Table of Contents
Foreword 8
Chapter 1 Creation of a New Weapon 10
Balloons and Airships
The Aircraft
The German Fliegertruppe in the First World War
Air War Theories
What Ts A Combat Pilot?
The Role of the Kampfflieger
Legends about German Bomber Development
The Bow Was Overdrawn
Creation of a Kampfgeschwader
The Air Force Is Revealed
New Geschwader Are Created by "Cell-Division"
Chapter 2 Peacetime and Expansion 30
Merseburg
Early Casualties
Move to New Bases
Bases in Bavaria
First Operations
The Black Day of Neuhausen ob Eck
Chapter 3 The Air War in the West and over England 42
Sitzkrieg
War Breaks Out
KG 51's Propaganda Mission on 17 November 1939
Conversion onto the Ju 88
Events on the other Fronts
The French Campaign/ "Freiburg!"
Breathtaking Advance
Dunkirk
Move to France
Overview of Operations against France
Operations against England
The Kommodore Is Killed
Flyer's Latin
London
Operational Overview and Casualties
Ancraft Losses KG 51 (Operations against England)
Chapter 4 Interlude in Yugoslavia and Greece 88
Wiener-Neustadt
The Campaign in the Balkans
Greece and Crete
Transfers and their Problems
Chapter 5 Russia - The Verdun of the Luftwaffe 100
Preparations for "Operation Barbarossa" in Krosno
Luck and Wlodzimierz
Zilistea and Balti
Tiraspol and Nikolayev
Zaphorozhye
Ternovaya Wood
Sevastopol and the Black Sea Ports
From Tatsinskaya towards Stalingrad
Rostov
Back to Zaporozhye
Bagerovo
Briansk - Sechinskaya - Kirovograd
The Aegean and the Last Operations in Russia
Chapter 6 With the Me 410 in the Fighter Role over Germany and as a Zerstörer against England 134
Transfer back to the Reich
The Flight into Happiness
Conversion into the Me 410
Schweinfurt
The Reichsmarschall in Fels am Wagram
Unsuitable as a Fighter
Return to Operations against England
Chapter 7 In Action with the Me 262 "Sturmvogel" Jet Aircraft 144
Retraining on the Me 262
E-Kdo. Schenck Moves to France
Rheine, Hopsten and Hesepe
Final Operations in the South of Germany
Detachment in Prague-Ruzyne
The Last Flight
Chapter 8 The Bitter End 155
Afterword: The KG 51 Veterans Association 159
Appendices
Appendix 1 KG 51 Edelweiss Losses 164
Appendix 2 Knight's Cross Winners of KG 51 "Edelweiss" 192
Appendix 3 Command Personnel of the "Edelweiss" Gesch wader 195
Appendix 4 Geschwader Locations (from 1 April 1937) 198
Appendix 5 Organization of a Kampfgeschwader 201
Appendix 6 The Airfield Operating Company 204
Appendix 7 The Motorized Signals Company KG 51 (LnKp(mot|/KG 51) 205
Appendix 8 The Bomber Crew 207
Appendix 9 "About the Bomber Pilot" by Werner Baumbach 208
Appendix 10 Aircraft Types and Performances 210
Appendix 11 Tactical Numbers and Markings 224
Appendix 12 Weapons and Equipment 227
Sources 230
Acknowledgements 231
Photos 232
