LW Transport unit organisation 1940?

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sitalkes
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LW Transport unit organisation 1940?

#1

Post by sitalkes » 07 Feb 2015, 08:51

The Luftwaffe had 552 Ju 52s at the start of World War II, plus other types of aircraft usable in the transport role.
“ After the campaign in the West, the air transport units were brought up to their pre-Holland strength and were assembled at airfields in the Lyon, Lille, and Arras areas in August 1940. “ (Page 50, German Air Force Air Lift Operations, by GeneralMajor Fritz Morzik, USAF Historical Division, 1961)
In addition, the FW-200 Condor could carry 30 fully-equipped men, and by late October the Germans had about 40 operational. The numbers available are being discussed in another thread but what was the OOB of these hundreds of aircraft (Transportgeschwader) and the glider units (Luftlandegeschwader) in summer/autumn 1940? Were the gliders organised in separate units?

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phylo_roadking
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Re: LW Transport unit organisation 1940?

#2

Post by phylo_roadking » 07 Feb 2015, 22:31

Sitalkes...remember that "pre-Holland" was still "post Norway" and the Ju52 losses incurred on the morning of the invasion there, and in operations between then and May 10th ;)

By the start of WESERUNBUNG, the number of Ju52s available had risen from that "eve of the war" 552 to 575.....then dropped again by 100 to 475 due to operations in Norway ;)

Question is...when Morzik says "After the campaign in the West, the air transport units were brought up to their pre-Holland strength..."

....does he mean they were back up to fielding c.475 Ju52s.....or just brought up to their "pre-Holland strength" in overall numbers' terms?

Does he give any sort of a breakdown?

(either way, it's interesting; if he does mean c.475 Ju52s, that's a noticeably higher number than any estimations to date!)
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sitalkes
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Re: LW Transport unit organisation 1940?

#3

Post by sitalkes » 09 Feb 2015, 03:37

No, there's no sort of breakdown nor any indication of what the unit names were. I suppose that he was referring to the unit strengths and therefore that could include other aircraft types, though they would still be in small numbers.

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