Next in Kagero's 'Units' series is this one on JG 51 'Molders'. Like pretty much all Luftwaffe units that were formed prior to the war, it started off with another number. Pre-war units were pretty much in the hundreds and the various gruppes were often drawn from previous gruppes so you find that I/JG 51 started as part of JG 135, II/JG 51 was part of JG 71, III/JG 51 was part of JG 125 and JG 20, while IV/JG 51 was part of JG 132. I have always found Luftwaffe unit histories to be quite convoluted, something you do not find with British or US units. In the latter instances, the large wing or group may change, but individual squadrons stay the same while moving around. I have to feel this is part of the rather unusual make-up of German units where there is no real 'squadron' per se as you'll find elsewhere with the smaller groupings simply being a section numbered from the greater unit.

This particular geschwader was originally formed on He-51s and later went through all the various types of 109 from the B to the K and also flew the FW-190 of different variants. Portions of JG 51 flew in pretty much every theater of operations save the far north and the Balkans.

The book is as much a photo book as it is a brief history of the unit. There are a goodly number of superb period photos, many of them quite large. The unit itself was named after its most famous pilot and one of the geschwader kommodores, Werner Molders after his death. It included quite a few well known aces as you will find while reading through the book. In addition to the unit history and images, there are full color profiles of four different aircraft as well as Cartograf decals for the unique markings of these four aircraft.

- Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-4; W.Nr. 1641, 'Black 6', flown by Hptm. Ernst Wiggers, Kapitän of 2./JG 51, St. Inglevert airfield, France, early September 1940, 

- Messerschmitt Bf 109 F-2; W.Nr. 6797; flown by Hptm. Hartmann Grasser, Kommandeur of II./JG 51, probably Orel-Nord airfield, Russia, mid-July 1942, 

- Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-6; W.Nr. 550182, 'Black 7', flown by Ofw. Josef Jennewein of 2./JG 51, Orel-West airfield, Russia, July 1943, 

- Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6; W.Nr. 442013, 'Black 1', flown by Oblt. Anton Hafner,Kapitän of 10./JG 51, Hüttenfelde airfield, East Prussia, October 1944.

The decals are in all three of the major scales and there is color information provided for all of the aircraft. You'll notice that none of these are of particularly famous aces, which makes them that much more desirable to those who tire of seeing the same subjects done over and over again by decal companies.

In all, it is an excellent book and having the decals only increases its value to the buyer.

May 2013

You can find this sheet at www.kagero.pl. Thanks to Kagero for the review set.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.