Command of the ships and boats of the Air Force
From 1940 to 1945, all seagoing vehicles of the Luftwaffe were under the command of ships and boats (KadoSchub) of the Air Force .
prehistory
From 1928 to 1935, the German Aviation School in Warnemünde was responsible for the operation, conversion and construction of sea vessels for the naval air force. The Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule was a cover organization of the Reichsmarine for its air forces, since according to the Versailles Treaty Germany was forbidden from owning military aircraft.
When the Luftwaffe was officially founded on March 1, 1935, the Luftkreiskommando VI (See), established on March 1, 1934, based in Kiel, took over the ships and boats of the German Aviation School, as the navy's air forces were also transferred to the Air Force. On February 4, 1938, the Luftkreiskommando VI was converted into the Luftwaffenkommando (sea) and a special group for ships within the Luftwaffenkommando (sea) was formed. On January 1, 1939, 590 sea vessels belonged to the Air Force.
On April 1, 1939, the Luftwaffenkommando (sea) was disbanded and the boats and ships of the Luftwaffe were subordinated to the "Group Lz VI", which was now responsible for the operation of the ships and boats of the Luftwaffe. Group Lz VI was one of seven groups of the Luftwaffe's Luftwaffe Luftzeuggruppe See, founded on January 1, 1936. In the course of 1939, all areas related to the supply and equipment of boats and ships, such as fuel supply, radio equipment and the like, were also subordinated to it. By January 1, 1940, the number of Luftwaffe seagoing vessels had grown to 729.
Command the ships and boats
On August 13, 1940, the Lz VI group was converted into the “Command Ships and Boats of the Air Force Group See”. On August 29, 1944, the Luftzeuggruppe See was disbanded and the command of ships and boats with its subordinate units was placed under the newly created "Department of the General of the Naval Affairs of the Air Force".
On November 24, 1944, the subordination of the command ships and boats to the office of the General des Maritime Affairs of the Luftwaffe was abolished and the reclassification of the command ships and boats into "Command of the Air Force Supply Sea" was ordered with the following subordination:
- Command of ships and boats with subordinate units
- Luftzeugamt 2 / XI (See), formerly Luftzeugamt Travemünde
- Luftpark 4 / XI, formerly Luftpark Kiel-Holtenau
- Branch of Luftpark 4 / XI as an aircraft device issuing point for ships and boats Swinoujscie, formerly Luftpark (lake) Swinemünde
The command of the ships and boats had catapult and slinging ships for the use of seaplanes for reconnaissance over the sea, flight operations boats for the operation of sea air bases , air traffic control vessels and other sea vehicles for the sea emergency service and aircraft salvage, freighters and supply ships of all kinds for the transport of air force goods and many other sea and harbor vehicles for a wide variety of purposes.
See also
literature
- Dieter Jung / Berndt Wenzel / Arno Abendroth: The ships and boats of the German sea pilots. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-469-7