Unique among Luftwaffe fighter units, Jagdverband (JV) 44 was formed as a result of conflict and dissent within the Luftwaffe's high command. Following disagreement with Reichsmarschall Herman Göring, who was desperate to recover the Luftwaffe's failing prestige with Hitler and the German people who were enduring daily bombing raids on their homeland, the commander of the fighter arm, Adolf Galland, was dismissed from his post and 'exiled'. He was – purportedly – 'given permission' to set up a small fighter unit with which to 'prove' that the revolutionary Me 262 was the war-winning jet fighter he believed it to be.

Assembling a small group of disillusioned and weary Luftwaffe fighter aces and flying instructors, Galland – arguably the most famous German fighter ace of World War 2 – moved his unit, JV 44, to Munich, from where it operated the Me 262 against USAAF aircraft bombing targets in Austria and southern Germany. At one time or other, some 17 of the Luftwaffe's most renowned and combat-seasoned aces and holders of the coveted Knight's Cross served with JV 44. Their ranks were stiffened by a cadre of experienced fighter instructors.

In this reappraisal of JV 44, published 30 years after his acclaimed and bestselling first study of the unit (JV 44 – The Galland Circus), leading Luftwaffe historian Robert Forsyth assesses Galland's motives for forming the unit and whether it can be regarded more accurately as a 'Squadron of Aces' or a 'Squadron of Outcasts and Exiles'. He also compares the level of tactical success of JV 44 against the operations conducted by the other Luftwaffe Me 262-equipped fighter unit, Jagdgeschwader 7. The book will also contain numerous first-hand accounts sourced by the the author during his research in the 1990s when he met with several former pilots from JV 44.