I./J.G. 54 Kurland pilots
 

Hi,

One of the book projects I'm currently working on is a history of the air war over Kurland in 1944/1945. I've been working on this project for a few years now, and have gathered quite a bit of good primary material.

I've had some luck getting in contact with Luftwaffe veterans from II./J.G. 54. However, unfortunately I've not got in contact with any former members of I./J.G. 54.

Would any board members be able to put me in contact with any former I./J.G. 54 pilots or ground crew who served with the Gruppe between September 1944 and May 1945?

I'm also interested in getting in contact with veterans of N.S.Gr. 3, N.A.Gr. 5, S.G. 4 and III./S.G. 3.

If anyone can help me, please contact me offboard, via a private message, or email me at: bookie190@hotmail.com.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
Andrew A.

Re: I./J.G. 54 Kurland pilots
 

Hi Andrew, sorry to be OT... Are there any books out written by you already?

I have quite some data on the Kurland aerial battles / OOB's because I paerticipated in the creation of the Kurland-map for the IL-2-Game.

Above that, I think there are not so many pilots alive any more :( .

Re: I./J.G. 54 Kurland pilots
 

Hi Jörg,

Thanks for the reply. I'd be interested in seeing any data you've been able to collect on Kurland, and would be glad to share some of mine in return. Please contact me off-board if you're interested.

Regarding your question:

Morten Jessen and I wrote The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in North Africa (176 pages), which was published by Classic Publications in 2004.

I also contributed a chapter in the very recently released Classic Colours Schlachtflieger book (my own copy of this book arrived only yesterday).

Morten and I are currently working on the sequel to the FW 190 in North Africa, this time covering the FW 190 units in the Mediterranean between 14 May 1943 and June 1944. This book is quite well advanced, and looks like it should be an improvement on the first. There will be a lot more first-hand accounts in the sequel, because we've had much more luck contacting veterans and their familes.

We have been fortunate to correspond with six former II./J.G. 54 pilots who served in the Kurland campaign, so have been able to gather quite a lot of good first-hand material from these men. They have all been very generous sharing their memories, photos, documents etc. with us.

We also corresponded with a former III./S.G. 3 pilot who flew in Kurland, although sadly he passed away last year.

There must be a few I./J.G. 54 Kurland pilots still with us, and that's why I posted here.

Cheers,
Andrew A.