''Jagdgeschwader'' 25 (JG 25), sometimes erroneously referred to as ''Jagdgruppe'' 25, was a special

high-altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometry, geographical s ...

fighter unit that specialized in intercepting the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

's (RAF)

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...

light bombers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

On 1 July 1943, '' Jagdgruppe Nord des ObdL'' was formed as a high-altitude fighter unit to combat the RAF's Mosquito twin-engine bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. On 15 August 1943 the unit was redesignated ''Jagdgeschwader 25'' and was commanded by ''Oberstleutnant''

Herbert Ihlefeld Herbert Ihlefeld (1 June 1914 – 8 August 1995) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during the Spanish Civil War and World War II, a fighter ace listed with 130 enemy aircraft shot down in over 1,000 combat missions. Depending on sou ...

. Both JG 25 (and its sister unit ''Jagdgeschwader'' 50) were ultimately unsuccessful in effectively countering the Mosquito and were more profitably used for interception of the US

heavy bomber Heavy bombers are bomber Fixed-wing aircraft, aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually Aerial bomb, bombs) and longest range (aeronautics), range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy ...

formations during the daylight offensive over Europe in 1943–44. The Geschwader claimed only two aerial victories for the loss of 9 aircraft lost in combat and further 5 losses due to other reasons.

Commanding officers

* ''Major''

, 21 July 1943 – 30 November 1943

References

{{Subject bar , portal1=Aviation Jagdgeschwader 025 Military units and formations established in 1943 Military units and formations disestablished in 1943