It was the unit of the top three scoring flying aces of all time, Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn and Günther Rall.

To train the new pilots was the task of Klein-Ellguth's Staffelkäpitane, Oberleutnants Wolfgang Ewald, Adolf Galland, and Alfons Klein.

Klein was killed in a crash on 18 February 1939 and was replaced by Oberleutant Helmut Kühle, also a Condor Legion veteran, on 1 March 1939.

[4] Jagdgeschwader 52 spent the summer of 1939 training and practicing bomber defense around Stuttgart and along the western German border.

In June, the unit transferred again, to another grassy field at Wengerohr [de] on the upper Moselle to train for wartime operations.

In mid-August 1939, it moved back to Böblingen in time for the mobilization of the Wehrmacht and prepared to defend Stuttgart and its factories from French bombers.

The remainder of 1939 have been dubbed the "Phony War" or sitzkrieg, as German, French, and British ground forces idled and dug in.

A French ANF Les Mureaux 115 [fr], of the reconnaissance unit GAO 553, was spotted while the Staffel was patrolling south of Karlsruhe and intercepted.

In the first week of October, II./JG 52 was established from 1./JG 71 and 11./JG 72, as was Stab./JG 52, turning JG 52 into a Geschwader of three Gruppen commanded by Major Hubert Merhart von Bernegg.

On 8 November, II./JG 52 made its first two kills as a formation of JG 52: a French observation balloon near Karlsruhe and a Morane MS 406 near Bitche.

JG 52 suffered its first fatality on 22 November when Unteroffizier Hans-Joachim Hellwig's plane suddenly went into a steep dive and crashed behind French lines while on a high-altitude patrol.

[citation needed] During 1941–1942, with the Luftwaffe constantly on the offensive against vast numbers of the ill-equipped and poorly trained Soviet Air Force, the experienced and well-equipped JG 52 fighter pilots claimed numerous aircraft shot down.

On 14 June 1942, based at an airfield at Grakowo, located approximately halfway between Kharkov and Kupiansk, Hauptmann Helmut Bennemann claimed JG 52s 2,000 aerial victory.

[12] In mid-July 1942, the Gruppen commenced re-equipment with the new Bf 109 G Gustav, and the wing continued covering the armoured spearhead offensive deep into the Caucasus.

I. Gruppe by this time had become a highly mobile 'fire brigade' formation, sent at short notice to areas where fighter cover was quickly and urgently required.

Shuttling between areas ranging from the Kerch Peninsula on the Black Sea to the Moscow Front, I./JG 52 was in constant action.

Although JG 52 was not directly involved in the final stages of the Battle of Stalingrad, III./JG 52 was used during the push towards the Caucasian oil fields in the south during August–September 1942, and II./JG 52 supported the attempted break-through by the 4th Panzer Army in late 1942.

By November 1943, the loss of Kiev threatened the stability of the entire Southern sector front, the whole of JG 52 being brought together again to help bolster defences.

A new opponent appeared at this stage, with elements of the USAAF 15th Air Force bombing the Ploiești oil fields in Romania.

The Gruppe then was divided into three or four Staffeln that were each commanded by a Staffelkapitän, usually a Hauptmann, Oberleutnant, or sometimes a Leutnant and ordered by Arabic numeral and abbreviated, for example as 5./JG 1 rather than 5 Staffel II.

[7] As JG 433, I. Gruppe flew D and E models of the Bf 109,[18] and began transitioning to the F series while based in the Netherlands in mid and late 1941.

[24][23] The 13th Staffel of JG 52, made up entirely of Slovakian Luftwaffe personnel, was formed on 27 October 1941 in Piešťany, Slovakia and was disbanded in January 1944.