Alex Vanags-Baginskis
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Alex Vanags-Baginskis was born in Riga in 1927. He lost most of his family during the first Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940/41.In 1944.He volunteered to join the Latvian flying-training school in Luftwaffe service based at Liepaja-Grobina in Courland,which prepared flying and ground personnel for the Latvian NSGr 12 night harassment group. In just six months in 1944, the two squadrons of this Latvian unit carried out 5660 operational sorties. It's most notable pilot was Lt. Teodors Abrams, credited with 229 operational sorties. Ten of its pilots were selected for fighter training on the Fw 190 two of which patricipated in the Operation Bodenplatte on 1 January 1945, Lt. Mencis anf Fw Klints,the only foreign pilots to do so.
After World War 11 Alex Vanags-Baginskis managed to escape from Soviet captivity and eventually emigrated to the United Kingdom. During his 16-year stint as a Coal Miner, he studied military Aviation history,specialising in the Luftwaffe. In 1967, he was hired as an Aviation and Military Editor by Macdonald & Jane's, (Later Jane's Publishing Company.) During his employment there, Alex Vanags-Baginskis collaborated with many well-known aviation and military authors, editing such classics as FIGHTER SQUADRONS OF THE R.A.F. AND THEIR AIRCRAFT(J.D.Rawlings) and MIGHTY EIGHTH series (Roger A. Freeman),WAR PLANES OF THE THIRD REICH(William Green),SOVIET AIR FORCE SINCE 1918 (Alex Boyd) and SMALL ARMS,ARTILLERY AND SPECIAL WEAPONS OF THE THIRD REICH (Peter Chamberlain) As well as collaborating on PHOENIX TRIUMPHANT and EAGLE IN FLAMES (R.E.Hooton) for other publishers. In that time, he also translated eight books, incl., KG 200: THE TRUE STORY by Peter W.Stahl (ex-KG 200),amd authored/wrote two, Ju 87 STUKA (Jane's/Crown) and TANK BUSTERS (Jane's/Howell).
Alex Vanags-Baginskis more recent contribution to aviation history is the translation from German of IN THE SKIES OF EUROPE by Hans Werner Neulen (The Crowood Press) which, among others,also details the histories of Latvian, Estonian and Russian volunteers in Luftwaffe service. Alex Vanags-Baginskis is a long-standing member of the Latvian World War 11 aviation veteran association, and Germany and Colonies Philatelic Society(London branch).
