he promised no further action would be taken against him and offered command of a unit of Me 262 jets. Galland accepted on the understanding that Gollob had no jurisdiction over him or his unit. Self appraisal Galland did not pretend to have been error free. After the war, he was candid about his own mistakes as General der Jagdflieger. Production and aircraft procurement were not his responsibility but Galland identified four major mistakes by the OKL during the war, and accepted partial responsibility for the first three: Fighter pilots received no instrument training until very late in the war, after the training course had already been curtailed because of fuel shortages and the need to produce pilots more quickly to replace losses. Galland also did not make sure all-weather flying was incorporated into pilot training, which was of decisive importance in an effective air defence force. Attrition by 1942 had created a shortage of experienced combat leaders. No special training was made available for this role. Galland set up a course in late 1943, but it only lasted for a few months. Galland was quoted as saying he thought they could learn the skills while on operations, as he had. This ignored his own talents, and blithely expected other pilots to reach his high standards. The Me 262, while not a war winner, might have extended the Defence of the Reich campaign. The problems with the engines, failures of production priorities and Hitler's meddling are well known, but the long delay between operational testing, tactical and doctrinal development and training were largely Galland's fault. The German pilots were increasingly lacking in quantity and quality. Galland recognised this but could not correct it without stepping outside his own authority. Galland noticed that the highly educated engineers and trainees were selected for the bomber arm in the early war years. Most of the brightest youth were pulled by expert campaigners, toward the Waffen SS and Kriegsmarine. The Luftwaffe did not match this effort. Unofficial combat missions After his appointment, Galland was strictly confined to operational matters and not allowed to fly tactical or combat missions. As the war continued Galland flew missions in violation of these restrictions against the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) bombing raids during the Defence of the Reich. Galland was keen to familiarise himself with all types of German fighter aircraft and flew the Fw 190