Mölders, Oberst Werner

1913–1941

   Mölders was one of the Luftwaffe’s leading fighter pilots with a score of over 150 planes downed. He commanded Fighter Groups in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain, using Me-109s, aircraft about which he complained vociferously. In 1941 he went to the Russian Front as Inspector of Fighter Aircraft. He died in November 1941 when his plane hit a factory chimney on the way to the state funeral of UDET. Mölders was outstanding both as a tactician and as a pilot. He invented the ‘Four Fingers’ formation which was later adopted by the RAF.