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Thread: How were Austro-Hungarian squadrons organised?

  1. #1

    Default How were Austro-Hungarian squadrons organised?

    Does anyone know how Austro-Hungarian flik's were organised? I've read that fighters and two seater's were often mixed in squadrons because the A-H method was to use fighters as escorts for two seater's.
    All help greatly appreciated.

  2. #2

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    Somebody offered here some hughe informations about A-H aviation...

    Search a little bit the Historical Discussions
    Voilà le soleil d'Austerlitz!

  3. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by Popsical View Post
    Does anyone know how Austro-Hungarian flik's were organised? I've read that fighters and two seater's were often mixed in squadrons because the A-H method was to use fighters as escorts for two seater's.
    All help greatly appreciated.
    Hi Steven,

    The following is a summary from Osprey's "Austro-Hungarian Aces of WW1':

    On the outbreak of Austria-Hungary’s war with Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, the total strength of the Luftfahrttruppen (LFT) was 39 heavier-than-air craft, one dirigible airship and 10
    balloons. These aircraft were operated by just 85 pilots deployed in nine Fliegerkompanien (Flik).

    Throughout the war the Fliegerkompanien (Flik) remained the basic front-line combat unit. The pilot strength (officers and NCOs) for each Flik was seldom more than eight despite the fact that the table of organisation called for a somewhat higher number. By the end of World War 1 the LFT had created a total of 77 Flik units. In 1917 the Flik units were given a letter suffix indicating the unit’s role, in addition to the unit numbers. The letters were D for a Divisionsfliegerkompanie short-range reconnaissance and artillery-spotting unit attached to a division, F for a Fernaufklärerkompanie long-range reconnaissance unit, G for a Grossflugzeugkompanie bomber unit, J for a Jagdfliegerkompanie fighter unit, K for a Korpsfliegerkompanie for a short-range reconnaissance unit attached to a corps, P for a Photoeinsitzerkompanie single-seat photo-reconnaissance unit, Rb for a Reihenbildaufklärerkompanie photo-reconnaissance unit dedicated to overlapping photography for map-making purposes, and S for a Schlachtfliegerkompanie ground-attack and close-support unit.

    The Fliegeretappenpark (Flep) was the flying park responsible for supplying the Flik units with their aircraft, motors, guns, cameras and other supplies. The Flep units also undertook repairs that were too extensive for the Flik units but did not require the return of the aeroplane or equipment item to the factory. Each Flep was responsible for a fixed segment of the front, and the number of Flep units increased from three in July 1914 to 11 in November 1918.

    The Fliegerersatzkompanie (Flek) was the replacement unit tasked with supplying the Flik units with men, including pilots, mechanics and orderlies. The Flek was also responsible for the training of these men, and it was standard for each Flik to be assembled at a Flek and then despatched as a unit to the front. By the end of the war there were 22 Flek units, known collectively as the Fliegerersatztruppe (Flet).

    The Fliegerarsenal (generally known as Flars) represented a completely separate organisational strand of extraordinary bureaucratic complexity, controlled directly by the civilian-run war ministry. The Flars has responsibility for obtaining, evaluating and testing LFT equipment including aircraft, guns and engines. This organisation had existed since the beginning of Austro-Hungarian military aviation, but was not formally designated until March 1915.

    Jagdfliegerkompanien

    Drawing on the experience of the Germans over the Western Front, as well as the lessons of its own operations, the LFT in the field tried to create larger, more decisive fighter units, but these attempts were thwarted by shortages of fighters and pilots, and also by the reluctance of the army high command, which saw the task of the single-seat fighter as being the close escort and protection of the two-seat general purpose aircraft. In February 1917 Flik 41J came into existence as the LFT’s first genuine all-fighter squadron. Despite the faltering Austro-Hungarian war effort, the LFT was able to increase the number of Jagdkompanien from seven in the later stages of 1917 to 13 in 1918. The concentration of fighter aircraft in designated Flik J units was not universal however, particularly on the secondary fronts. As late as May 1917 Flik 6P operating in Albania was assigned two Aviatik D.I fighters to escort the units two seater reconnaissance aircraft.

    In summary until early 1917 LFT fighter aircraft were assigned to Fliks to provide escort to the two-seaters. From February 1917 until the end of the war single purpose Flik J units were established, particularly on the Italian Front where the main air opposition was encountered. On the secondary fronts the issue of 2-3 fighters to other units for use as escorts remained common practice.

  4. #4

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    1.) The LFT-Units with aircraft

    The nominal strength of a Fliegerkompanie (FliK) was 1 commander, 1 officer pilot as Chefpilot (pilot in chief), 7 NCO-pilots, 8 observing officers, 1 technical officer and 163 NCOs and men as supporting ground personnel. These 181 men were to have 6 aircraft ready for action, 2 aircraft as reserve, 2 cars and 3 trucks. This norm was fixed at the beginning of the war, which some FliKs never reached, but during the course of the war it became obvious that it would make more sense to specialize the different companies for different operational tasks. These differences in equipment and capability between the units was further indicated by a letter after the number of the company e.g. FliK 43J following this code:

    D or Divisions-Kompanie these units were used at the divisional level for observation and artillery observation, also to provide support for the infantry and observation of enemy trenches within the divisional boundary, equipped with two-seat aircraft.

    F or Fernaufklärer-Kompanie long range observation, directly subordinated to an army headquarters to observe the hinterland and the support routes of the enemy, equipped with two seat aircraft, in 1918 often transformed into Rb-FliKs

    G or Großflugzeug-Kompanie these companies were organized as squadrons of twin-engines bombers combined with one seat fighters but the support of such huge planes was so low that in reality only the fighters were ready for action; the first of these units Fluggeschwader I was renamed as FliK 101G in September 1917, the others came in 1918

    J or Jagdflieger-Kompanie fighter units against enemy aircraft ; the nominal strength should be 18 one-seater aircraft ready for action at each J-FliK but these figures were never reached because of support problems

    K or Korps-Kompanie these units were to carry out the same missions as the D-FliKs but at corps level; created in late 1918 so actually no training or equipment changes came into effect

    P or Photoaufklärer-Kompanie short range observers, equipped with one seater fighters with fixed photo-cameras and two seater Berg-aircraft reconfigured into one-seaters with photo cameras, formed in 1918

    Rb or Reihenbildgeräte-Kompanie short range observers similar to the P-FliKs but equipped with modern serial picture cameras mounted on two-seater aircraft; mainly used in trench observation for infantry support

    S or Schutzflieger- or Schlachtflieger-Kompanie originally created as escort for D-FliK observation companies but transformed in early 1918 into combat fighters to support infantry during the attack with bombing; also equipped with special MGs (Bombenloch-MGs) fixed on a swivel mount to the bombing aperture hatch in the bottom of the two seater plane so that the second crewman could fire directly down to earth to support ground troops

    You are correct, the D and K Fliks usually had four 2 seaters and two fighters used to escort.

    But, with the KuK things were never simple. On 18 August 1917 OOB for some Fliks.

    Flik 19; 8 HB C.Is, 1 Aviatik C.I and 1 Albatros D.III
    Flik 32; 4 HB C.Is and 1 HB D.I
    Flik 42J; 5 HB D.Is and 6 Albatros D.IIIs
    Flik 46F; 5 HB C.Is, 2 HB D.Is and 2 Aviatik D.Is the HB D.Is could be used for photo recon.

    15 October 1918
    Flik 12RB; 2 Phonix C.Is and 3 Phonix D.Is (photo recon)
    Flik 19K; 1 HB C.I and 5 UFAG C.Is
    Flik 37P; 1 HB C.I, 2 Phonix D.Is, 4 Aviatik D.Is and 2 Albatros D.IIIs
    Flik 40P; 6 Aviatik D.Is, 1 Phonix D.I and 1 Albatros D.III
    Flik 69S; 8 HB C.Is and 1 Albatros D.III
    Flik 15F; 1 HB C.I and 5 UFAG C.Is

    I hope this sheds some light.

  5. #5

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    Thanks guys!

  6. #6

    Weißer Adler
    Guest


    Default

    Great infos. Thank you!



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