I have been working on a project concerning the role of events in the Mediterranean in the collapse of the Luftwaffe in late 1942, so I have looked at a large volume of primary sources concerning the Luftwaffe order of battle in recent weeks. I took a moment to follow up the query by forum member gruppe.drei concerning Jabogruppe Afrika. For the original question and some replies by other members, see the thread at the following link -
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=49033 .
The following information comes from the original Luftwaffe strength and serviceability reports at Freiburg, some of which were used by Andreas Brekken in the previous thread:
Report dated 31 July 1942:
Jabo 27 [Jagdbomberstaffel 27]
6 Bf 109F4 Tr aircraft [Bf 109 F-4/trop] x 3 aircraft serviceable x 3 crews x 2 crews operationally ready x 1 crew not ready
III./J.G. 53 Bf 109F4
einschl. Jabo - including
Jagdbomberstaffel, not counted separately
Report dated 10 August 1942:
Jabo Afrika [Jabogruppe Afrika]
13 F4/Tr. x 6 x 15 x 9 x 6 - see above for meaning of each number
Report dated 20 August 1942:
Jabo Afrika
12 F4/Tr. x 6 x 18 x 8 x 10
Report dated 31 August 1942:
Jabo Afrika
14 F4/Tr. x 7 x 27 x 11 x 16
Report dated 10 September 1942:
Jabo Afrika
15 F4/Tr. x 8 x 28 x 13 x 15
Report dated 20 September 1942:
Jabo Gr. Afrika
(Jabo 27 u. 53) [acknowledgment that
Jabogruppe Afrika was formed from these two
Jagdbomberstaffeln]
13 F4/Tr. x 4 x 29 x 18 x 0
Report dated 30 September 1942:
Jabo Gr. Afrika
(Jabo 27 und 53)
22 F4/Tr. x 12 x 30 x 14 x 0
I./Schl. G. 2
Aus III./Z.G. 1 ist I./S.G. 2 mit 4 Staffeln aufgestellt.
Verstärkt durch Jabo-Staffeln J.G. 27 u. J.G. 53 und 4./(Pz. S.G. 2) Hs 129 Pz. Jagdstaffel. [As translated by Andreas previously -
I./Schl. G. 2 reinforced with
Jagdbomberstaffeln 27 and 53, as well as the Panzerjagdstaffel 4./(Pz. S.G. 2) equipped with the Hs 129]
Report dated 31 October 1942:
Jabo-Gruppe O.B.S.
[Jabogruppe Oberbefehlshaber Süd - fighter-bomber group of Commander-in-Chief South]
27 F4/Tr. x 18 x 32 x 26 x 3
I./Schl. G. 2
Gruppe erhält voraussichtlich die Bf 109F4 trop von der aufgelösten Jabogruppe.
[Gruppe will receive the
Bf 109 F-4/trop aircraft of the disbanded
Jabogruppe]
I hope this is of interest to members.
If others have more information about this unit, I would be grateful if they shared it. The use of a small number of fighter-bomber units by the Luftwaffe in 1942 is an interesting example of the way it attempted to respond to growing Allied aerial superiority.
Regards,
Dan