by John Weal
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Product Description
JAGDGESCHWADER 51 'MOLDERS'
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Lack of aerial victories over East Prussia, 2008-02-20
The author fails to have more stories about JG-51 shooting down Russian aircraft from October 1944 to April 1945 when the unit was operating out of East Prussia in pages 111 to 117. This is a sad comparison to when he talk about the aerial victories scored by JG-54 Grunherz in the Courland Pocket in the book Jagdgeschwader 54 Grunherz. He also did not talk much about the unit and pilots scoring victories over the Demyansk Pocket like he did with JG-54 when that unit was operating in the Demyansk area.
6 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
More attention to the pilots, units, and the planes not to the big picture, 2006-12-03
I agree with Mr. O'Connor about the insufficent length of the book (128 pages). The author should stopped talking about the overall situation with regards to the Russian, Italian, Balkan, and North African fronts and concentrate on having the aces talk about their air to air victories. Also, I am getting sick of tired of reading military magazines and books where the authors and writers are always saying that no matter how many victories the Germans won, as individuals or as a unit, in 1943 to 1945 in the air or on the ground, it did not change the outcome of the war. It seems to be a standard writing practice to insert that kind of comment. That is no comfort to the Allied soldiers who were killed, wounded, or became prisoners of war.
There should have been more color plates of the ME-109E sporting the Condor insignia. In addition, there should have been a color plate of Gunther Schack's Focke-190 because he was one of JG-51 top aces. Finally, there should have been more FW-190 and ME-109 colour plates of other JG-51 Aces plus more of the colour plates of green-white camouflage FW-190s.
There should have been more individual stories of II/JG-51 pilots shooting down Allied airplanes in Italy, Balkans, North Africa, and Hungary.
Moreover,there should also have been a special chapter devoted to the Stabstaffel JG-51 aces and their stories since that squadron was the only one in the entire JG-51 to fly the Focke-Wulf 190 from 1943-1945 while the rest of the unit flew the ME-109 for the final 12 months of the war.
Finally, the author did the book Focke-Wulf 190 Aces of the Russian Front which was first printed in 1995. That is more then enough time (11 years) for the author to find more stories of air to air combat victories by IV/JG-51 because it had re-convert back to the FW-190 in April 1945 particularly since the unit had acquired some Focke-Wulf 190Ds. He should have been able to talk to the pilots about flying and scoring victories with the FW-190D.
Reviews were mixed. The author did a good job in explaining the situation on each front. When it came to the above sections, that I had mention, he did a miserable job.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
 The WWII Exploits of a Legendary Luftwaffe Fighter Wing!, 2006-11-18
Though not as well-known as wings as JG 52 or JG 26, Jagdgeschwader 51 'Molders' was one of the Luftwaffe's top units. John Weal relates the story of this illustrious unit in this 'Aviation Elite Units' volume from Osprey.
Possessing more Knight's Cross winners than any other Jagdgeschwader, JG 51 flew combat from 1939 to the bitter end, chiefly on the Eastern Front. Flying Bf 109s and then FW 190s, the wing scored over 8,000 victories. Wing aces included 'Toni' Hafner, Heinz Bar, Richard Leppla, Karl-Gottfried Nordmann, Gunther Schack and, of course, Werner Molders,
Molders, Germany's finest fighter leader-tactician and the first Luftwaffe pilot to score 100 victories was an intriguing individual. Commanding JG 51 from July 1940 to July 1941, he set a fast pace for the wing, especially when JG 51 was committed to the Eastern Front. A devout Catholic in the service of history's most evil empire, Molders was nicknamed 'Vati' (Daddy) by his men. Upon his death in November 1941 while serving in a staff position, the wing was given the Honor Title 'Molders.'
JG 51's combat exploits are well summarized in Weal's 128-page book. Over 100 photos and nine pages of color profiles illustrate the wing's life, times and equipment.
As far as I know, this is the first English-language history of JG 51 so, if you are interested in Luftwaffe fighter wings, this is a must-have book.
****
As a personal aside, I wish the Osprey Elite books were a bit longer in length so authors could devote some space to catching the spirit...the flavor...the character of the units and their aircrew.
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