Book Review of
Day Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe 1943-45
Men – Battles – Weapons
Author: Neil Page
Casemate Illustrated
ISBN: 978-1-61200-879-0
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright 2020
MSRP: $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-61200-879-0
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright 2020
MSRP: $24.95
In 1943 the hard pressed day fighter aces of the Luftwaffe were very much on the defensive. With only a handful of Geschwader to cover hundreds of miles of the front, they were buckling in the East and on the verge of being overwhelmed in the West as Allied bomber fleets launched a huge offensive against the Reich.
Constant front-line action was one way of ensuring that the Tagjag made the best use of its limited resources – even in late 1944 most Gruppen still had a handful of high-scoring pilots, quite capable of meeting their opponents on equal terms.
However, the German fighter pilots presented starkly contrasting skill levels. So many good pilots were killed in action in the first six months of 1944 in the West – over 1000 – that new pilots were desperately pressed into service without sufficient training.
Training schools were stripped of experienced instructors and pilot training courses were heavily curtailed. Veteran night fighters, flying instructors, bomber and transport aviators were all hastily retained as day fighters, but their efforts were mostly ineffectual and their sacrifices in vain.
It is no surprise that o the 100-plus Luftwaffe “aces” credited with over 100 victories during WWII, only eight of them started their flying careers after 1942. German industry continued to turn out huge numbers of fighter aircraft, but Allied air supremacy was such that the chances of survival decreased exponentially.
Bf 109 losses through December 1944 to March 1945 reached astronomical proportions – some 2,500 machines or two month’s production.
From 1943 to the final defeat in 1945, the day fighter arm of the Luftwaffe was gradually overwhelmed . With a mere handful of Geschwader available, the day fighters were incapable of covering 2,000-mile front in the East.
In the West, the U.S. bomber fleets and their long-range escorts took a heavy toll and losses mounted alarmingly.
To make up for the shortfall, inexperienced pilots were thrown into the frontline units and only a handful of “great” aces continued to rack up victories.
This Casemate Illustrated book examines the personalities, exploits and experiences of the Tagjag through to Germany’s final defeat. The series explores key elements of military history.
Extensively illustrated with photos, maps, and color profiles of tanks, aircraft, and other vehicles, each volume provides a wealth of visual detail. Profiles of key individuals and units, a timeline and explanatory text boxes support of the narrative, which provides a clear overview of the battle or campaign and the experience of the forces involved.
This second volume of Day Fighters of the Luftwaffe is devoted to the story of the aces, flying through the last two years of WWII, continuing to give their all throughout the inexorable decline and defeat of the tagjag.
THE AUTHOR:
Neil Page has a degree in Modern Languages and has lived and worked in Germany. He spent eight years at London Gatwick airport in flight dispatch, with a major European airline.
He has translated the unit histories of JG 2, JG 4, and JG 300 and is one of the team behind the successful Luftwaffe Gallery book series. His web site FalksEins – the Luftwaffe Blog – has garnered over 4 million page viewers over the last decade.
THE BOOK:
Casemate is a distributor of books and also a book company in itself based in Pennsylvania.
This book is soft-bound with a flap on the front and rear covers.
The book contains 128 pages in 7” x 10” page format.
It contains 182 black and white wartime photos and 3 rare color ones.
The flap on the front cover gives the history of the aces and the flap on the rear cover gives information about the author Neil Page.
Below that is color cover arts of 4 Casemate Illustrated books: “The Luftwaffe in Africa 1941-43”, “Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe 1939-42”, “The Falaise Pocket” and “The 3rd SS Panzer Regiment”.
The cover art shows 4 black and white wartime photo. The photo at the top is a magnificent shot of Dora no. 10 (W.N. 836017) assigned to the last Kommodore of JG 63 – victory ace Maj. Franz Gotz. This was one of only two D-13’s confirmed built and in service by April 7,1945 in this W.Nr. block.
Below it is a side profile of a Bf-109G-6 flown by Erich Hartmann, Komadeur of 1/JG 53, Veszprem, Hungary, February 1945. Often thought to be a G-14. The upper surfaces are winter white camo finish and features a curious “spider’s web” overspray. It is yellow under its nose and has a black “tulip leaf” pattern around the nose and a white spinner.
Below it on the left is a photo of Konrad Bauer standing on the wing of red 1, a FW-190, flown by the Stoka of 5/JG 300, Klaus Bretschneider.
Followed by a photo of a Fw-190A-4, flown by Staffel Kaptan of 9/JG 2, Oblt. Siegfried Schnell, elaborately decorated (W.Nr. 746) displaying 75 victories on the rudder, his tally when he handed over command to “Sepp” Wurmheller in early April 1943.
The last photo is of a Bf-109G-6 of III/JG 27, flying escort over the Aegean Sea. They would be very active over the Dodecanese in late 1943, White 2 was flown by Offz. Emil Clade.
The back cover has 3 more black and white wartime photos on it.
At the left is a photo of Kommandeur Jurgen Harder of 1/JG 53, seen alongside his Kanonenboot Chevron Triangle undergoing maintenance at Maniago, Italy, early 1944.
To the right is a photo of JG-26’s Kommodore Priller being feted for his 100 victory over Normandy, when he shot down a B-24 on June 15th, 1944 near Dreux and was awarded the Swords to his Knight’s Cross.
At the bottom of the page there is a photo of a lineup of 109’s on an airfield and the back half of a color profile of a Bf-109G-6 “Doppel Dinkel” with Erla Haube, flown by Kommandeur of IV./JG 3, Maj.Friedrich-Karl Muller, early 1944, Salzwedel. He was credited with 118 victores when he was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross. He claimed three more victories on March 8 for his 119-121. Appointed as Kommondore of JG-3, he was killed at Salzwedel on May 29,1944 when his Bf-109 stalled and crashed during a landing approach
This is a great picture album. It will be of great interest to both aircraft modelers and aviation historians alike.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. All their book titles and the titles of other publisher’s books can be seen on their website at:
Constant front-line action was one way of ensuring that the Tagjag made the best use of its limited resources – even in late 1944 most Gruppen still had a handful of high-scoring pilots, quite capable of meeting their opponents on equal terms.
However, the German fighter pilots presented starkly contrasting skill levels. So many good pilots were killed in action in the first six months of 1944 in the West – over 1000 – that new pilots were desperately pressed into service without sufficient training.
Training schools were stripped of experienced instructors and pilot training courses were heavily curtailed. Veteran night fighters, flying instructors, bomber and transport aviators were all hastily retained as day fighters, but their efforts were mostly ineffectual and their sacrifices in vain.
It is no surprise that o the 100-plus Luftwaffe “aces” credited with over 100 victories during WWII, only eight of them started their flying careers after 1942. German industry continued to turn out huge numbers of fighter aircraft, but Allied air supremacy was such that the chances of survival decreased exponentially.
Bf 109 losses through December 1944 to March 1945 reached astronomical proportions – some 2,500 machines or two month’s production.
From 1943 to the final defeat in 1945, the day fighter arm of the Luftwaffe was gradually overwhelmed . With a mere handful of Geschwader available, the day fighters were incapable of covering 2,000-mile front in the East.
In the West, the U.S. bomber fleets and their long-range escorts took a heavy toll and losses mounted alarmingly.
To make up for the shortfall, inexperienced pilots were thrown into the frontline units and only a handful of “great” aces continued to rack up victories.
This Casemate Illustrated book examines the personalities, exploits and experiences of the Tagjag through to Germany’s final defeat. The series explores key elements of military history.
Extensively illustrated with photos, maps, and color profiles of tanks, aircraft, and other vehicles, each volume provides a wealth of visual detail. Profiles of key individuals and units, a timeline and explanatory text boxes support of the narrative, which provides a clear overview of the battle or campaign and the experience of the forces involved.
This second volume of Day Fighters of the Luftwaffe is devoted to the story of the aces, flying through the last two years of WWII, continuing to give their all throughout the inexorable decline and defeat of the tagjag.
THE AUTHOR:
Neil Page has a degree in Modern Languages and has lived and worked in Germany. He spent eight years at London Gatwick airport in flight dispatch, with a major European airline.
He has translated the unit histories of JG 2, JG 4, and JG 300 and is one of the team behind the successful Luftwaffe Gallery book series. His web site FalksEins – the Luftwaffe Blog – has garnered over 4 million page viewers over the last decade.
THE BOOK:
Casemate is a distributor of books and also a book company in itself based in Pennsylvania.
This book is soft-bound with a flap on the front and rear covers.
The book contains 128 pages in 7” x 10” page format.
It contains 182 black and white wartime photos and 3 rare color ones.
The flap on the front cover gives the history of the aces and the flap on the rear cover gives information about the author Neil Page.
Below that is color cover arts of 4 Casemate Illustrated books: “The Luftwaffe in Africa 1941-43”, “Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe 1939-42”, “The Falaise Pocket” and “The 3rd SS Panzer Regiment”.
The cover art shows 4 black and white wartime photo. The photo at the top is a magnificent shot of Dora no. 10 (W.N. 836017) assigned to the last Kommodore of JG 63 – victory ace Maj. Franz Gotz. This was one of only two D-13’s confirmed built and in service by April 7,1945 in this W.Nr. block.
Below it is a side profile of a Bf-109G-6 flown by Erich Hartmann, Komadeur of 1/JG 53, Veszprem, Hungary, February 1945. Often thought to be a G-14. The upper surfaces are winter white camo finish and features a curious “spider’s web” overspray. It is yellow under its nose and has a black “tulip leaf” pattern around the nose and a white spinner.
Below it on the left is a photo of Konrad Bauer standing on the wing of red 1, a FW-190, flown by the Stoka of 5/JG 300, Klaus Bretschneider.
Followed by a photo of a Fw-190A-4, flown by Staffel Kaptan of 9/JG 2, Oblt. Siegfried Schnell, elaborately decorated (W.Nr. 746) displaying 75 victories on the rudder, his tally when he handed over command to “Sepp” Wurmheller in early April 1943.
The last photo is of a Bf-109G-6 of III/JG 27, flying escort over the Aegean Sea. They would be very active over the Dodecanese in late 1943, White 2 was flown by Offz. Emil Clade.
The back cover has 3 more black and white wartime photos on it.
At the left is a photo of Kommandeur Jurgen Harder of 1/JG 53, seen alongside his Kanonenboot Chevron Triangle undergoing maintenance at Maniago, Italy, early 1944.
To the right is a photo of JG-26’s Kommodore Priller being feted for his 100 victory over Normandy, when he shot down a B-24 on June 15th, 1944 near Dreux and was awarded the Swords to his Knight’s Cross.
At the bottom of the page there is a photo of a lineup of 109’s on an airfield and the back half of a color profile of a Bf-109G-6 “Doppel Dinkel” with Erla Haube, flown by Kommandeur of IV./JG 3, Maj.Friedrich-Karl Muller, early 1944, Salzwedel. He was credited with 118 victores when he was awarded the Oak Leaves to his Knight’s Cross. He claimed three more victories on March 8 for his 119-121. Appointed as Kommondore of JG-3, he was killed at Salzwedel on May 29,1944 when his Bf-109 stalled and crashed during a landing approach
This is a great picture album. It will be of great interest to both aircraft modelers and aviation historians alike.
I want to sincerely thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. All their book titles and the titles of other publisher’s books can be seen on their website at: