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
Famous quotes containing the word organization:
“The Red Cross in its nature, it aims and purposes, and consequently, its methods, is unlike any other organization in the country. It is an organization of physical action, of instantaneous action, at the spur of the moment; it cannot await the ordinary deliberation of organized bodies if it would be of use to suffering humanity, ... [ellipsis in original] it has by its nature a field of its own.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)
“I would wish that the women of our country could embrace ... [the responsibilities] of citizenship as peculiarly their own. If they could apply their higher sense of service and responsibility, their freshness of enthusiasm, their capacity for organization to this problem, it would become, as it should become, an issue of profound patriotism. The whole plane of political life would be lifted.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“The art of government is the organization of idolatry. The bureaucracy consists of functionaries; the aristocracy, of idols; the democracy, of idolaters. The populace cannot understand the bureaucracy: it can only worship the national idols.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)