Blue Squadron

This article is about the Spanish Air Force unit. For the Royal Navy fleet, see Blue Squadron (Royal Navy). For other uses, see The Blue Squadron.

Blue Squadron
Emblem of the 1st Expeditionary Squadron
Active	June 24, 1941 – February 23, 1944
Country	Spain
Allegiance	Germany
Branch	Luftwaffe
Role	Fighter Squadron
Part of	JG 27 (1941 - 1942) JG 51 (1942 - 1944)
Aircraft flown
Bomber	Ju 52 Hs 123 Ju 88 (proposed)
Fighter	Fw 190 Bf 109

Messerschmitt Bf 109F-2 of the Escuadrilla Azul, 15. (span.)/Jagdgeschwader 51, Winter 1942/1943

The Blue Squadron (Spanish: Escuadrilla Azul, German: 15. Spanische Staffel) was a generic name given to the group of volunteer pilots and ground crews recruited from the Spanish Air Force that fought in the side of Germany on the Eastern Front, during the Second World War. The "Blue Patrol" was a counterpart offered by Franco to Nazi Germany for its help with the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War.

Between September 1941 and May 1943 five Spanish squadrons rotated through the Eastern Front, attached to Luftwaffe fighter wings Jagdgeschwader 27 and Jagdgeschwader 51.

Flying Messerschmitt fighters and Focke-Wulf fighter-bombers, the Spaniards were credited with destroying more than 160 Soviet aircraft in nearly two years, while losing 20 pilots killed, missing, or captured. The unit remained in central Russia, despite requests by Muñoz Grandes that they be attached to the Blue Division, until their withdrawal in 1943.

Sources

• Bowen, Wayne H. Spain during World War II, University of Missouri Publishing, (2006). ISBN 0826216587
• Caballero Jurado, Carlos; Guillén González, Santiago. Escuadrillas azules en Rusia, Almena, (1999). ISBN 9788492264483
• Fernández-Coppel, Jorge. La Escuadrilla Azul: los pilotos españoles en la Luftwaffe, La esfera de los libros, (2007) ISBN 9788497345149
• Herrera Alonso, Emilio. Cien aviadores de España, Centro de Publicaciones del Ministerio de Defensa, (2001) ISBN 9788478237913
• Neulen, Hans Werner. "In the Skies of Europe: Air Forces Allied to the Luftwaffe 1939–1945", Crowood Press, UK (2000). ISBN 1861263260.