The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

11
Learning the Lessons
OBERLEUTNANT HAJO HERRMANN had been one of the first Luftwaffe pilots
to go to Spain. In fact, he had been sent as a punishment. A headstrong and
highly intelligent young man, Hajo had only been in the Luftwaffe a year
and had still not fully completed his training when he had incurred the
wrath of his bomber group commander. Back in 1936, the vast majority of
those in the one-year-old Luftwaffe had lacked much flying experience so it
was not altogether surprising that even group commanders made flying
mistakes.
This was the case during an exercise in July of that year when the entire
Kampfgeschwader was flying in a diversion exercise. Hajo’s Staffel was the
last in the line, so when it came to land again it was with mounting
frustration that he watched the commander, Major Maass, overfly the
airfield for what was clearly going to be an extremely wide approach. In
wartime, Hajo knew, everything depended on carrying out manoeuvres as
quickly as possible, but by the time everyone had followed their leader in,
he reckoned he might almost be out of fuel. So, instead, Hajo broke
formation, performed a tight turn, and landed his Junkers 52 ahead of the
rest of the group. He had already taxied to the edge of the field and was out
of his aircraft as Major Maass’s aircraft finally touched down.
Soon after, Hajo was called over and disciplined immediately. ‘Sign
here,’ he was told as he was handed a piece of paper. ‘General Franco has
approached the Government of the Reich,’ Major Maass said, ‘and asked
for assistance.’ At first Hajo did not understand. He had never heard of
Franco, but it seemed as though the commander was trying to get rid of him
for the insolent flying offence he had just committed. His fears seemed
confirmed when Major Maass told him he would have to be discharged
from the Luftwaffe in order to go to Spain.
Soon enough, however, all became clear. His temporary discharge was
merely part of the clandestine nature of the mission. He and his crew were
one of ten transport crews and the same number again of fighter pilots. A
long train and sea journey took them to Cadiz and then on to Seville. From