''Luftflotte'' 1For an explanation of the meaning of Luftwaffe unit designation see Luftwaffe Organisation (Air Fleet 1) was one of the primary divisions of the German

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

in World War II. It was formed 1 February 1939 from Luftwaffengruppenkommando 1 in Berlin. This

detachment served in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

and Immola, Finland, for air support of Axis forces in area; with command offices in Malpils, Latvia, (26 June 1944), Eastern front.

Units under Command

Strategic Reconnaissance

*Stab/FAGr 1 (

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

– Spilve) *3.(F)/22 (

– Spilve) *5.(F)/122 (

Mitau Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united D ...

) *NASt 3 (

– Spilve)

Maritime Reconnaissance

*1./SAGr 127 ( Reval–

Ülemiste Ülemiste is a subdistrict ( et, asum) in the district of Lasnamäe, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 1,444 (). Estonian largest airport Lennart Meri Tallinn Airport is located in Ülemiste. Ülemiste is the location of ...

)

Transports

*1./TGr 10(Ital.) (

– Spilve)

Transports (special works)

This unit was branch of KG 200 with bases in East Prussia, Kurland and Baltic areas, stay equipped with: * Junkers Ju 252A-1 * Junkers Ju 352A-0/A-1 ''Herkules'' * Arado Ar 232B-0 ''Tausendfüßler'' for transport special commandos, weapons, vehicles or dropping by parachute secret agents in clandestine missions behind enemy lines. * I.(TGr.)/KG 200 (

)

Bombers

* 14.(Eis)/KG 55 ( Jakobstadt)

3.Fliegerdivision (3°Air Division) Petseri

Tactical Reconnaissance

* Stab//NAGr 5 ( Petseri) * 1./NAGr 5 ( Idriza) * 1./NAGr 31 ( Wesemberg)

Land Air Strike

*I/SG 3 ( Jakobstadt)

Night land strike

*Stab/NSGr 1 ( Idriza) *3./NSGr 1 ( Idriza) *1./NSGr 1 (

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Traka ...

) *2./NSGr 1 (

) *Stab/NSGr 3 ( Vecuci) *1./NSGr 3 ( Vecuci) *2./NSGr 3 ( Vecuci) *1./NSGr 12 ( Vecuci) *1./(Detach)NSGr 12(

– Spilve) *Stab/NSGr 11 ( Rahkla) *1./NSGr 11 ( Rahkla) *2./NSGr 11 ( Rahkla) *2./NSG 12 ( Libau)

Jagdabschnittführer Ostland (Fighter direction in Ostland) Riga-Spilve

Fighters

*Stab/JG 54 ( Dorpat) *I./JG 54 (

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

) (Finland) *2./JG 54 ( Reval– Laksberg) *3./JG 54 ( Reval– Laksberg)

Gefechtsverband Kuhlmey (Kuhlmey Combat Unit) Immola

Tactical Reconnaissance

*1./NAGr 5 ( Immola)

Fighters

*II./JG 54 ( Immola)

Land Air Strike

*Stab/SG 3 ( Immola) *1./SG 3 ( Immola) *2./SG 3 ( Immola) *3./SG 3 ( Immola)

Commanding officers

*Generalfeldmarschall

Albert Kesselring Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German '' Generalfeldmarschall'' of the Luftwaffe during World War II who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. In a military career that spanned both world wars, Kesselring beca ...

, 1 February 1939 – 11 January 1940 *Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen Stumpff, 12 January 1940 – 10 May 1940 *General Wilhelm Wimmer, 11 May 1940 – 19 August 1940 *Generaloberst Alfred Keller, 20 August 1940 – 12 June 1943 *Generaloberst Günther Korten, 12 June 1943 – 23 August 1943 *General Kurt Pflugbeil, 24 August 1943 – 16 April 1945

Chief of staff

*Generalmajor Wilhelm Speidel, 1 February 1939 – 19 December 1939 *Generalleutnant Ulrich Kessler, 19 December 1939 – 25 April 1940 *Oberst Heinz-Hellmuth von Wühlisch, 1 May 1940 – 9 May 1940 *Generalmajor Dr. Robert Knauss, 9 May 1940 – 4 October 1940 *Generalmajor Otto Schöbel, 5 October 1940 – 16 January 1941 *Generalmajor Heinz-Hellmuth von Wühlisch, 16 January 1941 – 13 October 1941 *Generalmajor

Herbert Rieckhoff __NOTOC__ Herbert Rieckhoff (25 December 1898 – 30 November 1948) was a German general during World War II. He was a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Awards and decorations * Knight's Cross of the Iron Cros ...

, 13 October 1941 – 23 February 1943 *Generalmajor Hans Detlef Herhudt von Rohden, 23 February 1943 – 24 August 1943 *Generalmajor

Klaus Uebe __NOTOC__ Klaus Uebe (1 May 1900 – 3 February 1968) was a Luftwaffe general and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross of Nazi Germany. Awards * German Cross in Gold on 29 December 1942 as ''Oberstleutnant im Generalstab'' with comm ...

, 25 August 1943 – 24 December 1944 *Oberstleutnant Paul-Werner Hozzel, 25 December 1944 – 16 April 1945

Subordinated units

*II, III/ Kampfgeschwader 1 "Hindenburg" ( Ju 88A) * Kampfgeschwader 76 ( Ju 88A) *

Kampfgeschwader 77 ''Kampfgeschwader 77'' (KG 77) was a Luftwaffe bomber wing during World War II. Its units participated on all of the major fronts in the European Theatre until its dissolution in 1944. It operated all three of the major German bomber types; the ...

( Ju 88A) *K.Fl.Gr. 806 ( Ju 88A) *

Jagdgeschwader 54 ''Jagdgeschwader'' 54 (JG 54) was a Luftwaffe fighter wing during the Second World War. JG 54 flew most of its missions on the Eastern Front where it claimed more than 9,600 aircraft shot down. It was the second-highest scoring wing in the Luftw ...

( Bf 109F) *2(F) Ob.d.L. (Do 215B) *5(F) 122 (Ju 88D) *eleven squadrons of (Hs 126) *SAGr 125 (Ar 95, Ar 196, He 114) *one transport squadron (Ju 52) *five liaison squadrons (Fi 156) *IV. Flakkorps (anti-aircraft artillery) **2. Flak-Division **6. Flak-Division ImageSize = width:580 height:520 PlotArea = width:465 height:460 left:35 bottom:20 AlignBars = early DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy # European date format Period = from:01/01/1937 till:08/05/1945 # TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1937 ScaleMinor = grid:blue unit:month increment:3 start:01/01/1937 PlotData= color:red width:10 bar:1FD from:01/02/1939 till:22/09/1939 text: 1. Flieger-Division bar:2FD from:01/02/1939 till:31/08/1939 text:2. Flieger-Division bar:3FD from:01/02/1943 till:31/10/1944 text:3. Flieger-Division bar:LLD from:01/08/1939 till:04/10/1939 text:Luftwaffen-Lehr-Division bar:1FK from:01/05/1941 till:19/07/1942 text:I. Fliegerkorps bar:8FK from:01/07/1941 till:28/09/1941 text:VIII. Fliegerkorps bar:FF1 from:01/07/1942 till:28/02/1943 text:Fliegerführer 1 bar:FFO from:01/04/1941 till:30/11/1941 text:Fliegerführer Ostsee bar:LKO from:01/02/1939 till:30/09/1939 text:Luftwaffenkommando Ostpreussen bar:JAO from:01/12/1943 till:17/09/1944 text:Jagdabschnittsführer Ostland bar:GVK from:01/06/1944 till:30/06/1944 text: Gefechtsverband Kulmey bar:LK1 from:01/08/1938 till:01/01/1943 text:Luftgau-Kommando I bar:LK2 from:30/09/1939 till:31/05/1941 text:Luftgau-Kommando II bar:LK3 from:01/10/1937 till:24/03/1941 text:Luftgau-Kommando III bar:LK4 from:01/10/1937 till:24/03/1941 text:Luftgau-Kommando IV bar:LK8 from:01/02/1939 till:01/04/1939 text:Luftgau-Kommando VIII bar:LKP from:01/11/1941 till:30/06/1943 text:Luftgau-Kommando Petersburg/Riga bar:FK26 from:01/06/1943 till:31/08/1944 text:Feldluftgau-Kommando XXVI bar:LV1 from:01/08/1939 till:31/10/1939 text:Luftgaustab z.b.V. 1 bar:LV1 from:01/06/1941 till:30/11/1941 bar:LV3 from:01/08/1939 till:31/10/1939 text:Luftgaustab z.b.V. 3 bar:LV10 from:01/06/1941 till:30/11/1941 text:Luftgaustab z.b.V. 10 bar:4FK from:01/06/1944 till:30/06/1944 text:IV. Flakkorps bar:2FKD from:01/01/1942 till:30/09/1944 text:2. Flak-Division bar:6FKD from:01/04/1942 till:16/04/1945 text:6. Flak-Division bar:LR1 from:start till:end text:Luftnachrichten-Regiment 1 bar:LR11 from:start till:end text:Luftnachrichten-Regiment 11 bar:LR21 from:start till:end text:Luftnachrichten-Regiment 21

Abbreviations

* FAGr = ''Fernaufklärungsgruppe'' =

Reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...

. ** ''Gruppe'' = equivalent to a RAF

Wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is e ...

. * JG = ''Jagdgeschwader'' =

Fighters Fighter(s) or The Fighter(s) may refer to: Combat and warfare * Combatant, an individual legally entitled to engage in hostilities during an international armed conflict * Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplan ...

. ** ''Geschwader'' = equivalent to a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Group. * KG = ''Kampfgeschwader'' = Bombers. * KG zbV = ''Kampfgeschwader zur besonderen Verwendung'' = Transport aircraft, later TG. * NAGr = ''Nahaufklärungsgruppe'' = Observation aircraft. * NASt = ''Nahaufklärungsstaffel'' = Observation aircraft. ** ''Staffel'' = equivalent to a RAF Squadron. * NSGr = ''Nachtschlachtgruppe'' = Night ground attack. * SAGr = ''Seeaufklärungsgruppe'' =

Maritime patrol aircraft A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over water in maritime patrol ro ...

* SG = ''Schlachtgeschwader'' =

Ground attack In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movemen ...

. * TG = ''Transportgeschwader''= Transport aircraft.

References

;Notes ;References
Luftflotte 1 @ Lexikon der Wehrmacht

{{Authority control German Air Fleets in World War II Military units and formations established in 1939 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945