Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1)

Encyclopedia : J : JA : JAG : Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1)

Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1) was formed in the World War I, and was a composite fighter group made up of four Jastas or 'squadrons' on June 24 1917 with Baron Manfred von Richtofen as commander. JG 1 became known as the Flying Circus because the fighter planes were painted in bright and distinctive color schemes for easy identification during dogfights. Like a circus JG 1 and its supporting logistical infrastructure travelled by train to whatever part of the front-line they were needed, often at short notice.

After his death in April 1918, Oberleutnant Wilhelm Reinhardt became JG 1 Commanding Officer. After Reinhardt's death Oblt Hermann Göring became JG 1's third and last Commander of the war.

From June 1917 until November 1918, JG 1 claimed 644 Allied aircraft destroyed while losing 52 pilots killed.

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.