Marineflieger

A Bundesmarine Lynx helicopter on the flight deck of a German frigate in 1993.

The Marineflieger is the naval air arm of the German Navy.

History

During the First World War, naval aviators were part of the Kaiserliche Marine. Between the wars, naval aviation, the Seeflieger was absorbed by Goering's Luftwaffe in 1935.

After the Second World War, it was not until West Germany's entry into NATO in the 1950s and the establishment of the Bundesmarine, that a naval aviation force (Marineflieger) was set up.

The British were largely instrumental in creation of the Marineflieger, supplying training and aircraft. A number of Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) officers operated as part of the German Navy in the process. The first aircraft included Hawker Sea Hawks which were used by Marinefliegergeschwader 1 and 2 and Fairey Gannets. Until the new bases were ready, pilots were trained with the FAA in the UK.

Aircraft inventory

Aircraft	Origin	Type	Versions	In service[1]	Notes
Breguet Atlantic	France	signals intelligence	BR 1150	3	to be replaced by 5 Luftwaffe Eurohawk
Dornier Do 228	Germany	environmental patrol		2
Lockheed P-3 Orion	United States	maritime patrol	P-3C II½ CUP	8	former Netherlands Navy maritime patrol
Westland Lynx	United Kingdom	anti-submarine helicopter	Sea Lynx Mk 88	22
Westland Sea King	United Kingdom	naval helicopter	Sea King Mk 41	21

Notes

1. ^ "World Military Aircraft Inventory", Aerospace Source Book 2007, Aviation Week & Space Technology, January 15, 2007.

See also

Luftschiffer

External links

• http://www.fly-navy.de/index2.html