The Wasserkuppe ("water peak") is a high plateau (elevation 3100 ft), the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains within the German state of Hessen. Between the first and second World Wars, great advances in sailplane development were made there. It began in 1911 when students from the nearby Darmstadt Technical University began flying gliders from the Wasserkuppe. The interest in gliding in Germany increased greatly after the end of World War One (1918) when the Treaty of Versailles restricted the production or use of powered aircraft in the nation. From 1920 onwards, annual gliding competitions were held, leading to records being set and broken for height, distance, and duration of glider flight. During the Third Reich, gliding activities became largely controlled by the state, and for Hitler Youth pilots and their instructors, proficiency in gliding was the first step towards the Luftwaffe. Sailplane research was also nationalized under the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight). This 6-1/4 x 9-1/4 inch, 160-pages hardcover book, written by Fritz Stamer and published 1933 by Reimar Hobbing publishing house in Berlin, is one of the finest original Third Reich photo books on glider flying on the Wasserkuppe! It has 64 full page photos and is, except some repairable little damage at the back, in very good condition.