Flugbereitschaft units
 

Can anyone tell me what role was performed by the Flugbereitschaft units directly sub-ordinate to most Luftwaffe HQs.

I know bereitschaft translates as readiness/alert so were they somekind of security force?

Best Regards

Andy Fletcher

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

Hi Andy...

I have it translated as "duty flight"

Cheers

Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

...and Barry Rosch in his "Luftwaffe Codes, Markings and Units 1939-45" [Schiffer, 1995] has:

Flugber - Flugbereitschaft (aviation duty flight - attached to Luftflotten, Luftgau, Kdos etc)

Flugber.G.L - Flugbereitschaft Generalluftzeugmeister (Duty Flight Chief of Air Force Supply and Procurement)

Cheers

Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

Many thanks Peter.

If it is duty flight then what would the role entail, would it be similar to liason/courier (I thought this was verbindungs/kurier)

Cheers

Andy Fletcher

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

Missed your second post. Thanks for confirming that.

Cheers

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

I'd love to provide an answer/further details... but now its over to the experts Andy... :)

Cheers

Peter D Evans
LEMB Administrator

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

I agree with everyone else although Flugbereitschaft Luftlotte 2 did a bit of ad hoc anti-partisan bombing in Italy in 1943–44 as well.

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

Hi,

In Peter Cornwells excellent book you will find losses of Flugbereitschaft 1. Fliegerkorps on May 20 and May 22, 1940. In both cases these were Fi156's. I suspect that these were somehow involved in selecting proper landing grounds, e.g. for the Transportstaffel 1. Fliegerkorps (of which 2 Ju52's were lost on May 21 due to unfit landing grounds ...). If this is true I would (loosely) translate their role as "Preparation unit", where the "bereit" then refers to "vorbereiten" or to prepare.
Of course our German forum colleagues should confirm.

Pieter

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

I'm not German but "bereit" = "ready" and so to me "Bereitschaft" implies "readiness" or "preparedness" as in "being readily available." If they'd meant "vorbereiten" [to make ready beforehand] they wouldn't remove the prefix, I think. Prefixes can change the meaning of German root words a lot.

Finding new landing grounds was normally referred to as "Platzerkündung" = "airfield scouting."

Re: Flugbereitschaft units
 

Guys

The term is still in use by the Luftwaffe today. Ever since the creation of the new Luftwaffe in 1956 this has always ment to be the VIP staffel, used to transport either high ranking Government individuals or high ranking military personal. This staffel was also used to bring back persons involved in the terrible tsunami catastrophe some years ago in Thailand, which proves it can be used in various emergency roles. A similar unit in France is GLAM.

I have always thought these units were more or less the same back in WW 2. However Nick's answer they were also used for bombing set me back a bit since this cannot have been any primary duty and I doubt they normally used aeroplanes with such capacity. But I always thought the name very apt. To be prepared and to be prepared for everything (even bombing at one point....)

Cheers
Stig