Douglas Boston III AL775, one of the No 88 Sqn aircraft that participated in the air operations over Dieppe on August 19, 1942. The unit concentrated on destroying field-gun emplacements overlooking the beaches. Despite heavy fighter escorts accompanying the medium bombers on the day, several Bostons were lost to JG 2.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Channel, Boston crews receive a briefing before a sortie to Dieppe on August 19, 1942. The Allied aerial bombing operations during Operation Jubilee were the responsibility of the RAF's No 2 Group, at that time commanded by Air Commodore Alan Lees.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-2 "White 7+1” of 7./JG 2’s Staka Oblt Egon Mayer is refuelled for another sortie in France in the summer of 1942. By the end of 1942 Mayer and his III. Gruppe comrades would be at the forefront of the German defence against American heavy bombers, as the USAAF’s B-17s and B-24s targeted objectives in western France.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 "Yellow 2+1” of the 9. Staffel of JG 2 undergoes maintenance in northern France in 1942.

Pilots of JG 2 confer beside their Fw 190As in France. From left: Hptm Hans-Jurgen Hepe, Staffelkapitan of 1./JG 2; Ltn Horst Zettel of the Stab I./JG 2; Ofw Josef Wurmheller of 2./JG 2 and Uffz Heinz Dowhan of 1./JG 2. Of these four highly experienced battle-hardened fighter pilots, Hans-Jurgen Hepe was the only one to survive the war.

Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-2s of 7./JG 2 taxy out for a sortie at Theville on the Cotentin Peninsula in the summer of 1942. “White 8”, WNr 0120333, was the mount of Leutnant Jakob Augustin, and, like the others here, carries the 7. Staffers distinctive emblem depicting a top hat (representing the British) under the thumb of Germany, designed by unit members Oberfeldwebel Klee and Ltn Schmidt.

Luftwaffe groundcrew move Fw 190A-2 "Black 1” of 5./JG 2 the old-fashioned way. The unit was based at Beaumont-le-Roger, along with the rest of the Geschwader’s II. Gruppe, in August 1942; it was tasked with defence of the Channel Front, having recently swapped its Messerschmitt Bf 109s for the far more capable “butcher bird”, as the Fw 190 came to be known.

A pair of Fw 190s of 7./JG 2 at Theville in the summer of 1942. Designed purely as an air superiority fighter, the Fw 190A established an immediate ascendancy over the Spitfire V when the former was introduced in late 1941, forcing the speedy development of the Spitfire IX.

The enemy - Spitfire V BM590, coded “AV-R” and named Olga, served with No 121 (Eagle) Sqn, manned by American volunteers, which participated in Operation Jubilee in August 1942. By the end of the year, however, the squadron’s aircraft and personnel had been transferred to the USAAF to become the 335th Fighter Squadron of the 4th Fighter Group.