Alex Vanags-Baginskis

Alex (Aleksandrs) Vanags-Baginskis was born in Riga, Latvia 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 Liepāja-Grobiņa 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). Its 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 participated in Operation Bodenplatte on 1 January 1945, Lt. Mencis and Fw Klints, the only foreign pilots to do so.

After World War II he escaped 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 Information Group).

During his employment there, 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)
*Mighty Eighth series (Roger A. Freeman)
*War Planesof the Third Reich (William Green)
*Soviet Air Force since 1918 (Alex Boyd)
*Small Arms, Artillery and Special Weapons of the Third Reich (Peter Chamberlain).

He also collaborated on "Phoenix Triumphant" and "Eagle in Flames" (R.E.Hooton) for other publishers. In that time, he also translated eight books including "KG 200: The True Story" by Peter W.Stahl (ex-KG 200), and authored "Ju 87 Stuka" (Jane's/Crown) and "Tank Busters" (Jane's/Howell).

His 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 details the histories of Latvian, Estonian and Russian volunteers in Luftwaffe service.

Alex is a long-standing member of the Latvian World War II aviation veteran association, and the Germany and Colonies Philatelic Society (London branch).