Jagdgruppe 88
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Jagdgruppe 88 |
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| Lineup | November 1936 to June 1939 |
| Country |
.svg){kind=small} German Empire Franco-Spain.svg){kind=small}
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| Type | Group (air force) |
| insignia | |
| Season Badge 1st Season 2nd Season 3rd Season 4th Season 5th Season |
Holzauge Hat Mickey Mouse Pik As screen with melon / pig Jolanthe |
The Jagdgruppe 88 (J / 88) was a German fighter plane association . In addition to Kampfgruppe 88 (K / 88), it was the largest flying unit of the Condor Legion , which took part in the Spanish Civil War on Franco's side and, despite its comparatively modest size, made a significant contribution to the victory over the Spanish Republic . The nominal squadron strength was twelve hunters each.
The J / 88 was equipped with single-engine, single-seaters, which were used both in the air-to-air role in air surveillance or for escorting transport aircraft or bombers , and in the air-to-ground role to provide close air support to own ground troops. During the air raid on Gernika , Heinkel He 51 - J / 88 fighter-bombers, however, also attacked civilians.
The pilots developed new tactics for the ground operation, such as the "chain" attack of several aircraft in direct succession. In particular, the replacement of the classic close-flying (three) chain from the time of the First World War by the loose (two) pack or the four-finger swarm formed from two packs became known . The latter was related to the replacement of the He 51 biplane initially used in the hunting role by the Messerschmitt Bf 109 monoplane, representing a new generation . The impetus for this development was not least the initially low number of operational aircraft.
Some pilots of the J / 88 later belonged to the most famous members of the Air Force during the Second World War , but during the Spanish Civil War the world public did not yet know anything about their role there.
Another hunting group of the Condor Legion was the short-lived Versuchsjagdgruppe 88 (VJ / 88), which formally did not belong to J / 88. The flying personnel, however, were recruited from the last ranks and the testing of new aircraft took place together with the regular elements of the J / 88, which is why it is taken into account here.
history
In contrast to the K / 88, the flying squadrons of the J / 88 operated independently for a large part of the war, especially in the first year and a half, and were stationed at different military airfields .
1st season
After being deployed in Virgen del Camino , the 1st Squadron (1.J / 88) changed its stationing location at regular intervals. With her He-51 biplanes initially used in the hunting role, she was initially in the north at Burgos Airport and Vitoria Airport , then returned to the Madrid front in Escalona del Prado at the end of the year, before heading back to Vitoria with the start of the offensive in the north embarrassed.
In the spring, the air forces of the republic used the Polikarpow I-16 , which was superior to the He 51 , so that the squadron flew more attacks against ground targets such as vehicles or troop concentrations. In this role the 1.J / 88 was also used in the air raid on Gernika .
In June 1937, the 1st Squadron tested the Heinkel He 112 before it was briefly relocated back to Escalona after the attack by the Republican forces near Brunete . After the end of the battle, the entire J / 88 relocated to the north in the area of Alar del Rey to the north. The 1.J / 88 supported the attack on Santander in August , and from mid-August it was in Orzales . At the beginning of September the entire group moved to the coast, the 1.J / 88 to the Pontejos field airfield, southeast of the bay of Santander .
In the late summer of 1937, almost six months after the 2nd J / 88, the 1st J / 88 was also converted to the Bf 109.
During the Battle of Teruel , Gallur's squadron flew escorts for the K / 88 and A / 88 bombers, and during the subsequent Aragon offensive they operated from Lanaja and Alcañiz La Salada, among others . After the breakthrough to the Mediterranean, the entire hunting group moved to La Sénia , where they were to stay for nine months. Initially, the group supported the further advance south on Valencia before the Battle of the Ebro began at the end of July 1938 , in which hunting missions were flown over the combat area.
The entire group moved to Valls in the second half of January , from where the 1.J / 88 flew fighter missions again in early February 1939 against the last remaining fighter planes of the republic in northern Catalonia .
2nd season
The 2nd squadron (2.J / 88), which was set up in Ávila in November 1936 , like the 1st, changed its stationing locations at short intervals, and it also flew the He 51 mainly in the hunting role. In the second half of December she operated from Villa del Prado , returned to Ávila at the beginning of 1937, initially returning to Villa del Prado at the beginning of February via brief interludes in Saragossa and Huesca before moving to neighboring Almorox . A swarm operated from Talavera for a few weeks in February / March 1937 .
After the entire squadron was reunited in Almorox at the beginning of March, the 2nd J / 88 was the first squadron of the group to convert to the Bf 109, which had previously been extensively evaluated in the test hunt squadron 88 (VJ / 88). The He 51 were handed over to the Spanish allies in parallel.
From April 1937 the squadron operated during the war in the north of Vitoria. In the following months, the then squadron captain Günther Lützow began to develop new tactics for the new aircraft type, which represented a completely new generation of fighter aircraft compared to the biplanes previously used. The Bf 109 proved to be technically superior to the fighter aircraft of Soviet origin on the part of the Republicans.
The 2.J / 88 flew further south in July 1937 during the Battle of Brunete , but then returned to the north, this time to Calahorra del Boedo near Herrera de Pisuerga . After the fall of Santander , the unit moved to Santander-La Albericia . Until the conquest of Gijón , the squadron stayed on the north coast.
After several weeks of regeneration in Virgen del Camino, the squadron relocated to La Rasa in advance of the planned attack in Aragon . Later during the Battle of Teruel , the 2.J / 88 operated under sometimes extreme winter weather conditions from Calamocha , which is closer to the front, in order to recover from these missions in Gallur at the end of February 1938 .
In the months of March / April 1938, after a short stay in Sanjurjo , the two Bf-109 squadrons initially operated from Lanaja and after the breakthrough of Franco's armed forces to the Mediterranean, the entire group moved to La Sénia, where it was until the beginning of 1939. The season saw the end of the war in the spring of 1939 (presumably) in El Prat de Llobregat .
3rd season
In contrast to the first two squadrons, the 3rd squadron (3./J88) was initially intended as a close air support squadron, so it was the last to convert to the Bf 109. Like the rest of the squadrons, it operated in rapidly changing succession from various field airfields, mostly in the center of the country, in the early part of the war. These included Escalona and Villa del Prado.
At the end of March 1937 she moved with the rest of the group to Vitoria in the north and during the Battle of Brunete she flew again from Villa del Prado to move to the northern theater of war in Calohorra del Boedo at the end of July 1937. Also in July 1937, Adolf Galland took over the squadron for the rest of its time as He-51 squadron. After a few weeks, the 3./J88 was moved closer to Orzales in mid-August 1937 together with the 1.J / 88, in order to move with the rest of the group to the two airfields in the Santander area at the beginning of September.
At the beginning of January 1938 during the Battle of Teruel the 3rd and 4th J / 88 were in Calamocha. After the end of this battle, the entire group was brought together to regenerate in Gallur at the end of February and in the course of the Aragon offensive, the two He 51 squadrons of Sariñena and Bujaraloz flew . After the Franco troops broke through to the Mediterranean Sea and in the course of the advance to Valencia, further use of the He 51 was no longer justifiable and both squadrons were released from their duties.
However, the 3rd J / 88 was immediately set up as a Bf 109 unit and, like the other two Bf 109 squadrons, flew hunting missions from La Sénia for the next few months. Under the command of her new squadron captain Werner Mölders, she achieved the most aerial victories of all three Bf-109 squadrons in the second half of 1938. During this time, Mölders completed the development of new tactics that Lützow had begun the previous year. The last hunting missions were flown in the province of Barcelona in early 1939 .
4th season
The origins of the 4th season (4.J / 88) go back to the time before the actual Condor Legion was set up in the summer of 1936. In the summer of 1936, the first Germans arrived in Tablada by sea via Cadiz and six He 51 dismantled . The planes were reassembled at this airfield and flown in by German crews. They were then handed over to their national Spanish colleagues. At that time it was still planned that only Spaniards would fly the machines in combat. However, the local German pilots urged to be allowed to fly combat missions themselves, which was ultimately approved by General Kindelán .
The fighter squadron was accordingly relocated on August 22, 1936 to the Escalona del Prado field airfield, which is very close to the Madrid front , where the German pilots flew their first combat missions. For security reasons, the squadron will move to Cáceres airfield, which is a little further away from the front, on September 1st . Later in September, the unit also operated from Ávila and Vitoria. At the end of September six more pilots came with their He 51 from Germany and the squadron was initially split between Escalona del Prado and Baraona , but in October it also flew missions from Saragossa.
In November 1936, the fighter squadron became part of the newly established Condor Legion and from then on formed the 4th squadron of Jagdgruppe 88, which, like the 3.J / 88, mainly used its Heinkels as fighter-bombers. In the winter of 1936/1937 the 4.J / 88 operated from Burgos, Vitoria and León before being decommissioned for the first time on April 4, 1937.
It was re-established on November 2, 1937 and after serving a few weeks in León essentially as a training unit, it came from the outbreak of the Battle of Teruel to its final decommissioning on June 8 in La Sénia together with the 3.J / 88 , the other He 51 squadron, parallel to the mission.
5th season
Season 5 (5.J / 88) presented a special It was created in early 1938 through the establishment of a. Ju-87A - chain as part of the J / 88, their crews from Lehrgeschwader one came. The first combat missions took place during the Battle of Teruel, usually from Calamocha.
In May 1938, the squadron, now stationed in La Sénia, bombed four arbitrarily selected small towns in the hinterland of the province of Castellón (Albocácer, Ares del Maestre, Benasal and Villar de Canes), for a total of 38 people, for test purposes alone died.
In July 1938, the Ju-87 chain was handed over to Kampfgruppe 88 and the 5.J / 88 then flew the Ar 68 , which was tested as a night fighter .
Trial squadron 88
After just a few months in action, it became clear that the German Heinkels, as fighter aircraft, were inferior to the enemy aircraft types, especially the Polikarpows of Soviet origin. Therefore, the Luftwaffe leadership decided immediately to relocate the first copies of the latest models in the German aviation industry. In addition, this decision meant the possibility of testing under real operating conditions.
In November 1936 one He 50 G , two Hs 123, two Bf 109 and at least one Ju 87 A-0 arrived dismantled at the Spanish national airfield Seville- Tablada . More Bf 109 and Hs 123 and an He 112 were added later. The official list of the test hunt squadron 88 (VJ / 88) did not take place until January 20, 1937.
The pilots included Johannes Trautloft , Otto Winterer and Günther Radusch . In addition to the military, civilian industrial workers also belonged to VJ / 88. However, this did not have its own command structure. After the aircraft had been assembled and flown in from Seville, the machines were relocated to the regular J / 88 squadrons for operational testing, where they were incorporated into front flight operations. Operations took place in Andalusia and in the Madrid area. When the squadron received 13 brand-new series Bf-109s from the B series in March 1937, its days as a test unit were already numbered. The 2.J / 88 absorbed the Bf 109 and the Hs 123 formed a Stuka chain as part of the K / 88 for a while . The He 112 was taken over by the Spanish Aviación Nacional .
Balance sheet
The Jagdgruppe 88 used a total of around 130 He 51B and Bf 109 of different series (B, C, D, E and some prototypes). Many planes were lost. The losses due to accidents exceeded those due to enemy action. The own losses through combat operations were significantly less than the successes against the aircraft of the republic. With the introduction of the Bf 109, which was technically superior to the opposing Polikarpow I-15 and I-16, the tide turned in favor of the J / 88. As in most subsequent wars, air superiority was a critical success factor in winning the ground war . On the side of Franco, in addition to the Condor Legion, the Italian Aviazione Legionaria and the “national Spanish” air force flew . In the course of the war, the latter received many used aircraft from the Condor Legion with a high number of flight hours. As the war progressed, more and more Spaniards served in the J / 88.
Known relatives
Group commanders
- Captain Hubertus von Merhart, November 1936 to July 1937
- Captain Gotthard Handrick , July 1937 to September 1938
- Captain Walter Grabmann , September 1938 - June 1939
Squadron captains of the 1st season
- Hauptmann, November 1936 to April 1937
- First Lieutenant Harro Harder , April 1937 to December 1937
- First Lieutenant Wolfgang Schellmann , December 1937 to September 1938
- Captain Siebelt Reents, September 1938 to June 1939
Squadron captains of the 2nd season
- First Lieutenant Siegfried Lehmann, November 1936 to March 1937
- Lieutenant Günther Lützow , March 1937 to September 1937
- First Lieutenant Joachim Schlichting , September 1937 to May 1938
- Oberleutnant Hubert Kroeck, May 1938 to October 1938
- Lieutenant Alfred von Lojewski, November 1938 to June 1939
Squadron captains of the 3rd season
- First Lieutenant Jürgen Roth, November 1936 to April 1937
- Lieutenant Douglas Pitcairn, April 1937 to July 1937
- First Lieutenant Adolf Galland , July 1937 to April 1938
- First Lieutenant Werner Mölders , April 1938 to November 1938
- Lieutenant Hubertus von Bonin, December 1938 to June 1939
Squadron captains of the 4th season
- First Lieutenant Eberhard Kraft, August 1936 to November 1936
- Captain Herwig Knüppel , November 1936 to March 1937
- Oberleutnant Walter Kienzle, March 1937 to April 1937
- First Lieutenant Eberhard d'Elsa, November 1937 to June 1938
Squadron captains of the 5th season
- Lieutenant Hans Haas, spring 1938
Other known members of J / 88 and VJ / 88
- Wilhelm Balthasar
- Otto Bertram
- Günther Radusch
- Herbert Ihlefeld
- Wolfgang Lippert
- Hans-Karl Mayer
- Walter Oesau
- Rolf Pingel
- Reinhard Seiler
- Horst Tietzen
- Johannes Trautloft
- Wilhelm Ensslen
literature
- Raúl Arias Ramos, Lucas Molina Franco: Alemanes en la Guerra Civil. la Legión Cóndor. Tikala, Madrid 2011, ISBN 978-84-9928-075-2 .
- Patrick Laureau: Legion Condor. The Luftwaffe in Spain 1936–1939. Hikoki, Ottringham 2000, ISBN 1-902109-10-4 .
- Rafael A. Permuy, Lucas Molina Franco: Trial associations of the Cóndor Legion. VDMedien24.de, Zweibrücken 2015, ISBN 978-3-86619-097-9 .