Jagdgeschwader 52
Who are we?
Jagdgeschwader 52 is a virtual online air squadron based loosely off of the historical German unit of WWII. During the war JG52 had some of the world's leading aces including the top 3 of all-time:
- Erich Hartmann - 352 victories
- Gerhard Barkhorn - 301 victories
- Gunther Rall - 275 victories
How and why did it all start?
The squad was formed by Gutted and SgtHahn in early 2004 after leaving Jagdgeschwader 53. The move was primarily to do things differently. JG53 at the time was a huge squad, including both air and ground oriented members. Many of whom were not all that serious about flying. These pilots would just cause chaos both in the air, and on Teamspeak. After awhile, Hahn and myself tired of flying with many of them. JG52 would be a different kind of squad.
JG52 was born to address this, and the motto "Domination Through Teamwork" sets the tone. We fly together, we fight together, and we RTB together. We fly in a coordinated manner using tactics and teamwork. Flights are broken up into small groups and support each other. No jumbling 30+ people into one teamspeak channel and arriving to a target like a pack of crazy bees. A few coordinated wingmen are worth more than 20-30 disorganzied pilots all fighting for themselves.
One of the problems with the bigger squads is that there's no recruitment process. A pilot just joins by expressing interest. This type of anything goes recruitment may be good for numbers, but it's a nightmare for coordination. JG52 strives to make sure that each new pilot added will be a good fit. We don't care if you have "l33t" skills. If you can't fly as a team we don't want you.
