German air units

Hello everybody

I was playing the original Red Baron from Dynamix the other day and noticed that some of the early war German air units had peculiar names. One I noticed in particular was called "KEK Habsheim". Does anyone know what the "KEK" stands for?

Thanks
Lutz

[Barrett]

It's approximately Kampf Einsitzer Kommando, a single-seat fighter unit assigned to protect a specific area. Not really a jagdstaffel, though evidently some KEKs evolved into jastas.

Thanks. How about Fl. Abt. No. 203, Oswald Boelcke's old unit. What does the abbreviation stand for?

That would be "Flieger Abteilung". Flieger is pretty obvious, but i have no idea what Abteilung means since I only know a few words of German. However, I imagine that its similar or no different than a KEK.

Hi,

Abteilung means unit or department (does department make sense here?)

Tino

[Shooter]

"Abteilung" is very often also translated freely to the English military definition of "battalion" or "detachment."

During the Great War, an abteilung seems to have been a temporary unit, while during the Second Big Show, it was more rigid and all ad hoc units were called "kampfgruppen."

At least that is how I recall it.

[Reinout]

WWI:
Abteilungen were in fact not temporary units. From time to time, redesignations (a total of two redesignations if I recall correctly, one was around Jul-Sep 1916) came through. Only their numbers and assigned duties could change. For instance, the units were called FAA's at first (Feld Flieger Abteilungen), but were changed later to FA (Flieger Abteilungen). Some units were intended for artillery spotting, the name would be changed to FA (A) 224 for instance. All in all, there's continuity in the existence of the FA's.

Most KEK's and Fokker Staffels were later formed into Jasta's.

WWII:
A typical Geschwader looked like this:
Stab (4 planes)
Three Gruppen (36-42 planes each). Each Gruppe was divided into 3 Staffels. At a certain point in the war, each Gruppe would have its own Stab flight. Some Geschwaderen were equipped with a 4th Gruppe or 4 Staffels.

The Kampfgruppe Shooter refers to is actually a temporary unit. If the situation demanded it, ALL German organizations managed to re-compose themselves into Kampfgruppen that would temporarily be united under a single commander, for the remainder of the battle. Kampfgruppe Peiper is probably the most famous land unit to have done so. Kampfgruppe Kühl was led by Dr. Ernst Kühl a bomber commander. Their task was to supply Stalingrad and bomb the advancing Russians. I have no recollection of any other air Kampfgruppen.

Kind regards,

Reinout

[rammjaeger]

Reinout,

a little mistake - that happens very fast with these confusing abbreviations. The first units were called Feldflieger-Abteilungen (FFA not FAA) and Festungsflieger-Abteilungen. The FAA were made from former Artillerie Flieger Abteilungen (Art. Fl. Abt.) and FFA´s.

Lutz, a good source book can help to clarify the whole words better than all our contributions. There were too many changes during the war.

Sincerely,

Hannes

[Reinout]

Hannes,

Indeed, I used the FAA abbreviation, but used the correct full name of Feld Flieger Abteilung. Mistakes are easily made.

Kind regards,

Reinout