where they were disadvantaged. In December
1944, Göring also ordered the strategic fighter
reserve into action during the Ardennes offen-
sive, where superior Allied firepower deci-
mated them. By January 1945, Luftwaffe
fighter pilots had endured enough stupidity.
Accompanied by Galland, they stormed into
Göring’s office, demanding changes in tactics.
Der Reichmarschallangrily refused to alter
anything, demoted the entire lot, and sacked
Galland as fighter general. That officer, rather
than be associated with Göring’s incompe-
tence any longer, welcomed the change.
It took Hitler’s personal intervention to pre-
serve Galland’s career. In February 1945, he
was authorized to form and lead Jagdverband
JV-44, the world’s first all-jet fighter squadron.
It was equipped with the revolutionary
Messerschmitt Me 262, a craft that had first
flown in 1943. Galland was on hand to test the
prototype that year, and he was utterly aston-
ished by it. “This is not a step forward,” he ex-
claimed, “this is a leap!” Incredibly, Göring
greeted this fast and potentially war-winning
weapon with indifference. Hitler, moreover,
saw it only as another bomber, ordered it mod-
ified as such, and delayed its production by a
year. Now it was too late. Galland nonetheless
flew with JV-44 for several weeks and scored
several more kills, bringing his final tally up to
104 aircraft. He later joked that he started his
career as a lieutenant leading a fighter
squadron and ended it a lieutenant-general
commanding the same! It was a spectacular
rise and fall unmatched by any other fighter
general of the war. On April 26, 1945, having
downed his last two victims, Galland was
wounded in action and crashed upon landing.
Command of JV-44 subsequently reverted to
Heinz Bär, another distinguished pilot. Gal-
land then surrendered to the American forces
in May 1945, disillusioned and discouraged.
Galland remained imprisoned for nearly two
years and was released in 1947. It is significant
that he was one of a handful of senior German
commanders untainted by the specter of war
crimes. Unable to find work in Germany, he re-
located to Argentina and spent several years as
a technical adviser to that country’s fledgling
air force. He returned to Germany in 1955 and
worked as a business executive and aerospace
consultant. Friendly and dynamic, he held no
grudges against his erstwhile enemies and be-
came a common sight at fighter pilot reunions
in the United States and England.
In 1982, he read the obituary at the funeral
of British wing commander Douglas Bader, a
hero of the Battle of Britain, at the family’s re-
quest. The dashing Galland died on February
14, 1996, in Oberwinter, Germany, aged 83
years. As a measure of his lasting popularity,
and a tribute to his tremendous reputation
among other pilots, his passing was mourned
by friends and former enemies alike.See also
Bär, Heinz; Hitler, AdolfBibliography
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W. Eagles of the Third Reich.Shrewsbury, UK: Air-
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1941.London: Osprey, 1996.GALLAND, ADOLF