Air Force (German Empire)

Air Force
National emblem 1914–1916
active	1913 to 1918
Country	German Empire
Armed forces	German army
Armed forces	Air Force
Type	Armed forces
Wars	First World War
insignia
National emblem 1918

The air forces of the German Empire during the First World War consisted of units of the contingent army ; Sea pilots and naval airships, on the other hand, were subject to the Imperial Navy .

Until 1918 the air force consisted of:

• the air force
• the airship force
• the weather service
• the anti-aircraft artillery
• the military air defense

These included the corresponding units of the Army under the Inspector of the Flieger (IdFlieg) and the Airship (IdLuft), later combined under the Commanding General of the Air Force (Kogenluft) . The units of the navy, however, were subordinate to the Reichsmarineamt .

During the First World War, their aviators and airships fought on all fronts ( Western , Eastern , Balkans , Italy , Dardanelles , Palestine / Sinai , Caucasus , Mesopotamia ), in the colonies ( East Africa , South West Africa , Tsingtau ) and, based on warships, on high Lake.

They led air war (war in the air war from the air); the reconnaissance of ground targets from the air (" aerial reconnaissance ") had a strong influence on warfare.

With the military defeat at the end of 1918 and the dissolution of the German Empire, all air and airship troops in the army and navy were demobilized. Until 1919, individual aviators and units still served in the Freikorps as well as in the Baltic States and in border guards. According to the provisions of the Versailles Treaty (signed by the Germans on June 28, 1919 under protest), military aviation in Germany came to a standstill from 1919. The remaining material was delivered to the Allies, sold or scrapped.

From the beginning to the First World War

As early as 1884, the Prussian Army set up the first Ballondétachement (détachement = unit), which in 1887 resulted in an airship department.

In 1896 the Parseval - Sigsfeld - tethered balloon with 600 m³ gas volume and air chambers inflated by winds was introduced. In contrast to the spherical balloons, these balloons, also known as " kites ", were more stable in the wind due to their construction and could therefore be better used as an observation platform.

In 1901 the field airmen of the airship troops received the first airship battalion , which was housed at the Döberitz location ; however, the airships operated from Berlin-Staaken .

There followed in 1906 the establishment of the "Trial Company for Motor Airship Travel" under Major Hans Groß .

In 1910 the aircraft found its way into German military aviation. The first military pilots were trained from May 1910 at the expense and organized by Walther Huth (a founder of the Albatros Flugzeugwerke ) on a Farman III imported from France . The first flight instructor of the “Provisional Military Aviation School Döberitz” , which was officially opened on May 1st, was the civilian Simon Brunnhuber , whom Huth had previously trained as a pilot with Hubert Latham . The commanding officer was Captain Wolfram de le Roi . Brunnhuber's training in 1910 was accident-free. The Farman III, which Huth had previously given the military free of charge, was then purchased on December 18, 1910 as the first German military aircraft with the army designation "B 1". Among the first trained officers were First Lieutenant Franz Geerdtz (1877-1958) and the lieutenants Walter Mackenthun , Rudolf Freiherr von Thüna (1887-1936) and Eugen von Tarnóczy .

In 1911, under Major General Karl Heinrich von Hänisch , the Inspectorate of Military Aviation and Motor Vehicles (ILuK) was formed under Major General Wilhelm Messing , to whom the air force and airship troops were assigned. Before the First World War, the pilots demonstrated their practical skills in the “ Prince Heinrich flights ”, among other things .

In 1912 the Royal Prussian Air Force with subordinate Saxon and Wuerttemberg Détachement emerged within the Prussian Army, plus the Air Force of the Bavarian Army (see 1. Royal Bavarian Air Force Battalion ) and finally the sea ​​pilots of the Imperial Navy. The latter were also set up in 1913 and consisted of naval aviation and naval airship divisions .

On October 1, 1913, the inspection of the aviation troops (IdFlieg) and the inspection of the airship troops (IdLuft) were founded, which were subordinate to the General Inspector of Military Transport and the ILuK and which the air and airship battalions of the Prussian army including the sovereign units of Saxony and Württemberg - with the exception of Bavaria  - led. The first “IdFlieg” was Lieutenant Colonel, later Colonel Walter von Eberhardt ; the first "IdLuft" was Colonel Kuno Friedrich von Barfus . As part of the army reinforcement, the aviation forces had grown to four aviation battalions with twelve companies , distributed over eleven stations.

From 1914, the German military aircraft were divided into A and B aircraft, and later into other categories.

Development of the German air force 1914–1918

mobilization

When war broke out 33 Feldflieger departments and were from the now existing five airmen battalions 7 ¹ / ₂  fortress flyer departments, each with six or four aircraft placed to five airmen spare departments and eight stage aircraft fleet, which had to ensure the supply of personnel and aircraft. All private and commercial aircraft in the industry were confiscated . At the beginning of the war, the army had 254 pilots and 271 observers at its disposal, as well as around 270 biplanes and 180 monoplanes , of which only 295 were usable in the war. The Navy had a naval aviation division in strength of 217 men with 32 aircraft and four flying boats including the training machines ; However, only twelve seaplanes and one land plane could be used in the field. In August 1914 there were two ( German South West Africa ) and one piloted aircraft ( German East Africa ) in the colonies . A few weeks before the start of the war, two aircraft arrived in the Kiautschou leased area .

In the course of mobilization , the air force and airship force carried out a deployment plan within just five days, which provided for the assignment of airmen to Army High Command (AOK) or Army Corps:

Command level	Location	unit	leader	Location
OHL	Berlin	Airship Z.VI	Hptm. Kleinschmidt	Cologne
		Airship Z.VII	Captain Jacobi	Baden-Oos
		Airship Z.VIII	Hptm. Andrée	trier
		Airship Z.IX	Hptm Horn	Dusseldorf
		Airship Viktoria Luise	Lt. Lampertz	Frankfurt am Main
Cologne Governorate	Cologne	Fortress Aviation Department 3	Captain Volkmann	Cologne
Germersheim governorate	Germersheim	Fortress Aviation Department (b)		Germersheim
	Germersheim	Feldluftschiffer-Squad 1 (b)		Germersheim
1st Army ( from Kluck )	Grevenbroich	Field Aviation Division 12	Hptm. Von Detten	Grevenbroich
	Grevenbroich	Airship Department 1	Master of Zychlinski	Grevenbroich
II Army Corps	Erkelenz	Field Aviation Division 30	Hptm	Rheydt
III. Army Corps	Bergheim	Field Aviator Division 7	Hptm. Grade	Elsdorf
IV Army Corps	Jülich	Field Aviation Division 9	Hptm Musset	Aachen Forest
Stage inspection 1	Aachen	EtFlzPk 1	Maj. Gundel, Olt. bird	Dusseldorf
2nd Army ( von Bülow )	Montjoie	Field Aviation Division 23	Master of Falkenstein	Yards
	Montjoie	Airship Department 2	Captain Spangenberg	Aachen
Guard Corps	Malmedy	Field Aviation Division 30	Hptm. Von Oertzen	Thirimont
VII Army Corps	Eupen	Field Aviation Department 1	Hptm. Of Gersdorf	Eupen
IX. Army Corps	Aachen	Field Aviation Department 18	Captain Wilberg	Aachen fire
X Army Corps	Schleiden	Field Aviation Division 11	Hptm. Geerdtz	Call
Stage inspection 2	Bonn	EtFlzPk 2	Maj. Holl	Hangelar
3rd Army ( von Hausen )	Prüm	Field Aviator Department 22	Master of Blomberg	St. Vith
	Prüm	Airship Department 7	Hptm. Menzel	Niederprüm
XI. Army Corps	St. Vith	Field Aviation Department 28	Hptm. Freytag	Wallerode
XII. Army Corps	Waxweiler	Field Aviator Department 29	Master of Jena	Ober-Beslingen
XIX. Army Corps	Neuerburg	Field Aviation Division 24	Hptm. Von Minkwitz	Neuerburg
Stage inspection 3	Mayen	EtFlzPk 3	Maj. Mardersteig	Low-ended
4th Army ( Duke Albrecht )	trier	Field Aviator Department 6	Master of Dewall	Trier-yours
	trier	Airship Department 3	Hptm. Schoof	trier
VI. Army Corps	Nennig	Field Aviation Division 13	Hptm. Streccius	Dillingen
VIII Army Corps	Luxembourg	Field pilot division 10	Hptm. Dumbbell man	Trier-yours
XVIII. Army Corps	Luxembourg	Field Aviation Department 27	Hptm. Keller	Conc
Stage inspection 4	Kirn	EtFlzPk 4	Maj. Goebel	trier
5th Army ( Crown Prince Wilhelm )	Saarbrücken	Field Aviation Department 25	Hptm. Blum	Dillingen
	Saarbrücken	Airship Department 4	Captain Stottmeister	Saarbrücken
V. Army Corps	Catfish catch	Field Aviation Department 19	Master of Poser	Beaumarais
XIII. Army Corps	Diedenhofen	Field Aviation Department 4	Hptm. Haehnelt	Nieder-Jeutz
XVI. Army Corps	Metz fortress	Field pilot division 2	Captain Kirch	Metz
Stage inspection 5	Homburg	EtFlzPk 5	Olt. Pohl	Homburg
Metz Governorate	Metz	Fortress Aviation Department 1	Master of Kleist	Metz-Frescaty
	Metz	Feldluftschiffer-Troop 18	Olt. Rudersdorf	Metz-Frescaty
	Metz	Feldluftschiffer-Troop 19	Olt. Neidhardt	Metz-Frescaty
	Metz	Feldluftschiffer-Troop 20	Olt. Wolfenstetter	Metz-Frescaty
	Metz	Feldluftschiffer-Troop 21	Olt. Schmitt	Metz-Frescaty
Diedenhofen governorate	Diedenhofen	Feldluftschiffer-Troop 22	Olt. Moller	Diedenhofen
6th Army ( Crown Prince Rupprecht )	St. Avold	Field Aviation Department 5	Captain Kerksieck	St. Avold
	St. Avold	Bavarian Airship Department	Captain Lochmüller	St. Avold
XXI. Army Corps	Dieuze	Field pilot department 8	Olt. Jermann	Buhl
I. Bavarian Army Corps	Saarburg	Field pilot division 1b	Hptm. Erhardt	Buhl
II. Bavarian Army Corps	Falkenberg	Field Aviation Department 2b	Rittm. Count Wolffskeel	Falkenberg
III. Bavarian Army Corps	Short	Field Aviation Department 3b	Captain Pohl	Urville / Metz
Stage inspection 6b	Homburg	EtFlzPk 6b	Olt. Hiller	Zweibrücken
7th Army ( von Heeringen )	Strasbourg	Field Aviation Department 26	Hptm. Walter	Strasbourg
	Strasbourg	Airship Department 6	Captain Kalsow	Strasbourg
XIV Army Corps	Muellheim	Field Aviation Department 20	Hptm. Barends	Freiburg i. Br.
XV. Army Corps	Strasbourg	Field Aviation Department 3	Hptm. Genée	Strasbourg
Stage inspection 7	Appenweiler	EtFlzPk 7	Maj. Siegert	Baden / Oos
Strasbourg Governorate	Strasbourg	Fortress Aviation Department 2	Master of Falkenhayn	Strasbourg
	Strasbourg	Field Airship Squad 14	Captain Batzer	Strasbourg
	Strasbourg	Feldluftschiffer-Troop 15	Rittm. Bartmann	Strasbourg
Neu-Breisach governorate	New Breisach	Field Airship Squad 13	Olt. Pachmayr	New Breisach
8th Army ( from Prittwitz and Gaffron )	Marienburg	Field Aviation Department 16	Hptm. Schmoeger	Graudenz
	Marienburg	Airship Department 3	Captain Schellbach	Koenigsberg
	Marienburg	Airship Z.IV	Hptm. Von Quast	Koenigsberg
I. Army Corps	Gumbinnen	Field Aviation Division 14	Hptm. Heinrich	Insterburg
XVII. Army Corps	German Eylau	Field Aviation Department 17	Hptm. Dincklage	German Eylau
XX. Army Corps	Allenstein	Field Aviation Division 15	Hptm. Donat	Allenstein
3rd Reserve Division	Hohensalza	Fortress Aviation Department 7	Hptm. Von der Goltz	Soldering
Koenigsberg Governorate	Koenigsberg	Fortress Aviation Department 5	Hptm. Lölhöffl	Koenigsberg
	Koenigsberg	Field Airship Squad 1	Olt. by Kyckbusch	Koenigsberg
Graudenz governorate	Graudenz	Fortress Aviation Department 6	Olt. Thunderstorm	Graudenz
	Graudenz	Feldluftschiffer-Troop 26	Master of Gellhorn	Graudenz
Poznan Governorate	Poses	Fortress Aviation Department 4	Rittm. from Hantelmann	Poses
	Poses	Field Airship Squad 5	Captain Meyer	Poses
	Poses	Airship ZV	Master of Quast	Poses
Thorn Governorate	Thorn	Airship Squad 23	Captain Granier	Thorn
	Thorn	Feldluftschiffer-Troop 24	Olt. link	Thorn
	Liegnitz	Airship SLII		Liegnitz

War effort

The army's aviation departments, which remained logistically and technically assigned to IdFlieg and thus to the home organization, were now subordinated to the general or army high command or the fortress commanders, led and deployed from there. As early as 1912, a memorandum had therefore called for uniform leadership of the air force under its own command. Instead, it quickly became apparent that the interaction between aviators and ground troops in operational use made completely different demands on transport and supplies, which inevitably resulted in countless organizational conflicts. The head of IdFlieg, Colonel Walter von Eberhardt , still organisationally under the General Inspectorate of Military Transport (GI), and there again subordinated to the Subordinate Inspection of Military Aviation and Motor Vehicles (ILUK), tried unsuccessfully to avoid the confusion of frontal stages - and home organization to control. To this end, he presented the problems to the Chief of the General Staff and requested that a "Chief of Field Aviation " be established at the Supreme Army Command (OHL) and " Commanders of the Aviators " at the army level, but the Chief of the General Staff did not understand. who rejected Eberhardt's request on August 27, 1914. This delayed the necessary reorganization of the air force by almost two years. Major Richard Roethe, who succeeded Colonel von Eberhardt in office, could not solve this dilemma.

It quickly became apparent that the replacement departments would not be able to meet the need for qualified personnel such as pilots, observers and fitters. On August 12, 1914, the first officer of the German air force, Leutnant der Reserve Reinhold Jahnow from FFA 1. By October 1914, about 100 aircraft were lost and 52 pilots died. A call for volunteers on August 12, 1914 in favor of the air force produced 15,000 reports; Here it was said: “... The reports from war volunteers, as with all weapons, also with the air force, far exceed the current requirement. However, a particularly careful selection must be made here and many of those selected will have to step back in the course of their training. It is therefore important from the outset to hire the suitable as war volunteers, i. H. Those who, in addition to the required intelligence and capable character traits, in particular also have previous knowledge of the operation and maintenance of aircraft engines. Such personalities will be found among the students of technical universities and other technical schools who have turned to this special subject. In addition, experienced mechanics and fitters are needed. War volunteers report to the Royal Inspection of the Air Force in Berlin-Schöneberg , Alte Kaserne (Fiskalische Strasse), foreigners in writing , for training as pilots or for hiring as auxiliary fitters . "

On August 18, 1914, at the suggestion of the Air Force Inspector , the Ministry issued an order to all General Commands to report suitable candidates from active, reserve and military officers , primarily the balloonists, to the inspection. Flight schools were set up based on the aircraft factories, and an aviator replacement department 5 was set up in Hanover .

The available delivery capacity of around 50 airframes per week, 18 in- line and 6 rotary engines per month was absolutely inadequate, and the supply route was not organized.

Deliveries to the army, the navy and the Austro-Hungarian allies competed with each other, control centers at command level that could determine the material requirements and convert them into requirements did not exist. As a result, the aviation departments organized "motor vehicle expeditions " to the aircraft factories and procured new machines ex works. The overview and thus the appropriate and efficient disposition of replenishment requirements, material inflow and stock was lost. Ultimately, the interests of the federal states also hindered efficiency: Bavaria had its own aviation departments and developed its own stage organization under the direction of its own inspection, Württemberg had a particularly large number of technically trained staff due to its engine industry that was lacking in other units, and Saxony also insisted on its own units. Only the naval aviators remained centrally assigned to the Reichsmarineamt without being part of the country team.

A parliamentary commission made up of the well-known center politician Matthias Erzberger and the MPs Dr. Hermann Paasche , Freiherr Karl von Gamp-Massaunen , Count von Oppersdorf , Schulz-Bromberg, Count von Westarp and Dr. Otto Wiemer , took care of improvements in cooperation with the army, naval administration and industry. About 6,000 workers and specialists were released from military service, license agreements for the production of foreign products were adapted, captured material was made available, raw materials were assigned and flight officers were assigned to the technical inspection of the aircraft. A coordination center should prevent problems between military and industrial planning.

Course of war

1914

The importance of aviators became apparent as early as the first days of the war, especially in aerial reconnaissance . The skepticism of the troop leaders and commanders first turned into recognition and then very quickly into demands - everywhere there were calls for the deployment of airplanes and the formation of further units. Close cooperation between fighting troops, command posts and airmen was necessary; At the Army High Command (AOK) level, therefore, from October 1914, at first inconsistently and improvised, aviation staff officers (Stofl) were deployed to advise the army commanders.

Tactically, in addition to pure eye and makeshift photo reconnaissance, the fire control of the artillery came out of the air, especially since the superiority of the Armée de l'air in particular quickly came to light. The Chief of the General Staff therefore demanded that IdFlieg provide appropriate forces and aircraft as quickly as possible. The fortress aviation detachments were strengthened to six aircraft from October 1914 and converted into field aviation detachments . On September 28, the first “over-planned” aviation department (FlAbt 31) was set up and relocated from Berlin-Johannisthal to the Eastern Front. By the end of November 462 new aircraft had been delivered to the air force. In the meantime, the delivery took place via intermediate depots in Cologne, Trier, Saarburg, Graudenz and Posen.

As recently as September 17, 1914, the Frankfurter Zeitung had written: “Based on previous experience, the aerial warfare itself can be described as a utopia . The task of the aviator is to see, but not to fight, and the French aviators also follow this principle. ”The military authorities had not expected the bitter fighting in the air (“ aerial combat ”), although the aviation pioneer and designer August Euler on 24 July 1910 submitted a patent which was also granted to him on June 25, 1912 under the DRP 248601 and which had already issued an aircraft with a built-in MG at the ILA in 1911 . The French aircraft designer Gabriel Voisin exhibited his biplane Voisin Standard equipped with a machine gun at the Aerosalon 1910 in Paris in October 1910 ; it is believed to be the world's first armed aircraft.

The French Aéronautique Militaire , on the other hand, had already consistently begun to equip its Farman and Voisin bombers with machine guns and light guns; these rather slow machines, which were unsuitable for use as fighter planes, were ridiculed by the German crews as a “fright”. On September 16, 1914, a " pigeon " of Feldfliegerabteilung 10 was badly damaged by an enemy aircraft with a machine gun. On October 5, 1914, a German aviation company fell victim to an attack by a French Voisin in the first aerial combat. German reconnaissance planes did not return from the mission with increasing frequency. The French fighter pilots Roland Garros , Védrines, Pégoud and other pilots shot the defenseless and clumsy German two-seater safely out of the sky with their fast and agile machines. With this, the German aerial reconnaissance went blind; the commanders and their staffs groped in the dark while preparations for the great French offensive in Champagne began.

This finally alarmed the highest military authorities. The requirement for a “combat aircraft” was implemented in the “Type III” specification sheet, a heavy three-seat, twin-engine K-aircraft, which, however, turned out to be far too slow and cumbersome for air combat, but led to the successful development of large aircraft.

1915

Still far from a uniform tactical, technical and logistical integrated command of the air force, the Supreme Army Command (OHL) appointed Major Wilhelm Siegert as an expert head of the OHL, who took up the previously rejected proposals of IdFlieg. On March 11, 1915, a "Chief of Field Aviation" was finally appointed by the highest cabinet order, who reported directly to the Quartermaster General without any further bureaucratic ties to the transport system and, albeit without tactical-operational powers, took over the management of field airships and field pilots and organization and standardize and improve training of airmen. First (and only) field flight chief was Major i. G. Hermann Thomsen .

The previously provisional Stofl have now been confirmed and uniformly active in all AOK. With the command of the newly subordinated army air parks, which had been separated from the stage organization, they were also given the opportunity to logistically control the aviation departments in their area of ​​responsibility. In addition to a trunk, these fleets were given independent trains according to the aviation departments to be supplied in order to further optimize logistical cooperation: maintenance, repair or removal of damaged aircraft and engines, stockpiling and handling of spare parts and ammunition, taking over of replacement machines, their equipment and flying in. Technical officers working in the task forces supervised the engine control room, monitored the technical condition of the aircraft and organized the removal and replenishment to and from the parks in the units.

In the meantime, the number of aviation detachments at the front had almost doubled to 25. The new field flight chief, who meanwhile became lieutenant colonel i. G. promoted Hermann Thomsen, his staff officer for air troops, Major Wilhelm Siegert, and the ten-strong staff took care of efficient staff training and the technical improvement - especially stronger armament - of the German machines. While French aircraft were mostly armed with machine weapons, German pilots with their light hand weapons were practically defenseless. Offensive reconnaissance missions were hardly possible, instead the infantry had to accept that Allied airmen, circling almost unhindered over the positions, directed the enemy artillery fire. Until May 1, 1915 reached Mauser - self-loading rifles and gradually new, lighter machine guns to the Feldflieger departments and were installed as a defensive weapon in the observers pulpit. After a machine gunner hit the successful French fighter pilot Roland Garros from the Escadrille MS on May 19, 1915 . 23 had forced his Morane-Saulnier LA to land at Ingelmünster , the prey machine with a machine gun firing rigidly forward also inspired the production of a German single-seater . Aircraft designer Anton Fokker was commissioned by IdFlieg to investigate the captured aircraft and, together with his chief engineer Platz and the weapons specialist Heinrich Lübbe, took up the concept and improved it. The use of deflectors as bullet deflectors, as in the case of the French machine, was forbidden, because deflectors were penetrated smoothly by the German steel jacketed bullets. Instead, Fokker used the method of a synchronization mechanism, patented by LVG ​​designer Franz Schneider , which blocked the MG trigger with the camshaft of the engine as soon as the propeller blade was in front of the MG barrel. The mechanism was built into a Fokker M5K monoplane, which went into production as the Fokker EI . The newly created fighter was initially used on a purely defensive basis; the aviation departments received one or two Fokker monoplane as escort for reconnaissance missions.

In October 1915, the air force had 80 aviation divisions, each with 6 aircraft, 8 artillery aviation divisions with 4 aircraft each and 2 FT receivers, 18 army aircraft fleets, 12 aviation replacement divisions, the two carrier pigeon divisions Ostend and Metz with 6 divisions each, an experimental and training flight park of the OHL and 2 combat squadrons for homeland security.

1916

In June 1916 the Feldfliegerabteilung 1–61 operated with 6 aircraft, the Artillery Aviation Departments 201–227 with 6 aircraft, the Kagohl 1-5 with 36 aircraft, plus the Combat Squadrons 31–36, the two giant flight detachments 500 and 501 with 3–4 aircraft each , the "Pascha" flight department with 12 aircraft, the Sofia flight command in Bulgaria with 6 aircraft, flight groups in Turkey with 20 aircraft, the S1 special squadron with 6 aircraft. Two combat single- seat squadrons with hunting decks protected Mannheim and Trier with around 10 aircraft each against incoming bomb squadrons. 17 army aircraft fleets took care of the supply of material.

At the end of 1916, the total number of machines available on the western and eastern fronts had risen to 910 C aircraft, 210 D aircraft and 24 G aircraft; 423 operational replacement aircraft were available in the parks.

The majority of the zeppelins were in service with the navy, for this purpose the army airships had the airships LZ 77, 79, 81, 85, 86, 88, 90, 95 Z XII and SL VII. The field airship troops had 45 airship divisions, each with two tethered balloons which were conducted at army group level with expert advice from staff officers of the airship force ( StoLuft ).

In the meantime, four combat single-seaters had been attached to each of the aviation departments on the western front, the construction of the fighter squadrons went ahead, the artillery pilots were fully equipped with FT devices, seven combat squadrons were available as bomber formations. With 1,144 aircraft, the strength of the air force had increased significantly, but was still faced with major problems in terms of numbers and quality to keep up with the considerable personal and material superiority of the Entente , which was clearly evident in the Somme battle in mid-1916 . All available forces, personnel, material, machines, industrial capacity and raw materials had to be deployed and used extremely efficiently; This applied from the leadership and operational principles at the front to the training of the staff in stage and home to research, construction and production in industry. Field flight chief Thomsen demanded "the uniform management of our entire armament for the air, the planned development, training, provision and use of all air forces and anti-aircraft equipment and the organizational consolidation of the entire aviation of the army and the navy." The new OHL was therefore obtained on October 8, 1916 the imperial cabinet order: “The growing importance of the air war requires that the entire air combat and anti-aircraft forces of the army in the field and at home be united in one agency. For this purpose, I determine: the uniform structure, provision and use of these war resources will be assigned to a "Commanding General of the Air Force" (Kogenluft), who will report directly to the Chief of the General Staff. The chief of field aviation, with the abolition of his post, takes the position of chief of the general staff as the commanding general of the air force. "

The sea pilots remained assigned to the Navy. In order to resolve worsening conflicts with the Reichsmarineamt about the supply of aircraft, engines and personnel, a naval officer was added to the staff of the field flight chief.

The navy had the following aviation forces:

designation	Location
Sea flight station (North Sea)	Heligoland
Sea flight station (North Sea)	Borkum
Sea flight station (North Sea)	Norderney
Sea flight station (North Sea)	Cunning
Sea flight station (North Sea)	Tondern
Sea flight station (Baltic Sea)	Holtenau
Sea flight station (Baltic Sea)	Cute
Naval Air Station (Marine Corps)	Zeebrugge
1st Navy Field Aviator Division	Ghistelle
2nd Marine Field Aviation Department	Mele
Coastal Air Force I
Coastal Squadron II

The "Kogenluft" Lieutenant General Ernst von Hoeppner was considered, although as a cavalryman with no previous experience in aviation, as an "excellent troop leader with an amiable disposition, but of energetic will and assertiveness." Hoeppner's right hand as chief of staff remained Lieutenant Colonel Thomsen; Major Siegert was responsible for the home organization. On November 20, 1916, the term "air forces" was officially introduced as an independent part of the field army. A week were as previously in the French later Aéronautique Militaire , the staff officers of the pilots in the AOK to commanders of the pilots appointed (Kofl) and thus got command of all air formations of the army. At the focal points of the front, group leaders of the fliers (Grufl) were given command of 6–8 divisions in order to lead reconnaissance, hunters and artillery pilots uniformly. Instead of individual escort fighters in the aviation departments, the protective squadrons equipped with two-seater combatants were deployed.

From a military point of view, however, the detachment of all Bavarian, Württemberg, Baden and Saxon airmen from the previous units and their incorporation into regional troops.

In order to expand the air force, there was training and equipment assistance for the allies, particularly Turkey. As early as 1915, Lieutenant Hans-Joachim Buddecke from Feldfliegerabteilung 23 was marched with his Fokker to Turkey to fly hunting missions on the Gallipoli front. Captain Serno was commanded to Constantinople at the beginning of 1916 in order to organize the establishment of the Ottoman air force based on the German model as field flight chief . As part of "Operation Pascha" , a transport aviation division stationed in Czernahevic took over the transport of technical material and spare parts to Adrianople , while the reinforced aviation division 300 supported the German-Turkish expeditionary corps in Palestine . The German-Turkish Army Group F fighting there was reinforced in the course of the war by several German field pilot units (300–305) and a fighter squadron (Jasta F).

Based on the same model, from May 1916 an air training command in Sofia supported the Bulgarian armed forces in building their air force based on the German model.

1917

In the meantime, fighter pilots also specialized in night hunting and the bomb squadrons in night missions. Special mention should be made of the Lt. Peters and Hans Frowein of Fliegerabteilung 12 , who shot down two landing bombers with their DFW CV on February 11, 1917 over the French bomber airfield Malzéville , as well as the commander of Bogohl 1 Hptm. Alfred Keller , who specializes in night raids . Alfred Keller , who was already the leader of the Feldfliegerabteilung 27 had distinguished.

The aviation detachments on the western front were equipped with at least 160 hp, in some cases even with the 200 or 260 hp C aircraft that had been arriving in August and a second rigid machine-gun for the pilot.

After all the restructuring, the German air forces had finally reached the following strength on April 1, 1917: 37 fighter squadrons and 3 combat single-seat squadrons of 14 aircraft, 30 protective squadrons of 6 aircraft, 81 aviation divisions (39 of 4 planes, 42 of 6 planes), plus 4 aviation divisions in Turkey and one in Bulgaria, 15 artillery detachments of 6 aircraft, 3 bomb squadrons of the Supreme Army Command of 36 aircraft in 6 squadrons and 9 further bomb squadrons of 6 aircraft, the two giant aircraft detachments and 17 army aircraft fleets. In addition, there were 13 pilot replacement departments, 13 schools for artillery observers, air shooters, observers, weapon masters, fighter pilots and pilots, the squadron school in Freiburg i. Br. And teaching departments / commands for FT personnel and infantry pilots. The East and West test and training air parks were also converted into observer schools. Another three fighter squadrons, three artillery detachments and six series of picture trains with three aircraft each for fast and systematic reconnaissance tasks were to be set up.

In the course of the " America Program ", an armament offensive that was decided on July 3, 1917 because of the American entry into the war on April 4, 1917, the aviation forces were to be reinforced materially. In the meantime, 46,000 men fought with 2,360 aircraft at the front, in the home organization another 42,000 men and 750 men with 100 aircraft served for homeland security . It was planned to set up another 40 fighter squadrons, 16 artillery aviation departments, expansion of the school organization, establishment of a fighter squadron school, a further replacement department, the allocation of 1,500 MG per month from October 1917, an increase in personnel by 28,643 men by the end of the year, the doubling of production capacity to 2,000 aircraft and 2,500 engines per month, which was only partially achieved due to the pressure of raw material shortages.

Combat and fighter squadrons were now thrown by rail transport to threatened or important sections of the front. Impending breakthroughs in the front and, above all, the endangerment of the important submarine bases on the canal were prevented, with Captain Helmut Wilberg proving himself as commander of the aviators (Kofl) in the 4th Army .

At the end of 1917, the aviation force had grown to 20 commanders of the aviators at the AOK (Kofl), 12 group leaders of the aviators (Grufl), 48 aviation divisions to 6 aircraft, 105 aviation divisions (A) (68 to 6 planes, 37 to 9 planes), 6 Aviation detachments (F) in Turkey with 6 aircraft, one fighter squadron with 4 squadrons and 51 further fighter squadrons with 14 aircraft each, 30 battle squadrons, 3 bomb squadrons of the Supreme Army Command each with 4 squadrons, 2 giant aircraft departments, 6 row trainings of 3 aircraft, 2 fighter squadrons too 12 aircraft each and 8 single-seat squadrons of 12 aircraft each.

In addition to the units of the air force, at the end of 1917 the naval pilots commanded by the Imperial Navy had:

'' 'Commander of the aviators of the high seas armed forces with staff' ''

Sea flight station Helgoland, Borkum, Norderney, Sylt

'' 'Commander of the aviators in the fortress government of Wilhelmshaven ' ''

Landflugstation Tondern, Nordholz , Barge, Wangerooge , Hage

'' 'Commander of the Airmen of the Baltic Sea Forces' ''

Land flight station Kiel, sea flight stations Aabenraa , Flensburg, Holtenau, Warnemünde , Putzig

'' 'Commander of the aviators at the Commander of the Baltic Waters' ''

Sea flight stations Libau , Windau , Glyndwr

'' 'Commander of the aviators at the Marine Corps Flanders ' ''

Sea flight stations Zeebrugge, Ostend

Navy Field Aviator Departments Mariakerke , Maele

Marine-Jagdstaffeln Mariakerke, Maele

Coastal Aviation Squadrons 1 and 2, Coastal Defense Squadrons

Chanak Seaplane Base (Dardanelles)

Sea flight station Kawak ( Bosporus )

Xanthi Seaplane Base ( Black Sea )

Varna Black Sea Airplane Base

Zupuldak Black Sea Air Station

Constanza Black Sea Airplane Base

Diungi Seaplane Base (Black Sea)

1918

After the collapse of Russia and the end of the war on two fronts, manifested by the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed on March 3, 1918 , there were once again significant reinforcements for the major German spring offensive ( "Enterprise Michael" ), which was planned as a decisive factor, before the foreseeable intervention the American free. One last, tremendous effort put everything on one card for the great decisive battle in the west.

The structure of the air force at the beginning of the offensive on March 21, 1918 included the following forces:

designation	abbreviation	number	comment
Commanders of the aviators	Kofl	20th	I-XX
Squad leader of the aviators	Grufl	20th	1-16
Aviation departments	FA	48	1-48 to 6 aircraft
including aerial photography departments	FA	10	FA 3, 5, 12, 18, 23, 39, 40, 44-46
Aviation divisions (artillery)	FA (A)	100	68 to 6 and 30, to 9 aircraft
including aerial photography departments	FA (A)	4th	FA (A) 260, 261, 276, 289
Series image trains	RBZ	1-6	3 aircraft each
Aircraft Departments, Army Group F (Turkey)	FA	5	300-305
Battle squadrons	Sleep	30th	1–30 to 6 aircraft
Giant aircraft departments	RFA	2	501, 502
Top Army Command's bomb squadron	Bogohl	7th	1-7
Army Air Parks	AFP		I-XX
Jagdgruppe leader		1-5	z. B. Jagdgruppe 6 with Jasta 7, 20, 40, 50; Jagdgruppe 9 with Jasta 3, 37, 54, 56
Jagdgeschwader	JG	1	JG 1 (Jastas 4, 6, 10, 11)
Hunting squadrons	Yasta	1–77 (excluding 55)	76
Combat single-seat squadrons	KEST	1-10	10
Hunting relay schools	Yastash	2	Valenciennes - Famars , Nivelles
Aviation Training Department		1	Sedan (for exercises and demonstrations in staff officer training)
Flying training command		1	Sofia

The following institutions existed in the Reich:

designation	number
Aviator replacement departments	16
Aviator Observer Schools	7th
Military Aviation Schools	11
Civil aviation schools	14th
Squadron schools	1
Aviator shooting school	1 (Asch / Belgium)
Aviator weapons master school	1
Artillery flying schools	2 ( Alt-Autz , Doblen )
Bomb school	1 (Frankfurt / Oder)
Radio operator	1 ( Neuruppin )
Giant aircraft replacement department	1 (Cologne)
Motor schools	6th
Artillery Air Commandos	2 (Thorn, Wahn)
Fliegerkommando Nord	1 ( Flensburg )
Hangar structures	4th
Hangar construction companies	2

After the failure of the major offensive, the arrival of American troops, the mass deployment of Allied tanks and the increasing superiority of forces in the air, the German troops were on the verge of exhaustion. On August 8, 1918, the inevitable military turning point came with the breakthrough in the front between Albert and Montdidier, 30 km wide and 11 km deep, with the “ black day of the German army ”.

At that time, the German air forces at the front comprised the following units:

designation	abbreviation	number	comment
Commanders of the aviators	Kofl	20th	I-XX
Squad leader of the aviators	Grufl	20th	1-20
Aviation departments	FA	48	1-48
Aviation divisions (artillery)	FA (A)	100	199-298
Series image trains	RBZ	1-6	3 aircraft each
Aircraft Departments, Army Group F (Turkey)	FA	5	300-305
Battle squadrons	Sleep	43	1-38, 45, 47, 49, 52, 52
Giant aircraft departments	RFA	2	501 ( Morville ), 502 ( Scheldewindeke )
Top Army Command's bomb squadron	Bogohl	8th	1-8
Army Air Parks	AFP	14th	I-IX, XVII-XIX, A, B, C
Jagdgeschwader	JG	3	JG 1 (Jastas 4, 6, 10, 11): Monthussart-Ferme
			JG 2 (12, 13 15, 19): 5th Army
			JG 3 (2, 26, 27, 36): Sissonne
Hunting squadrons	Yasta	1–80 (excluding 55)	79
Combat single-seat squadrons	KEST	1-10	10

The forces of the Navy as well as at home remained largely unchanged.

Between January and September 1918, German airmen shot down 3,732 Allied aircraft and lost 1,099 machines.

End of war

At the end of the war, the German air force had grown from around 4,200 men with 300 aircraft with which they went to war to 80,000 men with 5,000 aircraft.

German airmen 7,425 times in the west and 358 times in the east were victorious in aerial combat against enemy aircraft, and they shot 614 enemy tethered balloons. 3,128 German aircraft did not return from the mission. The total losses of the air force amounted to 12,533 dead and wounded; 4,578 pilots and 299 ground crewmen were killed and a further 1,962 men died in aircraft accidents at home. 1372 men were missing. 76 airmen were awarded the Pour le Mérite , the highest Prussian honor for officers. A further 69 airmen were awarded the Golden Military Merit Cross , the highest Prussian honor for bravery for NCOs and men. 90% of aircraft production on the part of the Central Powers was in German hands; 47,637 aircraft - which, however, accounted for less than a third of the Allied production - had been put into service. By the end of the war, around 26,000 of these had been destroyed, scrapped or scrapped.

The German anti-aircraft artillery shot down during the war:

year	Planes	Airships
1915	51	1
1916	322	1
1917	467
1918	748
total	1588	2

Of these, 51 shot down with the help of flak searchlights.

After Germany's defeat, Article 198 of the Versailles Treaty prohibited “Germany (...) from maintaining air forces either on land or at sea as part of its army" . The approximately 14,000 remaining aircraft and 27,520 engines of the air force that had already been disbanded in 1919 were delivered to the victorious powers or scrapped in 1919.

Structure and deployment of the German Army Air Force

Basic structure August 1914 to November 1918

Formation:	designation	assignment	Aug. 14	Feb. 15	Oct. 15	Apr. 16	June 17	March 18	July 18	Nov. 18
Fighter pilot
KEK:	Combat single-seat squad	Hunting and escort protection				3
Jasta:	Jagdstaffel	Hunting and escort protection					37	80	80	81
Kesta:	Combat single seat squadron	Interception hunt (homeland security)						10	10	11
Reconnaissance aircraft
FFA, later FA:	Field Aviation Department / Aviation Department	enlightenment	33	61	80	81	48	47	53	39
FstFA:	Fortress Aviation Department	enlightenment	7.5	4th
AFA, later FA (A):	Aviation Department (Artillery)	Artillery observation			8th	27	96	98	98	93
Attack Airmen
Schusta:	protection Squad	Close air support, escorts					30th
Sleep:	Battle squadron	Battle missions (close air support)						38	43	43
Bomber
BA:	"Carrier pigeon department" (code name!)	tactical bombers		1	2
Kasta:	Combat squadron	tactical fighter-bombers				6th
Kagohl:	Combat squadron of the Supreme Army Command	tactical fighter-bombers				5	4th
Bogohl:	Bomb squadron of the Supreme Army Command	strat. Long range bombers						7th	8th	8th
RFA:	Giant aircraft department	strat. Long range bombers				2	2	2	2	1

In addition, there was an armistice in 1918

• 7 series image trains (RBZ)
• 21 Army Air Parks (AFP)
• 2 hunting relay schools (JastaSch)
• 1 slaughter relay school
• Asch pilot shooting school
• Artillery Flying School East I and II

And numerous training institutions and special associations.

The aviation departments had six, the fortress aviation departments initially only four aircraft. The strength of the squadrons varied; In principle, a squadron had 14 pilots and aircraft as well as four reserve machines.

The airship departments had 3–5 balloon trains, each with a tethered balloon plus one in reserve. The balloon watchers had Telefunken field telephones and rifles for self-defense.

Combat mission

Establishment and telephone connections of the field airship force in 1918

Establishment and telephone connections for the air force in 1917

The mission and operational principles for airships and field and fortress pilots were poorly described at the beginning of the war. The main task of the airmen was initially the tactical reconnaissance, partly also the exploration of sections of the terrain and the establishment of connections between command posts, that of the airship troops was the more extensive reconnaissance and the bombing.

In the course of the war, numerous areas of responsibility developed:

Tactical reconnaissance (battlefield reconnaissance, close-up reconnaissance)

The main task of the aviators was initially the tactical reconnaissance and reconnaissance. Initially, airmen only received - if at all - a rough description of the area in which they were supposed to investigate from the superior army corps, without clear instructions on the situation (where are their own forces, where are the enemy). In case of doubt, the commanders often trusted the cavalry situation reports more than those of the aviators, there was no comprehensive overall evaluation of aviator reports on the overall situation and the aircraft observers initially lacked operational experience. However, cavalry patrols increasingly failed in enemy machine-gun and artillery fire, and the delivery of reports by messenger riders and carrier pigeons was time-consuming. In ideal weather conditions in August 1914, aircraft brought faster and more reliable observation results. Their reports about the withdrawal of the Belgian army, during the race to the North Sea and on the Eastern Front had a growing influence on the conduct of operations. At the Battle of Tannenberg , a German aircraft crew ( Ernst Canter and Karl Mertens) had noticed the unexpected arrival of enemy reserve forces, landed right next to the army command post to deliver this urgent message and thus made a decisive contribution to the victory over the Russian 2nd Army .

Camouflage and cover from aviators' sight in the ensuing trench warfare soon made the previous eye reconnaissance impossible and led to aerial reconnaissance, using handheld cameras with a 25 cm focal length, later also permanently installed 50 and 70 cm aircraft cameras.

Strategic reconnaissance (remote reconnaissance)

On the other hand, the insufficient operating radius of the reconnaissance aircraft was problematic; The military airship was more suitable for strategic exploration and long-range reconnaissance, but was hardly used on the western front. For example, the arrival of the British expeditionary troops in the canal ports, which were too far away, was only noticed when they came within the operating range of the aircraft, and the German attack leaders ran into British defensive positions at Mons almost unprepared .

The German military airships, almost exclusively owned by the army at the start of the war, were able to operate longer and more widely. But the airships Z.VII and Z.VIII were already lost over France in August, as the vulnerable gas giants fell victim to the heavy defensive fire of ground troops during tactical battlefield reconnaissance; only Z.IX carried out two strategic reconnaissance trips against Boulogne and Gent. The prevailing weather conditions and the denser defenses made it difficult to use the airships on the western front. The airships proved their worth in the far-reaching reconnaissance on the Eastern Front and over the sea, especially since they could transmit messages to ground stations or ships at the same time by radio telegraphy.

Only in the course of the war did the aircraft also become a means of strategic reconnaissance. Height scouts equipped with high-resolution cameras and line formers penetrated deep into the enemy territory. Continuous photo trains, staff picture departments and, towards the end of the war, also photographic aviator detachments, provided the staff with series shots with the ability to precisely map the terrain and targets in the enemy hinterland.

Artillery observation

The Fliegerabteilung (A) 272 in the war year 1917. Balloon ascent

In addition to the aviation departments, 8 field airships and 17 fortress airship troops were mobilized at the beginning of the war. Their balloons were reloadable and mobile for war of movement; in positional warfare, the stationary tethered balloons attached to steel cables offered a clear target for enemy defense. The balloon watchers communicated by field telephone and in this way, wired to the artillery command posts, directed the shooting in of the heavy artillery in particular.

In addition to the battlefield reconnaissance, observers also located enemy targets from the aircraft and guided the zeroing in using signal signals, which, however, required clear and unmistakable signals, a direct line of sight between the ground station and the aircraft and well-rehearsed shooting procedures. In 1912, attempts had been made for the first time to shoot the artillery at enemy targets by aircraft observers. In 1913 three aircraft observers were then assigned to the troops for artillery training in order to practice appropriate shooting-in procedures. With this completely inadequate preparation, the German aviators were well behind the much more advanced French aviators. One communicated by laying out colored signs on the ground and firing colored cartridges in the air, which were often difficult to make out.

In December 1914, the first radio telegraph transmitters went to the front, thereby significantly simplifying fire control from aircraft or from tethered balloons ( airship troops ). Front tests had shown that the radio range from the aircraft was between 30 and 42 km; In February 1915, the radio training command in Döberitz began to test radio telegraphy between aircraft and ground station with new FT devices from Huth and Telefunken. In March, three aviation detachments tested the new sighting procedures from the air, radioed their coordinates to the battery positions and corrected the hit location using an FT transmitter, initially without a receiver. The procedures were further improved and the development of lighter devices now also made it possible to install FT transmitting and receiving stations in the aircraft. Already in June 1915 there was an enemy flight in which two aircraft kept in contact with each other and with the ground station, in 1916 FT was carried out for the first time during a training demonstration in squadron flight. The FT transmitters were the extinguishing spark transmitters in use until 1925 , while the FT receiver was detector receivers . The transmitters worked in the long-wave and medium-wave range , initially they had an output of 125 watts, later devices with up to 500 watts were installed in the "giant aircraft". The First World War marked the actual beginning of aviation radio .

Newly established artillery aviation detachments (AFlA) were placed under the corps artillery commanders and were often distributed down to division level by them. These AFlA, later FA (A), were initially equipped with only four B or C aircraft with built-in FT devices; each department also received two FT devices as ground receiving stations. As artillery observers, trained artillery officers were preferred, who as observers from the air directed their own artillery fire, but also flew general reconnaissance missions. Since NCOs and crews also came into question as pilots, further pilots were won over to set up other units or fighter aviation.

The reconnaissance planes, already operating at altitudes of over 4000 m in 1916 due to the ever stronger anti-aircraft defenses, provided important insights from deep inside the enemy with high-resolution cameras and later also line builders. Whole front sections were systematically photographed; The Army High Command created staff picture departments with laboratory, repair and archive facilities. The aviation departments assigned to them received aircraft with serial cameras for systematic strategic reconnaissance and mapping of the opposing position and stage area and radio devices mostly for four of their six aircraft. The special series cameras with large focal lengths developed by the companies Zeiss , Görz, Ernemann and Messter were installed vertically suspended in the machines. By stereoscopic recording techniques spatially sized image recordings that surveyors and cartographers created in accordance crafted front cards for the bars transpose.

Close air support

From 1916 the two-seaters were armed with two machine guns - a rigid, synchronized machine gun to the front for the pilot and a movable machine gun to the rear for the observer. These protection pilots were able to better follow the heavy two-seaters in battle and concentrate on defending against opposing fighter pilots and keeping their comrades free during their reconnaissance or bombing missions. More powerful engines allowed more bombs or equipment and greater range. However, tactical combat missions were soon added to the protective task. During close reconnaissance missions, for example, the crews were forced to carry out their mission at a low altitude due to the confusing funnel area, holding down the ground defense with machine gun fire or light bombs and increasingly intervening directly in the ground fighting. The attack of Schutzstaffel 7 under Captain Wolfgang Zorer , whose main task was actually to escort scouts and bombers, became known on April 24, 1917. With the on-board weapons of their machines, the squadron intervened in the battles of the ground forces and helped a German counterattack at Gravelle by holding down enemy artillery to success. Such experiences led to the fact that the call for direct close air support became ever greater, based on the model of the fighter squadrons, protection and later battle squadrons were formed, which intervened directly in the ground fighting with light, later also armored, two-seater fighter aircraft. Since the infantry, instead of frontal mass attacks and wide trenches, increasingly switched to raiding troops and base tactics with mobile combat, the connection and cooperation between infantry and attack aircraft, also known as infantry aviators, became increasingly important: Airmen attacked with machine guns and hand grenades the ground fighting started, dropped reports and even supplied individual raiding parties with drinking water and later also with provisions bombs.

Hunting and aerial combat

In June, the first electric aircraft arrived at Fliegerabteilung 6b (b = Bavarian) in Bühl-Saarburg , which operated on a rather quieter section of the front, but was in the flight path of the French bomber formations to southern Germany. This machine, called the Fok. EI 2/15 was flown to Mannheim by Lieutenant Kurt Wintgens , who had been personally trained on the machine at Fokker in Schwerin- Görries, where it was accepted from the IdFlieg by Lieutenant von Buttlar. On July 1, 1915, around 6 p.m., Wintgens achieved his first victory in the air against a French Morane-Saulnier- Parasol at an altitude of 2500 m, just east of Lunéville . However, violent ground defense prevented Wintgens from following the crash and observing the impact on French territory. On July 4, 1915, Lieutenant Wintgens was able to force another French aircraft to land near Schlucht in Lorraine , while the pilot Oswald Boelcke with his Albatros CI outmaneuvered an enemy aircraft in such a way that his observer crashed it with machine gun fire.

Anton Fokker had meanwhile flown with the other monoplane pilot Lieutenant Otto Parschau and the brand new EI 3/15 and 1/15 machines to the headquarters of the German Crown Prince in Stenay to personally demonstrate the machines. The single-seat monoplane impressed as a combat aircraft not least because it was able to load more weapons and ammunition with the same flight performance . The aim was not by the awkward handling of the observer (in aviator jargon "Franz") on the weapon while communicating with the pilot ("Emil"), but by aiming at the enemy with the whole machine by the pilot. This also made it possible to attack enemy planes instead of fighting them "on the run". In addition, there was the element of surprise, because the frontal attack by an enemy fighter aircraft was previously unknown to Allied airmen.

On July 16, 1915, eleven monoplane were at the front; They initially operated as escorts for the cumbersome B and C aircraft of the field pilot departments, which could now carry out their mission unhindered again. Although the Fokker pilots were forbidden to fly over the front for reasons of secrecy, they had already scored five kills by August 1, including the first recognized aerial victory with a monoplane by Lieutenant Kurt Wintgens on July 15 and the first aerial victory by Lieutenant Max Immelmann von der FA 62. On August 9, Wintgens had already defeated his third opponent (near Gondrexange ), on August 19, Oswald Boelcke shot down his first opponent. Immelmann and Boelcke scored more kills at the Battle of Champagne , while their comrade Wintgens in Lorraine was unable to take action due to the poor weather conditions.

Captain Stenzel, Stofl in the 6th Army, pulled together a few monoplane pilots to form a “ Combat Single Seat Command ” (KEK). In formation and deployed offensively, the German combat monoplane - referred to by the Allies as the " Fokker Plage " - soon gained air superiority on their section of the front .

When at the end of 1915 enemy squadrons flew into the Reich area more and more often and carried out bombings, the first combat squadrons for homeland security were set up. Since the Allies had not yet succeeded in recreating the synchronization mechanism, they mounted MG on the aircraft in such a way that they shot over the propeller or past it to the side, or used pusher propeller planes with a free field of fire to the front.

In view of this difficult situation, field flight chief Thomsen took up a memorandum from Oswald Boelcke, who demanded the establishment of independently operating fighter squadrons , which were supposed to systematically attack and shoot down enemy aircraft beyond mere escort and security tasks. Captain Haehnelt, Stofl of the 5th Army near Verdun, summarized all available fighters in his area and formed three " fighter groups " with strengths of 10–12 monoplane each , one in Sivry under the direction of Boelckes, the other two in Avillers and Bantheville . Based on this model, other fighter groups were formed at Fliegerabteilung 32 in Berthincourt and Fliegerabteilung 23 in Roupy.

With the Fokker E.IV with two MGs, the monoplane had reached the limits of their capabilities, the production of which could not be further increased by bottlenecks in rotary engines. Lieutenant Immelmann, who was in charge of KEK 3 at Feldfliegerabteilung 9, even had a third machine gun installed in his E.IV on a trial basis, but his machine crashed fatally near Sallaumines on June 16, 1916, presumably after it failed in combat Synchronization gear, the own machine gun fire had sawed its propeller. In battle, however, the monoplane proved to be inferior to the more maneuverable French Nieuport biplane , and there was also the unsuitable attempt to counter the Allied air superiority through defensive tactics such as inefficient and force-binding barrier flying and the parking of fighter planes as escort by German fighter planes. Most of the combat single-seaters still climbed one by one and only came occasionally to hunt enemy machines on a stalking flight. The English and French ruled the airspace over the crucial battlefields of the Somme and Verdun .

In the meantime, more powerful combat biplanes with large firepower thanks to a second synchronized MG and with more powerful in-line engines (160 to 200 hp) were under development; These fighters were to be brought into offensive use in strong squadrons under the leadership of successful combat pilots. Oswald Boelcke was commissioned to select pilots with front-line experience from various units. He set up the Jagdstaffel (Jasta) 2 , and Hans-Joachim Buddecke , who had returned from Turkey, formed the Jasta 4 from the Vaux single-seat combat unit. Between 25 and 28 August 1916, another five fighter squadrons were deployed, each with combat double-deckers of the Albatros type , Halberstadt and Fokker. Boelcke and his pilots systematically practiced the use in closed formation, in ranks, chains, swarms and the relay wedge , which soon emerged as a classic combat formation for fighter pilot associations. When he led the squadron for the first time over Achiet-le-Petit over the Somme battlefield on September 18, 1916 , the army report reported ten kills. The army report of September 24, 1916 already reported 24 kills with special mention of the fighter pilots Buddecke, Höhndorf and Kurt Wintgens, who fell the next day after 18 aerial victories.

The Jastas produced even more successful fighter pilots, including Manfred von Richthofen with 80, Ernst Udet with 62 aerial victories, Erich Loewenhardt with 53, Werner Voss with 48, Fritz Rumey with 45 as well as Bruno Loerzer and Rudolf Berthold with 44, Paul Bäumer with 43 , Josef Jacobs with 41 and Oswald Boelcke, Lothar von Richthofen and Franz Büchner with 40 aerial victories. 61 German fighter pilots received the highest war award “ Pour le Mérite ”, which was only given to officers. 67 successful pilots in the rank of NCO received the Golden Military Merit Cross . 25 of the fighter pilots awarded the “Pour-le-Mérite” died in the war. Oswald Boelcke, who had developed the operational principles of fighter flying as a teacher in theory and practice, also fell victim to the tragic collision with the aircraft of his squadron comrade Lieutenant Erwin Böhme during a mission flight on October 28, 1916 . According to official information, 358 members of the air force achieved at least 5 kills, which, according to today's definition , earned them the status of " Assen ". This classification was not in use in Germany at the time.

Aviator heroes served as models in propaganda , which in this way was able to use the political myth of the war hero even in the age of mass and material battles . In his 1917 book “ Der rote Kampfflieger ” , Richthofen skeptically described the journalistic effort involved in his person and defended himself against being exempted from working at the front “as a pensioner of my fame” , while “the poor fellow in the trenches has to continue doing his duty”.

See also : List of German fighter pilots in the First World War

• 

  Max Immelmann , 15 aerial victories, as "Adler von Lille " one of the first German fighter pilots; fallen on June 18, 1916

• 

  Werner Voss , 48 victories; fallen on September 23, 1917

• 

  Manfred von Richthofen , the "Red Baron" or also the "Red Fighters", with 80 victories in the air, the most successful fighter pilot of the First World War; fallen on April 21, 1918, he was buried with military honors by the Allies.

• 

  Erich Loewenhardt , 54 victories in the air, fell to his death on August 10, 1918 when his parachute did not open after jumping from his crashing plane

• 

  Fritz Rumey , 45 victories in the air, fell fatally on September 27, 1918 when his parachute did not open after jumping from his crashing plane

• 

  Lothar von Richthofen (brother of Manfred von Richthofen), 40 aerial victories, survived the war; died in an air accident in 1922.

• 

  Ernst Udet , 62 aerial victories, the most successful surviving German fighter pilot of the First World War, shot himself on November 17, 1941 in his apartment in Berlin.

• 

  Julius Buckler , 36 victories in the air, survived both world wars despite serious injuries and died on May 23, 1960 in Bonn.

• 

  Bruno Loerzer , 44 aerial victories, survived both world wars and died on August 22, 1960 in Hamburg

The German fighter pilots remained technically and tactically superior to the Allied pilots for a long time; in particular the British with their pusher propeller aircraft such as the Royal Aircraft Factory FE8 or the Airco DH2 - summarily referred to by German fighter pilots as the " Vickers grid hulls" - and the outdated BE2 , fell victim to the German fighter pilots in rows: on March 9th alone In 1917 Richthofen's Jasta 11 brought down an entire formation of FE8 “lattice hulls”; on April 23, 1917, 20 enemy aircraft were shot down, and on April 24, 19 enemy aircraft; losses peaked in "Bloody April" 1917. The German air superiority now had a decisive effect on the battle: the retreat into the Siegfried Line as part of a planned shortening of the front between Arras and Soissons preceded a Franco-British offensive in part. This ran dead in no man's land with heavy losses and had to be discontinued in May 1917, among other things because the Allied side was unable to carry out adequate aerial reconnaissance due to the threat from German fighter pilots, to maintain contact with its own attack formations and to provide them with insufficient close air support.

From the summer of 1917, the air superiority over the western front was finally lost to the Allies. In order to achieve air superiority at least for a short time through massive use of hunters, the first fighter squadron (JG) "Richthofen" was formed in 1917 from the four Jastas 4, 6, 10 and 11 and thrown at fiercely contested areas of the western front. In a closed unit, their red-painted albatross fighters suddenly appeared in critical situations and chased away or destroyed the surprised Allied work planes with short-term counter-attacks. Based on this model, further Jastas were then combined into "Jagdgruppen" by individual army high command, in which experienced "Jagdgruppeführer" commanded several squadrons on a certain section of the front, but mostly without leading the units in the air themselves. As the number of allied fighter associations grew, the aerial battles escalated into real air battles in which dozens of German, British and French aircraft fought each other bitterly. The individually designed, colorful paintwork of the German aircraft made it possible for distant observer to recognize the individual aviator and thus provoked his daring and daring as a fighter pilot.

Although at the end of 1917 it was possible to significantly increase the strength of the fighter pilots 'associations and, in particular areas, to increase the number of machines per Jasta from 14 to 18, these could no longer break the Allied forces' superiority. At this point the following were in use:

Yasta	leader	Yasta	leader	Yasta	leader
Western front
1	Olt. Kummetz	2 Boelcke	Lt. from Bülow-Bothkamp	3	Olt. Kohze
4 (JG 1)	Olt. from Döring	5	Hptm. Flashaar	6th	Olt. Reinhard
7th	Lt. Jacobs	8th		9	Olt. Kurt student
10 (JG 1)	Lt. Small	11 (JG 1)	Lt. Lothar v. Richthofen	12	Olt. Blumenbach
13	Lt. Güttler	14th	Lt. Werner	15th	Lt. Ravens
16b	Lt. Geigl	17th	Hptm. Frhr. v. Esebeck	18th	Hptm. Buddecke
19th	Lt. Gottsch	20th	Lt. Raven von Barnekow	21s	Olt. Oscar v. Boenigk
22nd	Lt. Lenz	23b	Lt. Pillow berth	24	Lt. Kroll
26th	Lt. Loerzer	27	Lt. Goering	28w	Lt. Thuy
29	Olt. Schmidt	30th	Lt. Bethge	31	Olt. Cattle walker
32b	Olt. v. Creep	33	Lt. by Schoenebeck	34b	Olt. Greim
35b	Olt. Justinus	36	Lt. Bongartz	37	Lt. Udet
39	Olt. Looser	40	Lt. King	41	Lt. Heck
42	Olt. Odeboard	43	Lt. stains	44	Lt. Lotz
45	Lt. Rolfes	46	Lt. Matthaei	47w
48	Lt. Küppers	49	Lt. Ray	50	Lt. Arntzen
51	Olt. Grudges
Macedonia
25th	Captain Burckhardt	38	Olt. Grasshoff
Palestine ( Asia Corps )
55 (1F)	Hptm. Walz

In 1918 further fighter squadrons were formed: JG 2 with Jastas 12, 13, 15 and 19, JG 3 with Jastas 26, 27, 36 and finally JG 4.

With their fighter planes, which were constantly being perfected, and the increasing number of opponents, the German fighter pilots achieved ever higher numbers of kills, but the losses of irreplaceable, experienced pilots also increased. On March 15, 1918, the air force was hit by the death of the squadron commander, Captain Adolf Ritter von Tutschek , whose successor was Captain Rudolf Berthold. When Manfred von Richthofen was killed in an aerial battle on April 21, 1918, the army and home were shocked. Richthofen's body was buried with military honors by the Canadian troops; for war propaganda proof of the allegedly chivalrous behavior towards the defeated enemy in aerial combat, whereas the war in the air was waged with increasing bitterness.

See also : List of German fighter pilots in the First World War

Bomber missions

Bombing of a South African army camp near Tschaukaib by pilot Paul Fiedler, December 17, 1914

Since at the beginning of the war the aircraft was primarily seen as a means of reconnaissance, it was not intended to be used as a means of attack. The crews did have a means of dropping them, such as aviator arrows and 5 or 10 kg bombs, which if dropped freehand without any aiming device had little effect. Nevertheless, there were spectacular individual actions, for example when Lieutenant Ferdinand von Hiddessen dropped a few bombs on Paris on August 13, 1914, or Gunther Plüschow hurled converted grenades at the Japanese siege forces in Tsingtau. Operating from German South West Africa , Paul Fiedler was able to bomb troop camps of the South African Union in December 1914 and capture the impacts in the picture.

Propaganda poster

For strategic, especially far-reaching bomb flights, the army and navy command initially relied on airships (made by Zeppelin , Parseval , Schütte-Lanz ); independent bomber formations or bomber planes as in the Russian or French air force did not exist. Soon the French showed their clear superiority in bombing missions; as early as autumn 1914 they attacked targets in the squadron at the front and in the rear. With the bombing of the open and unarmed city of Freiburg im Breisgau on December 14, 1914, the German warfare saw the breach of international legal restrictions under the Hague Land Warfare Regulations ; the air war now escalated more and more against civilian targets.

At the end of 1914, German naval pilots first dropped bombs on Dover . At the same time, the OHL and naval command were preparing the first zeppelin attacks on England, as the more powerful airships (type L 10) also allowed operations over a longer range from the beginning of 1915. The first squadron attack by four of the new Zeppelins "L 10", "L 11", "L 12" and "L 13" on August 10, 1915, was particularly significant due to its surprise effect. However, the heavily damaged "L 12" was able to hide Only under dramatic circumstances did the commander rescue Oberleutnant zur See Peterson on the Belgian coast after dropping 2,500 kg bombs on Harwich .

A first squadron of six departments, equipped with “combat aircraft”, that is two- to three-seater, sometimes two-engined machines with machine guns or on-board cannons and bombs , was created at Ghistelles under the camouflage designation “carrier pigeon department Ostend” (BAO) . As an elite group planned for reconnaissance, bomber and air combat missions, this formation practiced for the first time systematically ascent, collecting, flying and deploying in a tactical group up to squadron size, plus night missions, targeted bombing and air combat. After the first night squadron raid on Dunkirk in January 1915 , the BAO was reinforced to six departments. Presumably at the end of April 1915, the BAO was relocated to the Eastern Front, where it operated at the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnów . The “Metz carrier pigeon division” (BAM) was created as the second squadron. BAO and BAM had their own railway wagons in order to be able to move quickly to different, already prepared and with sidings provided operational airfields.

In December 1915, BAO and BAM became the Combat Squadrons of the Supreme Army Command (Kagohl) 1 and 2, each with six squadrons of six aircraft each. As fighter pilots, the fighter pilots had to “seek out and beat the enemy combat squadrons” and, as bombers, “wreak havoc with mass bombing attacks.” However, as it became clear that the heavy, slow fighter planes were unsuitable for air combat or even inferior to the enemy, they did not take place initially planned establishment of the heavy air divisions 101-103. In view of the experience of the effects of massive bombing in squadrons or squadrons, the decision was made to set up the Kagohl 3–5 by April 1916, which were also highly mobile by rail and could therefore be used for bombing missions at the front lines.

Despite my experience, the combat squadrons were given the enemy air superiority in the spring of 1916, more and more forced to "lock" to fly, that is in their assigned sectors to prevent the penetration of enemy fliers in their own airspace. Since the alerting took too long due to the inadequate communication links to be able to attack a squadron that was already operating at war-like altitude starting from the ground, the units had to patrol assigned front sections with fighter planes "according to the duty roster" . This unsuccessful and impractical measure led to the corresponding dissipation and senseless waste of strength: the combat squadrons' C-aircraft, which were much too slow, too difficult to climb and too poorly maneuvered, could hardly be used as fighters. In addition, due to the Allied air superiority, especially in the course of the Somme battle (July to November 1916), the fighter pilots were used as escorts for reconnaissance and artillery pilots and then the combat squadrons (Kagohl) 3, 5, 6 and 7 and three independent ones Combat squadrons were dissolved and reclassified into 27 protective squadrons for escort tasks. Only the transformation of the remaining combat squadrons into protective squadrons was successfully opposed by the Kogenluft.

The threat to airships from fighter planes or anti-aircraft guns with incendiary ammunition also increased massively from spring 1916. Since the “lifespan” of the airships was usually relatively short, innovations quickly caught on. At the forefront of development were the new super airships of the 55,000 cubic meter R-Class. The navy was preferably equipped with these airships, because the army lacked the large airship hangars required for this , and their retrofitting would have been much more difficult and expensive than with the navy. At the same time, the large aircraft ( G aircraft ) and the giant aircraft ( R aircraft ) came on. By March 1917 there was virtually parity in the number of bombs dropped, while costs were reduced at the same time. Tactically, the squadron flight of several airships was much more difficult than coordinating the gathering of the planes for the squadron formation due to the long and different approach routes and weather influences. The "Commanding General of the Air Force" (KoGenLuft), Lieutenant General von Hoeppner therefore decided in the spring of 1917 to discontinue army airships and handed the remaining ships over to the Navy, which they successfully used until 1918 in bombing and operations in the deep sea fleet .

In order to replace the zeppelins as a strategic bomber fleet due to their high losses, the remaining protection squadrons were converted into bomb squadrons of the highest army command (Bogohl) in the spring of 1917, including Bogohl 1 under Captain Kastner, which was decimated in the summer battle, which was then on the eastern front and finally in Macedonia excellently proven, the Bogohl 2 under Captain Kastner-Kirdorf, which fought on the Eastern Front, and the Bogohl 3, with six squadrons twice as strong, under Captain Brandenburg von Gontrode near Gent, the "England Squadron" long-range operations against the British Island should fly.

Airships and airplanes now attacked with a division of labor: airships by night, airplanes by day. The first bombing operation against England took place in late May 1917 with 22 planes against Folkestone, killing 95 people. Initially held on the ground due to adverse weather conditions, Bogohl 3 did not start his first mission against London until June 13, 1917; the 15-minute bombardment left 162 people dead. All 18 bombers returned from the mission safe and sound, and one of the more than 90 interceptors that had ascended was shot down. In addition to the direct damage caused by the bombing, this forced the British in particular to withdraw fighter pilots from the front to the "Home Defense" and thus to reduce the pressure on the front. When more than 100 interceptors rose against the 22 approaching Gothas on July 7, 1917, one of the large aircraft was brought down and three damaged; their gunner shot down two fighters. Only when modern Sopwith Camels strengthened the Home Defense interception squadrons did the English squadron have to switch to night attacks.

The Kagohl 3, 5 and 6, which had since been dissolved, were set up again, and Kagohl 7 was added under the leadership of Captain Hermann Köhl . The giant aircraft divisions 500 and 501 had already been tested at the front in 1916 in Alt-Auz / Kurland . From the middle of September, these reinforced the large aircraft with their huge four-engine Zeppelin-Staaken giant aircraft.

Contemporary illustration of a Gotha bomber crew attacking London

At the end of 1917, the British had significantly strengthened the protection of their capital with anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft aircraft and in 1918 drew an 80 km wide barrier balloon belt around London. After a large aircraft crashed during the night attack from January 28 to 29, 1918 and four others were damaged by crash landings in Belgium, the attacks on England were stopped and the aircraft were used for tactical air support for the 1918 spring offensive on the front. The giant planes now flew alone against London: On February 16, one of the four giant planes dropped a 1,000 kg bomb for the first time, destroying a wing of the hospital in Chelsea . One of the giant planes collided with a balloon barrier and fell 1,000 m before the pilot was able to intercept the machine. The next night, a giant plane hit the St Pancras train station and caused great damage.

The last attack by these giants took place on the night of October 19-20, 1918, again accompanied by 38 large aircraft, six of which were shot down by interceptors and flak.

The raids of the zeppelins, the large and giant aircraft of the army and navy against targets in the deep hinterland such as London and Paris tied up considerable defenses and terrified the population. Two airship attacks and 44 air raids were documented against Paris; According to French information, 278 people were killed and 636 injured. By the end of the war, 27 squadron attacks were carried out on English targets and 111,935 kg bombs dropped, 836 people were killed and 1965 were injured. Frequent air raids also led to noticeable production stoppages in the armaments industry, and the enemy was forced to withdraw essential homeland security forces from the front: in 1916 11 squadrons and 1 reserve squadron were deployed in England, and in autumn 1918 there were 6 squadrons 16 squadrons increased, 576 officers and 3,548 NCOs and men were deployed to repel German bomber attacks. There were also 480 anti-balloon cannons, 706 searchlights and 245 listening devices.

See also: Shot down of a Gotha bomber on the western front (movie scene) and Zeppelin bombing on the eastern front (movie scene)

Training, personnel and material replacement

Flight parks

The supply of spare parts, new or repaired aircraft, their field repair or removal was initially carried out via the stage aircraft fleets and thus via the stage organization, whose material equipment with a few spare parts boxes and replacement wings was completely inadequate at the beginning of the war and whose material supply was inefficient and hardly location-oriented via the IdFlieg was dispatched from Berlin, so that the units often went past the supply organization to self-help. It was only with the establishment of army aircraft fleets, the number of which grew to 19 by the end of the war, that the supply of materials was ordered and accelerated. In addition to the material supply, the army aviation park also took over training and instruction flights and thus supplemented and relieved the work at the flight schools.

Flight schools, training and special facilities

The constant need for new aircraft crews required the establishment of extensive school and training facilities. In addition to the flight schools, which were affiliated to the aircraft factories, a military flight school was now set up for each replacement flight department; the capacity in October 1915 was already 2,100 training places for flight students. The fighter squadron school in Famars near Valenciennes trained fighter pilots, the squadron school in Paderborn air gunner; the artillery school Jüterbog set up observer courses in target location and fire control, in Döberitz the training of aviation radio personnel took place. The companies Daimler-Benz and engine factory Oberursel fitters, welders and other specialists Spleisskurse courses at learned found in Großenhain, Bosch instead.

The "Building Committee of the Air Force" took care of the exploration, construction and expansion of the airfields at the front with the help of officers with front-line experience.

Army Air Park 1 in Tergnier operated as the OHL's West Test and Training Park, in addition to training pilots and observers, with troop trials and trials prior to front testing, followed by the OHL's “East Trial and Training Park ” in the east.

Material and armament

See also : German aircraft industry in the First World War

At the beginning of the war, the air force mainly had monoplane made by various manufacturers, known as “ pigeons ” because of their bird-like wings, as well as double-decker hulls from Albatros , Aviatik , DFW , LVG and Otto . All civilian machines were requisitioned and another 500 pigeons were hastily ordered from the industry. After the superiority of French models in particular over the German "pigeons" soon became apparent, u. a. The companies Fokker and Pfalz produced the French types Morane-Saulnier LA and N , which were used as Fokker and Pfalz A types .

Used aircraft, captive balloons and airships

See also : Classification of German military aircraft in the First World War

In the course of the war there was a variety of makes and types of aircraft and different types of aircraft according to their intended use. Sun used the German Air Force fighter aircraft (u. A. Albatros, Fokker , Siemens-Schuckert and Pfalz ), multi-purpose aircraft (z. B. Albatros, aviation, Rumpler, AEG , LFG Roland, LVG and DFW), infantry and attack aircraft (u. A. Hannoversche Waggonfabrik , Junkers , Halberstadt), heavy bombers (including Gotha, Friedrichshafen, Rumpler ) and giant aircraft (including Zeppelin (Staaken) , Siemens-Schuckert , DFW ). The IdFlieg used a differentiated system to classify the various types of aircraft (fighter, bomb, multi-purpose, giant aircraft, etc.).

The wartime performance requirements applicable at the beginning of the war

• Operating altitude 800 m, can be reached in 15 minutes
• Summit height of 1,200 m
• Speed ​​from 90 to 100 km / h
• Flight duration of 4 hours

turned out to be completely inadequate. The slow "pigeons" were hardly usable any more and so development specifications for a "light type No. II" were submitted, which provided that a two-seater should climb to 1000 m in five minutes. The speed requirement of 90-100 km / h remained unchanged, since faster flying machines were not considered to be safely controllable.

The following table illustrates how much the requirement criteria for aircraft in terms of altitude, speed and payload were increased in the course of the war:

Construction year	Engine power	Aircraft type	payload	Rate of climb	Max. speed
1914 :	100 hp	B.	365 kg	1000 m in 15 min	90 - 100 km / h
1918 :	260 hp	C.	435 kg	1000 m in 2:18 min	160 - 180 km / h
"				2000 m in 4:18 min
"				3000 m in 8 min
"				5000 m in 21:30 min
"				7000 m in 50 min
1918 :	160 hp	D.	230 kg	1000 m in 1:36 min	220 km / h
"				2000 m in 3:24 min
"				3000 m in 5:42 min
"				5000 m in 15:18 min
"				7000 m in 21:18 min

In contrast, the performance requirements increased continuously, and the various aircraft of the war opponents faced each other in this respect in the performance struggle; This is particularly evident in the development of fighter aircraft from 1915:

2nd half of 1915 :	Palatinate EI	Fokker E.III	Nieuport 11	Morane-Saulnier LA	Airco DH2	Vickers Gunbus
	German	German	French	French	English	English
V max (km / h) :	145	141	158	115	150	113
Summit height (m):	3300	3660	4600	4000	4400	2700
1st half of 1916 :	Fokker E.III	Fokker E.IV	Nieuport 11	Morane-Saulnier N.	Airco DH2	BE2
	German	German	French	French	English	English
V max (km / h) :	141	160	156	145	150	120
Summit height (m):	3660	4000	4600	4000	4400	3000
2nd half of 1916 :	Albatros D.II	Halberstadt D.II	Nieuport 11	Nieuport 16	Airco DH2	Sopwith Pup
	German	German	French	French	English	English
V max (km / h) :	175	145	156	177	150	179
Summit height (m) :	5200	4000	4600	5300	4400	5300
1st half of 1917 :	Albatros D.III	Roland D.II	SPAD S.VII	Nieuport 17	Sopwith Triplane	Sopwith Pup
	German	German	French	French	English	English
V max (km / h) :	175	169	195	179	180	179
Summit height (m):	5500	5000	5300	5300	6200	5300
2nd half of 1917 :	Albatros D.Va	Palatinate D.III	Hanriot HD.1	SPAD S.XIII	SE5	Sopwith Camel
	German	German	French	French	English	English
V max (km / h) :	187	169	183	210	200	185
Summit height (m):	6250	5200	6300	6800	5800	7300
1st half of 1918 :	Albatros D.Va	Fokker Dr.I	Fokker D.VII	Palatinate D.VIII	SPAD S.XIII	Sopwith Dolphin
	German	German	German	German	French	English
V max (km / h) :	187	160	185	190	225	198
Summit height (m) :	6250	5000	6000	7500	7000	6400
2nd half of 1918 :	Fokker D.VIII	Fokker D.VIIF	Roland D.VI	Siemens-Schuckert D.III	Sopwith Snipe	SE5a
	German	German	German	German	English	English
V max (km / h) :	185	200	183	180	188	222
Summit height (m) :	6300	8000	5800	8100	6000	5944

• 

  Jeannin Stahltaube in the Technikmuseum Berlin

• 

  A captured Morane Type L - the model for the monoplane replicas of the Pfalz-Flugzeugwerke in 1914/15

• 

  The Fokker monoplane, the first German fighter aircraft in 1915

• 

  Max Immelmann in his Fokker E.II

• 

  Fokker E.III

• 

  Fokker monoplane taking off

• 

  The Pfalz EI, also a combat single-seater from 1915

In addition to their own developments, allied aircraft were also copied by German designers or influenced their developments, e.g. B .:

Idol	country	Replica
Bristol Scout	England	Rex D 6
Sopwith tabloid	England	Schütte-Lanz DI
Sopwith Triplane	England	Fokker Dr.I u. a.
Morane-Saulnier H.	France	Hanuschke EI, Fokker A.III and EI – IV, Pfalz EI
Morane Saulnier L	France	Palatinate AI , Palatinate E.III
Nieuport 11	France	Age A1, Euler DI , Siemens-Schuckert DI
Sikorski	Russia	Siemens-Schuckert RI

Fighter aircraft (E, D, Dr. types)

Germany achieved a breakthrough in fighter aviation in 1915 with combat monoplane with synchronized machine guns. After an LVG EI monoplane with synchronized MG broke on the way to front testing in early 1915 , Fokker took up the idea and delivered hunting monoplane that was urgently needed at the front.

Combat single-seater in action 1915/16

Fokker	EGG	56
Fokker	E.II	23
Fokker	E.III	258
Palatinate	EGG	74
Palatinate	E.II	80
Palatinate	E.III	20th
Palatinate	E.IV	24
Palatinate	EV	20th
Palatinate	E.VI	20th
Hanuschke	EGG	6th
Junkers	EGG	6th
Siemens-Schuckert	EGG	20th
Siemens-Schuckert	E.III	6th
total		653

Up until the beginning of 1916, it was mainly Fokker monoplane that claimed the sky in aerial combat, but with the first French Nieuport 11, a new and dangerous enemy emerged that was clearly superior to the German monoplane. Companies such as Euler, Alter, Albatros, Fokker and Siemens-Schuckert were hastily made available loot machines in order to be able to counter the new threat accordingly. In contrast to the “ Nieuport copies ” Euler DI and Siemens-Schuckert DI of the competition, Albatros, Halberstadt, Roland and Fokker broke new ground. Until the end of 1917, mainly albatross hunters dominated the German hunting squadrons, only a few " sharks ", Halberstadt and Fokker double-deckers came to the front.

After allied fighters at least equal to the French SPAD S.VII and the British Sopwith Pups and Triplanes and clearly superior to the SPAD S.XIII, the Sopwith Camel and the SE5 in the middle of the year , the German aviators got caught again in the Defensive; Although the IdFlieg brought an upgraded Albatros of the type DV to the front, the machine, which was ordered in huge numbers and was no longer able to cope with the more powerful engine, tended to break under wing under full combat load - a risk that had already appeared with the Albatros D.III - and had to be revised in terms of safety after several fatal accidents.

• 

  The Albatros D.II was used by the Jastas from autumn 1916

• 

  Albatros D.III of a German Jasta 1917 ready for launch

• 

  Roland D.II "Shark"

• 

  Albatros D.Va , the most built German fighter aircraft in 1917/18

• 

  Albatros DV 1918

• 

  The Pfalz D.III was mainly delivered to the Bavarian Jastas

• 

  Von Richthofen's red Fokker Dr.I Jagddreidecker

• 

  Pfalz Dr.I Jagddreidecker

In addition to the Pfalz D.III used by Bavarian squadrons, the only alternative was the well-known three-decker, which Fokker supplied in limited numbers from autumn 1917. During a visit to Jasta 11 at the end of April 1917, Anton Fokker had observed an aerial battle with British Sopwith Triplanes and examined a booty machine. He then immediately gave his chief designer, Platz, the task of developing a three-decker with a rotary engine. In view of the revolutionary three-decker concept, the engineer first had to solve numerous technical problems, but in August 1917 the first machine was ready for testing, two more went to the fighter pilots von Richthofen and Werner Voss, after which JG 1 was equipped with three-deckers; However, after two tragic accidents due to broken wings, these had to be blocked and statically reinforced.

• 

  Fokker D.VI

• 

  A Pfalz D.VIII fighter aircraft from the last phase of the war

• 

  Replica of the Fokker D.VII by Lt. Strong, Leader Jasta 35

• 

  Replica of the Fokker D.VII in the Deutsches Museum in Munich

• 

  A Bavarian Palatinate D.XII towards the end of the war

• 

  The Fokker D.VIII was called the “razor blade” by the Allied aviators because of its narrow attack profile.

• 

  Fokker D.VIII

In December 1917 the triplane reappeared at the front after technical overhaul; however, its military importance fell short of its spectacular reputation. Lt. Krefft, a technical officer in Richthofen's squadron, had called for an open competition in which the prototypes from the various aircraft manufacturers were to be tested by experienced front-line pilots. At the end of January 1918 there was a test competition in Adlershof, with another Fokker, the Fokker D.VII biplane, being chosen by the pilots as the best fighter aircraft. At the end of April, when the German spring offensive had reached its climax, the D.VII came to the front and already demonstrated its enormous combat characteristics during its baptism of fire in May over the Aisne. This machine was considered to be particularly stable and resilient; Their solid construction with the wider self-supporting wings even made it possible to dispense with the usual complicated bracing with cables and steel bands between the wings. The D.VII became the German standard fighter for the last months of the war, from summer 1918 accompanied by the monoplane EV / D.VIII and some Siemens-Schuckert D.III / IV, Pfalz D.XII and LFG Roland D.VI. Noteworthy is the Junkers DI , which appeared shortly before the end of the war and, as a low-wing aircraft made of all-metal, was to set the trend for later aircraft construction.

Reconnaissance and multi-purpose aircraft (C types)

• 

  The Roland C.II "Walfisch" proved itself in 1915/16 both in aerial combat and as a bomber and reconnaissance aircraft

• 

  The Albatros CV appeared at the front in the spring of 1916

• 

  The DFW CV from 1916 was also a “workhorse” of the field aviation departments

• 

  The Junkers JI, an armored attack aircraft

• 

  A Hannover CL.II , attack aircraft from 1918

• 

  Replica of a Halberstadt CL.IV , attack aircraft from 1918

The C-aircraft were also further developed to meet requirements. An almost unmistakable variety of types from numerous manufacturers was used, especially AEG, Aviatik, DFW, LVG and Albatros. The Rumpler C aircraft, including the C.VII in particular , proved their worth as high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. As an infantry aviator in 1915/16, the Roland “Walfisch”, not dissimilar to the albatross hunters, stood out: robust, agile, fast and, as the British fighter pilot Albert Ball wrote, “the best German aircraft, it fires fore and aft and can only be fought successfully from below. ”In addition, in 1916 a move was made to standardize the colorful aircraft fleet with the associated aviation departments and thus bring them up to date technically and to replace the last A-planes of the artillery aviation departments and segregated C- aircraft that are no longer suitable for the front. Deport aircraft for training purposes.

Protection and attack aircraft (CL, CLS, J, DJ types)

When the battle of Cambrai raged in November 1917, new, lighter-weight infantry aircraft intervened in the ground fighting with great success: the CL types. Originally designed as a lighter two-seater for reconnaissance and aerial combat, they proved their combat value in providing direct support to the infantry as " attack aircraft", including the Hanover CL.III , Halberstadt CL.II and the armored Albatros and AEG JI . Particularly noteworthy were the Junkers JI “sheet metal donuts” and the CL.I that appeared towards the end of the war, both of which were made entirely of metal and were therefore particularly bulletproof.

DFW was working on the design of a new large bomber, while Gotha was pursuing the concept of a lighter bomber (GL aircraft). Sablatnig, Albatros and AEG, on the other hand, developed operational night bombers (N aircraft) from the C aircraft.

Large and giant aircraft (G and R types)

In the meantime, the large and giant aircraft were ready for the front. From the beginning of 1915 the first long-haul missions were undertaken with two-seater aircraft, and later increasingly with large AEG , Rumpler, Friedrichshafen and Gotha GI aircraft. On October 1, 1915, 25 large aircraft had been delivered, and by February 1, 1916 36 large aircraft were delivered, which were propelled by two motors mounted between the wings with a power of 150, later up to 260 hp and at a speed of 140 to 160 km / h with a flight time of four to eight hours could carry up to 2000 kg bombs to the target. The armament also consisted of up to four MG; In addition to the pilot and observer, there were one or two air riflemen on board.

The construction of four-engine giant or R-airplanes followed an idea that had been conceived by the aviator Hellmuth Hirth with the Zeppelin works on Lake Constance and the Bosch company in Stuttgart before the war and whose construction was carried out in 1915 by the Gotha Ost research institute , Siemens-Schuckert and Linke-Hofmann . In 1917 the four-engine DFW and Zeppelin giant aircraft were added. As with the G-aircraft, the engines of some types were decentralized in two engine pods between the wings, although two engines were installed in tandem. For this purpose, an additional booth was set up for the engine attendant in the gondola. In some cases, however, they were also housed in the fuselage, from where the power was transmitted to the propellers used outside, in order to enable better maintenance by the crew during the flight. Since the beginning of 1916, the first giant aircraft for front testing were delivered to the two giant aircraft departments operating in Alt-Auz on the Eastern Front. From 1917 giant aircraft of the types DFW, VGO (Versuchsbau Gotha-Ost) and Zeppelin (Staaken) flew as gigantic giants with over 40 m wingspan and up to 2000 kg bomb load in the squadrons of large aircraft on their nightly missions.

The navy pushed the development of giant flying boats.

• 

  The Gotha GI , one of the first large aircraft in 1915

• 

  Large Gotha aircraft - here a G.II from 1916 - bombed London and Paris

• 

  Gotha G.III

• 

  Gotha G.IV

• 

  Gotha GV

• 

  The AEG G.IV was used as a medium-range bomber

• 

  Large aircraft from Friedrichshafen, here a G.III

• 

  A Friedrichshafen G.III bomber from 1918

• 

  Friedrichshafen GV bombers

• 

  Giant airplane of the type Staaken R.VI 1917/18

• 

  The giant Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII aircraft from 1918

Military airships

See also: Zeppelins in World War I , List of Zeppelins

Rigid airships of the types Zeppelin and Schütte-Lanz and impact airships of the Parseval type were used as military airships . Towards the end of the war, as with the zeppelins, the rigid airship with a scaffolding made of duraluminum prevailed. Airships were particularly suitable for long-haul operations, but tied to fixed launch sites, if possible with rotating, but hardly available, airship hangars, because even with cross winds of only 6 m / s, entering and leaving the hall was extremely risky.

Captive balloons

While France still had tethered ballons at the beginning of the war and Russia only used a single 600 m³ kite balloon, the German side relied early on the less wind-prone tethered balloons of the Parseval-Sigsfeld type with inflated air chambers. At wind speeds of over 10 m / s, however, even these hardly provided a sufficiently stable observation platform. The cell size, at the beginning of the war 600 m³, allowed a maximum standing height of 600 to 800 m, with the later 1,000 m³ (type "1000T") balloons up to 1,200 m. After an English balloon of the French type Cacquot, which was widely used by the Allies, fell into German hands, this was also copied as the AE type and used alongside other Russian and French booty balloons.

Small tethered balloons and kites were also used to set up balloon barriers as part of air protection.

The ascent and retraction was done first by hand, later by motor winch. Improved binoculars and strong protection against enemy combat aircraft with anti-aircraft cannons and machine guns were added.

Seaplanes

Seaplanes from Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen, Gotha, Rumpler, Albatros, Hansa-Brandenburg and Sablatnig were used in the naval seaplane stations, while the land flight stations used essentially the same models as in the army.

Aircraft engines

Motors were delivered during the war

time	Floor motors 1	Rotary motors	total
August to December 1914 :	748	100	848
January to December 1915 :	4,544	493	5,037
January to December 1916 :	6,930	892	7,822
January to December 1917 :	10,364	836	11,200
January to December 1918 :	13,757	1,785	15,542
Total :	36,343	4.106	40,449

¹ star , in- line and V engines

Weapons and ammunition

Since the water-cooled infantry machine guns turned out to be too heavy and unwieldy for use in aircraft - the development of lighter machine weapons had been neglected - hand weapons and self-loading rifles were initially used as self-defense against aircraft. MGs were not installed in front-line aircraft until 1915. Standard defensive weapon in addition to the Bergmann machine gun (IMG 15), which was also initially supplied, was later the air-cooled Parabellum -MG, which in aerial combat with its 500 round drum magazine and a rate of fire of 600 rounds per minute, the Allied Lewis MG with a 40 round -Munition drum was tactically superior. The frontal MG was produced by the German Arms and Munitions Factory (DWM) in Spandau and soon referred to by the Allies as the “Spandau MG” with a disguised cartridge feeder. In addition, the 20 mm Becker cannon was occasionally used on large aircraft . It should be noted that in the B-aircraft the observer was sitting in front - i.e. in front of the pilot - and thus had hardly any field of fire between the wings, struts and tensioning wires. The only exception here were the few Otto and Ago pusher propeller aircraft, which, thanks to the propeller screw attached behind the airframe, offered the observer a clear view and field of fire to the front. Only when the observer received a cockpit behind the pilot's seat with the appearance of the C-aircraft in the spring of 1915 could he effectively fire the MG, movably mounted on a ring carriage, against enemy aircraft and ground targets.

However, the MG, which was synchronized with the engine and therefore fired rigidly forward through the propeller circle, had a revolutionary effect, allowing the pilot to open fire with the whole machine in a frontal attack against an enemy aircraft. This invention, patented by the Swiss engineer of the LVG Franz Schneider on July 15, 1913, was installed in a LVG monoplane together with a second observer machine gun on a ring carriage at the end of 1914, which however was lost when it was transferred to the front . In the spring of 1915, Anton Fokker took up this idea and built it into one of his monoplane, which he personally demonstrated to Feldfliegerabteilung 62 in May 1915 in the presence of the German Crown Prince. From mid-1915 the first combat single-seaters appeared at the front, but later all two-seaters gradually received at least one synchronized machine gun for the pilot, while the fighters were increasingly upgraded to two rigid machine guns from 1916. By December 1, 1915, 1,138 MG had been delivered to the troops:

lMG 08 movable	lMG 08 rigid	lMG 14	lMG 15
179	260	450	249

Starting in April 1915, 300–400 additional MG 08s and 130 IMG 14s were delivered every month.

Initially, conventional infantry ammunition (S. or SMK) ammunition was fired for the MG, although it was only partially suitable for aerial combat. Competence disputes with the rifle examination commission (GPK), which was mainly based on the requirements for infantry weapons, blocked the view of the combat requirements in air combat. The weapon effect was sustainably improved by the development of tracer projectiles, which made aiming easier in aerial combat. Opposing tethered balloons were fought with special phosphorus incendiary ammunition. It was not until April 1917 that a test department for aviation weapons finally started work, which was subordinate to the IdFlieg.

At the beginning of the war, only makeshift armament of the aircraft - with aviator arrows and modified grenades, used to drop them against ground targets - was used - the spherical APK bomb with 5 to 10 kg developed in the pre-war period proved to be unsuitable for use in the field - soon followed the carbonite bombs, named after their manufacturer Carbonit AG, weighing 4, 5, 10 and 20 kg for dropping, even if their pear-shaped and thus aerodynamically unfavorable shape led to great inaccuracy. Only the PuW bomb in weights 12, 50 and 100 kg with explosive effect, constructed to exact specification by the testing institute and shipyard of the Fliegertruppe (PuW-Anstalt) by the Goertz company in Friedenau, made better targeting accuracy and possible thanks to its torpedo shape with stabilizing surfaces slightly rotated for rotation also caused fewer duds with its rotary detonator. As air mines weighing 300 and even 1,000 kg, they could bring down entire blocks of houses. In addition to the explosive bombs used against personal targets, incendiary bombs were also used later.

In contrast, infantry and attack pilots used hand grenades, and from 1918 also smaller "Ifl bombs" or "Ifl mice" to combat ground troops. In addition, water bombs or provisions bombs fitted with parachutes were dropped over their own bases.

Photographic and aeronautical equipment

There were also other innovations. Photo reconnaissance in particular forced the development of high-resolution cameras and series image devices with which entire front sections were recorded during overflight and later z. T. were evaluated stereoscopically. Working at altitudes of 6,000 m and more required oxygen equipment, heated clothing and gloves. The successful high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft Rumpler Rubild with appropriate special equipment and radio equipment became particularly well known ; the Rubild was even able to do without a defensive machine gun, as it was able to escape the Allied fighters at greater altitude thanks to its superior speed.

For long-distance reconnaissance, especially for artillery observation, clear communication was of the essence: Initially, communication was laborious using visual signals such as aviator's face cloths and light signals, but from 1915 the first FT devices (FT = radio telegraphy , i.e. tactile radio) were installed. The better communication between the shooting battery and the aerial observer increased the efficiency of the artillery pilots, but also their necessary technical and tactical specialization.

Aircraft markings and paintings

At the beginning of the war, the aircraft mostly had no camouflage, but were covered with beige or later field gray linen. In 1915 they also experimented with transparent cladding to make the aircraft more difficult to see in the sky. In the factory, the aircraft were given brown-green camouflage paints in 1915/16, and from 1916 also purple-green camouflage paints. In the course of 1917, however, the diamond or " Lozenge camouflage" later prevailed, a regular or irregular pattern of different colored hexagons from above in dark tones or on the underside of the aircraft in light tones.

In addition, the need to be recognizable with his machine for his comrades in action led to an often colorful variety of individual and sometimes very artistic markings and marks; most famously that of the fighter pilot are Manfred von Richthofen , who by the Allies because of his always painted red machines as "Red Baron" or "Le Diable Rouge" ( "Red Devil" feared) and its Red Holstein fighter squadron as "Richthofen's Flying Circus" became known .

Whole squadrons went over to the model of the red fighter aircraft of the Jasta 11 to paint their machines with uniform colors and individually different symbols according to the pilot. JG 1 painted the hulls of its machines red, JG 2 blue. This made it easier to lead closed formations in the air and increased the pilots' courage , because friends and sometimes also enemies now knew exactly who attacked daringly or "cowardly" in an aerial battle . In addition, a crashed machine could be quickly recognized from the air, which made the search for missing comrades easier.

Clear markings were attached to the sides of the fuselage or the rudder, which consisted of the manufacturer's name, intended use, serial number and year of manufacture. So the mark means Fok Dr. I 425/17 that it is a Fokker triplane with the number 425 from 1917, while a Fok D.VII (Alb) 5147/18 is a Fokker D.VII machine manufactured under license by Albatros from 1918.

National emblem

The national emblem for aircraft of the German aircraft, the kuk aviation troops and the Bulgarian aviators was the Iron Cross until 1917 , a black paw cross on a white square, later only with white stripes. From the end of 1917 the Balkenkreuz was applied, similar to that used by the Wehrmacht in World War II. The Ottoman aircraft, on the other hand, were marked with a black square on a white background.

German planes also fired signal cartridges multi-star / white as a distinguishing mark. Naval aircraft were also marked with long red flags on the lower wing.

• 

  Iron Cross (1914-1918)

• 

  Balkenkreuz (1917/18)

Color plates

• 

  Pfalz D.IIIa, Vice Sergeant Max Holtzem, Jasta 16

• 

  Palatinate D.IIIa, Jasta 5

• 

  Albatros DV flown by Paul Bäumer in the Jasta 5

• 

  Albatros DV from Lieutenant Dingel, Jasta 15, spring 1918

• 

  The red Albatros DV of the leader JG 1, Manfred von Richthofen.

• 

  The blue Fokker Dr.I from Lt. Ravens, Jasta 18, JG 2

• 

  Fokker Dr.I, Lt. Josef Jacobs (48 victories): the most successful pilot on the Fokker Dr.I

• 

  Albatros D.Va, Lt. Hans Böhning, Jasta 79b, spring 1918

Abbreviations

• AFA, AFlA Artillery Aviation Department (August 1915 to late 1916)
• AFS Artillery Aviation School
• AFP - Army Flight Park (since March / April 1915)
• BAK - Balloon Defense Cannon
• BAM - Metz carrier pigeon department
• BAO - Ostend carrier pigeon department
• BZ - balloon train
• Bogohl / BG - Bomb Squadron (of the Supreme Army Command)
• Bosta - bomb squadron
• EFP - Stage Airplane Park (until March / April 1915)
• Stage - stage
• FA, FlAbt - Aviation Department (since January 1917)
• FA (A) - Aviation Department (Artillery) (since late 1916 / early 1917)
• FBS - Airborne Observation School
• FEA - Aviation Replacement Department
• FFA - Field Aviation Department (until late 1916 / early 1917)
• FLA - Field Airship Department
• FFA - Fortress Aviation Department (until late 1914 / early 1915)
• FlgBtl - Flieger-Battalion (until August 1914)
• FS - Aviation School
• FT - radio telegraph
• FluNa - flight news agency
• GruBia - group picture department
• Grufl - group leader of the aviators
• GruJa - group leader of the fighter pilots
• IdFlieg - inspection of the air force
• ILuft - inspection of the airship troops
• JG - Jagdgeschwader
• JGr - hunting group
• Jasta - hunting squadron
• JastaSch - Hunting Relay School
• KE - combat single-seater
• KEK - Combat Single Seat Command
• KeSch - Combat single seat school
• Kest, Kesta - combat single-seat squadron
• Kagohl / KG - Combat Squadron (of the Supreme Army Command)
• Kasta - combat squadron
• Kofl / Stofl - Commander of the aviators / staff officer of the aviators
• Kogenluft - Commanding General of the Air Force
• Lb - aerial view
• LsBtl - Airship Battalion
• RA, RFlA - giant aircraft division
• RBZ - series image train
• Schlasta - battle squadron
• Schusta - Schutzstaffel

See also

• First World War
• Air war
• Field airship
• List of the most successful German fighter pilots in the First World War

Further air forces in the First World War

• Aviation Militaire Belge (Belgian Air Force)
• Royal Flying Corps (RFC; British Air Force, until 1917)
• Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS; British Naval Air Force , until 1918)
• Royal Air Force (RAF; British Air Force, from 1918)
• Aéronautique Militaire (French Air Force)
• Corpo Aeronautico Militare (Italian Air Force)
• Kuk Luftfahrtruppen (Austrian Hungarian Fliegertruppe)
• Osmanlı Hava Kuvetler (Ottoman Air Force)
• Corpul de Aviație Român (Romanian Air Force)
• Императорский военно-воздушный флот (Russian Air Force)
• United States Army Air Service (US Air Force)

literature

• Kai Biermann , Erhard Cielewicz: Döberitz airfield. Birthplace of military aviation in Germany . Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-86153-371-5 .
• Walter von Eberhardt (ed.): Our air forces 1914-18. A monument to German heroism. Patriotic publishing house CA Weller, Berlin 1930
• Olaf Groehler: History of the Air War 1910 to 1980 . Military publishing house of the GDR, Berlin 1981
• Ernst von Hoeppner : Germany's war in the air . Leipzig 1921
• Karlheinz Kens, Hans Müller: The aircraft of the First World War . Munich 1966, ISBN 3-453-00404-3
• Günter Kroschel, Helmut Stützer: The German military aircraft 1910–1918 . Wilhelmshaven 1977, ISBN 3-920602-18-8
• Peter Kilduff: Germany's First Air Force 1914-1918 . Arms and Armor Press, 1991, ISBN 1-85409-352-5 .
• Georg Paul Neumann (ed.): The entire German air force in the world war . Berlin 1920
• Heinz J. Nowarra: Iron Cross and Balkenkreuz . Mainz 1968
• Karl R. Pawlas: German Aircraft 1914-18 . Journalistic Archive Pawlas, Nuremberg 1976, ISBN 3-88088-209-6 .
• Manfred von Richthofen : The red fighter pilot . Berlin 1917.
• Reichsluftfahrtministerium (Ed.): The German Air Force from its creation to the end of the World War in 1918 . 7 volumes, Berlin 1938–1943.
  • Volume 1: Military aviation until the beginning of the World War in 1914 (1941); Revised new edition by the Military History Research Office in the 3-volume series The military aviation up to the beginning of the World War in 1914 as a text volume and attachment volume , Frankfurt am Main 1965–1966
  • Volume 2: Military Aviation in International Law and German Law in the Pre-War Period (1938)
  • Volume 3: Mobilization, deployment, and a first deployment of the German air forces in August 1914 (1939)
  • Volume 4: The development of army and naval aircraft up to the outbreak of World War 1914 (1942); Revised new edition by the Military History Research Office in the 3-volume series The military aviation up to the beginning of the World War in 1914 as a technical volume , Frankfurt am Main 1966
  • Volume 5: The technical development of the flak weapon up to the end of the world war (1942)
  • Volume 6: The air forces in the defensive battle between Somme and Oise from August 8 to 12, 1918 and reviews of their previous development (1942)
  • Volume 7: Home Air Defense in World Wars 1914 to 1918 (1943)
• Günter Schmitt: When the vintage cars flew - the history of the Johannisthal airfield . Transpress, Berlin 1980, ISBN 3-344-00129-9 .

Web links

Commons : Air Forces  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• frontflieger.de - the soldiers of the German Air Force 1914–1918

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Karl-Dieter Seifert: German pilots over the colonies . Zweibrücken: VDM Heinz Nickel, 2007. ISBN 978-3-86619-019-1
2. ↑ Biermann, Cielewicz: Flugplatz Döberitz , p. 17 ff.
3. ↑ Schmitt: When the oldtimers flew , p. 159 ff.
4. ↑ A replica of the Farman III is in the Military History Museum at Berlin-Gatow Airport .
5. ↑ cf. frontflieger.de
6. ^ Diary entries from Lt. Friedrich Heising , pilot at Feldfliegerabteilung 10 , later leader of Kampfstaffel 23 and Jasta 20. Heising wrote that he was on September 16. between 3 and 4 p.m. together with his observer Lt. Sieler was first pressed by an enemy monoplane via Suippes in the Argonne , then attacked by a biplane with machine gun. Heising received a bullet through the hand, but was able to bring his machine back to his department despite heavy ground defense, where he then counted 25 bullets in his aircraft.
7. ↑ He only adopted the additional name von der Lieth much later.
8. ↑ He was promoted to colonel in 1918.
9. ^ Richard Suchewirth: The Development of the German Air Force, 1919-1939 . In: USAF Historical Studies . No. 160 . Arno Press, New York 1970, pp. 2 .
10. ^ Georg Paul Neumann: The German air forces in the world wars . ES Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1920, p. 588 .
11. ↑ ST Previtera: Prussian Blue - A History of the Order Pour le Merite . Winidore Press, 2005, ISBN 0-9673070-2-3 .
12. ↑ Bruno Fischer: Book of Honor of the Order of the Military Merit Cross eV and the history of the order community . Berlin 1960, p. 16 .
13. ^ Ernst Wilhelm Arnold von Hoeppner: Germany's war in the air . KF Köhler, Leipzig 1921, p. 170 .
14. ↑ cf. List of all zeppelins with a detailed overview
15. ↑ Michael Mertens: Aircraft radio. Baden-Baden 2009, p. 9 f.
16. ↑ Wintgens had previously defeated a Morane Parasol, but this kill was not officially recognized because it occurred across the lines
17. ^ Oskar Ursinus: Complete official list of fighter pilots with more than three confirmed victorious air battles . In: Flugsport - Illustrated technical journal for all aviation . No. 4 . Frankfurt am Main 1919, p. 99 .
18. ↑ http://www.zeppelinmuseum.eu/Homepage-eu/seiten-d/seite01/museum-deutsch.htm accessed on February 8, 2017
19. ↑ ^{a b c d e} firstworldwar.com
20. ↑ cf. Especially for the use of the zeppelins, also an overview under the military airship
21. ^ A Gotha bomber was shot down on the Western Front (feature film scene) on youtube.com
22. ↑ Zeppelin bombing on the Eastern Front (feature film scene) on youtube.com
23. ↑ cf. Category: Type of aircraft from the First World War (German Empire)
24. ↑ cf. 1914-1918.invisionzone.com ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
25. ^ ^{A b} Günter Kroschel, Helmut Stützer: The German military aircraft 1910-18 . Wilhelmshaven 1977, ISBN 3-920602-18-8
26. ↑ cf. detailed representation under military airship .
27. ↑ for "eight hundred English"