Jagdgeschwader 26 (JG 26) Schlageter was a German fighter-wing of World War II. It was named after Albert Leo Schlageter, a World War I veteran, Freikorps member, and posthumous Nazi martyr, arrested and executed by the French for sabotage in 1923. The wing fought predominantly against the Western Allies.
Bf 109 E, JG 1, similar to those flown by JG 26 in 1940
JG 26 Bf 109 E-3, displayed at the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
Bf 109 E-3; JG 26 operated the E-1, 3 and 4 in 1940. It was more heavily armed than the E-1. Note the 87 octane triangle on the fuselage
The captured Bf 109 F-2 piloted by Rolf Pingel, commanding II. Gruppe. He force-landed in England and was captured.
Albert Leo Schlageter was a German military officer who joined a right-wing Freikorps group after World War I and became famous for acts of post-war sabotage against French occupational forces. Schlageter was arrested for sabotaging a section of railroad track and executed by the French military. The manner of his death fostered an aura of martyrdom around him, which was cultivated by German nationalist groups, in particular the Nazi Party. In Nazi Germany, he was commemorated as a national hero.
Albert Leo Schlageter, 1918
Schlageter facing the firing squad
Schlageter memorial in Billerbeck. The inscription was removed after the war.