A question was asked while sat in the pub with regard to the German air force during WW1.

We all know that the title for the WW2 German air force was the 'Luftwaffe', was this the name for the service during WW1?
Or did it have another title?
What would that have been in the German language?

Probably a daft question to all the people who know their onions on here

Cheers,
DickW

Dick, The Imperial German Army Air Service was founded in 1910. "Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches" as it was initially called in the Great War was renamed "Luftstreitkräfte" in late 1916.

Steve

However I have seen examples of Die Fliegertruppen being used well past 1916 so the old name stuck a bit.

Steve/Centurion
Many thanks for the information, it will be for further discussion tomorrow night in the Yarborough Hunt, over a couple of Leffe.

Cheers,
Dick

I believe that "Luftstreitkrafte" translates as "Air Service", while "Luftwaffe" literally means "Air Force".

Not quite so simple, Adrian. 'Streitkräfte' is a plural term meaning '[armed] forces' and was used during the Great War as a collective term for the aircraft, airships, etc, operated by the German army and naval air services. 'Luftwaffe' literally means 'air weapon' (in the sense of 'air arm') and describes the independent air force created in the inter-war period.

For translations, therefore, depending on context:

Luftstreitkräfte = German air services or German air forces

and

Luftwaffe = German Air Force

Mick

There were 2 "Fliegertruppen" (plural of Fliegertruppe, lit.: Aviation Troops) existing in Germany before and in WWI:
Königlich-Preussische (incl. also Saxony, Württemberg and all the little German states) and Königlich-Bayrische Fliegertruppen, Royal Prussian and Royal Bavarian.
Later in the war (in 1917) Saxony and Württemberg got own aviation units too but not offically an own "Fliegertruppe".
The term Fliegertruppe(n) includes only aircraft. The balloons and airships belonged to the so-called "Luftschiffer".

In Fall 1916 the German "Luftstreitkräfte" were founded. They included Fliegertruppe(n), Luftschiffer, Heimatluftschutz (literally "Home Air Protection" = Home Defence), Flak (Flug-Abwehr-Kanonen, earlier called Ballon-Abwehr-Kanonen or B.A.K.), weather stations and others.

"Luftstreitkräfte" means "Air Combat Forces" but Air Force or Air Service are appropriate translations.
"Luftwaffe" means rather "Air Arm". This term was never an offical term in WWI but came more and more in inoffical use late in WWI (e.g. books with names like "Luftwaffe 1917" and "Luftwaffe 1918" were published late in the war).

The Luftstreitkräfte were under command of the Army.
The Marine (Navy) had own "Marineflieger", Marineluftschiffe" etc.

Hope that helps.

Thanks, Jasta72s, for correcting my misapprehension. One Navy with its own air service, and then the air services of the armies of several of the German kingdoms. Got it now !

I've seen (but unfortunately don't have a copy) a German poster from mid 1918 advertising an event in which the "Luftwaffe"will take part. When I quoted this elsewhere no one would believe me! Thanks for restoring my own belief in my sanity.

No reason to doubt, Centurion!
Here a little scan of "Die Luftwaffe 1918" - published in WWI (late 1917/early 1918). Sadly, colour suffered from downsizing.
Hope it works.

Here another example for the use of "Luftwaffe" in WWI: Second part of "Unsere Luftwaffe im Weltkrieg" (Our Air Arm in the World War), published early 1918.

Now you can "beat" the doubting crowd, Centurion! However, these doubts are not uncommon. Also in Germany I found distrust when I was pointing to these facts.

Jasta72s, Centurion, Adrian, Seige Gnr,

I thought I had gone potty, I was sure that it had been used in the context of WW1, but wasn't sure form where I remembered it.
It will print this off to get my free pint of Dragonslayer mild, the Leffe has gone off a tad. Cheers, gentlemen.

Dick

Enjoy your free pint of Dragonslayer mild, Dick!

I will try to add the last organisational structure in peace (31 July 1914) in German language in my next post but I have to cut the corners with info about Prussian Ministry of War and General Staff because the picture is too big for the scanner.

You can see the Royal Prussian Fliegertruppen were under command of the Royal Prussian Militär-Verkehrswesen (Military Traffic Troops) and included an own Royal Saxon "Kompanie" (and a detachment of Württemberg as well as military persons from other states - not displayed) before the war.

The Bavarians had own Royal Bavarian Fliegertruppen and therefore the Royal Prussian Ministry of War had a lot of communication (and arguments) with the Royal Bavarian Ministry of War. Structural changes in early 1915 and late 1916 did not improve the complicated situation.

See attachment

I got my Dragonslayer... the Leffe is upto scratch, so I'm told. I went for a couple of Andechs which we have in, a new line for this Tom Wood pub.
Many thanks for the interesting plan, I will read and digest.
I have noted the Bavarian/Prussian arguments before, I cannot help but think they may have caused bother for themselves with their in-fighting.

Vielen dank, und prost!

Dick

Thank you very much, Dick!

I continued my search and discovered the first use of the term "Luftwaffe" in the German journal "Flugsport", no. 2, page 59 in 1912!

Then the term is used during the war since 1915 (e.g. no. 23, page 728 "Die Luftwaffe in der Türkei" - The Air Arm in Turkey).
An article of December 1916 dealing with the just founded "Luftstreitkräfte" uses the term "Luftwaffe" as synonym.

In general the term means "Air Arm" in these articles but one time it was also used referring to a specific type of airplane.

I wish you a niece time in the Tom Wood Pub!

Cheers Ja72.
I knew the answer was out there somewhere

Trip to the pub on the cards for this evening and it seems we drank them out of Andechs the other night.

Dick