Organization
The K. u. K Luftfahrtruppen was organized into a trilevel organization. At the top was the Fliegerarsenal ("aviation arsenal"), a complex bureaucracy working for a civilian Ministry of War. New airplanes were shipped from factory to a Flars group for acceptance. These groups were located:
- No. I at Aspern, Austria
- No. II at Budapest, Hungary
- No. III at Wiener-Neustadt (later moved to the Anatra plant in Odessa
- No. IV at Campoformido, Italy
- An unnumbered group in Berlin to accept German aircraft
In turn, the Flars forwarded aircraft received to Fliegeretappenpark ("aviation parks"). These Fleps were each responsible for supplying a combat sector of the Austro-Hungarian forces. They supplied hardware and supplies to the aviation units. They also served as repair depots for severely damaged aircraft; they would repair some airplanes that were damaged beyond a frontline unit's repair capabilities, and send the worst back to a factory. There were three Flars at war's beginning; there were eleven by war's end.
Other midlevel units in the K. u. K Luftfahrtruppen were the Fliegerersatzkompanie ("spare flier company"). These replacement depots served a dual purpose. They not only trained and supplied air crew and maintenance staff as replacements to frontline units; they also formed new units to be posted to the front. By war's end, there were 22 of these Fleks.
Finally, there were the line units of the K. u. K Luftfahrtruppen. These Fliegercompanies were understaffed, seldom having more than eight pilots per unit. There were 77 Fliks in existence by war's end. By 1917, their unit numbers were extended by a letter suffix denoting the unit's mission. For instance:
- 'J' denoted Jagdfliegercompanie, a fighter squadron
- 'P' meant Photoeinsitzerkompanie, or a single-seater photographic reconnaissance squadron. 'Rb' designated a squadron capable of flying photo sequences and mosaics.
- 'D' meant a squadron was a Divisionsfliegerkompanie flying short range reconnaissance for an army division.
- 'K' showed that the Korpsfligerkompanie was flying short range recon for a corps.
- 'F', by contrast, was a long range recon unit.
- 'S' was attached to ground support squadrons; they were often repurposed 'D' squadrons.
- 'G' denoted a bomber squadron.
Read more about this topic: Austro-Hungarian Air Force
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