Fighter General: The Life of Adolf Galland

Today the most famous German fighter ace and airman of his generation, Adolf Galland began WWII as a lieutenant and squadron commander, flying biplanes. He ended the war as a Lieutenant General -and was again a squadron commander - flying Me-262 jets. In all of aviation history there is no comparable rise and fall by a fighter pilot. Galland's story is simultaneously that of the Luftwaffe Fighter arm, in which he served from foundation to finish. Fighter General illuminates for formative years of the young Galland, determined to become a Lufthansa airline pilot under the ailing Wiemar Republic. His sailplaning career, recruitment into the secret "Black Luftwaffe" and his service with the Condor Legion in Spain, give a pilot's picture of a crisis-filled era. His star rises steeply with the outbreak of war. He becomes a Georing protégé rapidly promoted to command the elite JG-26 on the English Channel coast. A highly decorated ace in the Battle of Britain, he is soon at loggerheads with Goering over unrealistic fighter tactics. New perspectives appear on the historic battle with the RAF. Sharply drawn is the character contrast and clash between Galland and his formidable sponsor, the Reich Marshal. Promoted to general of the Fighter Arm at age 29, the young ace finds himself the bewildered heir to a vast range of chronic, complex problems. His masterful command of air cover for the escape of the German battleships from Brest is a moment of triumph, earning him *'s brief favor. Thereafter Galland's career is a ceaseless struggle to stem the decline and defeat of his beloved Fighter Arm - a thin umbrella stretching from the Arctic to Egypt. Galland's prescient warnings of the coming daylight bombing threat go unheeded. His efforts to introduce new aircraft types, improve armament, develop tactics, raise new units, expand pilot training, and resist misuse of his forces, demand his highest abilities. His three successive resurrection of his Fighter Arm shattered.