One of the legendary Luftwaffe fighter units of WWII, JG 53 flew on nearly every German fighting front from the start until the end of WWII. Starting with Arado 68 fighters in 1937, the unit soon switched to the then new Bf-109, an aircraft with which they would be associated until the end of the war, six years later. During that time, they had high and low points along with the creation of numerous aces and winners of the knights cross.

In his book, John Weal takes you through these periods of time. The start of the war, battle with France and Britain, the Russian invasion, operations in North Africa and Sicily as well as defense missions in northern France and finally on the home front in 1944/45. Unlike Allied units, the Geschwader or Wing would often be split up with portions of it fighting on different fronts at the same time.

Chock full of photographs of the men and machines of JG 53, the book is further enhanced by several pages of color profiles showing the variety of camouflage schemes worn by this unit over the years.

A book that needs to be on the shelf of every Luftwaffe and 109 fan, and one that I can highly recommend to you.

December 2007

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