Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 53, commonly abbreviated to Jasta 53, was a "hunting group" (i.e., fighter squadron) of the '' Luftstreitkräfte'', the air arm of the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

during World War I. The squadron would score over 20 aerial victories during the war. The unit's victories came at the expense of one pilot killed in a flying accident, another injured in an accident, one wounded in action, and four taken prisoner of war.

History

Jasta 53 was founded on 27 December 1917 at ''Flieger-Abteilung'' (Flier Detachment) 9,

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

, Germany. It began operations on 9 January 1918. However, the new squadron did not fly its first combat missions until 10 March 1918. On 22 March 1918, they scored their first three aerial victories.

Commanding officers (''
Staffelführer ''Staffelführer'' was one of the first paramilitary ranks used by the German ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) in the early years of that group's existence. The later SS rank of ''Staffelführer'' traces its origins to the First World War, where the tit ...
'')

Theodor Quandt Major Theodor Quandt (22 June 18976 June 1940) was a World War I German flying ace credited with 15 aerial victories.

: 27 December 1917 – 23 August 1918 * Robert Hildebrand: 23 August 1918

Duty stations

* Attigny, France: 10 January 1918 *

Mont-d'Origny Mont-d'Origny () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Aisne department The following is a list of the 799 Communes of France, communes in the French Departments ...

: 18 March 1918 *

Flavy-le-Martel Flavy-le-Martel () is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Flavy-le-Martel station has rail connections to Saint-Quentin and Amiens. It is the sister city of Carthage, North Carolina, US. Population See ...

, France *

Moyencourt Moyencourt () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Geography Moyencourt is situated on the D154 road, some southeast of Amiens. Not to be confused with a commune of a similar name, Moyencourt-lès-Poix ...

, France *

Mars-sous-Bourcq Mars-sous-Bourcq () is a commune in the Ardennes department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ardennes department of Fr ...

, France: 15 July 1918 *

Chuffilly-Roche Chuffilly-Roche is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France. It was created, in 1828, by amalgamating the communes of Chuffilly-et-Coigny and Roche-et-Méry. Population Personalities Arthur Rimbaud, French poet, lived for a wh ...

, France * Malmy * Antrecourt

Aircraft

Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatro ...

as *

Pfalz D.III The Pfalz D.III was a fighter aircraft used by the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during the First World War. The D.III was the first major original design from Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Though generally considered inferior to c ...

* Some

Pfalz D.XII The Pfalz D.XII was a German fighter aircraft built by Pfalz Flugzeugwerke. Designed by Rudolph Gehringer as a successor to the Pfalz D.III, the D.XII entered service in significant numbers near the end of the First World War. It was the last P ...

s *

Fokker Dr.I The Fokker Dr.I (''Dreidecker'', "triplane" in German), often known simply as the Fokker Triplane, was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918. It became famous as the ...

triplanes *

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...

Operations

On 10 January 1918, Jasta 53 was posted to '' 3 Armee''. On 18 March, it was transferred to '' 18 Armee''. On 15 July 1918, Jasta 53 returned to ''3 Armee'' control. It joined '' Jagdgruppe 11'' at this time; JG 11 moved to support '' 9 Armee'' a few days later. On 25 September 1918, Jasta 53 returned to support of ''3 Armee'' until war's end.

References