Luftwaffe bomber formations

[Kutscha]

What was the usual Luftwaffe bomber formation early in the war and did the formation change as the war went on?

[Chris Goss]

Presume you mean during attacks? Day or night?

[Kutscha]

Yes Chris and night and day.

[Juha]

Hello Kutcha

some early formations, rather universaly adopted by many AFs.

.=means nothing T = a bomber. Hopefully this work.


So, No. 1

...................T
................T......T
....T............................T
T......T.........T.........T.......T
...............T......T
....T............................T
T......T.........T.........T.......T
...............T......T
....T...........................T
T......T...................T.......T

Something like that, again flatter and I'd have been use ½ step down, but hopefully You can get the idea.

No. 2

........................T
....................T....
................T........
............T.......T....
.........T...............
......T.....T............
...T............T........
T.....T.....T.......T....

This was difficult, only the left side of the formation, the right hand side is a mirror image of this.


No. 3
.................T
.............T........T
..........T................T
......T........................T
.T..................................T

.................T
.............T........T
..........T................T
......T........................T
.T..................................T

.................T
.............T........T
..........T................T
......T........................T
.T..................................T


No 4

....T
..T...T

....T
..T...T

....T
..T...T

....T
..T...T

....T
..T...T

....T
..T...T

....T
..T...T

....T
..T...T

....T
..T...T

HTH
Juha

[Kutscha]

Thank you Juha for all that work.

3 a/c are the basic unit and 27 a/c are a Gruppe?

Were the different formations for better bombing results and/or protection?

[Juha]

Yes, Kette (3 a/c)->Staffel (9 a/c)-> Gruppe

The last one was a pure bombing formation used against pinpoint targets. Others could be used as a cruise and bombing formation. The target size etc decided the bombing formation used.

One source which gives a brief description of LW's bomber formations in 1940 is Dilip Sarkar's Angriff Westland (1994) pp.61-63.

Juha

[Kutscha]

Thank you again Juha.