The Long Short Days by Robert Taylor - Aviation Art

The Long Short Days By Robert Taylor   A group of Bf109 Gs from III./JG26 are shown here as they return to their forward base after a long fighter sweep along the Channel coast in early 1944.It was known as the Jagdverbände, the fighter arm of the Luftwaffe, and by June 1940 it boasted some of the world's greatest fighter pilots. With tactics honed to perfection, these battle-seasoned veterans dominated the skies of Europe. But as the war progressed, the Luftwaffe fighter pilots faced another battle - the increasingly desperate war of attrition. The Allied air forces slowly, but inevitably, ground the German war machine into defeat and by early 1945, Allied air supremacy was overwhelming. And yet, despite overwhelming odds, from within their ranks came the most successful air Aces ever to fly in combat - names such as Hans-Joachim Marseille, the top-scoring fighter pilot in the West, the legendary Erich Rudorffer, who scored more multiple victories than any other pilot and of course th