Both military branches operated aeroplanes, observation balloons and airships. The Imperial German Army created an experimental balloon company inspired by the American balloon corps they had seen while observing the American Civil War , with varying forms of organisation from to until a Balloon Battalion was finally formed.
The rapid development of aeronautics led to trials of airships and the choice of rigid types built by Zeppelin and Schutte-Lanz. The first military aircraft to be acquired by the German Army entered service in and the first five aviation battalions were established on 1 October The duties of such aircraft were initially intended to be reconnaissance and artillery spotting in support of the armies, just as balloons had been used during the Franco-Prussian War โ and as far back as the Battle of Fleurus during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Each "FFA" unit was assigned to an army unit in their local area and usually numbered with the same number as the army they were assigned to serve. During this time the system of organisation and unit designations evolved that would form the basis of those used in the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany, when it was revealed in The initial deployment of fighter aircraft in the summer of occurred within the Feldflieger Abteilung , which were being equipped with one or two of the new Fokker Eindecker fighter aircraft for each unit, starting with the five Fokker M.
The buildup of the Eindecker fighter force rapidly progressed with regular lMG 08 "Spandau"-armed production examples of the Fokker E. I following the deliveries of the M. The first step towards specialist fighter-only aviation units within the German military was the establishment of Kampfeinsitzer Kommando single-seat battle unit, abbreviated as KEK formations by Inspektor-Major Friedrich Stempel in February These were based around Eindeckers and other new fighter designs emerging, like the Pfalz E-series monoplanes, that were being detached from their former FFA units during the winter of โ and brought together in pairs and quartets at particularly strategic locations, as KEK units were formed at Vaux , Avillers , Jametz , Cunel and other strategic locations along the Western Front, to act as Luftwachtdienst aerial guard force units, consisting only of fighters.
Following the era of the KEK units through the summer of , Jagdstaffeln hunting squadrons , established by the reorganization that started in the late summer of were fielded by four kingdoms of the German Empire. Individually โ each of these units was often known by the abbreviation "Jasta". The Kingdom of Prussia was predominant, with a fighter force eventually comprising 67 squadrons. Much as Jasta 2 had been renamed as Jasta Boelcke in December after Oswald Boelcke , Germany's top fighter tactician had been lost in a mid-air collision in October , following the "Red Baron's" death in action in late April , JG I was renamed to honor von Richthofen by order of the Kaiser.
