Here you can follow history of Jagdgeschwader 2 from beginning of WW II to the final days of third reich.

Origins of Jagdgeschwader 2 'Richthofen'

JG 2 got it's nickname from very famous WW I ace, Manfred von Richthofen, or 'Red Baron' as he is more commonly know. JG 2's badge was red 'R' on white background.

Jagdgeschwader 2 'Richthofen' was formed from parts of Jagdgeschwader 131 'Richthofen' on 1.5.1939 in Döberitz. JG 131 was one of the few 'original' geschwadern that were formed in mid 30's. As a interesting tidbit, some Finnish Air Force pilots visited JG 131 during 30's studying tactics and organization of Luftwaffe. Finns had earlier adopted 4 plane formation which in Luftwaffe was called schwarm and this in eyes of Finnish fighter leaders confirmed the soundness of this tactical idea.

Blitzkrieg in Poland and winter of 39/40

JG 2 didn't take part to Polish campaing, instead it was held in defence of Reich under Luftgaukommando III (Berlin). Stab and II. Gruppe were equipped with Bf 109E and they were located to Döberitz and 10.(N) staffel flying Bf 109D in Straussberg.

10.(N) Staffel was one of the first nightfighter units formed in Luftwaffe. Later this staffel was expanded to IV.(N) Gruppe with 10.(N) / JG 26 and 11.(NJ) / LG 2. This Gruppe gained Luftwaffes first night kill over RAF Bomber Command on night of 25/26 on April 1940 when oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster intercepted and shot down Hampden on mine laying sortie on northwest coast of Germany.

Blitzkrieg in West

For JG 2 the war really started when Germany started blitzkrieg in West against Low Countries and France.

Battle of Britain

Not finished.

Channel front

In June -41 there was only two jagdgeschwaders in western front, JG 2 and JG 26, which experienced the increasing activity of RAF which was implementing it's 'lean towards europe' strategy. These two jagdgeschwaders had little under 150 serviceable Bf 109E and F planes to face the increasing number of Rhubarb and Circus operation conducted by RAF.

Prospects could have been bleak for jagdwaffe unless the Luftwaffe had fielded a new radial engined fighter. This fighter was of course the soon to be legendary Focke Wulf Fw 190A.

In September -41 RAF fighter command reading combat reports saw first mentions of radial engined fighter that was initially misidentified as American Curtiss Hawk 75 fighter used by french before the defeat. It was assumed that Luftwaffe was using these captured planes in combat. However, on 13th of October -41 gun camera film of Spitfire from No 129 Sqn provided first pictures of the Luftwaffes new fighter, confirming intelligence reports that had been coming from captured France for some time.

The first unit to convert to this new type was II. gruppe of JG 26 in August -41. On March -42 I./JG 2 converted to Fw 190 and other gruppen followed it by one per month. In mid march II. gruppe was operational in Theville and Morlaix and at the end of April I. gruppe was operational in Maupertus, Morlaix and St. Brieuc flying Fw 190A-2's.

Operation Cerberus - Donnerkeil

On 11h of February -42 Kriegsmarine's two heavy battlecruisers Gneisenau and Scharnhorst made a daring dash trough English channel in broad day light.

Operation Jubilee

On 19th of August -42 allied ground forces made first large scale invasion to continental Europe.

North africa and Italy

II./JG 2 headed by Oberleutnant Adolf Dickfeld was transferred to Tunisia in mid-November -42 via Sicily. II Gruppe had two pilots that soon would stand out, Oberleutnant Kurt Buhligen who was staffelkapitän of 4. staffel and Leutnant Erich Rudorffer, staffelkapitän of 6. staffel. These two man would score over half of the 150 kills that II. Gruppe scored in Tunisia.

After arriving to theater, II./JG 2 was subordinated to JG 53 near Bizerta. II Gruppe's Focke Wulfs flew freie jagds in mixed formations with JG 53's Bf 109's conducting sweeps and escorting Fw 190's of II./ZG 2.

II./JG 2's first kill in Africa was scored by Kurt Buhligen on 21 of November when he downed Spitfire Mk V, one of the ten that were downed that date.

Events of the channel front were repeated in great aproximations. Allied Spitfire pilots flying Spifire Mk V soon found out the hard way that Fw 190A was formidable adversary as had learned their their collegues up north earlier. If the Spitfires were suffering, even more were the newcomers of USAAF, P-38 Lighting, P-39 Airacobra and P-40 Warhawks.

For example on 9th of February Erich Rudorffer's 6. staffel scrambled to intercept USAAF bombing raid consisting of 24 B-17's of 301st BG and escort of 20 P-38's from 1st FG. There was also about 20 P-40 and Spitfire Mk V fighters providing additional protection. During the fight, P-40's formed a defensive circle called lufberry and Rudorffer promptly shot down six of them. After disengaging he spotted some P-38's strafing ground targets. he dived to them with several other Focke Wulfs and quicly shot down two P-38's making his tally for that day eight confirmed kills.

Not only were JG 2's Focke Wulfs providing air support in North Africa, Bf 109G equipped 11. staffel, lead by Oberleutnant Julius Meimberg, was located in central Tunisia. Also Bf 109's did give good account of themselves, for example in 4th of December -42 11. staffel encountered formation of 11 Bristol Bisleys (ground attack version of Blenheim with 4 gun nose) and shot down all of them, Meimberg himself got three.

Fw 190A equipped II./JG 2 had achieved 150 kills against 8 losses in combat and 8 in accidents and 2 for friendly fire during it's 5 month stay in North Africa before it returned to france in march -43. This was a testament for the effectiveness of Fw 190 as fighter plane. In same time Erich Rudoffer was appointed as gruppenkommandeur of II. gruppe as they were re-equipped with Bf 109G-6's.

Almost two year later JG 2's Focke Wulfs were again in mediterranean theater, this time countering allied invasion to Anzio on 22 of January -44. I./JG 2 lead by major Erich Hohagen and flying 26 Fw 190A-6's were first positioned to Castiglione del Lago and later to Canino. However situation was far different than it had been in Tunisia earlier, Allied forces had overwhelming air superiority over the area. Over 800 bombers provided support for beachead and area near it. Fighting against Spitfire's with 20 to 1 odds proved to be extremely dangerous and if that was not enough, bombers of tactical 12th AH and strategic 15th AH bombed supply routes and air bases. I.JG 2 was withdrawn to france in beginning of april -44.

Invasion on Normandy

Towards years end JG 2 received it's first examples of Fw 190D-9 Dora. Stab and III. Gruppe were first to convert to this type. Before year's end JG 2 was operating from area near Frankfurt.

Operation Bodenplatte

Operation Bodenplatte (base plate) was attack against Western front allied airfields in low countries and eastern france on New Years day 1945. It was hoped to regain aerial superiority but instead it gave a almost mortal blow to already staggering Luftwaffe.

Luftwaffe suffered about 250 casualties against 500 British and American aircraft destroyed, 80 of them in air. Allies could replace their material losses in few weeks unlike Luftwaffe which lost many experienced pilots who would be much needed during following months.

Incidentally almost half of the lossed suffered by Lufwaffe were caused by flak

Numerically JG 2 suffered most in this ill fated operation, suffering 37 pilots killed and nearly 40 percent losses. Also SG 4, which was flying alongside JG 2, suffered heavily, losing geschwaderkommodore Oberst Alfred Druschel somewhere in Ardennes.

JG 2 regained combat ready status only after several weeks from the operation.

The end

As the end of war drawed nearer, all gruppen of JG 2 were equipped with Fw 190D-9 Dora. Against numerically far superior allied airforces, they could not hope but to postpone the unevitable defeat. During winter and spring JG 2 moved slowly from shores of Rhine towards the Bavaria.

Jagdgeschwader 2 'Richthofen' was formally deactivated east of Munich on 7th of May 1945 by it's last geschwaderkommodore Kurt Buhligen.

Phoenix rises again

The story of Jagdgeschwader with 'Richthofen' name was not at end however. When Luftwaffe was reformed in -50's number of new JG's were formed bearing names of many famous Luftwaffe leaders. Contemporary Luftwaffe has Jagdgeschwader 71 'Richthofen' flying F-4 Phantom II's.

Top aces of JG 2

Many famous aces flew in JG 2 sometime during their careers. Their kill counts aren't as big as their eastern counterparts but Western allies were generally held as better trained and equipped opponents than of enemies faced by jagdgeschwaderns in Eastern front. Also the nature of air combat was different, mainly focusing on high altitude bomber interceptions and combats against their escort fighters. Eastern front fights were usually fought in lower altitudes which suited better to Fw 190.

US heavy bombers proved to be tough nut to crack for jagdfliegers for a start but after JG 2 inspected downed heavy bombers, they developed head on attack which was taken to use in other JG's as well. Special sturm gruppen were formed and equipped with heavily armoured and gunned Fw 190A's. Georg-Peter Eder managed to down 36 viermots or 'heavies', altought not all while flying with JG 2.