Operating from the first day to the last day of the war, JG 51 was one of the Luftwaffe's premiere fighter units, fighting on all fronts and mostly flying the Bf-109 during that time. The unit was also home to one of the Luftwaffe's most famous pilots, Werner Mölders, who was the first to reach the magic number of 100 victories and died shortly after while on the way to the funeral of Ernst Udet. In his memory, the Jagdgeschwader was named after him.

For the first time in English, you have the opportunity to read about this famous unit. It follows very much the course of the war with successes in the beginning, a steady attrition of men and machines in the turning years of the war until the end when it was more a case of survival than anything else.

The opening of the war with the Soviet Union brought with it the opportunity to have some huge scores in aerial combat. JG 51 ranked at the top in terms of men who had earned the Knights Cross. Within those ranks are men whose names are well known to Luftwaffe enthusiasts; men like Oesau, Trautloft, Bär, Romm, Lange, and others.

John Weal takes what is really a mountain of material and compresses it into 128 pages of the history of JG 51. Told in a highly readable manner, the history is companioned with superb period photos and a goodly number of profiles, all which combine into a fascinating tale.

As good a book as this is, what really struck me was the end piece, telling of how Mölders name has been removed from all military honor rolls, all because of the stupidity of politicians. Apparently, in an effort to appease the Spanish over the bombing of Guernica, Germany's military has made all persons who participated in the Spanish Civil War  basically non-people, and this included Mölders. One can only hope that the people of Germany will come to their senses about this in the near future.

Anyway, the book is an excellent read and is one that I can most highly recommend.

October 2006

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