Luftwaffe abreviations

[Veer]

In the WIR, the luftwaffe airgroups are named LG, JG, SG and some even SKG.

What do these mean? Is each type of aircraft only assignable to a particular type of group? For example i noticed that nearly all the Stukas form part of SKG groups.

Also, is there a maximum size for these groups? How many planes formed part of a German fighter wing historically?

[Augusto]

In the WIR, the luftwaffe airgroups are named LG, JG, SG and some even SKG

Hi

LG - Lehrgeshwader - Training unit
JG - Jagdgeschwader - Fighter wing
SG - Schlachtgeschwader - Ground-attack wing
SKG - Schnellkampfgeschwader - High-speed bomber wing
KG - Kampfgesschwader - Bomber wing
ZG - Zerstorergeschwader - Hevy fighter wing
NJG - Nachtjagdgeschwader - Night fighter wing
StG - Sturzkampfgeschwader - Dive bomber wing

Each Geschwader nomally had 3 to 4 Gruppen

Each Gruppe had 3 ocasionally 4 Staffeln

Each Staffeln had 4 planes as far as I know

[Veer]

Thanks a lot!
By that calculation the size varies from 36-64.

Just one last question - in WIR which plane qualifies as SKG?

[Possum]

Hello Veer
Fw-190F/G's, Bf-110's, Me-410's are generally the aircraft used by the SKG gruppen

[Ranger-75]

Originally posted by Augusto
In the WIR, the luftwaffe airgroups are named LG, JG, SG and some even SKG

Hi

LG - Lehrgeshwader - Training unit
JG - Jagdgeschwader - Fighter wing
SG - Schlachtgeschwader - Ground-attack wing
SKG - Schnellkampfgeschwader - High-speed bomber wing
KG - Kampfgesschwader - Bomber wing
ZG - Zerstorergeschwader - Hevy fighter wing
NJG - Nachtjagdgeschwader - Night fighter wing
StG - Sturzkampfgeschwader - Dive bomber wing

Each Geschwader nomally had 3 to 4 Gruppen

Each Gruppe had 3 ocasionally 4 Staffeln

Each Staffeln had 4 planes as far as I know

StG = StukaKampfGeschwader

Staffel = Squadron = 12-16 planes depending on type / role / and how far along the war was on.

Gruppe = wing = 3 Staffeln about 40 planes

Geschwader = group = 3 - 4 Gruppen about 120 planes. Theee were TOE strengths, as the ar went on units typically had less and less.

[davewolf]

Originally posted by Veer
Just one last question - in WIR which plane qualifies as SKG?

Addition to Possum's reply:
Originally it was the Bf-110. A fighter-bomber (Jagdbomber) of course. Would be called JaboG today. But that term wasn't yet usual those days. That's why they called it Schnellkampfgeschwader (fast bomber wing).

[Augusto]

Originally posted by Ranger-75


StG = StukaKampfGeschwader

The word is Sturzkampfgeschwader, as far as I know,
as Stuka is the contraction of the word Sturzkampfflugzeug (dive bomber)

Staffel = Squadron = 12-16 planes depending on type / role / and how far along the war was on.

Gruppe = wing = 3 Staffeln about 40 planes

Geschwader = group = 3 - 4 Gruppen about 120 planes. Theee were TOE strengths, as the ar went on units typically had less and less.

My mistake, the figther staffel had three tactical formations or Schwarm. Each Schwarm had two formations, Rotte, with two aircraft so 3x2x2=12

The bomber or divebomber Staffel had up to four formations called Kete, with three aircraft each.

[Veer]

Thanks a lot guys!

[Vern]

Originally posted by Ranger-75


StG = StukaKampfGeschwader

Staffel = Squadron = 12-16 planes depending on type / role / and how far along the war was on.

Gruppe = wing = 3 Staffeln about 40 planes

Geschwader = group = 3 - 4 Gruppen about 120 planes. Theee were TOE strengths, as the ar went on units typically had less and less.

I don´t fully agree with you here. In the beginning of the war, the TOE strength of a Staffel was 9, not 12 or 16. 16 was the extreme maximum found rather at the end than the beginning of the war (which contradicts your last paragraph). It is correct that the Staffel size depended on the type and role of the Geschwader or Gruppe. 16, for example, was reached often by day fighter Staffeln in 1944/45.

But to answer the original question: The TOE strength of a Geschwader was 90-100 in the beginning of the war. As the war progressed, the concept of a fixed nominal strength was more and more abandoned (unlike, for example, the panzer units). Later, there were Geschwader with only a fraction of this and others which were much larger (but not 200 planes, AFAIK).

You have to take into account, though, that it was not unusual for a Geschwader to be divided between several Luftflotten, or even between different theathers of war. This could happen even at the staffel level - one staffel of a gruppe in Norway, the other one in the Ukraine.
Furthermore you have to take into account that a Geschwader often had more than one type of aircraft - a ground attack units could be comprised of Ju 87 as well as FW 190, a ZG could have Me 110´s as well as Ju 88´s, etc.

So, when you look at your 1st Panzer Armee and admire your 160 He 111´s, remember: Many of them aren´t really there, and the others aren´t all He 111...

[Ranger-75]

What I meant by my comment as to how far along the war was on, was in reference to actual strengths, not TOE strengths. TOEs were changed throughout the war by both sides to reflect doctrinal changes, lessons learned, etc., but as the war went on German units tended to have less of everything on hand and servicable.

Conversely, US and British units tended to be maintained at full TOE strength at all times, except immediately after intense combat (and then not for long).