Feldflieger Abteilung

Feldflieger Abteilung (FFA, Field Flying Detachment) was the title of the pioneering field aviation units of Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches (The Air Forces of the German Empire) formed in 1912, which became the Luftstreitkräfte (German air service) on 8 October 1916, during the First World War.

[1] The Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches, the aerial service of the Deutsches Heer, the Army of the German Empire was formed in 1912 when its organisation was laid down.

[2] The use of its aircraft for tactical reconnaissance was established by the German Army in its annual exercise in June 1911.

At the start of the First World War, there were thirty-three FFA (three Bavarian), one allocated to each of the eight Army Headquarters and one to each of the twenty-five regular Corps Headquarters and six Festungflieger Abteilungen (Fortress Flying Detachments, one Bavarian) for the local defence of towns.

[6] By March 1915 the number of Feldflieger Abteilungen had doubled and the specialisation of fighter and bomber units, known as Jasta and Kampfgeschwader, respectively, had emerged but not forming formally under such names until the reorganisation of Die Fliegertruppen and its renaming as the Luftstreitkräfte on 8 October 1916.