Heer and Marine both attempted to nevertheless maintain theoretical and practical knowledge of air warfare through concealed activities such as pilot training efforts.

[1] After the National Socialists had risen to power, these activities intensified until Nazi Germany unilaterally declared its withdrawal from armament limitations in 1935.

After the Second World War, it was not until West Germany's entry into NATO in the 1950s and the establishment of the Bundesmarine, that a naval aviation force (Marineflieger) was formed.

The first Kommando der Marineflieger was created in July 1956 in Kiel-Holtenau and elevated to divisional level in 1964, renamed to Marinefliegerkommando in 1967 and to Marinefliegerdivision in 1969 as it grew in size.

The wings tasks include surveillance and control of large sea areas as well as maritime warfare against targets above (ASuW) and below water (ASW).

The P-3Cs are to be replaced with eight P-8 Poseidon MPAs from 2024 on[5] in order to avoid a looming capability gap caused by bringing forward the out-of-service date of the P-3Cs to 2025.

A prior attempt to extensively refurbish the aircraft and extend their service time to 2035 was abandoned due to cost and technical issues.

[6] A technical support group (Gruppe) and a flying group, each with two flights (Staffeln) make up the unit along with an airbase group which is responsible for logistics, command infrastructure and air traffic:[7] Marinefliegergeschwader 5 commands the navies rotorcraft fleet of Westland Sea Lynx MK 88 A and Sea King Mk 41 helicopters, tasked with ship-based anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, transport and special forces support duties and is responsible for search and rescue (SAR) duty in the North and Baltic seas.

[11] Anti-surface warfare, Equipment:[13] "Sea Lion" France Italy Netherlands (Utility helicopter, SAR missions, Vertical replenishment) P-3 Orion