Jagdgeschwader 7 ‘Nowotny’

Aviation Elite Units #29

by Robert Forsyth, Jim Laurier (Illustrator)

When the revolutionary Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter first appeared in the skies over northwest Europe in mid-1944, it represented the greatest challenge to Allied air superiority since the Battle of Britain. The first group to solely fly jet fighters, Jagdgeschwader 7 was formed out of the test unit Kommando Nowotny, and was tasked with taking back command of the skies. Put almost immediately into action, despite fuel shortages, poor training and problems with the jet engine, victories quickly followed against both US and British aircraft, including at least one Mosquito.

By the end of the war, the Jagdgeschwader had claimed nearly 200 enemy aircraft destroyed in daylight bomber raids during 1945. Fighter aces and those who became jet aces with JG 7 included Heinrich Ehrler (201 victories), Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert (174 victories) and Hans Waldmann (132 victories). This book follows the history of the revolutionary JG 7 unit, examining how their courage, determination and the most advanced aircraft in the world were simply not enough to ensure victory. In the final section of the book Robert Forsyth details how JG 7 eventually became ground down by losses, restricted operating conditions, lack of fuel and overwhelming Allied fighter strength, culminating in final surrender in May 1945, but not without scoring some of the final aerial victories of World War 2.

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 21, 2008

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Reviews

[Sleepy Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great art, the subject matter was presented well. These larger books by Osprey tend to do better with myself than their smaller counterparts.

[Michael Eklund · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this book by mistake, but it was a very interesting reading.
How the Germans tried to get their jet air force going, with all the new technology at the end of the war. Germany is attacked on all sides, gigantic air fleets are bombing Germany freely and the Germans hope is their new Wunderwaffen, the ME 262.

But new machines only trickled in slowly because of the bombings. The war also made some of the components of inferior quality.
The jet engine had many peculiarities, danger of flameout at high attitude, poor acceleration at low. The throttles must be handled very carefully or the engine might catch fire.

A totally new machine to learn, even for experienced pilots. So there was an incredible many accidents, many lethal.

It is not just the question of new technology, it is also a question of learning the new tactics. The airplane was so fast, firing time was greatly reduced. This also means it was not good at ground attack missions.

But "...like comparing a Formula One racing car to a truck ... flying in the ME 262 gave me a feeling of being far superior to all others."

The firepower was immense, 4 x 30 mm akan just disintegrated enemy planes sometimes.

They fight to the last, all the time hoping. The Nazis still have big hope for Luftwaffe with a new leader and a reorganization at the end of March!

[Robert Hepple · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2008, 'Jagdgeschwader 7 'Nowotny'' is number 7 in the 'Aviation Elite Units' series of aviation titles, and tells the story of a specialist unit of the Luftwaffe set up to operate the revolutionary Me 262 jet fighter. Much of this is a tale of the obstacles that had to be overcome by the unit, many relating to the unreliability of the Me 262. The text is supported by about 116 photos plus 8 pages of colour artworks and some tables of statistics. An informative history of an aspect of the early days of jet aircraft combat.

[Richard K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read !

Lots of stories from the pilots who flew them and lots of pictures of the jets taken back then in '44, '45