One of the more revolutionary weapons of war developed during WWII was the Me-262 and its turbojet engines. The first unit to put these aircraft into squadron service was Jagdgeschwader 7 'Nowotny' in late 1944, and the result of combat with enemy bombers was as one-sided as one might well imagine.

However, the Me-262 was not without its problems, many of them due to the revolutionary power plants that pushed the aircraft through the air at such an incredible speed. Most pilots were not provided with sufficient training to learn how to use their aircraft in normal operations, much less during combat and a great number of airframes and men were lost in simple training accidents or when one or more of the aircraft's engines malfunctioned.Yet JG 7 did, during its brief existence, claim over 200 enemy aircraft destroyed during 1945 bombing raids.

Author Robert Forsyth has put together a superb book that covers the full story of this jet unit, from its beginnings until the end of the war, when even taking off and landing were considered quite hazardous. Yet thanks to the skill and determination of pilots and mechanics, JG 7 was fighting until the very end of the war.

Superbly illustrated with multiple profiles by Jim Laurier, the book also contains a goodly number of period photographs of pilots and planes, some of these new to the eyes of this reviewer. In all, it is another superlative publication from a publisher we have come to trust for accuracy and a good read. As such, it is highly recommended and I'm sure you will agree.

October 2008

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