A Hitler Youth Fighter Geschwader

When the fortunes of war began to favour the Allies, National Socialist ideology became the important thing for those who did not shrink from replacing proper training with fanaticism. More frequent thought was given to forming new elite units such as the fighter Geschwader Hitler Jugend. Superior technology paired with the uncompromising use of pilots was to guarantee air supremacy over the

Reich. Surviving a mission was gradually replaced by the concept of the extreme operation and ‘self sacrifice’. Goring spoke out against these unsoldierly intentions, recognising that the reservoir of future pilots had to be protected against the designs of Himmler and the WafFen-SS. He feared moreover that his personal standing with Hitler would be lost if the SS succeeded in taking over part of the Reich air defence. For this reason in the summer of 1944 the idea matured of training very young volunteers in the classic manner for subsequent drafting to JG 1 Oesauy from which developed the Nachwuchsgruppe (recruit group) Oesau proposed by Oberst Hannes Traudoft, former Hider Youth leader and classmate of General Dietrich Peltz and Wernher von Braun. Traudoft advocated forming an elite fighter Geschwader of volunteers, principally from the Hider Youth, using Flieger-HJ trained youths as pilots in the Reich air defence. Although this did not come to fruition, members of the Flieger-HJ were used almost as a fighter pilot reserve once they had successfully passed out from glider training.

In the general collapse, many long-term plans could no longer be realised, and this included the Volkssturmgeschwader. Personnel of JG 1 at Sagan were called upon to assist in the formation of a lesser Volkssturmstaffel. The idea of forming such a Staffel using the HJ came to nothing because JG 1 could not be re-trained for the He 162 A-1 and A-2 in time, and too few aircraft would be available. Furthermore the general situation prevented the conclusion of the ‘Special Purposes’courses, and the loss ofTrebbin and Sagan rendered these plans purposeless.

Chapter Seven