Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders"

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Jagdgeschwader 51

Coat of arms of the Jagdgeschwader 51

Squadron badge
active May 1, 1939 to May 1945
Country German Reich NSGerman Reich (Nazi era) German Empire
Armed forces Wehrmacht
Armed forces air force
Branch of service Air force
Type Jagdgeschwader
structure Squadron staff and 4 groups
Installation site Bad Aibling coat of arms.png Bad Aibling , air base
Nickname "Jagdgeschwader Mölders"
Patron saint Werner Mölders
Aircraft type Messerschmitt Bf 109 , Focke-Wulf Fw 58 , Focke-Wulf Fw 190
Second World War Invasion of Poland
Western campaign
Air battle for England
Eastern campaign
African
campaign Balkan campaign
Squadron commodors
First commodore Theo Osterkamp
Lieutenant Colonel
Last commodore Heinz Lange
Major
insignia
Sleeve stripes Sleeve stripes Luftwaffe Mölders.jpg

The Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders" (JG 51) was a traditional squadron of the Luftwaffe in World War II , named after its second commodore Werner Mölders . On June 30, 1941, it was the first Luftwaffe squadron to achieve its 1,000th kill since the start of the war.

From November 22, 1973 to March 10, 2005, Jagdgeschwader 74 of the Bundeswehr was nicknamed "Mölders" and was thus one of the traditional squadrons of the Bundeswehr Air Force .

Airplane Bf 109, maintenance and armament
Friedrich-Herrmann Joppien, knight's cross holder of Jagdgeschwader 51
Bf 109 fighters on a field airfield in France

history

When it was set up on May 1, 1939, Jagdgeschwader 51 was only called JG 51; Only after Werner Mölders died on November 22, 1941, the squadron was given the nickname "Jagdgeschwader Mölders" by order of December 24, 1941.

Lineup

  • The I. Group of Jagdgeschwader 51 was created on May 1st, 1939 in Bad Aibling by renaming the I. Group / JG 233 as the only group of JG 51.
  • The II. Group of Jagdgeschwader 51 was set up in Fürstenfeldbruck on October 3, 1939, by order of October 16, 1939 .
  • The III. Group of Jagdgeschwader 51 was created on July 4, 1940 by renaming the I. Group / JG 20.
  • The IV. Group of Jagdgeschwader 51 was created on November 21, 1940 by renaming the I. Group / JG 77 .
  • The staff of Jagdgeschwader 51 was created on November 25, 1939 when the staff of JG 27 was split up .
  • On November 20, 1940, a supplementary squadron for the Jagdgeschwader 51 was set up in Cazaux . This squadron was for the final training of pilots coming from the aviation schools.

resolution

  • The first group moved to Brüsterort on March 24th and to Junkertroylhof in April, where they disbanded on April 23rd, 1945.
  • Group II was in Imely at the beginning of 1945. In January the group moved to Veszprém and in February to Raab . The relocation to Fels am Wagram followed in March . In March 1945 the formation of an 8th squadron began. However, the list was not completed until the group was dissolved on April 12, 1945.
  • The III. The group was in Insterburg at the beginning of 1945 . In January the group moved to Pillau-Neutief. On January 15, the 11th squadron began to be deployed in Danzig-Langfuhr , and this was not completed by the end of the war. In April the group moved to Brüsterort , where they stayed until the end of the war.
  • The fourth group was in Modlin at the beginning of 1945 . On January 23, she moved to Danzig-Langfuhr and from there to Anklam on March 20 . In April she was moved to Garz auf Usedom and on April 15 to Eggersdorf , where she stayed until the end of the war.

Commanders

Squadron commodors

Group commanders

I. group
  • Major Ernst Freiherr von Berg, May 1, 1939
  • Captain Hans-Heinrich Brustellin, September 23, 1939
  • Captain Hermann-Friedrich Joppien, October 18, 1940
  • Captain Wilhelm Hachfeld, August 26, 1941
  • Captain Josef Fözö, May 3, 1942
  • Captain Heinrich Krafft, June 1, 1942
  • Captain Rudolf Busch, December 15, 1942
  • Major Erich Leie, January 18, 1943
  • Captain Günther Schack , December 29, 1944
II group
  • Major Kramer, October 1939
  • Major Ernst Günther Burggaller , October 26, 1939
  • Captain Günther Matthes, February 3, 1940
  • Captain Josef Fözö, February 21, 1941
  • Captain Hartmann Grasser, 9.41
  • Major Karl Rammelt, June 6, 1943
  • Oberleutnant Otto Schultz, December 24, 1944
III. group
  • Captain Johannes Trautloft , July 4th 1940
  • Captain Walter Oesau , August 25, 1940
  • Captain Richard Leppla, November 11, 1940
  • Captain Karl Heinz Schnell, August 8, 1942
  • Captain Fritz Losigkeit, June 26, 1943
  • Captain Diethelm von Eichel-Streiber, May 1, 1944
  • Captain Joachim Brendel , September 1, 1944
IV. Group
  • Captain Johannes Janke, November 21, 1940
  • Major Friedrich Beckh, March 1, 1941
  • Captain Karl-Gottfried Nordmann, July 20, 1941
  • Captain Hans Knauth, April 10, 1942
  • Major Rudolf Resch, March 1, 1943
  • Major Hans Ekkehard Bob, August 1, 1943
  • Major Heinz Lange, May 9, 1944
  • First Lieutenant Günther Josten , April 12, 1945
  • Major Heinz Lange, April 29, 1945

Known squadron members

literature

  • Wolfgang Dierich (Hrsg.): The associations of the air force. 1935-1945. Outlines and short chronicles. A documentation . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-87943-437-9 .
  • Gebhard Aders , Werner Held: Jagdgeschwader 51 "Mölders". A chronicle. Reports, experiences, documents . Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-613-01045-3 .

Web links

Commons : Jagdgeschwader 51  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Cajus Bekker : Attack Height 4000: a war diary of the German Air Force , Pavillon-Verlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-453-87098-0 , pp. 273/274
  2. The traditional squadron of the Wehrmacht Bundesarchiv Online ( Memento of the original from April 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesarchiv.de