Hannes Trautloft gained a total of five aerial victories in Spain up to December, 1936. It was already becoming evident what his strong and weak points were. He was a capable leader with good organizational skills, commanded excellent understanding of the technical aspects of aircraft, and was a superb pilot. However, he suffered from a lack of something that was generally common to pilots that achieved a greater number of kills in the Second World War; good eyesight. In his memoirs from Spain, Trautloft wrote of his tendency to spot enemy aircraft later than his colleagues, his tendency t

Most people connect Hannes Trautloft with his association with Jagdgeschwader ‘Grünherz’ (‘Green Heart’), which is understandable, since this was the most important era of his military career. What is lesser known is that he had already a distinguished military past behind him by the time the Second World War began. In the first year of the war, he performed command duties with two units that had no connection to JG 54, while JG 54 (with 3 Gruppen) was formed by Hannes Trautloft. A closer look at this period of his military career is warranted, as is a more detailed look at the Me