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The Luftwaffe

Generalmajor Adolf Galland, one of the outstanding pilots and leaders of men, photographed when he held the post of General der Jagdflieger. After his own high command wrecked his plans in January 1945, Galland spent the remaining months of the war doing what he did best - leading his men and flying the ultimate fighter of the period (ME-109).

Forging The World's Mightiest Air Force

In March 1935, only two years after he carne to power in Germany, Adolf Hitler openly defied the Treaty of Versailles imposed on his country at the end of World War I and announced a massive program of rearmament. The plan called for a Reichsluftwaf fe, a national air force whose squadrons, as Nazi propagandists said, would put a "steel roof over Germany" and "darken out the sun."

At the time, the nation's frontline air strength amounted to a mere three squadrons of fighters and five of bombers-all forbidden under the Treaty. But Hitler missed no opportunity to endow his nascent air arm with an aura of pride and power. In carefully arranged ceremonies, he gave Luftwaffe units names redolent of past glories; the first such event took place on March 14, 1935, when he dubbed a fighter squadron Jagdgeschwader Richthofen after Germany's top World War I ace. And during the gaudy displays of military might staged at Nuremberg each year after that, he saw to it that squadrons of planes blazoned with black crosses thundered overhead.

The chief purpose of these spectacles was simply to awe other countries, but the Luftwaffe was in fact becoming a mighty force. Its commander, Hermann Goring, with vital aid from his efficient production chief Erhard Milch, performed prodigies to make the Reich's air fleets truly potent. The output of Germany's aircraft industry shot upward from a few hundred planes a year to thousands. Simultaneously, new combat machines replaced obsolete models, until virtually all of the Luftwaffe's fighters and bombers were swift monoplanes off all-metal construction. By 1939, when Hitler set into motion his schemes for European conquest, the Luftwaffe boasted more than 4,000 frontline combat aircraft, making it the most formidable air force in the world.

As such it played a major role in Germany's early successes in the war, and formed a key part of the Blitzkrieg concept, much due to the use of the innovative Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber (Sturzkampfflugzeug—"Stuka"). Germany swept through Poland, Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium, The Netherlands and France in a matter of months between September 1939 and June 1940 due in no small part to the Luftwaffe, which seemed invincible, causing Göring to become over-confident in its abilities and boasting that the RAF would be defeated in a matter of a month before the planned launch of Operation Seelöwe ("Sealion"), the invasion of the United Kingdom. However, the fact that the English Channel was between occupied France and Norway (since Luftflotte ("Air Fleet") V under Generaloberst Hugo Sperrle operated from Norway) did as much to save the U.K. from invasion as the unexpectedly fierce resistance from the squadrons consisting of pilots of many nationalities, not just British.

Unlike the Germans, the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), under the command of General Henry H. Arnold, developed a strategic bomber force. The USAAF bombers, along with fighters like the P-51 when fitted with droptanks, were capable of very deep penetration into Reich territory and maintained daylight bombing of industrial targets, while their RAF colleagues continued with the offensive by conducting night operations.

Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe remained strong and both the day fighters and the night fighters were able to shoot down hundreds of Allied bombers, including 95 on a single night (October 30-31, 1944) when the RAF bombed the southern city of Nuremberg, famous as the place where prewar Nazi Party rallies took place (and, postwar, where the trials of Nazi criminals, including Göring, would take place).

Some of the Luftwaffe's units came from countries under German control such as 13 JG 52 (Slovakia) and Luftwaffen-Legion Lettland (Latvia). From before the war, the German Ministry of Propaganda disseminated a magazine specializing in the Luftwaffe called Der Adler ("The Eagle"), not just in German but also in the first languages, including French, of several countries which eventually became incorporated into the Reich territory. While the USA remained officially neutral (from September 1939 until December 1941), the magazine was also published in English.

The Luftwaffe's combat strength was organized into Wings (Geschwader) each of which was identified by a number and had a prefix according to its branch of service. Fighter units were known as Jagdgeschwader, abbreviated to JG; bomber units as Kampfgeschwader (KG); heavy fighter units as Zerst6rergesch wader (ZG); night fighter units as Nachtjagdgeschwader (NJG); dive-bomber and ground attack units initially as Stukageschwader and subsequently as Schlachtgeschwader (St.G., SG); and operational training units, which under the German system flew combat missions alongside the field units, as Lehrgeschwader (LG).

Each Geschwader comprised three or four Gruppen numbered with Roman characters (e.g. I/JG 52) and each Gruppe was made up of three or four Staffeln, numbered with Arabic numerals (e.g. 9/JG 1). The strength of these formations varied widely but an average fighter Staffel comprised nine or ten aircraft, giving the Gruppe a strength of about 30 machines and the Geschwader a total strength of about 100 aircraft. The Geschwader usually operated in a particular sector with its Gruppen dispersed quite widely on various airfields; but it was not uncommon to encounter Gruppen or even Staffeln on detached service hundreds of miles from the parent Geschwader, according to the requirements of local circumstances or training and replacement needs.

Reconnaissance units were organized around the Gruppe rather than the Geschwader, and prefixed by (F) or (H) to indicate their longrange or local reconnaissance roles respectively; thus 2(F)/122 indicates Staffel 2 of Fernaufklarungsgruppe 122.

Many units were also identified by traditional titles, usually commemorating either a past commander or a famous airman of the First World War; or referring to the unit's crest; or to some notable incident in its history. Examples of these categories are JG 51 "Molders" and JG 2 "Richthofen"; JG 53 "Pik As" (Ace of Spades); and JG 27 "Afrika". The German Air Force of the 1960s still includes units named after the First World War aces Richthofen, Boelcke and Immelmann.

The early years of the Second World War the Luftwaffe used, during its initial lightning victories of 1939 to 1942, the Dornier Do 17, the Heinkel He 111; the Junkers Ju 88 and the Focke-Wulf Fw 200. They took part in the victorious campaigns in Poland, Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium, France, Yugoslavia, Greece and, for the first year, Russia. The only missing link in the otherwise unbroken chain of successes was the failure of the German bomber arm to bomb Britain out of the war in 1940 and 1941. But even here it seemed that the far-ranging Condors and the U- boats together might succeed where the rest had failed, and starve the British to their knees.

When they first appeared, each of the bombers was in the very forefront of technology. But this coveted position is an ephemeral one, and constant effort is necessary to stay in front. With the exception of the Dornier 17 all the types mentioned had to soldier on years after they should have been replaced, because the newer bombers did not arrive at the front in time. As late as January 1945 seventy-five per-cent of the German bomber force was made up of units flying the Heinkel 111 and the Junkers 88. The former had first seen action in Spain in 1938, and the latter had been in service since the beginning of the war. Nothing can illustrate more vividly the failure of the German Air Force's bomber replacement programme.

The second generation of German bombers: the Dornier Do 217, the Heinkel He 177, the Junkers Ju 188, the Arado Ar 234 and the "Mistletoe" pick-a-back aircraft, incorporated ingenious design features and, when the sometimes daunting teething troubles had been overcome, was at least as good as its enemy equivalent; in the case of the Arado Ar 234 jet bomber there was nothing in the world that could even compare with it. But, quite apart from its quality, the ability of a bomber to destroy its target depends upon two factors: firstly, the number deployed and, secondly, the strength of the defences it has to penetrate. Never were there more than 150 examples of any of the aircraft available for action at any one time. And from 1942 on to attempt to attack targets in Great Britain by day or by night was to court swingeing losses, as German units discovered when they tried it; by the summer of 1944 the same powerful defences seemed to stand guard over almost every important target the Germans wished to hit.

None of the types of aircraft can be labelled as "great", for none of them accomplished great things. But greatness and quality are not necessarily linked, and as the successors of the bombers which were the terror of Europe in the early war years these aircraft have a well-deserved place in aviation history.

One of the largest, and least-known, planes produced by Germany during the war was the Messerschmitt Me-264, a four-engine, long-range bomber comparable in size to the Boeing B-29-and designed for an attack on New York. The Nazis were well aware that a successful bombing of New York would have tremendous propaganda value. In fact, work on the big plane had begun even before the United States entered the war. The Me-264 flew for the first time in December, 1942, but the Allies knew nothing about it until 1944, when they picked up a report that an Me-264 was standing by at Lechfeld airfield to take Hitler to Japan if his rebellious generals gained the upper hand.

An Allied bombing attack on Lechfeld destroyed that Me-264, and another was destroyed during the bombing of a Messerschmitt factory; a third was never finished. Because the Nazis were not convinced of the value of strategic bombardment, only three Me-264's had gone into production. If the program had been pushed, Germany would have had a plane that could have changed the course of the war.

Major Gene Gurney, (USAF). : Pictorial History of World War II Air Forces in Combat. Bonanza Books, NY. 1962.

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Fighter General The Life of Adolf Galland - The Official Biography. Toliver & Constable. This book follows the famous Adolf Galland’s career from flying obsolescent biplanes on the Polish front to ace commander of an Me 262 jet fighter unit. The descriptions of his head-to-head confrontations with Goering are every bit as dramatic as the combat episodes.

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