Jagdwaffe: Organization and Aircraft Identification Markings

The basic element in the Jagdwaffe was the Rotte, consisting of two aircraft. Two Rotten formed a Schwarm and three or four Schwarms made a Staffel. Similarly, three or four Staffeln formed a Gruppe and three or four Gruppen formed the largest mobile homogeneous unit in the Jagdwaffe, the Jadgeschwader.

The sizes of the gruppen and Jagdgeschwadern varied depending upon the tactical objective and the number of aircraft and pilots available. Although the Geschwader was under a single command, it did not necessarily operate as a unit from the same base, or even on the same front. The Jagdwaffe was a very flexible organization, and the subunits of Gruppe and even Staffel were often distributed to various assignments hundreds of miles apart, as the tactical situation demanded.

For identification purposes, each Jagdgeschwader was given an Arabic numeral preceded by the abbreviation for Jagdgeschwader, JG. Therefore, Jagdgeschwader number 51 would be written as JG51.

The Gruppen were given Roman numerals which appeared before the Jagdgeschwader identification but the seperated from it with a slash. II Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51 would be written as II/JG51.

An Arabic numeral was given to each Staffel, and it was also written before the Jagdgeschwader identification thus: 3./JG51 for Staffel 3 of JG51. The Staffel is identified relative to the Jagdgeschwader in lieu of the Gruppe.

The reason that it was not confusing to identify the Staffel in this manner is because specific Staffeln were assigned to each Gruppe, and once the pattern is memorized, the Staffel written identification tells at a glance the Gruppe and Geschwader as well. Staffeln 1, 2, 3 were assigined to Gruppe I; Staffeln 4, 5, 6 to Gruppe II; Staffeln 7, 8, 9 to Gruppe III; and Staffeln 10, 11, and 12 to Gruppe IV. Therefore, 3./JG51 tells us that it refers to the 3rd Staffel in the I Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 51.

With this arrangement, it was necessary to readily identify the various aircraft in the Staffel and a combination of numbers and colors was developed. The planes in each staffel were numbered from 1 to 12. This number appeared on the fuselage side between the cockpit and the cross. Most often these numbers were outilined in black or white and somtimes another color like red might be used. Aircraft numbers were also applied in the solid color of the Staffel. Staffeln 1, 4, 7, and 10 used white numbers; 2, 4, 8, and 11 used red numbers; 3, 6, 9, and 12 used yellow numbers. After re-oranization in 1943 black denoted aircraft from the second Gruppe and brown denoted aircraft from the fourth Gruppe. However, the color black was in use by some Staffeln as early as 1940; one example being 111./JG54 in France.

Similarly, each Gruppe was given an identification symbol located on the fuselage between the cross and the tail. I Gruppe had no symbol; II Gruppe was assigned a horizontal bar; III Gruppe at the onset used a horizontal wavy bar and later switched to a vertical bar; IV Gruppe initially used a round dot, but this was often confused with British roundel or corcarde insignia ans was soon changed to a small Latin cross.

This system told the viewer at a glance the pilot, Staffel, and Gruppe; for example, a plane sporting a yellow 5 and a horizontal bar is aircraft No. 5 from Staffel 6 in Gruppe II, because we know that Staffels 4, 5, and 6 are assigned to Gruppe II, but only Staffel 6 uses yellow numbers, and only Gruppe II uses a horizontal bar as a its secondary identification symbol.

The "Staffelkapitaen" generally flew plane No. 1 in his Staffel. However, later in the war losses in men and equipment would cause variations in this scheme. Often a more experienced Oberfeldwebel might lead the Staffel in place of a superior ranking officer and his aircraft might be a number other than No. 1. The word "Staffelkapitaen" was a term of "command" rather than one of  "rank".

Special symbols were assigned for the Geschwaderkommodore and his staff, while similar, but not identical symbols were also developed for the Gruppenkommandeur and their Staffs. The Geschwaderstab or Geschwader staff flew in their own Schwarm seperated from rather than integrated with the Geschwader. The accompanying illustrations depict the various Geschwader and Gruppe staff markings that appear between the cockpit and the cross on the fuselage side. The symbols were generally black with white outlines, however variations of this scheme did appear where the Gruppe commanders' and their staff used a solid color.

Late war necessities also dictated that the more visible colors such as the black on white command markings, the national cross, and the swatstika be toned down to reduce their visibility in combat. Generally they were either converted to solid matte black or dark gray without any white outlines. During 1943 the Jagdgeschwader table of organization was redone. Jagdgeschwader strength was altered so that each Staffel had 16 aircraft and each Gruppe encompassed 4 Staffeln. This was more due to the consildation of forces rather than an increase in the available number of pilots and aircraft. As units became so decimated from combat so as to be too small to remain in a unit of their own they were farmed out to larger remaining fighter units to replenish their ranks and increase their size.

Garrish early war paint schemes with colorful nose cowlings and rudders were generally done away with later in the war as a matter of pure survival. The brighter pale blue paint scheme of the early war was gradually replaced by a more muted overall gray paint scheme. However, spinner paint schemes still displayed a variety of colors, swirls, lines, and patterns. Some rudder paint schemes were retained by individuals, Staffeln, Gruppen, and Jagdgeschwadern, but these tended to be more of an exception than the rule.

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