from 1972. It trained technical ground crews, flight safety and flight operations staff, and ran the sea survival courses for Bundeswehr and allied aircrew. Dissolved in 1997; its courses went to the Marinetechnikschule at Parow.
Marinehubschraubergeschwader 18 und Marinefliegergeschwader 28
The Volksmarine’s air arm. MHG 18 "Kurt Barthel" at Parow flew Mi-8s and amphibious Mi-14s for anti-submarine work, mine clearance and Baltic rescue, passed to the Bundeswehr on 3 October 1990 and flew on as the Marinehubschraubergruppe Parow until 29 September 1994. MFG 28 "Paul Wieczorek" at Laage, a Su-22M4 strike wing handed to the navy in the spring of 1990, was dissolved on 31 December 1990.
Bordfliegergruppe 196 und die Küstenfliegergruppen
Not part of this service’s tradition, and included for the record. From 27 January 1939 every German naval aircraft belonged to the Luftwaffe; the Kriegsmarine kept only tactical control of the coastal units, through Führer der Luft (West) at Jever and Führer der Luft (Ost) at Dievenow from 21 August 1939. Bordfliegergruppe 196 flew the Arado Ar 196 floatplanes from warship catapults with a Luftwaffe crew and a naval observer. The coastal squadrons were stripped in 1942 and the last maritime command was merged away in March 1944.
What the German Naval Aviation flies today
Every type on charge, linked to its Book of Beasts page where one exists. Counts are aircraft on the books, not aircraft available on a given day.
| Type | Role | In service | Since | Units | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing P-8A PoseidonIn service | Maritime patrol: wide-area surveillance, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare | 3 | 2025 | Marinefliegergeschwader 3 "Graf Zeppelin" | Three confirmed delivered by April 2026, of eight on contract.
MoreFive were ordered in June 2021 and the purchase finalised on 28 September 2021; the Bundestag budget committee approved three more plus a simulator in November 2023. The navy expected two more aircraft by September 2026, which would make five, but no public confirmation of the fourth and fifth was found, so the figure given here is the last confirmed count. |
|
| NHIndustries NH90 NTH Sea LionIn service | Search and rescue, personnel and materiel transport, special forces support and reconnaissance | 18 | 2019 | Marinefliegergeschwader 5 | Eighteen, all delivered. Contracted in 2015; the last was handed over at Donauwörth on 26 January 2023 and reached Nordholz on 31 January 2023. | |
| NHIndustries NH90 MRFH Sea TigerIn service | Shipborne anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare from frigates | 1 | 2025 | Marinefliegergeschwader 5 | One handed over on 16 December 2025, of thirty-one on contract, with deliveries running to 2030. No later delivery count could be confirmed for 2026. | |
| Westland Sea Lynx Mk 88AIn service | Shipborne anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare from frigates | 22 | 1981 | Marinefliegergeschwader 5, Marinefliegergeschwader 3 "Graf Zeppelin" | Twenty-two on charge of twenty-six procured — nineteen Mk 88 ordered from 1981 and seven newly built Mk 88A (83+20 to 83+26) ordered in 1988.
MoreThe survivors of the first batch carry 83+03 to 83+19. English-language sources give twenty-six introduced and twenty-four operational. The whole fleet had been brought to Mk 88A standard by early 2009. |
|
| Dornier 228 LMIn service | Maritime pollution surveillance | 2 | 1991 | Marinefliegergeschwader 3 "Graf Zeppelin" | Two aircraft. The first aircraft arrived in 1991 and flew with Marinefliegergeschwader 5 at Kiel-Holtenau; the second followed in 1997 with Marinefliegergeschwader 3 at Nordholz.
MoreThe present pair is 57+04, a Do 228-212 modernised in 2014 and 2015, and 57+05, a Do 228NG that replaced 57+01 when that aircraft was retired in 2012. |
On order
| Type | Ordered | First delivery | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing P-8A PoseidonOn order | 5 | 2026 | Five of the eight contracted still to come as of the last confirmed count in April 2026, with the fleet complete by 2028 or 2029 depending on the source.
MoreBeyond that, the Inspekteur der Marine said in April 2026 that a contract for four more aircraft, at a reported cost of about 1.8 billion euros, was close; that would make twelve, the figure the navy’s own Kurs Marine planning document asks for. The four extra aircraft are not counted here because they were not under contract at the verification date. |
|
| NHIndustries NH90 MRFH Sea TigerOn order | 30 | 2026 | Thirty of the thirty-one still to come after the first handover on 16 December 2025, with deliveries running to 2030 and the type taking over the shipborne anti-submarine role from January 2027.
MoreGermany is compressing the schedule so that aircraft to the Software Release 3 standard are available by 2029. |
|
| General Atomics MQ-9B SeaGuardianOn order | 8 | 2028 | Eight uncrewed maritime patrol aircraft ordered on 12 January 2026 for Marinefliegergeschwader 3 at Nordholz, after approval in December 2025, for long-endurance maritime surveillance and anti-submarine work with sonobuoys.
MoreThey enter service from 2028 and are meant to complement rather than replace the P-8A. They are also the answer to the shipborne drone capability the navy lost when the Sea Falcon programme was stopped in July 2024. |
Every type the German Naval Aviation has retired
24 types, from the Naval Zeppelins (L-class airships) to the Lockheed P-3C Orion CUP+. Peak figures are airframes taken on charge over the whole service life, not fleet strength on any one date.
| Type | Role | Peak | Served | Replaced by | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lockheed P-3C Orion CUP+ | Maritime patrol: anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and reconnaissance | 8 | 2006–2025 | Boeing P-8A Poseidon | Eight aircraft, bought second-hand from the Koninklijke Marine.
MoreDefence ministers Peter Struck and Henk Kamp agreed the deal on 13 July 2004 and the contract was signed on 22 November 2004; the first arrived at Nordholz on 17 March 2006 and all eight had been delivered by 30 June 2006. |
|
| Westland Sea King Mk 41 | Search and rescue, shipborne transport and utility | 22 | 1973–2024 | NHIndustries NH90 NTH Sea Lion | Twenty-two ordered, delivered between April 1973 and September 1974. One, 89+59, was lost in the North Sea on 17 November 1998; a second, 89+61, had been lost earlier and replaced. | |
| UMS Skeldar V-200 Sea Falcon | Shipborne uncrewed reconnaissance from corvettes | 2 | 2021–2024 | — | Two air vehicles and a control station in the development phase; three complete systems were to have been delivered from 2024 and never were. | |
| Bréguet Br.1150 M Atlantic SIGINT | Signals and electronic intelligence | 5 | 1972–2010 | Intended: RQ-4E Euro Hawk; in the event, the Bombardier Global 6000 PEGASUS | Five of the twenty German Atlantics were converted to the signals intelligence configuration. | |
| Bréguet Br.1150 Atlantic | Maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare | 20 | 1965–2005 | Lockheed P-3C Orion | Twenty aircraft ordered in 1963 and delivered between 1965 and 1968, the first operational example reaching Marinefliegergeschwader 3 on 26 January 1966. | |
| Panavia Tornado IDS | Anti-shipping strike, defence suppression and reconnaissance | 112 | 1981–2005 | Role transferred to the Luftwaffe’s Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51 "Immelmann" | One hundred and twelve of the 357 Tornados built for Germany went to the Marineflieger, split between Marinefliegergeschwader 1 at Jagel and Marinefliegergeschwader 2 at Eggebek. | |
| Dornier Do 28 D-2 Skyservant | Light transport, liaison and maritime pollution surveillance | — | 1972–1995 | Dornier 228 LM | German naval quantity not established here. | |
| Mil Mi-8T and Mi-8S | Transport, search and rescue and utility | — | 1974–1994 | — | Quantity in Bundeswehr naval service not established here. The Mi-8TB gunship variants taken over from the Volksmarine were converted to the transport configuration. | |
| Mil Mi-14PL and Mi-14BT | Anti-submarine warfare and mine countermeasures | 15 | 1979–1991 | — | Nine Mi-14PL anti-submarine helicopters from October and November 1979 and six Mi-14BT mine countermeasures machines from December 1985 and January 1986, all with the Volksmarine’s Marinehubschraubergeschwader 18 at Parow. | |
| Sukhoi Su-22M4 and Su-22UM3K | Naval strike and reconnaissance | — | 1990–1990 | — | Quantity on naval charge not established here.
MoreThe wing was transferred from the Luftstreitkräfte to the Volksmarine in the spring of 1990 and dissolved on 31 December 1990, and the aircraft passed with the rest of the NVA inventory to the Bundeswehr on 3 October 1990. |
|
| Lockheed F-104G and RF-104G Starfighter | Anti-shipping strike and tactical reconnaissance | 168 | 1963–1986 | Panavia Tornado IDS | One hundred and sixty-eight of the 916 Starfighters delivered to the Bundeswehr went to the Marineflieger, in strike and reconnaissance versions. | |
| Sikorsky SH-34G and SH-34J Seabat | Anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures and search and rescue | — | 1963–1975 | Westland Sea King Mk 41 | Exact German naval quantity not established here. The type flew just under 4,300 hours with Marinefliegergeschwader 4 alone. | |
| Dornier Do 27 | Liaison and light transport | — | 1958–1972 | Dornier Do 28 D-2 Skyservant | German naval quantity not established here. | |
| Percival Pembroke C.54 | Light transport and communications | — | 1958–1972 | Dornier Do 28 D-2 Skyservant | German naval quantity not established here. | |
| Grumman HU-16 Albatross | Search and rescue amphibian | — | 1959–1971 | Westland Sea King Mk 41 | German naval quantity not established here. | |
| Fairey Gannet AS.4 and T.5 | Anti-submarine warfare and maritime patrol | 16 | 1958–1966 | Bréguet Br.1150 Atlantic | Sixteen aircraft taken over in 1958 — fifteen AS.4 operational machines and one T.5 trainer. | |
| Hawker Sea Hawk Mk 100 and Mk 101 | Fighter-bomber, interceptor and reconnaissance | 68 | 1958–1965 | Lockheed F-104G Starfighter | Sixty-eight aircraft for the Bundesmarine — 34 Mk 100 and 34 Mk 101 — delivered between November 1957 and February 1959. | |
| Bristol Sycamore Mk 52 | Search and rescue and liaison helicopter | — | 1960–1965 | Sikorsky SH-34G | German naval quantity not established here. | |
| Saunders-Roe Skeeter | Light training and liaison helicopter | — | 1958–1960 | Bristol Sycamore Mk 52 | German naval quantity not established here. | |
| Arado Ar 196 | Shipborne reconnaissance and coastal patrol floatplane | — | 1938–1945 | — | Quantity not counted here: these aircraft belonged to the Luftwaffe, not to the Kriegsmarine, and are listed for the historical record only. | |
| Heinkel He 115, Dornier Do 18 and Blohm & Voss BV 138 | Coastal reconnaissance, minelaying and anti-shipping | — | 1939–1944 | — | Quantity not counted here: Luftwaffe aircraft under naval tactical control, listed for the historical record only. | |
| Naval Zeppelins (L-class airships) | Long-range maritime reconnaissance and strategic bombing | — | 1914–1919 | — | Quantity not counted here. Six were destroyed in their sheds at Nordholz by their own crews on 23 June 1919. | |
| Fouga CM.170 Magister | Jet training and liaison | 3 | 1958– | — | Three aircraft on the strength of Marinefliegergeschwader 2 in its early years. | |
| Piaggio P.149D | Basic training and liaison | — | 1958– | — | German naval quantity not established here. |
Where German naval aviation flies from — and the four airfields it has given up
Black pins are in use, hollow pins the stations the navy has left. There is exactly one active naval airfield in Germany. Kiel-Holtenau, the birthplace of the arm, lost its flying in 2012; Eggebek closed in 2005 and is now a solar park; Jagel went to the Luftwaffe; and the training group left Sylt in 1997.
| Base | ICAO | Status | Runway | Units and aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LaageMecklenburg-Vorpommern | ETNL | Active | 10/282,500 mconcrete and asphalt |
|
| Nordholz NavalNiedersachsen | ETMN | Active | 08/262,440 mconcrete |
|
| SchleswigSchleswig-Holstein | ETNS | Active | 05/232,439 mconcrete and asphalt07/252,460 mconcrete and asphalt |
|
| Wilhelmshaven Naval BaseNiedersachsen | Active | — |
|
|
| Kiel-HoltenauSchleswig-Holstein | EDHK | Closed 2012 | 08/261,260 m08L/26R450 mgrass |
|
| Westerland / SyltSchleswig-Holstein | EDXW | Closed 2006 | 14/322,120 mconcrete06/241,696 mconcrete |
|
| Eggebek NavalSchleswig-Holstein | ETME | Closed 2005 | 01/192,400 mconcrete |
|
| Schleswig-See seaplane stationSchleswig-Holstein | Closed 2003 | — |
|
|
| ParowMecklenburg-Vorpommern | ETPA | Closed 1995 | 09/27250 mconcrete09/27800 mgrass |
|
No air base matches that search.
Who is stationed where in the German Naval Aviation
Flying units by station, past and present. German naval helicopters do not belong to ships: a frigate leaving Wilhelmshaven takes an aircraft, its crew and its maintainers from Marinefliegergeschwader 5 at Nordholz for the length of a deployment and hands them back afterwards.
- MarinefliegerkommandoNaval aviation command · regular
- —
- Marinefliegergeschwader 3 "Graf Zeppelin"Graf Zeppelin · Naval maritime patrol wing · regular
- Boeing P-8A Poseidon, Dornier 228 LM
- 1. Fliegende Staffel MFG 3Maritime patrol squadron · regular
- Boeing P-8A Poseidon
- 2. Fliegende Staffel MFG 3Maritime patrol and surveillance squadron · regular
- Boeing P-8A Poseidon, Dornier 228 LM
- Marinefliegergeschwader 5Naval helicopter wing · regular
- NHIndustries NH90 NTH Sea Lion, NHIndustries NH90 MRFH Sea Tiger, Westland Sea Lynx Mk 88A
- Fliegende Staffel NTH Sea LionSearch and rescue and transport squadron · regular
- NHIndustries NH90 NTH Sea Lion
- Fliegende Staffel MRFH Sea TigerShipborne helicopter squadron · regular
- NHIndustries NH90 MRFH Sea Tiger
- Fliegende Staffel Mk 88A Sea LynxShipborne helicopter squadron · regular
- Westland Sea Lynx Mk 88A
- P-3C Orion squadron2006–2025
- Lockheed P-3C Orion
- Bréguet Atlantic squadrons1966–2010
- Bréguet Br.1150 Atlantic, Bréguet Br.1150 M Atlantic SIGINT
- Marine-Luftschiffabteilung1913–1919
- Naval Zeppelins (L-class airships)
- Taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 51 "Immelmann"Immelmann · Tactical air force wing · regular
- Panavia Tornado ECR
- Marinefliegergeschwader 11957–1993
- Panavia Tornado IDS, Lockheed F-104G and RF-104G Starfighter, Hawker Sea Hawk Mk 100 and Mk 101, Fairey Gannet AS.4 and T.5
- Marinefliegerlehrgruppe1968–1972
- —
- Marinefliegergeschwader 28 "Paul Wieczorek"1988–1990
- Sukhoi Su-22M4 and Su-22UM3K
- Einsatzflottille 2Surface fleet flotilla · regular
- Westland Sea Lynx Mk 88A, NHIndustries NH90 MRFH Sea Tiger, NHIndustries NH90 NTH Sea Lion
- Bordfliegergruppe 1961936–1945
- Arado Ar 196, Heinkel He 60
No unit matches that search.
German Naval Aviation milestones, 1914 to today
3 May: a cabinet order creates German naval aviation — an airship section at Berlin-Johannisthal and a group of aeroplanes at Putzig on the Baltic.
The purpose-built airship base at Nordholz, laid out from 17 December 1912, is finished; L 3 lands there on 2 September. The navy has about twenty usable seaplanes, fifteen commandeered civil machines and thirty trained flying officers.
23 June: on the day the fleet is scuttled at Scapa Flow, the crews at Nordholz destroy six Zeppelins in their sheds.
28 December: the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin is laid down. She is launched on 8 December 1938 and never carries an aeroplane.
27 January: naval flying units pass formally to the Luftwaffe. From 21 August tactical control of the coastal units returns to the navy through Führer der Luft (West) at Jever and Führer der Luft (Ost) at Dievenow. Germany enters the war with sixteen seaplane squadrons and three carrier squadrons; Trägergruppe 186 forms at Kiel-Holtenau.
March: Fliegerführer Atlantik is merged into X. Fliegerkorps and German naval aviation disappears from the order of battle. The coastal squadrons had already been stripped in 1942 to fill bomber wings.
16 July: the Kommando der Marineflieger is set up at Kiel-Holtenau, with the status of a brigade staff. The Bundesmarine will own its own aircraft this time.
1 April: the 1. Marinefliegergruppe forms at Jagel. Sixty-eight Hawker Sea Hawks are delivered between November 1957 and February 1959.
4 January: Marinefliegergeschwader 5 is set up at Kiel-Holtenau for search and rescue. 1 April: the 2. Marinefliegergruppe forms. 1 August: Fairey Gannet flying begins at Jagel.
Spring: MFG 1 converts to the F-104G Starfighter. 1 September: Marinefliegergeschwader 4 forms at Kiel-Holtenau on the SH-34; it lasts until 1 July 1969.
1 June: Marinefliegergeschwader 3 forms at Nordholz, taking the name "Graf Zeppelin" on 9 July 1967.
26 January: the first Bréguet Atlantic reaches MFG 3. 30 June: the Gannet is retired after more than 10,000 flying hours.
March: Joachim von Hassel, son of the president of the Bundestag, is killed flying an RF-104G of MFG 2. MFG 1 alone will lose thirty-eight Starfighters and eleven pilots.
The Sea King Mk 41 enters service; twenty-two are delivered between April 1973 and September 1974 and will fly 14,645 rescue missions.
The AS.34 Kormoran sea-skimming missile enters naval service on the Starfighter, replacing the earlier French air-to-surface weapons.
Summer: the Sea Lynx Mk 88 enters service with MFG 3. The first Tornado lands at Jagel, and on 2 July 1982 MFG 1 becomes the Bundeswehr’s first operational Tornado unit — before the Luftwaffe.
Summer: MFG 2 retires the last naval Starfighters and begins Tornado conversion on 11 September.
3 October: the Volksmarine’s Marinehubschraubergeschwader 18 at Parow and Marinefliegergeschwader 28 at Laage pass to the Bundeswehr. MFG 28 is dissolved on 31 December.
31 December: Marinefliegergeschwader 1 is disbanded at Jagel after 75,000 Tornado hours; ten aircraft and its second squadron go to MFG 2, and the airfield goes to the Luftwaffe.
29 September: the Marinehubschraubergruppe Parow flies its last Mi-8 sortie; it is dissolved on 30 April 1995.
The Marinefliegerlehrgruppe at Westerland on Sylt is dissolved; the Marinetechnikschule at Parow takes over its courses and uses part of the site until 2005.
13 July: the German and Dutch defence ministers agree the sale of eight P-3C Orions, contracted on 22 November. The first reaches Nordholz on 17 March 2006 and all eight by 30 June.
June: the last naval Tornados fly from Eggebek to Nörvenich. 9 August: MFG 2 is deactivated and German naval fighter-bomber aviation ends. The Atlantic maritime patrol version also leaves service.
30 June: the Flottille der Marineflieger is disbanded and the wings report directly to the Flottenkommando. German naval aviation has no commander of its own for six years.
20 June: 61+03, the last Atlantic SIGINT aircraft, flies its final sortie. German airborne signals intelligence lapses; Euro Hawk is cancelled in 2013 after about 700 million euros.
8 October: the Marinefliegerkommando is re-established at Nordholz. MFG 5 moves in from Kiel-Holtenau between June and November, putting the whole arm on one airfield.
September: the Sea Lynx fleet is grounded over structural cracks; flight restrictions are not fully lifted until January 2017. Total P-3C spending passes a billion euros.
26 January: the eighteenth and last NH90 NTH Sea Lion is handed over at Donauwörth and flown to Nordholz on 31 January. In November the Bundestag budget committee approves three more P-8As, making eight.
15 and 31 August: the Sea King Mk 41 makes its last landing and is retired. In July the Sea Falcon shipborne drone programme is stopped.
7 November: the first P-8A Poseidon, 63+01, lands at Nordholz. 20 November: the Poseidon is commissioned and the P-3C Orion retired in the same ceremony. 16 December: the first NH90 Sea Tiger is handed over.
12 January: eight MQ-9B SeaGuardian are ordered for 2028. In April a contract for four more P-8As is said to be imminent. The Sea Lynx flies its "End of an Era" farewell tour and is to be out of service by the end of the year.
German Naval Aviation news from Afterburner
Everything MiGFlug’s magazine has published on the German Naval Aviation and the aircraft it flies. This list refreshes itself — new Afterburner stories appear here automatically.
Everything people ask about the German Naval Aviation
What is German Naval Aviation?
Does Germany still fly the P-3C Orion?
How many P-8A Poseidons does Germany have?
Does the Luftwaffe operate the NH90?
Why does the German Navy have no fighter jets?
Did Germany ever have an aircraft carrier?
Who owned German naval aviation before 1945?
What happened to the German Sea Kings?
Where are German naval aircraft based?
What was the Atlantic SIGINT, and what replaced it?
How big is German naval aviation compared with its neighbours?
What is the Aeronauticum at Nordholz?
Read the aircraft the German Naval Aviation flew
Every type with a page in the Book of Beasts, in service first, then by the year it left the fleet.
Every fact, checked
- Bundeswehr: Marinefliegerkommandothe navy’s own page: about 2,500 personnel, two wings (MFG 3 fixed wing, MFG 5 helicopters) at Nordholz, and the current type list including the Sea Lynx being retired by the end of 2026
- Marineflieger.de: Waffensysteme — Fluggerätethe arm’s own equipment pages: P-8A and Do 228 LM with MFG 3, NH90 Sea Lion and Sea Tiger with MFG 5, MQ-9B SeaGuardian from 2028
- Bundeswehr: P-8A Poseidon — erster neuer Seefernaufklärer in Deutschland gelandetfirst of eight P-8A landed 7 November 2025, about 3.1 billion euros for the programme, remaining seven by 2029, MFG 3 at Nordholz, employment over the North Atlantic between Greenland, Iceland and the United Kingdom
- BAAINBw: Seefernaufklärer P-8A — Poseidon in Rekordzeit beschafftfive aircraft contracted June 2021, three more approved by the budget committee in November 2023 making eight, deliveries from the fourth quarter of 2025, roughly four years from contract to delivery
- CNV Medien: Erste P-8A Poseidon gelandet — historischer Tag für die Nordholzer Marineflieger63+01 landed at Nordholz on Friday 7 November 2025 ; second aircraft due in December, third in early 2026; eight planned by 2028
- CNV Medien: Nordholz feiert Indienststellung der P-8A Poseidon — und Ende der Orion-Äracommissioning of the P-8A and retirement of the P-3C on 20 November 2025, just under 28,500 Orion flying hours, officials named
- Janes: ILA 2026 — German Navy stands up Poseidon MMA capabilitythree P-8A delivered of eight contracted, expansion to twelve under consideration, first aircraft 63+01 arrived November 2025, remaining deliveries by 2029
- Sicherheit & Verteidigung: Beschaffung vier weiterer P-8A Poseidon steht kurz bevor23 April 2026: Vizeadmiral Jan Christian Kaack says a contract for four more is imminent at about 1.8 billion euros, to make twelve; eight ordered for about 2.4 billion, three delivered, two more expected by September 2026
- FLUG REVUE: Keine Modernisierung — Marineflieger mustern die P-3C Orion 2025 ausmodernisation cancelled over technical difficulties and incalculable total cost, retirement ten years early, rewinging of two aircraft still needed, MAWS planned for 2035
- bundeswehr-journal: Orion — bedingt einsatzbereit bei ausufernden KostenStruck and Kamp agreed 13 July 2004, contract 22 November 2004, first aircraft at Nordholz 17 March 2006 and all eight by 30 June 2006; 2004 estimate about 366 million euros; over a billion by 2014 (441.52 million acquisition, 573.3 million investment and maintenance); Bundesrechnungshof on poor technical condition; a further 904 million planned through 2020
- BAAINBw: Serienauslieferung des Sea Lion abgeschlosseneighteenth and final NH90 NTH Sea Lion handed over at Donauwörth on 26 January 2023 and at Nordholz on 31 January; ordered 2015; replaces the Sea King Mk 41
- ESUT: Bordhubschrauber NH90 Sea Tiger an die Truppe übergebenfirst Sea Tiger handed over 16 December 2025, 31 on order, deliveries through 2030, for the F124, F125 and F126 frigates, replacing the Sea Lynx Mk 88A in service since 1981
- bundeswehr-journal: Deutsche Marineflieger erhalten ihren ersten Sea Tigerhandover on 16 December 2025 at the defence ministry in Berlin, 31 helicopters for MFG 5 at Nordholz, dipping sonar, sonobuoys, electro-optical sensors, torpedo and anti-ship missile
- Bundeswehr: Nordholz — Hubschrauber Sea Lynx beendet Abschiedstour "End of an Era"4 August 2026: 45 years of Sea Lynx service from 1981, more than 120,000 flying hours, specially painted aircraft on a farewell tour, first Sea Tiger delivered December 2025
- marineforum: Der Lynx fliegt davon — Marine verabschiedet Bordhubschrauber22 Mk 88A in service, three lost in accidents, out of service by the end of 2026 with the Sea Tiger taking over from January 2027, airworthy airframes reported to be going to Ukraine
- bundeswehr-journal: Sea King Mk.41 der Marineflieger — Ende einer Ära22 ordered, delivered April 1973 to September 1974; 89+59 lost 17 November 1998; retired 31 August 2024; 14,645 SAR missions from 1975; 349 crew over 50 years; six to Ukraine announced January 2024
- bundeswehr-journal: Deutsche Marine verabschiedete sich vom Sea King Mk.41last landing at Nordholz on 15 August 2024
- Bundeswehr: Marine bekommt Drohnen zum Einsatz über Seeeight MQ-9B ordered 12 January 2026 from General Atomics for MFG 3 at Nordholz, maritime surveillance and anti-submarine work with sonobuoys, in service from 2028
- hartpunkt: Marine — Projekt mit Hubschrauberdrohne UMS Skeldar beendetAImEG programme cancelled after contractual milestones were missed; 25 million euro first phase approved April 2021, main contract with UMS Skeldar Sweden via ESG late 2021, total budget 80.3 million euros, three systems due from 2024, one air vehicle crashed in testing
- Augen geradeaus!: Marine stoppt Projekt für Hubschrauberdrohnen auf Korvettendates the cancellation of the Sea Falcon programme to July 2024
- CNV Medien: Nordholzer Marineflieger ab sofort unter neuem KommandoKapitän zur See Broder Nielsen took over the Marinefliegerkommando from Kapitän zur See Thorsten Bobzin on 18 November 2022 after 51 months
- Wikipedia (German, mirror): Marinefliegerfive Marinefliegergeschwader at the peak with up to 200 aircraft and helicopters; type list with service years for the Skeeter, Sycamore, H-34G, Sea King, Sea Lynx, Gannet, Atlantic, P-3C, Do 27, Pembroke, Do 28D-2, HU-16; MFG 28 at Laage 1988 to 31 December 1990
- MFG1.de: Waffensysteme — PA-200 Tornadothe Marineflieger received 112 of the 357 Tornados built for Germany; MFG 1 July 1982 to December 1993, more than 75,000 hours
- Key.Aero: When a navy operated Tornados112 Tornado IDS for the Bundesmarine, split between MFG 1 at Jagel and MFG 2 at Eggebek; the rest of the article is behind a paywall
- Pink Unicorn: Fliegen wo die Flotte fährt — die F-104G Starfighter der Bundesmarine168 of the 916 Starfighters delivered to the Bundeswehr went to the Marineflieger; MFG 1 and MFG 2 from the mid-1960s, MFG 2 to 1986; French air-to-surface missiles then the Kormoran from 1977; RF-104G Eastern Express reconnaissance sorties over the eastern Baltic
- Wikipedia (German, mirror): Seefliegerhorst Schleswigcoordinates 54° 31′ 16″ N, 9° 35′ 55.6″ E; built 1935 and inaugurated 1 October 1935; Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung 16 (See), battalion 1937, regiment 1940, 5. Luftwaffendivision by 1942; He 42, He 59, He 60, Dornier Wal and Junkers W 34; RAF Caterham Barracks, released mid-April 1953; Bundeswehr 1956 to 2003
- Military Airfield Directory: Parowcoordinates N54 22 09 E013 04 57, ICAO ETPA around 1985 to 1990, runways 250 m by 30 m concrete and 800 m by 60 m grass, MHG 18 "Kurt Barthel" with Mi-8S, Mi-8T, Mi-8TB, Mi-14BT and Mi-14PL in 1990, now the Naval Engineering School with a helipad
- Württembergische Landesbibliothek, Seekrieg: Seefliegerverbände 1939–4516 Seeflugzeugstaffeln and 3 Trägerstaffeln in 1939 under the General der Luftwaffe beim Oberbefehlshaber der Kriegsmarine, Generalmajor Hans Ritter; tactical control to the Kriegsmarine from 21 August 1939 under F.d.Luft (West) at Jever and F.d.Luft (Ost) at Dievenow; coastal squadrons drawn on in 1942 to fill and form bomber wings; Fliegerführer Atlantik merged into X. Fliegerkorps in March 1944
- OurAirports open data (airports and runways)coordinates, elevations and runway dimensions for EDHK Kiel-Holtenau and EDXW Westerland/Sylt
- Militärisches Luftfahrthandbuch Deutschland (MIL AIP)aerodrome reference points, elevations and runway data for the German military airfields in this dataset
- Bundeswehr: Marineflieger — Abschied vom Sea Kingthe last flight on 15 August 2024 after nearly fifty years, the figure of 14,645 search and rescue missions, the outstations on Borkum and Helgoland and at Warnemünde, the replacement by the NH90 Sea Lion, and the verbatim statements of Fregattenkapitän Thomas Richter, Kapitänleutnant Jonas Weinrich and Kapitän zur See Broder Nielsen
- Sicherheit & Verteidigung: Beschaffung vier weiterer P-8A Poseidon steht kurz bevorfive aircraft ordered in June 2021 for about 2.4 billion euros, three more in November 2023, four further aircraft at an estimated 1.8 billion euros in preparation and a long-term goal of twelve, and the delivery state in 2026
- Nordsee-Zeitung: Schreckmomente in der MFG3-Geschichte — Flugunfall auf der Landebahn in Nordholzthe 1978 crash and fire of Bréguet Atlantic 61+07 on the runway at Nordholz, described as the first serious accident to the type in German service; the article as consulted does not give casualty figures
Figures verified 2026-09-20. Order of Battle pages are regenerated from a single dataset; if a number here disagrees with a Book of Beasts page, this page is the more recent of the two.
Photographs: Photo: U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Edgar Grimaldo / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Photo: André Gerwing / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: Steve Lynes from Sandshurst, United Kingdom / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) · Photo: Alan Wilson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: bertknot from scarborough, australia / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: Alan Wilson from Stilton, Peterborough, Cambs, UK / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: Colin Cooke Photo / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: Alan Wilson from Weston, Spalding, Lincs, UK / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: Cameron11598 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: calflier001 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Photo: Gerard van der Schaaf / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) · Photo: Jerry Gunner from Lincoln, UK / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) · Photo: Boevaya mashina / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Photo: AlfvanBeem / Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · Photo: Unknown authorUnknown author / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Photo: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain) · Photo: Photographer oscar S. Olsen. Photo tagged as Public domain by the National Libra / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)