Aces of the

Below are profiles of some of the Luftwaffe’s greatest pilots. had the top 108 scoring aces of the Second World War, with scores ranging from 352 to 99 kills

(for the top 108). The term ace can mean different things for different countries.

Wikipedia puts it as this: “In World War II, many air forces credited fractional shares of aerial victories, resulting in fractions or decimal scores, such as 11½ or 26.83. Some U.S. commands also credited aircraft destroyed on the ground as equal to aerial victories. The

Soviets distinguished between solo and kills, as did the Japanese, though the IJN stopped crediting individual victories in 1943. The Luftwaffe continued the tradition of

"one pilot, one kill", and now referred to top scorers as experten.” So German pilots got a kill for every aircraft they shot down.

Name: Life: April 19, 1922 – September 20, 1993 Kills: 352 Notes: Erich Hartmann is the top scoring ace of all time, of any country. His 352 kills are 51 more than that of his closest rival, . 345 of his kills were against the Soviets, as he fought mainly on the Ostfront (Eastern Front), and 260 of these were fighters. He also won the Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwerten und Brillianten

(Knight's Cross of the with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds), the second highest award in the German forces. He was imprisoned by the Soviets for 10 and a half years, and once released, went to and was put in charge of the post war

JG 71 “Richtofen”, and retired in 1970.

Name: Hans-Joachim Life: December 13, 1919 – September 30, 1942 Kills: 158

Notes: Hans-Joachim Marseill was considered the best pilot of the Luftwaffe by many, including Galland who said, "Marseille was the unrivalled virtuoso among the fighter pilots of World War 2. His achievements had previously been regarded as impossible and they were never excelled by anyone after his death.” He showed good flying abilities in the , but was rather rebellious and was reprimanded several times. Because of this, he was transferred to JG 27, which was quickly moved to Africa where his abilities truly began to shine. From Spetember 24th, 1941 to September

30th, 1942 he went on a rampage, destroying 54 enemy aircraft in the month of

Spetember 1942 alone. 17 of these kills were on the first of the month. His wingman, commenting on a battle in which, according to Wikipedia, he shot down five aircraft in six minutes, that “His expenditure of ammunition in this air battle was 360 rounds (60 per kill)”. Marseille was killed on September 30th, 1942 when his Bf 109G suffered engine failure (not during battle) and when he bailed out, struck the .

Name: Hans-Ulrich Rudel Life: July 2, 1916 – December 18, 1982 Kills: At least 9 (there are varying claims of how many he actually got) +519 tanks

Notes: While not achieving that many aerial kills, the ones he did get are very remarkable in that he attained a number of his kills in a Stuka, which was not designed for air to air combat, including a 65 kill Soviet ace. Of his 9 kills, seven were fighters and two were Il-2 Sturmoviks. Among his ground kills, there were, according to Wikipedia,

800 vehicles, 519 tanks, 150 artillery guns, a , two cruisers, and a . He was also the record holder for number of sorties flown with 2,530. Holding the

Ritterkreuz mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillianten (Knight's Cross with

Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds) he was the most highly decorated German soldier of the war. Rudel was an ardent Nazi and supported many of their policies, so there are some debates as to whether some of his claims are true or not, but regradless, he was one of the greatest pilots of all time.

Name: Life: March 19, 1912 – February 9, 1996 Kills: 103

Notes: Adolf Galland began his career in 1935 and saw his first combat in 1937 in the . He was the first person to develop gasoline bombs, and flew 300 missions in . During the Battle of Britain he is well known for saying to Hermann

Göring when asked what German pilots need to win, "Please equip my squadrons with Spitfires." Galland was known to be careful with what resources he was allocated, and was an excellent leader, eventually attaining the rank General der Jagdflieger (General of

Fighters) as the leader of all Luftwaffe . He was in this position until

January 1945, when he created JV 44 to fly the new Me 262 and got 7 kills in the jet. He was often brash, and was never afraid to speak his mind, but was a great commander. Aircraft of the Luftwaffe

The Luftwaffe employed a large number of planes, all of which played an important role. Here are some of the most successful and important planes that the

Luftwaffe used. All performance values are for the newest version to see extended service. Most German fighters, like other European aircraft had both and cannon armament. Machine gun rounds simply punch holes in what they were shooting at, while cannon shells actually explode on impact, causing much greater damage, but had a slower rate of fire.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 “Würger” (Shrike)

The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was a single engined fighter employed by the Luftwaffe beginning in September 1941. Its life began as an aircraft that would fight alongside the famed Bf 109, as RLM chiefs were concerned that newer fighter aircraft of the future would be able to out-fly the Messerschmitt airplane. A competition took place with the winning contract went to the Focke-Wulf company and the plane designed by their head designer, . Part of the reason it was chosen was the fact that it used a BMW air-cooled . The Bf 109 was still a priority to the RLM, so therefore its Daimler-Benz liquid- cooled in-line engine was in short supply. The radial engine of the Fw 190 did not interfere with Bf 109 production, so it was very appealing to the RLM. Radial engines are also more durable than in-line engines due to the lack of coolant fluid being needed to operate. Another bonus that the Fw 190 had, though unrelated to the engine, was its wide track , which made the aircraft easier to land and harder to roll over. The canopy shape also allowed for excellent rearward visibility, something rare in fighters of that time. Armament of the ultimate Fw 190A-9 consisted of 2 machine guns firing through the propeller arc and four cannons in the .

The first Fw 190s entered service in September 1941 and according to reports of a new fighter being used by the Luftwaffe, were captured French Curtiss P-36 Hawks

(small US made radial engined fighters). However, when it was discovered that the mystery plane could outperform even the then best Spitfire, the Spitfire V, in all aspects save for turning, RAF leaders realized that the planes their pilots were facing were different aircraft than Hawks, and far better. This was confirmed when an Fw 190 pilot accidentally landed at a British airfield.

While an excellent fighter, the Fw 190 could also carry a heavy bomb load, and that coupled with its durable radial engine and sturdy construction made it an excellent ground as well. It proved better at the job than the Ju 87 Stuka of fame because, unlike the dive-, the Fw 190 could defend itself from intercepting enemy fighters. In the summer of 1943 the first purpose built ground attack Fw 190Fs started entering service and would actually eventually completely replace the Stuka, although both were used until the end of the war.

The one issue with the Fw 190 was that its performance dropped off at around 20

000 ft, so there were discussions about how to improve high-altitude performance. With this, the Fw 190D was born, but it was not a replacement for the radial-engined A models, but rather it was a complimentary aircraft as the As still remained in production.

It had an in-line engine (still not the same one as the Bf 109) which allowed for better performance values at higher altitude. The nose and tail sections were lengthened and the outboard cannons were deleted. This was because most combat was done against aerial targets, as opposed to the mix of aerial and ground targets the earlier versions encountered.

The Fw 190D-9s (or “Dora Neuns”) entered service in November 1944 and proved to be a match, with a skilled pilot, for the American P-51 Mustangs and British

Spitfire XIVs, though according to Wikipedia its performance still suffered a drop-off above 20 000 ft.

All in all, the Fw 190 ended up being the Luftwaffe’s best piston engined fighter aircraft and is in contention along with the Ju 88 as the most versatile airplane in

Germany’s air force. 18 000 were built of all models, however many old airframes were rebuilt and returned to service. These rebuilt airframes retained their original Werknummers (serial numbers) making the number of airframes seeing service seem lower than those actually produced.

Specifications (According to Grinsell):

Fw 190A-8 (Anton Acht) Max Speed: 570 km/h at sea level and 656 km/h at 6300 m Range (internal fuel): 1035 km Armament: 2 x 13 mm MG 131 machineguns 4 x 20 mm MG 151 cannons

Fw 190 D-9 (Dora Neun) Max Speed: 575 km/h at sea level and 686 km/h at 6600 m Range (internal fuel): 837 km Armament: 2 x 13 mm MG 131 machineguns 2 x 20 mm MG 151 cannons

Operators: Germany, , Turkey, Romania

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The ’s life began as a requirement put out by the RLM for a single seat fighter in 1933 to replace the aging biplanes then in service. The requirements were put out after both the Arado and companies sent in privately funded ventures to the RLM. The RLM simply took the best attributes of both and sent them out as the requirement that eventually spawned the Bf 109, even though Messerschmitt’s company was not invited to take part in creating a new fighter until 1935. This was due to animosity between chief designer and RLM Director .

Despite not technically being allowed to take part in the contest, Messerschmitt had in fact been designing the aircraft before 1935, so he was not behind the Arado, Heinkel and

Focke-Wulf designers. The Bf 109 ended up winning the contest in March 1936. The

Messerschmitt Company, originally named the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke, hence the Bf prefix, was renamed in 1938 to Messerschmitt and began production of the Bf 109.

The Bf 109 was revolutionary for its time and was one of the first modern fighter aircraft of the period. It was of all metal construction and had a closed canopy which was something new to German fighter pilots. The drawbacks of the design were low rearward visibility, a cramped cockpit and a very narrow landing gear track, which made the plane very easy to flip on takeoff and landing. In fact, according to Wikipedia, up to 5% of all

Bf 109s lost were lost in this manner.

In 1937 the Legion Condor, fighting in the Spanish Civil War, received their first

Bf 109s and it was here that it received its babtism of fire. They fought rather well, but eventually had their armament raised to two machineguns in the nose and one cannon in each wing. By September 1939, the entire Luftwaffe fighter corps were outfitted with the

Bf 109, which proved more than a match to any Polish opposition, nor was the aging

British Hurricane really a match for it.

Against the Spitfire, however, it was pretty much even, except that the entire

Battle of Britain was fought over British territory and the Bf 109s, due to their short range (pretty much every European fighter of the time had very short range compared to their Pacific Theater couterparts) had a very short fighting time over their targets. This forced the Luftwaffe pilots to get in and get out. It also had a larger turning radius than the Spitfire or , but it could handle inverted g-forces, whereas the

British fighters could not because they had gravity fed carbureators, which caused the

British fighter engines to cut out if inverted.

Throughout the next few years, up until the G (Gustav) version was introduced in

February 1942, there was a miniature “arms race” between the Bf 109 and the Spitfire, each plane being improved to counter the other’s improvments. Beginning with the

Gustav, however, Bf 109 performance compared to the Spitfire and other Allied fighters was on the decline. The pinnacle of the Bf 109’s life was the Bf 109F (Friedrich) version, which was considered by many pilots as the best Bf 109 to enter service. After the F, it just could not keep up with the Fw 190 in terms of versatility and performance, however, in the hands of a capable pilot, it remained very dangerous and stayed in production for the rest of the war. The ultimate Bf 109 was the Bf 109K-4 (Kurfürst) version which featured a revised higher visibility canopy and cockpit pressurization. The Messerschmitt Bf 109 goes down in history as and excellent aircraft that was kept in service past its prime and

as the most produced aircraft of all time. According to Wikipedia, 30 573 Bf 109s were built from September 1939 to May 1945, with a total of 31 898 being produced.

Additionally, around 1 000 were licence built postwar in Spain and

Czechoslovakia, but are considered different aircraft due to engine changes, with the

Spanish planes using the same engine as the Spitfire and the Czech planes using engines from Ju 88 . These were severely underpowered, but fought with Israeli forces during the years following Israeli independence.

Specifications (According to Grinsell):

Bf 109K-4 (Kurfürst Vier) Max Speed: 608 km/h at sea level and 727 km/h at 6000 m Range (internal fuel): 573 km Armament: 2 x 15 mm MG 151 machineguns 1 x 30 mm MK 103 or 108 cannon (difference in barrel length)

Operators: Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, , Hungary, , Romania, Slovakia, Spain, “Schwalbe” (Swallow)

The Messerschmitt Me 262 was one of the first jet aircraft ever built, and was second to enter service to the British , but only by a few days. Of the two, the Me 262 was the better aircraft and the Americans found, according to Wikipedia that the Me 262 compared to the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star; “Despite a difference in gross weight of nearly 2,000 lb (907 kg), the Me 262 was superior to the P-80 in acceleration, speed and approximately the same in climb performance. The Me 262 apparently has a higher critical Mach number, from a drag standpoint, than any current Army Air Force fighter.”

The plans for the Me 262 were actually drawn up before the war as Projeckt

P.1065 in April 1939 and the original design was much the same as the Me 262’s that went into production. One of the changes was the switch from a drag-wheel to a tricycle system in the landing gear, as the thrust from the engines would freeze the horizontal stabilizers, giving the pilot no control. The jet engines proved to have many teething problems and was the main reason for the long development period of the

Schwalbe. When the first flew in April 1941, the engines were not ready , so they installed a normal piston engine in the nose to test the actual ariframe. It proved to be sound, and it first flew with its BMW jet engines on July 18th, 1942. Both failed, however, but the piston engine had been retained, luckily for the test pilot. It is interesting to note that this maiden flight of the Me 262 with jet propulsion was a full 9 months before the Gloster Meteor’s maiden jet propelled flight, but it entered service after the

British plane.

The BMW engines proved increasly unreliable and the switch was made to the

Jumo 004 engine. All modifications needed to fit the new engines were made by 1942, but due to lack of engines and more developmental issues true production was not started until 1944.

The Me 262 entered service in April 1944, becoming the first jet fighter to mount fighter operations. In August 1944 the Me 262s shot down 19 aircraft to a loss of 6 of their own as part of , under the command of Major Walter

Nowotny. However, the most famous Me 262 unit was Jagdverband 44 (JV 44) under the command of Adolf Galland which had some of the best remaining

German fighter pilots in it.

With three units operational (JG 7 had been created in ) the first large scale operations began in March 1945. The largest of these was on March 18th, when 1 221 Allied bombers and their 632 escorting fighters were intercepted by 37 Me

262s from JG 7. Losses were 4:1 in favour of the Germans, but by now it was too little too late. Less than 200 Schalbes reached the front lines due to critical fuel shortages that plagued the Germans at the end of the war. The leading ace was, according to Wikipedia, most likely Franz Schall, with 17 kills. 1 430 Me 262s were made, as well as 12 Czech versions being built postwar.

Specifications (According to Wikipedia):

Me 262 A-1a Max Speed: 870 km/h Range (Internal Fuel): 1 050 km Armament: 4 x 30 mm MK 108 cannons

Operators: Germany,

Junkers Ju 87 “Stuka”

The Stuka was probably the most feared aircraft of the war, with the sirens mounted on the wheel struts of early versions screaming as the aircraft dove at its target, then releasing its bombs with uncanny accuracy. It was a very good aircraft for a time, though it became obsolete towards the end of the war. It should aslo be noted that

Stuka was not the name actually assigned to the aircraft, but was rather a shorteneing of

Sturzkampfflugzeug, German for dive bomber. The beginnings of the Stuka actually began with the German Air Defence Office

(Luftschutzamt) and , who, after seeing American dive bombers, thought Germany should also endeavor to create their own. These dive bombers interested RLM heads, but nothing truly came to be until 1933, when the design of the

Stuka was begun. By 1936, ten Ju 87As had been built and three were used by the Legion

Condor in Spain. The next version, the Ju 87B was the first Stuka to really see widespread service, seeing service in Spain and the Battle of Britain. However, it was shown that there were severe shortcomings in regards to its ability to defend itself, as

British fighters caused heavy losses. Despite this, the Stuka was shown to be an excellent dive bomber, diving at almost 90 degrees at its target. Diving at such a high angle allowed for high levels of accuracy and the ability to take out smaller targets such as tanks and pillboxes. It had automatic dive brakes that would actually pull the aircraft out of its dive on their own, even if the pilot had blacked out from the tremendous G-forces.

However, it was slow and had less defensive armament than it should have to ably defend itself and needed an escort. Post Battle of Britain, the Stuka was used seldomly on the

Western front, but was used heavily against the and in the Mediterranean, where enemy air power was lacking or held control.

After the D version, where the main change was aerodynamic streamlining, the

G-2 version incorporated underwing 37mm armor piercing cannons and was able to use its excellent diving abilities against tanks even more effectively. Despite the success of the Stuka, as the Allies gained superiority over the Germans, where the slow, lumbering

Stuka was relegated to night duties only, as it was being eaten alive during the day. At night it was still able to be successful, but as the specialized ground attack versions of the Fw 190 began to enter service, the Stuka was phased out of production, though it served in the night nuisance role until the end of the war. A total of 5,752 were built from 1936 until 1944.

Specifications (According to Vanags-Baginskis):

Ju 87D-1 Max Speed: 410 km/h Range (Internal Fuel): 820 km Armament: 2 x 7.92 mm MG 17 machine guns 1 x 7.92 mm twin barrel MG 81Z machine guns 1 000 kg of bombs

Operators: Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Romania

Junkers Ju 88

The has gone down in history as one of the most versatile aircraft ever, performing many roles such as a bomber (what it was originally designed for), heavy/, recon plane and as a component of the . Its only rival in the competition for the Luftwaffe’s most versatile aircraft is the Fw 190.

The design of the Ju 88 began in 1935 when the RLM wanted a fast bomber, able to outrun fighters (such as the later Mosquito was able to do). Early Ju 88A-1s had many minor issues that still needed to be fixed as the production started, and by the time of the invasion of only 12 had entered service. During the Battle of

Britain heavy losses were susutained, in fact they were comparable to the Dornier Do

17’s and ’s losses, despite being employed in much smaller numbers.

However, by the end of the Battle of Britain, the Ju 88A-4 had entered service. This model was the first highly successful version, and most of the problems of the A-1 had been fixed, making it a superb aircraft.

Ernst Udet had also wanted the Ju 88 to be a dive bomber, but tests showed that the diving stresses were in fact too much for the airplane, so instead of diving at a steep angle like the Stuka, it dove at a 45 degree angle. This was still effective, and the Ju 88 was able to drop a heavier payload of bombs than the Ju 87.

As a fighter bomber, the Ju 88 performed rather well, protecting Fw 200

Condor anti-shipping aircraft from enemy fighters. It also did a number on Allied aircraft attacking German submarines and other , though against full blown fighters it wasn’t really a match. Most Allied anti-shipping aircraft were of the heavier variety, and were comparable to the Ju 88 in speed. Single engined fighters such as the Spitfire simply outclassed it, however, so its defensive armament came in handy.

Where the Ju 88 really came into its own, however, was as a nightfighter. It proved large enough to carry the large Lichtenstein , and had powerful armament mounted in the nose as well as a Schräge Musik (Jazz Music) gun mounted on the top of the , allowing it to fire at bombers from below. It was much faster than the four engined heavy bombers it was fighting, and so it proved very effective. The Ju 88 was very versatile, fast, and a stable weapons platform that allowed it to perfom admirably for the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. In total, around

15 000 were built during the war.

Specifications (According to Mondey):

Ju 88A-4 Max Speed: 470 km.h Range: 2730 km Armament: 5 x 7.92 mm MG 81 machine gun 1 x 13 mm MG 131 machine guns OR 2 x 7.92 mm MG 81 machine guns 2 000 kg of bombs

Operators: Germany, Finland, , Hungary, Italy, Romania History of the Luftwaffe during the Second World War

German military aviation goes back to 1910 when the Die Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches (Imperial German Army Air Service, also known as the

Luftstreitkräfte) was founded and was the world’s first air force. Though it was not independent like the British (RAF) founded in 1912, it was attached to the Army as the name implies. As most air forces were at the time, the Luftstreitkräfte’s role was origially set as a tool for reconaissance and artillery spotting, though this role changed greatly as the First World War progressed. To stop the recon planes, countries began mounting guns onto small aircraft, making the first fighter aircraft. The first bombers were created during as well, although their bombing apparatus was a second crewmember simply throwing bombs out of his cockpit.

Throughout the First World war, both sides continually designed and redesigned aircraft to out perform their enemy’s and it was during this period that many advances in aviation occurred. The first aces were also born, with an ace being a pilot who shot down five enemy aircraft. Germany had the top scoring ace of the war, Manfred von Richtofen, or “der rote Baron” with 80 kills. Two other important First World War aces were to have an impact on the Luftwaffe during the next war. They were Hermann Göring (22 kills) who became the (a political appointment) of the Luftwaffe, and Ernst

Udet (62 kills) who became a major advocate for dive-bombing and was in charge of the developmental wing of the Reichsluftfahrtministerium (RLM). He also had a

Jagdgeschwader named after him, JG 3 Udet.

At the close of the Great War, with the signing of the , the

Germans were required to destroy their air force and it was completely dissolved. During the interwar years, however, the German governments (the included) started to secretly rebuild their armed forces, but the Nazis were really the main architechts of this reamament. In March 1933, Göring was made head of the Luftwaffe

(the administrative area called the Reichsluftfahrtministerium or RLM), his deputy being a former Lufthansa (Civilian Airline within Germany) employee, Erhard Milch. The

RLM was in charge of developing aircraft as well as producing them and was basically the government body controlling the Luftwaffe. In the years following 1933, the

Luftwaffe underwent a massive growth spurt going from “77 aircraft to 2,700” between

1934 and 1937. The Luftwaffe also took over control of the “anti-air” role from the army in 1935.

One of the reasons the Luftwaffe was so successful in the early part of the war was because of the experience pilots had gained in the Spanish civil war. The pilots that went there were able to get a feeling for their new aircraft, gain important tactical experience, work out plans of how to fight, and by the the Luftwaffe was perhaps the most advanced air force in the world. When the Germans invaded

Poland, their airforce was shown to be vastly superior to that of the Poles. The Polish aircraft were out of date and despite the bravery of the Polish pilots, they just did not have the numbers of pilots or machines to stave off the German Luftwaffe. With this, the

Polish and their airfroce were basically destroyed by September 14th, 1939. The

Luftwaffe lost 285 aircraft, but mostly due to ground fire and engine failure.The story was much the same in the invasions of and , the Norweigan air force being elimnated within the first day of the attack. During the Scandinavian campaign the

Luftwaffe lost 260 aircraft. When the Germans invaded France and the , it met its first fierce resistance. The Luftwaffe lost 125 Ju 52 transports in Holland alone, but combat aircraft losses were much lower. The Germans had destroyed almost 1 000 aircraft around Paris, leaving the French Air Force in a shambles. According to Wikipedia, after the fall of

Paris in June, 1940 only 29% of French aircraft were ready for service and 28% of those were bombers. The Luftwaffe then destroyed a further 475 aircraft, effectively destroying the French Air Force. By the end of the campaign in France, the Luftwaffe had destroyed

1 274 French and 959 British aircraft to a loss of 1 428, which is 1.5 times less.

The Battle of Britain was the largest single battle that the Luftwaffe engaged in, beginning on July 10th, 1940. The goal of the Luftwaffe was to destroy the Royal Air

Force (RAF) to allow the Germans to invade the British Isles. The Luftwaffe mounted daily raids on RAF bases, but the short range of the fighters limited their ability to escort the bombers. One major advantage the British had was radar, which allowed the British to anticipate where and when the Germans were going to attack. Another advantage was the fact the British were flying over their own territory. This allowed the British pilots, if they had to bail out of their aircraft, to land on friendly soil and be able to get a new plane and fight again, whereas a German pilot would most likely be captured.

The was also proven to be no match for the

Spitfires and Hurricanes and thus, was never used as a pure fighter again. This left the majority of fighter strength used by the Germans on the shoulders of the Messerschmitt

Bf 109. This caused shortages and replacement problems for not only pilots, but aircraft as well. The RAF was almost destroyed during the Battle of Britain, but due to bombing of German cities by the British, the Germans switched their main focus to bombing the

British cities as opposed to the British Military instalations, thus starting and ending the Battle of Britain. The Blitz was an enormous campaign of terror bombing in which British cities were bombed nightly from the end of October 1940 until just prior to the German invasion of the USSR. Over the course of the Battle of Britain the British lost

1 547 aircraft to the Luftwaffe’s 1 887.

When the North African/Mediterranean campaign began, the Luftwaffe was there in more of a ground support role, although German ace Hans-Joachim Marseille ran up his kill score during his tenure there. The Luftwaffe was really responsible for the successes of the , as they had air superiority for the first part of the campaign and were able to support the tanks and troops of Rommel’s Afrika Korps and help dislodge Australian and British troops in the area.

When (the German invasion of the Soviet Union) began, the Luftwaffe was at the fore. During the early part of the war with the Soviets, the

German pilots and aircraft were vastly superior to their Soviet counter parts and had, for the most part, air superiority. The Luftwaffe, like the rest of the , failed however, as it had insufficient planes to keep up with and stunt Soviet production. As the

Eastern War progressed, the Germans lost air superiority and the massive technological and skill advantages it had held previously. The majority of the air war in was fought at low altitude, and while the Soviet planes generally lacked high altitude performance, they could outfight many of the German planes at lower altitudes. The German planes also suffered from the horrible temperatures of the Russian winter, whereas the Soviet planes, for the most part, had measures against this.

Everywhere the Germans fought, the Luftwaffe was slowly losing its supierority over enemy nations. The British, and now the Americans, had planes that were as good, if not better, than the Germans’. Also, the Germans just did not have the manpower to replace all of the pilots they were losing, which included many of their best pilots who were being replaced by very green pilots with extremely limited training. They also did not have the resources to stem the Air Force (USAAF) and Royal Air

Force (RAF) bombing campaigns against their cities and factories, causing them to lose even more resources.

The Luftwaffe still existed as a large entity until which began on New Year’s Day 1945. Operation Bodenplatte was planned to “catch the Allies napping” and it did so, destroying 305 aircraft, however the Luftwaffe in return lost 280 aircraft. While the Germans destroyed more aircraft than they lost, the Allies could replace their losses, while the Germans could not. This operation proved to cripple the

Luftwaffe which was only able to function in a limited fashion for the remainder of the war in . Poor planning and the overextention of resources proved to be both the

Luftwaffe’s and Germany’s downfall. The Luftwaffe was disbanded between 1946 and

1955, at which point West Germany became part of NATO and the Luftwaffe was reincarnated. Organization of the Luftwaffe

Before getting too deep into the history of the Luftwaffe, it is important to know how it is organized. Fighter aircraft and bomber aircraft have different markings on the sides of them; fighters have chevrons, lines and numbers while bombers have numbers.

These markings can be rather confusing, so this section is to briefly explain how it all works.

Fighters

To Canadians, a squadron is 12 aircraft, divided up into groups of four called

flights which are further divided up

into groups of two called pairs or wing

pairs. The German translation of

squadron is Geschwader, and fighter

squadrons are called Jagdgeschwader

(JG). However these do not consist of

12 aircraft, as is the case in a Canadian

Squadron, but instead are equivalent to

a United States Army Airforce

(USAAF) wing, which is 120 aircraft.

One Geschwader is divided up into

three or four Gruppen (groups), which

is equivalent to a USAAF group.

When written, the Gruppen used

Roman Numerals, and for example, the first Gruppe in JG 3 (Udet) would be I/JG 3. Each Gruppen was then divided up into three or four Staffeln, which is the equivalent of a USAAF or modern Canadian squadron with 10-16 aircraft. The Staffeln used numbers, so the first Staffel of JG 3 would be written as 1./JG 3. These were then broken up into flights (Schwarmen = 4 aircraft each) and pairs (Rotten) which are the same as the flights and pairs that are currently being used in the Canadian Armed Forces. Each Gruppe had a different symbol behind the Iron

Cross, while each Staffel had a different colour.

The following are what each Gruppe would display behind the Cross and pictures of the command staff’s aircraft which have markings rather than numbers in front of the

Cross.

Gruppe I – no markings behind the cross.

(Commander) Gruppe II – horizontal bar behind the cross.

(Commander)

Gruppe III – double wavy line or vertical bar.

Gruppe IV – single wavy line, dot, or small cross.

All pictures are from http://modelingmadness.com/codes/codes.htm.

For unit numbers, they worked from one and up, depending on the size of the

Staffel, but each Staffel would have its own colour of numbers and symbol behind the

Iron Cross. Below are the colors used by each Staffel, however, although these are what the standard was, they were not always adhered to. 1st Staffel: white, 2nd Staffel: red or black, 3rd Staffel: yellow, 4th Staffel: blue, 5th Staffel: brown. Towards the end of the war a 4th Staffel was usually used, but the 5th Staffel was very rare and as such, the colour can vary greatly. Normally the 4th Staffel was used to train pilots who had newly arrived.

Once they gained experience, they would be moved into one of the other Staffeln.

However, as the war neared its end, the 4th Staffel was pressed into service as a combat unit due to the shortages being faced by the Luftwaffe. So as an example, the code for the

Fw 190 “Rot 10” of the unit II/JG 6 was as follows:

Although the format used by the Luftwaffe is, at first glance, very confusing, it was developed this way to allow for instant recognition between Luftwaffe pilots in order to determine the exact unit a given aircraft was part of.

Bomber Squadrons

Bomber squadrons are organized much the same, but are called

Kampfgeschwader (KG) for regular bomber squadrons or Sturzkampfgeschwader (StG) for dive bomber squadrons. The side markings are where they differ, however. Here’s how it works, according to Gunston. From Kommandeurn on, look straight down to see their corresponding Gruppen and Staffeln. is Gruppe one, is Gruppe two, etc, while white is Staffel one, red is two and yellow is three. Geschwader Stab (Headquarters Staff) Gruppen Kommandeurn (Group Commanders) B Staffeln (1st Staffel would actually be white, but black is being used for visibility) B B B

Colored letters were used for the 3rd letter of the code, and the last letter was for the individual aircraft, while the rest of the letters/numbers were unique to each squadron. So the code for Gruppenkommandeur Hans-Ulrich Rudel’s Ju 87G-1 of III/StG 2 is as follows:

Ranks

The ranking system for the Luftwaffe was much the same as the contemporary

Allied air forces. Here is a chart of the Luftwaffe ranks, although there are other names for some of the lower ranks in other parts of the Wehrmacht. These will be compared to their USAAF counterparts as this is the closest comparable ranking system used by an

Allied nation.

* indicates no counterpart.

Flieger – Private Gefreiter – Private First Class Obergefreiter – Corporal Hauptgefreiter – Sergeant Unteroffizier – Staff Sergeant Unterfeldwebel * – Technical Sergeant Oberfeldwebel – Master Sergeant Hauptfeldwebel – Flight Officer – – First Lieutenant – Captain Major – Major – Lieutenant Colonel – Colonel – Brigadier General Generalleutnant – General der Flieger – Lieutenant General Generaloberst – 4 star General Generalfeldmarschall – 5 star General Reichsmarschall – Hermann Göring (Head of Luftwaffe – Political title only)

Other

OKW – Oberkommando der Wehrmacht – Military High Command OKL – Oberkommando der Luftwaffe – Luftwaffe High Command OKH – Oberkommando des Heeres – Army High Command OKM – Oberkommando der Marine – Navy High Command

Kommandeurn

The Kommandeurn/Kommodors (Commander) rank is given to whoever is assigned as the commander of a Geschwader, Gruppe or Staffel, but is not a true rank in the sense that you have to work your way up to that. Basically anyone from a Leutnant up could be put in this position, and they still retained their other rank, they would just be the flight leads in combat.