Osprey Aviation Elite S.
2 primary works
Book 1
Tracing its roots to Manfred, Freiherr von Richthofen and his famous "Flying Circus" of World War I, the Jagdgeschwader "Richthofen" is arguably the most famous fighter unit of all time. Designated JG 1 during World War I, and then disbanded following Germany's defeat, the Jagdgeschwader reformed as the JG 132 in 1935 with Arado and Heinkel biplanes. By September 1939 the unit had become JG 2, and it went on to see much action during the Blitzkrieg in Western Europe and the Battle of Britain which followed. This volume, the first in a series which focuses on the elite fighter and bomber units in action, charts the wartime career of JG 2 from its first aerial kills on the Franco-German border in November 1939 through to the destruction of its own Fw 190s in the face of Allied advance at Prague-Ruzyne airfield in late April 1945.
Book 6
One of the most successful of the high-scoring Luftwaffe Jagdgeschwader during World War II, JG 54 "Grunherz" ("Green Hearts") was formed from three disparate fighter "Gruppen" immediately prior to the Battle of Britain. Having enjoyed immediate success over the Channel and south-east England during the summer of 1940, the unit was transferred to the Eastern Front in the spring of 1941 in preparation for Operation Barbarossa - the German invasion of the Soviet Union. JG 54 remained a Jagdwaffe stalwart in the east, flying firstly Bf 109Fs and then the Fw 190. By the war's end, the Geschwader's pilots had claimed over 9500 kills, and produced over 100 aces. Men like Hans Philipp, Walter Nowotny and Otto Kittel are profiled in this volume, which reveals the struggle in the face of overwhelming odds that was the lot of the Jagdflieger on the Eastern Front.