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Jagdverband 44
The Luftwaffe’s Mavericks
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Narrated by:
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Mark Meadows
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Written by:
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Robert Forsyth
About this listen
The dramatic story of Jagdverband 44, the squadron of aces founded by leading Luftwaffe pilot Adolf Galland equipped with the new Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.
Jagdverband (JV) 44 was formed as a result of conflict and dissent within the Luftwaffe’s high command. Following disagreement with Reichsmarschall Herman Göring, the commander of the fighter arm, Adolf Galland, was dismissed from his post and exiled. He was given permission to set up a small fighter unit with which to prove that the revolutionary Me 262 was the war-winning jet fighter he believed it to be.
Assembling a small group of disillusioned and weary Luftwaffe fighter aces and flying instructors, Galland – arguably the most famous German fighter ace of World War II – moved his unit, JV 44, to Munich, from where it operated the Me 262 against USAAF aircraft bombing targets in Austria and southern Germany.
In this reappraisal of JV 44, published 30 years after his acclaimed and bestselling first study of the unit, leading Luftwaffe historian Robert Forsyth assesses Galland’s motives for forming the unit and whether it can be regarded more accurately as a ‘Squadron of Aces’ or a ‘Squadron of Outcasts and Exiles’. The book contains numerous first-hand accounts sourced by the author during his research in the 1990s when he met with several former pilots from the squadron.©2026 Robert Forsyth (P)2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Critic Reviews
No one alive knows Jagdverband 44 like Robert Forsyth. He was there when it counted — sitting with these mavericks, hearing their stories before they were lost forever. The result is a masterclass in aviation history: gripping, authoritative, and utterly impossible to put down. On the ‘Squadron of Experts’, this is the definitive word.
Extensively researched and based on in-depth interviews with former JV 44 pilots and others associated with the unit, and those on the Allied side who opposed them, Jagdverband 44 is a valuable contribution to serious study of Second World War air combat.
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