[Doug Stankey]

The following prewar recon unit code list is based on analysis of my collection of prewar codes, our preliminary work for a book about Recon unit histories of the Luftwaffe and from information gleaned from various books, especially:

Aufklarer und Aufklarungsverbande der deutschen Luftwaffe 1935 – 1945 by
Jahn Bradley. Barry Ketley and David Wadman; pub by Bernard und Graefe Verlag.

The list is not complete but it represents our best guess. As a rule, units not shown either had no code or they only had the post November 1, 1938 type code as used during WWII. Where codes seem to be repeated, this was likely due to the codes being retained after unit redesignations.

In the codes shown below, “x” means the individual aircraft identifier letter. The “n” indicates the Staffel number within the Gruppe.

The first digit of the code was the district number in which the unit was formed and was also represented in the last digit of the unit number. The second last digit of the code was the Gruppe number indicating that it was the (for example second recon Gruppe formed within that Luftkreis. The last digit merely indicates the Staffel number within that Gruppe.

Aufkl.Gr. 11 (1. formation) = (10+x2n).
Aufkl.Gr. 12 = (20+x2n).
Aufkl.Gr.13 = (30+x2n).
Aufkl.Gr. 14 (1.formation) = (40+x2n).
Aufkl.Gr.15 = (50+x2n).
Aufkl.Gr.23 = (30+x1n).
Aufkl.Gr. 24 = (40+x1n).
Aufkl.Gr.52 = (20+x3n).
Aufkl.Gr. 25 = (50+x1n).
Aufkl.Gr. 114 = (40+x2n).
Aufkl.Gr. 115 = (50+x2n).
Aufkl.Gr. 121 (1. formation) = (10+x1n).
Aufkl.Gr. 122 = (20+x1n).
Aufkl.Gr. 123 (1.formation) = (30+x1n).
Aufkl.Gr. 124 = (40+x1n).
Aufkl.Gr. 224 = (40+x3n).
Aufkl.Gr. 125 = (50+x2n).


I hope that this clarifies things a bit.

DGS