On 10 January, the Stab (headquarters unit) of Jagdfliegerführer Norwegen was detached and formed the Geschwaderstab of JG 5.

At the same time a new Stab of Jagdfliegerführer Norwegen was created and placed under the command of Oberst (Colonel) Carl-Alfred Schumacher.

(JGr z.b.V.—zur besonderen Verwendung), a fighter group for special deployment, under the command of Major Henning Strümpell.

The objective of this assignment was to give the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen fighter protection in the breakout from Brest to Germany.

and III./JG 5 early in the year, Luftflotte 5 enjoyed a numerical and considerable qualitative superiority, and the Soviet opposition amounted to just 170 serviceable combat aircraft.

During the summer the Soviet air force brought in new units, including 20 IAP equipped with the new Yakovlev Yak-1, an effective counter to the Bf 109F.

Luftflotte 5 recorded 26 combat losses in July 1942, while the VVS lost 32 of its own aircraft shot down or missing, mainly to JG 5.

For the rest of 1942, elements of the unit were stationed in Trondheim and Kirkenes, from where they undertook attacks on the Arctic convoys.

By January 1943, the units of the wing were stationed in southern Norway and Finland and were equipped with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 aircraft.

Gruppe left Norway and Finland in late 1943 to fight the rest of the war away from their parent Geschwader.

In mid-1943, half of the 70 to 80 fighters of JG 5, contained in I Gruppe were based above the Arctic Circle, protecting supply-shipping.

[9] On 1 September 1943, Major Günther Scholz succeeded Oberstleutnant Gotthard Handrick as Geschwaderkommodore (Wing Commander) of JG 5.

Up to the end of the war, this unit formed the air defence against the Allied raids on the submarine bases at Trondheim and Bergen in Norway.

On 1 August 1944, Heinrich Ehrler was appointed Geschwaderkommodore of JG 5, replacing Oberstleutnant Scholz who was given the position of Jagdfliegerführer Norwegen.

[11] On 12 November 1944 Avro Lancaster bombers of RAF Squadrons 9 and 617 attacked the Tirpitz in Tromsø fjord.

Ehrler, commanding officer of JG 5, scrambled a formation to intercept, but the German fighters were too late.

[12] In early January 1945 and following Ehrler's conviction by the Reichskriegsgericht, Oberstleutnant Scholz, in addition to his obligations as Jagdfliegerführer Norwegen in Stavanger-Forus, assumed command of JG 5 again.

[14] In total, pilots of JG 5 claimed approximately 3,200 aerial victories during World War II.