Ju 87s - How many per Gruppe?

[Peter Cook]

On 14 August Stukas of II./StG 1 and IV.(St)/LG 1 were part of a midday attack, and various sources describe the number of aircraft as 80 or 50. Which raises the question for me of how many Ju 87s were in a single Gruppe. It is my understanding – and please correct me – that during the Battle of Britain period Luftwaffe fighter Staffels generally had 12 aircraft, with a full Gruppe of 3 Staffeln, plus the Stabstaffel amounting to approximately 40 aircraft – depending on serviceability and crew availability. Luftwaffe bomber formations had 9 aircraft per Staffel, flying in a 'Kette' of 3 aircraft – which would amount to approximately 30 aircraft per Gruppe, including the Stabstaffel. Was this the same for a Ju 87 Gruppe?

[Chris Goss]

With my experience of 1./JG 53, two Schwarm plus a Deckungsrotte. Some recent research on II./KG 2 came up with 3 x Kette. However, all depended on serviceability on the day

[Kari Lumppio]

Hi!

Ju 87 Gruppe I/SG 3 flew missions with like 21-23 planes in Summer 1944 as part of Kuhlmey Commando. Three Staffeln plus Stab.

Cheers,
Kari

[Nick Beale]

Assuming that we're talking about 1940, the daily sitrep at German Docs in Russia says there were 91 bomber sorties in all, for the day and the night of the 14/15th. If 80 Stukas really did operate, it's hard to see how 11 machines could manage all the other targets reported attacked.