Adolf Galland

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Adolf Galland, famous German fighter ace during the Battle of Britain who later became the youngest general grade officer of either side in World War II

Adolf Galland was born on 19 March 1912 in Westerholt, Germany. His father was an estate bailiff of French descent. Adolf was the second son, after Fritz. His younger brothers were Wilhelm and Paul. These two younger brothers followed Adolf into the Luftwaffe fighter forces. However they were not as lucky in combat. Paul (17 victories) was killed on 31 October 1943, mistakenly shot down by another pilot of JG26. Wilhelm (54 victories, Knight's Cross) was shot down a year later.

Since childhood Adolf Galland was fascinated by aviation. He started building model aircraft when he was 12 years old. When he was 16, he began glider flights. At age 20, he served in the Lufthansa and in 1933 Galland realized a dream when he received his first pilot's license. 1934 he enlisted in the Luftwaffe and joined the Richthofen squadron a year later.

During training in 1935, he crashed in a Focke-Wulf Fw 44 biplane and he was in a coma for three days. He had serious skull fractures, a broken nose, and a partially blinded left eye from glass fragments. His commander, Major Rheitel, an aviator from the First World War, assisted him during his recovery and getting back into flying. Galland returned to air duty, but a year later he crashed again, this time on Arado Ar 68. Galland again spent a lot of time in the hospital.

In 1937 he volunteered to go with a group of German pilots for service in Legion Condor in the Spanish Civil War. In this group were other future aces like Hannes Trautloft, Wilhelm Balthasar, Günther Lützow, Eduard Neumann and Hajo Herrmann. They arrived in El Ferrol on 7 May 1937. Galland became a squadron leader in the Legion Fighter Group, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplane fighters. Lützow led a squadron of the newest Messerschmitt Bf 109Bs. Galland entered action over Brunete in July 1937. He flew over 300 missions as a leader, developed new air-support tactics and was awarded the Spanish Cross in Gold with Diamonds, only awarded 12 times in Spanish history.

In 1938, Galland returned to Germany. Having great experience, he was ordered to begin the organization of Luftwaffe ground attack units. Desperate to get back to flying, Galland managed in 1939 to get reassigned to a ground support unit. At the beginning of WW II, Galland flew ground attack missions in Henschel Hs 123s and was proving the dive-bombing concept over Poland. For his efforts he was awarded the Iron Cross.

After conspiring with a physician, who wrote in Galland’s medical records that he should not fly in open-cockpit aircraft, he was assigned to a Bf 109 squadron, JG 27. During the French campaign Adolf Galland scored his first kills on 12 May 1940, when he shot down two Hurricanes from 87th Squadron in two sorties. He had 12 victories by 9 June 1940.

When the 'Battle of Britain' started, Galland was assigned to JG 26 Schlageter as Gruppenkommandeur of III/JG 26. The dashing, mustachioed Galland was so fond of cigars that he had an ashtray installed in his 109, which also sported a cigarr-smoking Mickey Mouse painted on its fuselage. His debut in JG 26 was very successful: he shot down two fighters on his first mission.

On 18 July 1940, Galland was promoted to Major and a month later (on 22 August) he received the Knights Cross after his 17th victory. During the 'Battle of Britain' his score increased rapidly and he finished the 'Battle' with 40 kills to his credit, second to Werner Mölders.

On 25 September he was decorated with the Oak Leaves by Hitler. In the autumn of 1940, Galland succeeded Gotthard Handrick as Kommodore of JG 26. On 1 November 1940, he scored his 50th victory and was promoted to Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel). One month later he became a full colonel.

During 1941 all fighter groups except JG 2 and Galland's JG 26 were moved to the Eastern front, and Galland's unit went to the defensive, intercepting RAF bombers and fighters which began operating in increasing numbers over France. On 9 August 1941 Galland 'welcomed' the famous Douglas Bader, who was just shot down by JG 26 fighters. Galland had experienced being shot down himself on 21 June 1941. The Germans attacked Bristol Blenheim bombers and Galland downed two of them. However, some escorting Spitfires shot up his plane. He was forced to belly-land in a field. This same day, after lunch, he went on his next sortie. On that mission he shot down his number 70, but when following the burning Spitfire, he was bounced and shot up badly. His plane caught fire, and he was wounded. He tried to bail out, but the canopy was jammed. After a dramatic struggle with the canopy, he was able to bail out at the last moment. His parachute opened just as he hit the ground. He was bleeding from his head and arm and he had damaged his ankle on landing.

At the end of 1941 Galland become General der Jagdflieger ("commander of fighter forces"), and went to Berlin. Gerhard Schoepfel became Kommodore of Galland's beloved JG 26. On 28 January 1942, Hitler awarded Galland again, this time with the Brillanten (Diamonds). Galland still was at the rank of Colonel, but in 1942 he was promoted to General, then General Leutnant.

In 1943-44 Galland commanded Germany's fighter squadrons in their unavailing defense against Anglo-American bombing raids. Despite his able and resourceful leadership, he was blamed by Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring for the gradual collapse of the German air defenses in 1944.

In January of 1945 Galland and other officers (Lützow, Johannes, Steinhoff) had a notorious confrontation with Göring over the performance and future of the Fighter Arm. Galland was removed from his position and even arrested and threatened with a court-martial. Eventually he was allowed to organize a special jet unit using the Me 262. He created Jagdverband 44, JV 44, a unit with most experienced pilots. His 'recruiting' officer, Steinhoff, traveled to all of the major bases, selecting pilots who wanted join to new adventure. Some very famous pilots joined over a period of weeks: Gerhard Barkhorn, Walter Krupinski, Heinz Bär , Erich Hohagen, Günther Lützow, Wilhelm Herget. The newly organized unit flew several missions with varying success. Some aircraft used the anti-bomber R4M rockets. During his first attack with rockets Galland, with Walter Krupinski as a wingman, attacked a group of American B-26 "Marauders". Galland's rocket attack knocked down two of them.

In his last aerial combat in WWII, Adolf Galland took off on 26 April 1945. During an attack against Marauders his rockets would not fire, so he had use the 30 mm cannons. His Me 262 was hit by return fire from a rear gunner. The Allied bomber withstood Galland's fire. When Galland turned to finish the bomber, he was surprised by a P-47D flown by James Finnegan. Shells from the P-47's eight 12,7 mm guns destroyed Galland's instrument panel, shattered the jet's canopy, and struck his right knee. With his plane losing power and in great pain, Galland returned to his base, arriving just at the moment when a strafing attack by enemy fighters was underway. He successfully landed and escaped the wreck of his Me 262, avoiding the fire of the straffing attackers.

He survived the war with 104 kills in both prop and jet aircraft. At the war's end he was captured and imprisoned for a time, then invited by Juan Perón to help build Argentinian Air Forces. There he established a training and operations school, developed tactical training program. In 1955 he returned to Germany where he worked as an aviation consultant in Düsseldorf and he became a candidate for the post of the inspector of the newly formed Bundesluftwaffe. Adolf Galland died in 1996.

Adolf Galland is probably the most known Luftwaffe pilot of WWII. Not because of number of his kills, but because of a special kind of charisma. He was the youngest general grade officer of either side in World War II, and at age 29, he was more competent in aerial combat, strategy and tactics than many of the experts nearly twice his age. He was also famous for making a lot of modifications to his Bf 109 fighters. He enhanced their fire power, installed better pilot armour and, a cockpit cigar lighter!