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| CLICK HERE FOR A FULL LIST OF ALL NICOLAS TRUDGIAN PRINTS BY TITLE |
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 | Ace with 137.00 Victories |
Colonel Herbert Ihlefeld
Born 1st June 1914 in Pinnow Pommern and died 8th August 1995 in Wenningen lower Saxony. Joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and scored nine victories during the Spanish Civil War. Flew 1000 combat missions and claimed 132 enemy aircraft with 56 on the Western Front including 26 spitfires and 67 on the Russian Front. Participated in the air war over Poland, France and the Battle of Britain. In 1941 Ihlefeld was transferred to the Balkans for the invasion of Yugoslavia. He was shot down by AA fire and captured by the Yugoslavian Army. 8 days lated he was rescued by the German troops. Ihlefeld participated in the assault on Crete, claiming his 36th kill, a Hurricane. He then commanded Jagdgeschwader 77 in time for Operation Barbarossa in June 1941. In April 1942 Ihlefeld became the 5th pilot to reach 100 victories and his unit 1/JG77 was credited with 323 enemy aircraft kills compared to the loss of only 17 Bf109s. Ihlefeld then took command of Jagdgeschwader 52 in June 1942 but he was involved in a landing accident and badly injured and was not ready to return to active service until July 1943. In May 1944 he commanded JG11 and then JG1 during the defence of the Reich. In 1945 he took command of Jagdgeschwader 1 equipped with the Heinkel 162.
| Colonel Herbert Ihlefeld - Signed Nicolas Trudgian Aviation Art Prints Pilot and Aircrew Signatures |
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| Text for the above items : |
Jet Interceptor by Nicolas Trudgian. Herbert Ihlefelds personal He162 White 23 - the revolutionary Heinkel Peoples Fighter - on patrol with JG1.This aircraft was captured intact and is today preserved in the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC. Published 2000. |
The Last Offensive by Nicolas Trudgian. Herbert Ihlefeld leads the Fw190s of JG1 over the Ardennes during the last great offensive by German forces in the west on Christmas Eve, 1944. |
| Colonel Herbert Ihlefeld Squadron details |
JG1 Country : Germany | JG1 German World War II fighter unit or "wing" which used the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190 aircraft, between 1940–1944. The name of the unit derives from Jagd, meaning "hunt" and Geschwader, meaning "wing". First formed in May 1939 in eastern Prussia, I./JG 1 was one of the original groups created by the Luftwaffe as part of its expansion plans. Between 1940 and 1942, JG 1 operated primarily over the Western Front and northern occupied Europe. During the initial days of the war, JG 1 faced little resistance, apart from occasional Royal Air Force (RAF) excursions. The unit was rarely engaged in large-scale confrontations during this time. From late 1942 onwards it was tasked with defense of the Reich duties. After D-Day, elements of JG 1 were moved to France and were tasked with air support to the army Wehrmacht, along with their air defense role. Operation Bodenplatte severely reduced the strength of JG 1. Towards the end of the war, the unit was disbanded and its remaining pilots and aircraft were re-organized. What remained of these groups surrendered to Allied forces at the end of the war. JG 1 was the first unit to attempt 'aerial bombing' techniques against the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) heavy bomber formations. It was the only unit to be equipped with the Heinkel He 162 jet fighter. In 1944 the "Oesau" suffix was added to the unit's title, after its late Geschwaderkommodore Oberst Walter Oesau (127 kills), who was killed in action. Some 700 enemy aircraft were claimed shot down during the war. |
| Colonel Herbert Ihlefeld Aircraft details |
 He162 Manufacturer : Heinkel | He162 Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger Known as the peoples Fighter, named after the Volksstrum was a single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft built by Germany for the Luftwaffe at the end of World War Two. Designed and built quickly, and made primarily of wood as metals were in very short supply and prioritized for other aircraft, the He162 was nevertheless the fastest of the first jets that flew in the Luftwaffe and faster than the first Allied jet fighters. Volksjäger was the Reich Air Minstrys official name for the He162. The He162 was also well known by another name - the Salamander, which was the codename of its construction program, and Spatz (Sparrow), which was the name given to the plane by the builders Heinkel. In February 1945 the He162 began operations with deliveries of the He 162 to its first operational unit, I./JG 1 The He 162s only had 30-minute fuel capacity which caused problems, as at least two of JG 1s pilots were killed attempting emergency landings after exhausting their fuel. |
 Me109 Manufacturer : Messerschmitt Built : 33984 | Me109 Willy Messerschmitt designed the BF109 during the early 1930s. The Bf109 was one of the first all metal monocoque construction fighters with a closed canopy and retractable undercarriage. The engine of the Me109 was a V12 aero engine which was liquid-cooled. The Bf109 first saw operational service during the Spanish Civil War and flew to the end of World War II, during which time it was the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter squadrons. During the Battle of Britian the Bf109 was used in the role of an escort fighter, a role for which it was not designed for, and it was also used as a fighter bomber. During the last days of May 1940 Robert Stanford-Tuck, the RAF ace, got the chance to fly an Me109 which they had rebuilt after it had crash landed. Stanford-Tuck found out that the Me109 was a wonderful little plane, it was slightly faster than the Spitfire, but lacked the Spitfire manoeuvrability. By testing the Me109, Tuck could put himself inside the Me109 when fighting them, knowing its weak and strong points. With the introduction of the improved Bf109F in the spring of 1941, the type again proved to be an effective fighter during the invasion of Yugoslavia and during the Battle of Crete and the invasion of Russia and it was used during the Siege of the Mediteranean island of Malta. The Bf109 was the main fighter for the Luftwaffe until 1942 when the Fw190 entered service and shared this position, and was partially replaced in Western Europe, but the Me109 continued to serve on the Eastern Front and during the defence of the Reich against the allied bombers. It was also used to good effect in the Mediterranean and North Africa in support of The Africa Korps. The Me109 was also supplied to several German allies, including Finland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovakia. The Bf109 scored more kills than any other fighter of any country during the war and was built in greater numbers with a total of over 31,000 aircraft being built. The Bf109 was flown by the three top German aces of the war war. Erich Hartmann with 352 victories, Gerhard Barkhorn with 301 victories and Gunther Rall with 275 kills. Bf109 pilots were credited with the destruction of 100 or more enemy aircraft. Thirteen Luftwaffe Aces scored more than 200 kills. Altogether this group of pilots were credited with a total of nearly 15,000 kills, of which the Messerschmitt Bf109 was credited with over 10,000 of these victories. The Bf109 was the most produced warplane during World War II, with 30,573 examples built during the war, and the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 units produced up to April 1945. Bf109s remained in foreign service for many years after World War II. The Swiss used their Bf109Gs well into the 1950s. The Finnish Air Force did not retire their Bf109Gs until March 1954. Romania used its Bf109s until 1955. The Spanish Hispanos flew even longer. Some were still in service in the late 1960s. |
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