The best German ace of the Second World War. Aces of the Luftwaffe myths and reality

On November 13, 1985, Air Marshal Alexander Pokryshkin passed away. During the Second World War, he was one of the most productive Soviet pilots. - according to various sources, Pokryshkin personally shot down from 46 to 59 enemy aircraft. For his exploits, he was awarded the Golden Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union three times. Magazine "LJ" some interesting stories about Pokryshkin and other air aces who fought in the sky over the USSR and occupied Europe.

At the end of the war, Pokryshkin was not only the most famous pilot in the world, but also the most authoritative figure in Soviet aviation, writes andrey_ka23 , who in 2013 attended the celebrations in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Soviet ace:

"Akhtung! Achtung! Pokryshkin is in the air!” - shouted the German warning posts, urgently warned - the famous Russian ace in the air. Which meant - to increase caution, get out of protracted air battles, the “hunters” gain altitude, and the youth return to the airfields.

Generous rewards awaited the one who knocked down the Russian ace. There was no shortage of those wishing to distinguish themselves, but this task turned out to be too tough for the enemy. And it was not only the exceptional skill of Pokryshkin. It is appropriate to recall that such aces as Rechkalov and the Glinka brothers, Klubov and Babak, Fedorov and Fadeev took place in his squadron, and then in the regiment and division. When such a group fought, it was at least careless to expect to defeat its commander. And today the pilots continue the glorious traditions of the aces of the Great Patriotic War.

The Germans undoubtedly shot down more: Erich Hartman (352 downed enemy aircraft), Johan Steinhoff (176), Werner Mölders (115), Adolf Galland (103). Divide it by two, it's still more. Another thing is that these are hunters whose goal is precisely the maximum number of downed. Ours professed a different strategy, which turned out to be more effective and efficient. Which allowed them to gain air supremacy. It is worth adding that Hartman shot down not only Soviet aircraft, but also 7 American ones.

As for the quantity - a few facts.

Just a few days and heroic victories. Have you won?
Summer 1944. June 1 6 downed aircraft (5 Lags and 1 Airacobra). June 2 - 2 Air Cobras, June 3 - 4 aircraft (two Lags and Air Cobras each). June 4 - 7 aircraft (all except one - "Aircobra"). June 5 - 7 aircraft (of which 3 "Lag"). And, finally, on June 6 - 5 aircraft (of which 2 were Lags). In total, 32 Soviet aircraft were shot down in 6 days of fighting. And on August 24 of the same year, 11 aircraft at once.

But here's what's strange: Eric Hartmann shot down 32 aircraft in the first six days of June, and all the Luftwaffe by day: 1st - 21, 2nd - 27, 3rd - 33, 4th - 45, 5th - 43, 6th - 12. Total - 181 aircraft. Or an average of more than 30 aircraft per day. And how many were the losses of the Luftwaffe? The official figures for June 1944 are 312 aircraft, or just over 10 per day. It turns out that our losses are 3 times more? And if we take into account that the losses of the Germans also include aircraft shot down by our anti-aircraft artillery, then the ratio of losses is even greater!

But not 1941. Believable?

Let's assume that everything is true. And let's compare two pilots - the same Hartmann and three times Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub. Hartmann made 1404 sorties and shot down 352 aircraft, on average, about 4 sorties took one plane; Kozhedub's figures are as follows: 330 sorties and 62 enemy aircraft, an average of 5.3 sorties. In terms of numbers, everything seems to match ...

And how were downed planes counted? Below is an excerpt from the book by American researchers R. Toliver and T. Constable about Hartmann:

“The rest of the squadron pilots dragged the happy Blond Knight to the mess hall. The party was in full swing when Hartmann's technician burst in. The expression on his face instantly extinguished the jubilation of those assembled.
— What happened, Bimmel? Erich asked.
— Gunsmith, Herr Lieutenant.
- Something is wrong?
- No, everything is okay. It's just that you fired only 120 shots for 3 downed aircraft. I think you need to know this.
A whisper of admiration ran among the pilots, and the schnapps flowed like water again.

Believable? If someone thinks yes, a little help. Hartmann's aircraft (Messerschmitt Bf.109) is equipped with MG-17 machine guns and a 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon. The rate of fire of machine guns is 1200 rounds per minute, guns - 700-800 per minute (depending on the type of projectile). Thus, 53 charges are consumed per second. 120 Hartman used up in 2.26 seconds. And shot down THREE planes. Still believable?

But we are not talking about whatnots and not even about plywood Yaks. All three shot down - IL-2.

The most productive fighter pilot of all countries participating in the Second World War, with the exception of Germany, is considered to be Finn - Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, who shot down 94 Soviet aircraft. His story is summarized merelana :

Here yesterday this name accidentally flashed - in a conversation about who is from our district, who is not from ours. Eino Ilmari Juutilainen is one of ours. He spent most of his childhood in Sortavala, starting military service at the airfield near Viipuri - while Viipuri was still on the Finnish side.
Eino Ilmari Juutilainen is an ace pilot, one of the best in the Second World War, which the Finns, they say, call “continental” or “long”, as opposed to winter, it is also “short”.
During the Winter War, he conducted 115 sorties - and there were only two victories there. And during the "ongoing" war - on his account 92 victories. With almost five hundred sorties. And none of his aircraft received any damage.

Fierce battles in the air were not only in the European theater of operations. From the blog litvinenko_ai You can learn about the aces pilots of the Imperial Japanese Navy:

The main feature of the Japanese is their collectivism. Rice has been the main source of food for the Japanese for many centuries. To grow rice, it had to be constantly watered. In the mountainous regions of the country, it is impossible to water rice alone; here people acted as one team. The harvest could be grown either by all together, or by no one. The Japanese had no room for error. There will be no rice, famine will begin. Hence the collectivism of the Japanese. There is a Japanese proverb that goes something like this - "The nail that sticks out gets hammered first." That is - do not stick out, do not stand out from the crowd - the Japanese do not tolerate white crows. From early childhood, Japanese children were instilled with the skills of collectivism, the desire not to stand out from the rest. This feature of Japanese culture was also reflected in the pilots of naval aviation during the years of the Great Pacific War, or, as we call it, the Second World War. Instructors in flight schools taught cadets as a whole, not singling out any of them, there was no individual approach at all. In parts of the promotion or penalty, the entire unit usually also received.

Japanese pilots fought in the skies over China long before the start of the Pacific War, they gained experience and became outstanding combat pilots. Japanese pilots swept away everything over Pearl Harbor, sowed death over the Philippines, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands. They were aces. The French word as means ace, the first in its field is a master of air combat, it appeared during the First World War and referred to military pilots who are fluent in the art of piloting and air combat and shot down at least five enemy aircraft. There were aces in World War II, for example, the best Soviet pilot Ivan Kozhedub shot down 62 enemy aircraft, on account of the Finn Eino Ilmari Juutilainen 94 Soviet aircraft. The best pilots of the Imperial Japanese Navy - Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Saburo Sakai and Shioki Sugita were also aces. For example, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa told his family about 147 downed aircraft, some sources mention 102, according to other sources - 87 aircraft, which is still much more than the American and British aces who shot down 30 aircraft each.

The title ace, in reference to military pilots, first appeared in French newspapers during the First World War. In 1915 journalists nicknamed "aces", and in translation from French the word "as" means "ace", the pilots who shot down three or more enemy aircraft. The first to be called an ace was the legendary French pilot Roland Garros (Roland Garros)
The most experienced and successful pilots in the Luftwaffe were called experts - "Experte"

Luftwaffe

Eric Alfred Hartman (Bubi)

Erich Hartmann (German Erich Hartmann; April 19, 1922 - September 20, 1993) - German ace pilot, considered the most successful fighter pilot in the history of aviation. According to German data, during the Second World War, he shot down "352" enemy aircraft (of which 345 were Soviet) in 825 air battles.

Hartmann graduated from the flying school in 1941 and in October 1942 was assigned to the 52nd Fighter Squadron on the Eastern Front. His first commander and mentor was the well-known Luftwaffe expert Walter Krupinsky.

Hartmann shot down his first plane on November 5, 1942 (IL-2 from the 7th GShAP), but over the next three months he managed to shoot down only one plane. Hartmann gradually improved his flying skills, emphasizing the effectiveness of the first attack.

Oberleutnant Erich Hartman in the cockpit of his fighter, the famous emblem of the 9th staffel of the 52nd squadron is clearly visible - a heart pierced by an arrow with the inscription "Karaya", the name of Hartman's bride "Ursel" is written in the upper left segment of the heart (the inscription is almost invisible in the picture) .

German ace Hauptmann Erich Hartmann (left) and Hungarian pilot Laszlo Pottiondi. German fighter pilot Erich Hartmann - the most productive ace of World War II

Krupinski Walter the first commander and mentor of Erich Hartmann!!

Hauptmann Walter Krupinski commanded the 7th Staffel of the 52nd Squadron from March 1943 to March 1944. The picture shows Krupinski wearing the Knight's Cross with oak leaves, he received the leaves on March 2, 1944 for 177 victories in air battles. Shortly after this photograph was taken, Krupinski was transferred to the West, where he served in 7 (7-5, JG-11 and JG-26, the ace ended the war on Me-262 as part of J V-44.

Pictured in March 1944, from left to right: commander of 8./JG-52 Lieutenant Friedrich Obleser, commander of 9./JG-52 Lieutenant Erich Hartmann. Lieutenant Karl Gritz.

The wedding of Luftwaffe ace Erich Hartmann (1922-1993) and Ursula Paetsch. To the left of the married couple is Hartmann's commander, Gerhard Barkhorn (1919 - 1983). On the right is Hauptmann Wilhelm Batz (1916-1988).

bf. 109G-6 of Hauptmann Erich Hartmann, Buders, Hungary, November 1944.

Barkhorn Gerhard "Gerd"

Major / Major Barkhorn Gerhard / Barkhorn Gerhard

Began flying with JG2, transferred to JG52 in autumn 1940. From 01/16/1945 to 04/01/45 he commanded JG6. He ended the war in the "squadron of aces" JV 44, when on 04/21/1945 his Me 262 was shot down during landing by American fighters. He was severely wounded and was held captive by the Allies for four months.

The number of victories - 301. All victories on the Eastern Front.

Hauptmann Erich Hartmann (04/19/1922 - 09/20/1993) with his commander Major Gerhard Barkhorn (05/20/1919 - 01/08/1983) studying the map. II./JG52 (2nd Group of the 52nd Fighter Squadron). E. Hartmann and G. Barkhorn are the most productive pilots of the Second World War, having 352 and 301 air victories in their combat account, respectively. In the lower left corner of the picture is E. Hartmann's autograph.

The Soviet fighter LaGG-3 destroyed by German aircraft while still on the railway platform.

The snow melted faster than the white winter coloration from the Bf 109 was washed away. The fighter is taking off straight through the spring puddles.)!.

Captured Soviet airfield: I-16 stands next to Bf109F from II./JG-54.

The Ju-87D bomber from the StG-2 "Immelmann" and the "Friedrich" from I./JG-51 are in close formation to carry out the combat mission. At the end of the summer of 1942, the pilots of I./JG-51 will transfer to FW-190 fighters.

Commander of the 52nd Fighter Squadron (Jagdgeschwader 52) Lieutenant Colonel Dietrich Hrabak, Commander of the 2nd Group of the 52nd Fighter Squadron (II.Gruppe / Jagdgeschwader 52) Hauptmann Gerhard Barkhorn and an unknown Luftwaffe officer at the Messerschmitt fighter Bf.109G-6 at Bagerovo airfield.

Walter Krupinski, Gerhard Barkhorn, Johannes Wiese and Erich Hartmann

Commander of the 6th Fighter Squadron (JG6) of the Luftwaffe Major Gerhard Barkhorn in the cockpit of his Focke-Wulf Fw 190D-9 fighter.

Bf 109G-6 "double black chevron" commander I./JG-52 Hauptmann Gerhard Barkhorn, Kharkov-South, August 1943

Note the aircraft's own name; Christi is the name of the wife of Barkhorn, the second most successful fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe. The picture shows the aircraft that Barkhorn flew when he was the commander of I./JG-52, then he had not yet crossed the milestone of 200 victories. Barkhorn survived, shooting down 301 aircraft in total, all on the eastern front.

Gunther Rall

German ace fighter pilot Major Günther Rall (03/10/1918 - 10/04/2009). Günter Rall is the third most successful German ace of World War II. On account of his 275 air victories (272 on the Eastern Front), won in 621 sorties. Rall himself was shot down 8 times. On the pilot's neck is visible the Knight's Cross with oak leaves and swords, which he was awarded on 09/12/1943 for 200 air victories won.

"Friedrich" from III./JG-52, this group in the initial phase of the operation "Barbarossa" covered the troops of the Xi countries operating in the coastal zone of the Black Sea. Pay attention to the unusual angular side number "6" and "sine wave". Apparently, this aircraft belonged to the 8th Staffel.

Spring 1943, Rall watches approvingly as Lieutenant Josef Zwernemann drinks wine from a bottle

Gunther Rall (second from left) after his 200th aerial victory. Second from right - Walter Krupinski

Downed Bf 109 by Günther Rall

Rally in his Gustav 4th

After being severely wounded and partially paralyzed, Oblt. Günther Rall returned to 8./JG-52 on 28 August 1942, and two months later he was made a Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. Rall ended the war, taking the honorable third place among Luftwaffe fighter pilots in terms of performance.
won 275 victories (272 - on the Eastern Front); shot down 241 Soviet fighters. He made 621 sorties, was shot down 8 times and wounded 3 times. His "Messerschmitt" had a personal number "Devil's Dozen"

The commander of the 8th Squadron of the 52nd Fighter Squadron (Staffelkapitän 8.Staffel / Jagdgeschwader 52), Lieutenant Günther Rall (Günther Rall, 1918-2009) with the pilots of his squadron, in between sorties, plays with the squadron's mascot - a dog named "Rata" .

Pictured in the foreground, from left to right: Sergeant Manfred Lotzmann, Sergeant Werner Höhenberg, and Lieutenant Hans Funcke.

In the background, from left to right: Lieutenant Günther Rall, Lieutenant Hans Martin Markoff, Sergeant Major Karl-Friedrich Schumacher and Lieutenant Gerhard Luety.

The picture was taken by front-line correspondent Reissmüller on March 6, 1943 near the Kerch Strait.

photo of Rall and his wife Herta, originally from Austria

The third in the triumvirate of the best experts of the 52nd squadron was Gunther Rall. Rall flew a black fighter with tail number "13" after his return to service on August 28, 1942 after being seriously wounded in November 1941. By this time, Rall had 36 victories on his account. Before being transferred to the West in the spring of 1944, he shot down another 235 Soviet aircraft. Pay attention to the III./JG-52 symbolism - the emblem in the front of the fuselage and the "sine wave" painted closer to the tail.

Kittel Otto (Bruno)

Otto Kittel (Otto "Bruno" Kittel; February 21, 1917 - February 14, 1945) was a German ace pilot, fighter, participant in World War II. He made 583 sorties, scored 267 victories, which is the fourth result in history. The Luftwaffe record holder for the number of downed Il-2 attack aircraft is 94. He was awarded the Knight's Cross with oak leaves and swords.

in 1943, luck turned to face him. On January 24, he shot down the 30th aircraft, and on March 15, the 47th. On the same day, his plane was seriously damaged and crashed 60 km behind the front line. With a frost of thirty degrees, Kittel went out to his own on the ice of Lake Ilmen.
So Kittel Otto returned from a four day trip!! His plane was shot down behind the front line, at a distance of 60 km!!

Otto Kittel on vacation, summer 1941. Then Kittel was the most common Luftwaffe pilot with the rank of non-commissioned officer.

Otto Kittel in the circle of comrades! (marked with a cross)

At the head of the table "Bruno"

Otto Kittel with his wife!

He died on February 14, 1945 during the attack of the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft. Shot down by the gunner's return fire, Kittel's Fw 190A-8 aircraft (serial number 690 282) fell in a swampy area in the location of the Soviet troops and exploded. The pilot did not use the parachute, as he died while still in the air.

Two Luftwaffe officers bandaging the hand of a wounded captured Red Army soldier near the tent

Plane "Bruno"

Novotny Walter (Novi)

German ace pilot of the Second World War, during which he made 442 sorties, scoring 258 victories in the air, 255 of them on the Eastern Front and 2 over 4-engine bombers. He won the last 3 victories flying a Me.262 jet fighter. He won most of his victories flying the FW 190, and about 50 victories on the Messerschmitt Bf 109. He was the first pilot in the world to score 250 victories. Awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds

Aces of the Luftwaffe

At the suggestion of some Western authors, carefully accepted by domestic compilers, German aces are considered the most productive fighter pilots of the Second World War, and, accordingly, in history, who achieved fabulous success in air battles. Only the aces of Nazi Germany and their Japanese allies are charged with victory accounts containing more than a hundred aircraft. But if the Japanese have only one such pilot - they fought with the Americans, then the Germans already had 102 pilots "winning" more than 100 victories in the air. Most of the German pilots, with the exception of fourteen: Heinrich Baer, ​​Hans-Joachim Marseil, Joachim Münchenberg, Walter Oesau, Werner Melders, Werner Schroer, Kurt Buhligen, Hans Hahn, Adolf Galland, Egon Mayer, Josef Wurmheller and Josef Priller, as well as night pilots Hans-Wolfgang Schnaufer and Helmut Lent, the bulk of their "victories" were achieved, of course, on the Eastern Front, and two of them - Erich Hartmann and Gerhard Barkhorn - recorded more than 300 victories.

The total number of victories in the air, won by more than 30 thousand German fighter pilots and their allies, is mathematically described by the law of large numbers, more precisely, the “Gaussian curve”. If we build this curve only on the basis of the results of the first hundred of the best German fighters (Germany's allies will no longer enter there) with a known total number of pilots, then the number of victories declared by them will exceed 300-350 thousand, which is four to five times more than the number of victories declared by the Germans themselves , - 70 thousand shot down, and catastrophically (to the point of losing any objectivity) exceeds the estimate of sober, politically unbiased historians - 51 thousand shot down in air battles, of which 32 thousand on the Eastern Front. Thus, the reliability coefficient of the victories of the German aces is in the range of 0.15-0.2.

The order for victory for the German aces was dictated by the political leadership of Nazi Germany, intensified as the Wehrmacht collapsed, did not formally require confirmation and did not tolerate the revisions adopted in the Red Army. All the "accuracy" and "objectivity" of German claims for victory, so insistently mentioned in the works of some "researchers", oddly enough, grown and actively published in Russia, is actually reduced to filling in the columns of lengthy and tastefully laid out standard questionnaires, and writing , even if it is calligraphic, even if it is in Gothic type, it has nothing to do with air victories.

Aces of the Luftwaffe, who recorded more than 100 victories

Erich Alfred Bubi Hartmann - first Luftwaffe ace in World War II, 352 victories, Colonel, Germany.

Erich Hartmann was born on April 19, 1922 in Weissach in Württemberg. His father is Alfred Erich Hartmann and his mother is Elisabeth Wilhelmina Machtholph. He spent his childhood with his younger brother in China, where his father, under the patronage of his cousin, the German consul in Shanghai, worked as a doctor. In 1929, frightened by the revolutionary events in China, the Hartmans returned to their homeland.

Since 1936, E. Hartman flew gliders in the aviation club under the guidance of his mother, an athlete-pilot. At the age of 14, he received a diploma as a glider pilot. He has been piloting airplanes since the age of 16. Since 1940 he was trained in the 10th training regiment of the Luftwaffe in Neukurn near Koenigsberg, then in the 2nd flight school in the Berlin suburb of Gatow.

After successfully graduating from the aviation school, Hartman was sent to Zerbst - to the 2nd Fighter Aviation School. In November 1941, Hartmann took to the air for the first time in the 109th Messerschmitt, the fighter aircraft with which he made his distinguished flying career.

E. Hartman began combat work in August 1942 as part of the 52nd Fighter Squadron, which fought in the Caucasus.

Hartman was lucky. The 52nd was the best German squadron on the Eastern Front. The best German pilots fought in its composition - Hrabak and von Bonin, Graf and Krupinski, Barkhorn and Rall ...

Erich Hartmann was a man of average height, with rich blond hair and bright blue eyes. His character - cheerful and inexploring, with a good sense of humor, obvious flying skills, the highest art of aerial shooting, perseverance, personal courage and nobility impressed the new comrades.

October 14, 1942 Hartman went on his first sortie to the Grozny region. During this sortie, Hartman made almost all the mistakes that a young combat pilot can make: he broke away from the wingman and could not follow his order, opened fire on his aircraft, he himself fell into the fire zone, lost orientation and landed “on his belly” 30 km from your airport.

The 20-year-old Hartman won his first victory on November 5, 1942, shooting down a single-seat Il-2. During the attack of the Soviet attack aircraft and Hartman's fighter was heavily damaged, but the pilot again managed to land the damaged car on the "belly" in the steppe. The aircraft was not subject to restoration and was decommissioned. Hartman himself immediately "sick with a fever" and ended up in the hospital.

The next victory for Hartman was recorded only on January 27, 1943. The victory was recorded over the MiG-1. It was hardly the MiG-1, which were produced and delivered to the troops even before the war in a small series of 77 vehicles, but there are plenty of such "overexposures" in German documents. Hartman flies wingman with Dammers, Grislavsky, Zwerneman. From each of these strong pilots, he takes something new, replenishing his tactical and flight potential. At the request of sergeant major Rossmann, Hartman becomes the follower of V. Krupinski, an outstanding Luftwaffe ace (197 "victories", the 15th in a row of the best), distinguished, as it seemed to many, by intemperance and stubbornness.

It was Krupinski who nicknamed Hartman Bubi, in English "Baby" - baby, a nickname that remained with him forever.

Hartmann made 1,425 Einsatz and took part in 800 rabarbaras during his career. His 352 victories included many sorties with several enemy aircraft shot down in one day, the best achievement in one sortie was six Soviet aircraft shot down on August 24, 1944. This included three Pe-2s, two Yaks, one Airacobra. The same day turned out to be his best day as well, with 11 victories in two sorties, on his second sortie he became the first person in history to shoot down 300 aircraft in dogfights.

Hartman fought in the sky not only against Soviet aircraft. In the skies of Romania, at the helm of his Bf 109, he also met with American pilots. Hartman has several days on his account when he reported several victories at once: on July 7 - about 7 shot down (2 Il-2 and 5 La-5), on August 1, 4 and 5 - about 5, and on August 7 - again immediately about 7 (2 Pe-2, 2 La-5, 3 Yak-1). January 30, 1944 - about 6 shot down; February 1 - about 5; March 2 - immediately about 10; May 5 about 6; May 7 about 6; June 1st about 6; June 4 - about 7 Yak-9; June 5 about 6; June 6 - about 5; June 24 - about 5 "Mustangs"; August 28 "shot down" 11 "Aircobra" in a day (Hartman's daily record); October 27 - 5; November 22 - 6; November 23 - 5; April 4, 1945 - again 5 victories.

After a dozen "victories" "won" on March 2, 1944, E. Hartmann, and with him Lieutenant V. Krupinski, Hauptmann J. Wiese and G. Barkhorn were summoned to the Führer at the Berghof to present awards. Lieutenant E. Hartman, who by that time had chalked up 202 "downed" Soviet aircraft, was awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross.

Hartman himself was shot down more than 10 times. Basically, he "collided with the wreckage of Soviet aircraft shot down by him" (a favorite interpretation of his own losses in the Luftwaffe). On August 20, “flying over the burning Il-2”, he was again shot down and made another forced landing in the area of ​​the Donets River and fell into the hands of the “Asians” - Soviet soldiers. Skillfully feigning an injury and lulling the vigilance of careless soldiers, Hartman fled, jumping out of the body of the "lorry" that was carrying him, and returned to his own on the same day.

As a symbol of the forced separation from his beloved Ursula Petch, Hartman painted a bleeding heart pierced by an arrow on his plane, and drew an "Indian" cry under the cockpit: "Karaya".

Readers of German newspapers knew him as the "Black Devil of Ukraine" (the nickname was invented by the Germans themselves) and with pleasure or with irritation (against the retreat of the German army) read about all the new exploits of this "promoted" pilot.

In total, Hartman recorded 1404 sorties, 825 air battles, 352 victories were counted, of which 345 were Soviet aircraft: 280 were fighters, 15 Il-2s, 10 twin-engine bombers, the rest were U-2 and R-5.

Three times Hartman was also slightly wounded. As the commander of the 1st Squadron of the 52nd Fighter Squadron, which was based at a small airfield near Strakovnice in Czechoslovakia, at the end of the war, Hartman knew (he saw the advancing Soviet units rising into the sky) that the Red Army was about to capture this airfield as well. He gave the order to destroy the remaining aircraft and headed west with all his personnel to surrender to the US Army. But by that time there was an agreement between the allies, according to which all Germans leaving the Russians should be transferred back at the first opportunity.

In May 1945, Major Hartman was handed over to the Soviet occupation authorities. At the trial, Hartman insisted on his 352 victories, with emphatic respect, recalling his comrades-in-arms and the Fuhrer with defiance. The course of this trial was reported to Stalin, who spoke of the German pilot with satirical contempt. Hartman's self-confident position, of course, irritated the Soviet judges (the year was 1945), and he was sentenced to 25 years in the camps. The sentence under the laws of Soviet justice was commuted, and Hartman was sentenced to ten and a half years in prisoner of war camps. He was released in 1955.

Returning to his wife in West Germany, he immediately returned to aviation. He successfully and quickly completed a training course on jet aircraft, and this time the Americans became his teachers. Hartman flew F-86 Sabers and F-104 Starfighters. The last machine, during active operation in Germany, turned out to be extremely unsuccessful and brought death to 115 German pilots in peacetime! Hartmann spoke disapprovingly and harshly of this jet fighter (which was quite right), prevented its adoption by Germany and upset his relations with both the Bundes-Luftwaffe command and with the high American military. He was retired with the rank of colonel in 1970.

After being transferred to the reserve, he worked as an instructor pilot in Hangelare, near Bonn, and performed in the aerobatic team of Adolf Galland "Dolfo". In 1980, he fell seriously ill, and had to part with aviation.

It is interesting that the Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet and then Russian Air Force, General of the Army P.S. Deinekin, taking advantage of the warming of international relations in the late 80s and early 90s, several times insistently expressed his desire to meet with Hartman, but did not find mutual understanding among the German military officials.

Colonel Hartman was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, the German Cross in Gold.

Gerhard Gerd Barkhorn, second Luftwaffe ace (Germany) - 301 air victories.

Gerhard Barkhorn was born in Königsberg, East Prussia on March 20, 1919. In 1937, Barkhorn was accepted into the Luftwaffe as a Fanenjunker (officer candidate rank) and began his flight training in March 1938. After graduating from flight training, he was selected as a lieutenant and at the beginning of 1940 was accepted into the 2nd Fighter Squadron "Richthofen", known for old combat traditions that had been formed in the battles of the First World War.

The combat debut of Gerhard Barkhorn in the Battle of England was not very successful. He did not shoot down a single enemy aircraft, but he himself twice left a burning car with a parachute, and once right over the English Channel. Only during the 120th sortie (!), Which took place on July 2, 1941, Barkhorn managed to open an account with his victories. But after that, his successes gained an enviable stability. The hundredth victory came to him on December 19, 1942. On the same day, Barkhorn shot down 6 planes, and on July 20, 1942 - 5. He also shot down 5 planes before that, on June 22, 1942. Then the pilot's performance decreased slightly - and he reached the two hundredth mark only on November 30, 1943.

Here is how Barkhorn comments on the actions of the enemy:

“Some Russian pilots didn’t even look around and rarely looked back.

I shot down a lot of those who were not even aware of my presence. Only a few of them were a match for European pilots, the rest did not have the necessary flexibility in air combat.

Although it is not explicitly expressed, it can be inferred from reading that Barkhorn was a master of surprise attacks. He preferred dive attacks from the direction of the sun or came from below behind the tail of an enemy aircraft. At the same time, he did not shy away from classic turning combat, especially when he was piloting his beloved Me-109F, even the version that was equipped with only one 15-mm cannon. But not all Russians succumbed to the German ace so easily: “Once in 1943, I withstood a forty-minute battle with a stubborn Russian pilot and could not achieve any results. I was so wet with sweat, as if I had just stepped out of the shower. I wonder if it was as difficult for him as it was for me. The Russian flew the LaGG-3, and both of us performed all conceivable and inconceivable aerobatic maneuvers in the air. I couldn't get him, and he couldn't get me. This pilot belonged to one of the guards aviation regiments, in which the best Soviet aces were assembled.

It should be noted that a one-on-one dogfight lasting forty minutes was almost a record. There were usually other fighters nearby, ready to intervene, or on the rare occasions when two enemy aircraft actually met in the sky, one of them, as a rule, already had an advantage in position. In the battle described above, both pilots fought, avoiding unfavorable positions for themselves. Barkhorn was wary of enemy actions (probably because of his experience with RAF fighters), and the reasons for this were as follows: firstly, he achieved his numerous victories by flying more sorties than many other experts; secondly, in 1104 sorties, with a flight time of 2000 hours, his plane was shot down nine times.

On May 31, 1944, with 273 victories on his account, Barkhorn returned to his airfield after completing a combat mission. In this sortie, he was hit by a Soviet Airacobra, was shot down and wounded in his right leg. Apparently, the pilot who shot down Barkhorn was the outstanding Soviet ace Captain F. F. Arkhipenko (30 personal and 14 group victories), later Hero of the Soviet Union, who on that day was recorded the victory over the Me-109 in the fourth sortie. Barkhorn, making his 6th sortie of the day, managed to escape, but was out of action for four long months. After returning to JG 52, he brought the score of personal victories to 301, and then was transferred to the Western Front and appointed commander of JG 6 "Horst Wessel". Since then, he no longer had success in air battles. Enlisted soon in the Galland strike group JV 44, Barkhorn learned to fly the jet Me-262. But already in the second sortie, the plane was hit, lost traction, and Barkhorn was seriously injured during an emergency landing.

In total, during the Second World War, Major G. Barkhorn made 1104 sorties.

Some researchers note that Barkhorn was 5 cm taller than Hartman (about 177 cm tall) and 7-10 kg heavier.

He called the Me-109 G-1 with the lightest possible weapons: two MG-17 (7.92 mm) and one MG-151 (15 mm) his favorite car, preferring the lightness and, consequently, the maneuverability of his car, the power of its weapons.

After the war, German ace No. 2 returned to flying as part of the new West German Air Force. In the mid-60s, while testing a VTOL aircraft, he "dropped" and crashed his Kestrel. When the wounded Barkhorn was slowly and with difficulty pulled out of the wrecked car, he, despite the most severe injuries, did not lose his sense of humor and muttered through his strength: "Three hundred and second ..."

In 1975, G. Barkhorn retired with the rank of major general.

In winter, in a snowstorm, near Cologne on January 6, 1983, together with his wife, Gerhard Barkhorn got into a severe car accident. His wife died immediately, and he himself died in the hospital two days later - on January 8, 1983.

He was buried at the Durnbach Military Cemetery in Tegernsee, Upper Bavaria.

Major of the Luftwaffe G. Barkhorn was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, the German Cross in Gold.

Gunter Rall - third ace of the Luftwaffe, 275 victories.

The third ace of the Luftwaffe in terms of the number of victories counted is Gunther Rall - 275 enemy aircraft shot down.

Rall fought against France and England in 1939–1940, then in Romania, Greece and Crete in 1941. From 1941 to 1944 he fought on the Eastern Front. In 1944, he returns to the skies of Germany and fights against the aviation of the Western Allies. All his rich combat experience was gained as a result of more than 800 "rabarbars" (air battles) carried out on the Me-109 of various modifications - from Bf 109 B-2 to Bf 109 G -14. Rall was badly wounded three times and shot down eight times. On November 28, 1941, in a tense air battle, his plane was so badly damaged that during an emergency landing "on its belly" the car simply fell apart, and Rall broke his spine in three places. There was no hope of a return to duty. But after ten months of treatment in the hospital, where he met his future wife, he was nevertheless restored to health and recognized as fit for flight work. At the end of July 1942, Rall again took off his plane, and on August 15 over the Kuban he won his 50th victory. On September 22, 1942, he chalked up his 100th victory. Subsequently, Rall fought over the Kuban, over the Kursk Bulge, over the Dnieper and Zaporozhye. In March 1944, he exceeded the achievement of V. Novotny, having chalked up 255 air victories and, until August 20, 1944, topped the list of Luftwaffe aces. On April 16, 1944, Rall won his last, 273rd, victory on the Eastern Front.

As the best German ace of that time, he was appointed commander of II by Göring. / JG 11, which was part of the Reich air defense and armed with the "109" new modification - G-5. Defending Berlin in 1944 from attacks by the British and Americans, Rall fought more than once with US Air Force aircraft. Once, the Thunderbolts tightly clamped his plane over the capital of the Third Reich, damaging his control, and one of the bursts given through the cockpit cut off the thumb on his right hand. Rall was shell-shocked, but returned to service a few weeks later. In December 1944, he became head of the Luftwaffe fighter aviation commander training school. In January 1945, Major G. Rall was appointed commander of the 300th Fighter Air Group (JG 300), armed with the FV-190D, but he no longer won victories. It was difficult to come up with a victory over the Reich - downed planes fell over German territory and only then received confirmation. Not at all like in the Don or Kuban steppes, where it was enough to report on the victory, confirm the wingman and the statement on several printed forms.

During his combat career, Major Rall made 621 sorties, chalked up 275 “downed” aircraft, of which only three were shot down over the Reich.

After the war, when a new German army was created - the Bundeswehr, G. Rall, who did not think of himself otherwise than as a military pilot, joined the Bundes-Luftwaffe. Here he immediately returned to flight work and mastered the F-84 Thunderjet and several modifications of the F-86 Saber. The skill of the major, and then Oberst Lieutenant Rall, was highly appreciated by American military experts. In the late 50s, he was appointed to the Bundes-Luftwaffe Art. inspector supervising the retraining of German pilots for the new F-104 Starfighter supersonic fighter. Retraining was successfully carried out. In September 1966, G. Rall was awarded the rank of brigadier general, and a year later - major general. At that time, Rall led the Bundes-Luftwaffe fighter division. In the late 80s, Lieutenant General Rall was dismissed from the Bundes-Luftwaffe from the post of inspector general.

G. Rall came to Russia several times, talked with Soviet aces. On the Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General of Aviation G. A. Baevsky, who knew German well and communicated with Rall at the demonstration of aircraft in Kubinka, this communication made a positive impression. Georgy Arturovich found Rall's personal position rather modest, including his three-digit account, and as an interlocutor, an interesting person who deeply understands the concerns and needs of pilots and aviation.

Gunther Rall died on October 4, 2009. Lieutenant General G. Rall was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, the German Cross in Gold; Grand Federal Cross of the Worthy with a Star (a cross of the VI degree from the VIII degrees); Order of the Legion of the Worthy (USA).

Adolf GALLAND - an outstanding organizer of the Luftwaffe, who recorded 104 victories on the Western Front, lieutenant general.

Mildly bourgeois in his refined habits and deeds, he was a versatile and courageous man, an exceptionally gifted pilot and tactician, enjoyed the favor of political leaders and the highest authority among German pilots, and yet they left their bright mark on the history of the world wars of the 20th century.

Adolf Galland was born into the family of a manager in the town of Westerholt (now within the boundaries of Duisburg) on ​​March 19, 1912. Galland, like Marseille, had French roots: his Huguenot ancestors fled France in the 18th century and settled on the estate of Count von Westerholt. Galland was the second oldest of his four brothers. The upbringing in the family was based on strict religious principles, while the strictness of the father significantly softened the mother. From an early age, Adolf became a hunter, getting his first trophy - a hare - at the age of 6 years. An early passion for hunting and hunting successes are also characteristic of some other outstanding fighter pilots, in particular for A. V. Vorozheikin and E. G. Pepelyaev, who found not only entertainment in hunting, but also a significant help for their meager diet. Of course, the acquired hunting skills - the ability to hide, shoot accurately, follow the trail - had a beneficial effect on the formation of the character and tactics of future aces.

In addition to hunting, the energetic young Galland was actively interested in technology. This interest led him in 1927 to the glider school in Gelsenkirchen. Graduation from the glider school, the acquired ability to soar, find and select air currents was very useful for the future pilot. In 1932, after graduating from high school, Adolf Galland entered the German School of Air Communications in Braunschweig, from which he graduated in 1933. Shortly after leaving school, Galland received an invitation to short-term courses for military pilots, secret in Germany at that time. After completing the courses, Galland was sent to Italy for an internship. From the autumn of 1934, Galland flew as a co-pilot on the passenger Junkers G-24. In February 1934, Galland was drafted into the army, in October he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and sent to instructor service in Schleichsheim. When the creation of the Luftwaffe was announced on March 1, 1935, Galland was transferred to the 2nd Group of the 1st Fighter Squadron. Possessing an excellent vestibular apparatus and impeccable vasomotor skills, he quickly became an excellent aerobatic pilot. In those years, he suffered several accidents that almost cost him his life. Only exceptional perseverance, and sometimes cunning, allowed Galland to stay in aviation.

In 1937, he was sent to Spain, where he made 187 sorties for attack on the Xe-51B biplane. He had no air victories. For fights in Spain he was awarded the German Spanish Cross in gold with Swords and Diamonds.

In November 1938, upon his return from Spain, Galland became commander of JG433, re-equipped with Me-109, but before the start of hostilities in Poland he was assigned to another group armed with XSh-123 biplanes. In Poland, Galland made 87 sorties, received the rank of captain.

On May 12, 1940, Captain Galland won his first victories, shooting down three English Hurricanes at once on the Me-109. By June 6, 1940, when he was appointed commander of the 3rd Group of the 26th Fighter Squadron (III. / JG 26), Galland had 12 victories. On May 22, he shot down the first Spitfire. On August 17, 1940, at a meeting at the Goering estate of Karinhalle, Major Galland was appointed commander of the 26th squadron. On September 7, 1940, he participated in a massive Luftwaffe raid on London, consisting of 648 fighters covering 625 bombers. For the Me-109, this was a flight almost to the maximum range, more than two dozen Messerschmitts on the way back, over Calais, ran out of fuel, and their planes fell into the water. Galland also had problems with fuel, but his car was saved by the skill of the glider pilot sitting in it, who reached the French coast.

On September 25, 1940, Galland was summoned to Berlin, where Hitler presented him with the third Oak Leaves in history to the Knight's Cross. Galland, in his words, asked the Fuhrer not to "belittle the dignity of English pilots." Hitler unexpectedly immediately agreed with him, declaring that he regretted that England and Germany did not work together as allies. Galland fell into the hands of German journalists and quickly became one of the most "promoted" figures in Germany.

Adolf Galland was an avid cigar smoker, consuming up to twenty cigars daily. Even Mickey Mouse, invariably adorning the sides of all his fighting vehicles, was invariably portrayed with a cigar in his mouth. In the cockpit of his fighter was a lighter and a cigar holder.

On the evening of October 30, announcing the destruction of two Spitfires, Galland chalked up his 50th victory. On November 17, having shot down three Hurricanes over Calais, Galland with 56 victories came out on top among the aces of the Luftwaffe. After his 50th claimed victory, Galland was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. A creative person, he proposed several tactical innovations, subsequently adopted by most armies in the world. So, despite the protests of the "bombers", he considered the most successful option for escorting the bombers to be free "hunting" along the route of their flight. Another of his innovations was the use of a headquarters air unit, staffed by a commander and the most experienced pilots.

After May 19, 1941, when Hess flew to England, the raids on the island practically ceased.

On June 21, 1941, the day before the attack on the Soviet Union, Galland's Messerschmitt, staring at the Spitfire he shot down, was shot down in a frontal attack from above by another Spitfire. Galland was wounded in the side and in the arm. With difficulty, he managed to open the jammed lantern, unhook the parachute from the antenna rack and land relatively safely. It is interesting that on the same day, around 12.40 Galland's Me-109 was already shot down by the British, and he landed it in an emergency "on his belly" in the Calais area.

When Galland was taken to the hospital in the evening of the same day, a telegram from Hitler arrived there, saying that Lieutenant Colonel Galland was the first in the Wehrmacht awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross, and an order containing a ban on Galland's participation in sorties. Galland did everything possible and impossible to circumvent this order. On August 7, 1941, Lieutenant Colonel Galland scored his 75th victory. On November 18, he announced his next, already 96th, victory. On November 28, 1941, after the death of Melders, Goering appointed Galland to the post of inspector of Luftwaffe fighter aircraft, he was awarded the rank of colonel.

On January 28, 1942, Hitler presented Galland with the Diamonds to his Knight's Cross with Swords. He became the second holder of this highest award of Nazi Germany. December 19, 1942 he was awarded the rank of major general.

On May 22, 1943, Galland flew the Me-262 for the first time and was amazed at the opening possibilities of a turbojet. He insisted on the speedy combat use of this aircraft, assuring that one Me-262 squadron was equal in strength to 10 ordinary ones.

With the inclusion of US aviation in the air war and the defeat at the Battle of Kursk, Germany's position became desperate. On June 15, 1943, Galland, despite strong objections, was appointed commander of the fighter aircraft of the Sicily group. With the energy and talent of Galland, they tried to save the situation in southern Italy. But on July 16, about a hundred American bombers attacked the Vibo-Valentia airfield and destroyed the Luftwaffe fighter aircraft. Galland, having surrendered command, returned to Berlin.

The fate of Germany was sealed, and neither the dedication of the best German pilots, nor the talent of outstanding designers could save it.

Galland was one of the most talented and sensible generals in the Luftwaffe. He tried not to expose his subordinates to unjustified risk, soberly assessed the current situation. Thanks to the accumulated experience, Galland managed to avoid major losses in the squadron entrusted to him. An outstanding pilot and commander, Galland had a rare talent for analyzing all the strategic and tactical features of the situation.

Under the command of Galland, the Luftwaffe conducted one of the most brilliant air cover operations for ships, code-named "Thunderbolt". The fighter squadron under the direct command of Galland covered from the air the exit from the encirclement of the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, as well as the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Having successfully carried out the operation, the Luftwaffe and the fleet destroyed 30 British aircraft, losing 7 vehicles. Galland called this operation the "finest hour" of his career.

In the autumn of 1943 - in the spring of 1944, Galland secretly flew more than 10 sorties on the FV-190 A-6, chalking up two American bombers. On December 1, 1944, Galland was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.

After the failure of the Bodenplatte operation, when about 300 Luftwaffe fighters were lost, at the cost of 144 British and 84 American aircraft, Goering removed Galland from the post of fighter aircraft inspector on January 12, 1945. This caused the so-called fighter mutiny. As a result, several German aces were demoted, and Galland was placed under house arrest. But soon a bell rang in Galland's house: Hitler's adjutant von Belof told him: "The Fuhrer still loves you, General Galland."

In the face of a disintegrating defense, Lieutenant General Galland was instructed to form a new fighter group from the best German aces and fight enemy bombers on the Me-262. The group received the semi-mystical name JV44 (44 as half of the number 88, indicating the number of the group that successfully fought in Spain) and entered the battle in early April 1945. As part of JV44, Galland scored 6 victories, was shot down (landed across the strip) and wounded on April 25, 1945.

In total, Lieutenant General Galland made 425 sorties, chalked up 104 victories.

On May 1, 1945, Galland, along with his pilots, surrendered to the Americans. In 1946-1947, Galland was recruited by the Americans to work in the historical department of the US Air Force in Europe. Later, in the 60s, Galland lectured in the United States on the actions of German aviation. In the spring of 1947, Galland was released from captivity. Galland passed this difficult time for many Germans on the estate of his old admirer, the widowed Baroness von Donner. He divided it between household chores, wine, cigars and illegal hunting at that time.

During the Nuremberg trials, when Goering's defenders drew up a lengthy document and, trying to sign it with the leading figures of the Luftwaffe, brought it to Galland, he carefully read the paper, and then resolutely tore it upside down.

“I personally welcome this trial, because only in this way can we find out who is responsible for all this,” Galland allegedly said at the time.

In 1948, he met with his old acquaintance - the German aircraft designer Kurt Tank, who created the Focke-Wulf fighters and, perhaps, the best piston fighter in history - the Ta-152. The tank was about to sail to Argentina, where a big contract awaited him, and invited Galland to go with him. He agreed and, having received an invitation from President Juan Peron himself, soon set sail. Argentina, like the United States, emerged from the war incredibly rich. Galland received a three-year contract for the reorganization of the Argentine Air Force, carried out under the leadership of the Argentine commander-in-chief Juan Fabri. The flexible Galland managed to find full contact with the Argentines and was happy to pass on knowledge to pilots and their commanders who had no combat experience. In Argentina, Galland flew every type of aircraft he saw there almost daily, maintaining his flying form. Soon Baroness von Donner came to Galland with her children. It was in Argentina that Galland began to work on a book of memoirs, later called The First and Last. A few years later, the baroness left Galland and Argentina when he became friends with Sylvinia von Donhoff. In February 1954, Adolf and Silvinia got married. For Galland, and he was already 42 years old at that time, this is the first marriage. In 1955, Galland left Argentina and took part in aviation competitions in Italy, where he took an honorable second place. In Germany, the Minister of Defense invited Galland to retake the post of inspector - commander of the fighter aircraft of the Bundes Luftwaffe. Galland asked for time to think. At this time, power changed in Germany, the pro-American-minded Franz-Josef Strauss became Minister of Defense, who appointed General Kummhuber, an old opponent of Galland, to the post of inspector.

Galland moved to Bonn and went into business. He divorced Sylvinia von Donhoff and married his young secretary, Hannelise Ladwein. Soon Galland had children - a son, and three years later a daughter.

Throughout his life, until the age of 75, Galland flew actively. When there was no military aviation for him, he found himself in light and sports aviation. With age, Galland devoted more and more time to meetings with his old associates, with veterans. His authority among German pilots of all times was exceptional: he was the honorary leader of several aviation societies, president of the Association of German Fighter Pilots, and a member of dozens of flying clubs. In 1969, Galland saw and "attacked" the spectacular pilot Heidi Horn, at the same time the former head of a successful company, and started a "fight" according to all the rules. Soon he divorced his wife, and Heidi, unable to withstand the "dizzying attacks of the old ace," agreed to marry the 72-year-old Galland.

Adolf Galland, one of seven German fighter pilots to be awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds, and all other statutory awards.

Otto Bruno Kittel - Luftwaffe No. 4 ace, 267 victories, Germany.

This outstanding fighter pilot was nothing like, say, the arrogant and spectacular Hans Philipp, that is, he did not at all correspond to the image of an ace pilot created by the German imperial propaganda ministry. A short, quiet and modest man with a slight stutter.

He was born in Kronsdorf (now Korunov in the Czech Republic) in the Sudetes, then in Austria-Hungary, on February 21, 1917. Note that on February 17, 1917, the outstanding Soviet ace K. A. Evstigneev was born.

In 1939, Kittel was accepted into the Luftwaffe and was soon assigned to the 54th squadron (JG 54).

Kitel announced his first victories already on June 22, 1941, but in comparison with other Luftwaffe experts, his start was modest. By the end of 1941, he had only 17 victories to his credit. At first, Kittel showed unimportant ability in aerial shooting. Then senior comrades took up his training: Hannes Trauloft, Hans Philipp, Walter Novotny and other pilots of the Green Heart air group. They did not give up until their patience was rewarded. By 1943, Kittel had filled his eyes and, with enviable constancy, began to record his victories over Soviet aircraft one after another. His 39th victory, won on February 19, 1943, was the 4,000th victory claimed by the pilots of the 54th squadron during the war years.

When under the crushing blows of the Red Army, the German troops began to roll back to the west, German journalists found a source of inspiration in a modest but exceptionally gifted pilot, Lieutenant Otto Kittel. Until mid-February 1945, his name does not leave the pages of German periodicals, regularly appears in the footage of the military chronicle.

On March 15, 1943, after the 47th victory, Kittel was shot down and landed 60 km from the front line. In three days, without food and fire, he covered this distance (crossed Lake Ilmen at night) and returned to the unit. Kittel was awarded the German Cross in Gold and the title of Chief Sergeant Major. On October 6, 1943, Chief Sergeant Major Kittel was awarded the Knight's Cross, received officer's buttonholes, shoulder straps and the entire 2nd Squadron of the 54th Fighter Group under his command. Later, he was promoted to lieutenant and awarded the Oak Leaves, and then the Swords to the Knight's Cross, which, as in most other cases, he was given by the Fuhrer. From November 1943 to January 1944 he was an instructor at the Luftwaffe flying school in Biarritz, France. In March 1944, he returned to his squadron, to the Russian front. Success did not turn Kittel's head: until the end of his life he remained a modest, hardworking and unpretentious person.

From the autumn of 1944, Kittel's squadron fought in the Courland "cauldron" in Western Latvia. On February 14, 1945, while making the 583rd sortie, he attacked an Il-2 group, but was shot down, probably from cannons. On that day, the victories over the FV-190 were recorded for the pilots piloting the Il-2 - the deputy squadron commander of the 806th assault aviation regiment, Lieutenant V. Karaman and the lieutenant of the 502nd Guards Aviation Regiment, V. Komendat.

By the time of his death, Otto Kittel had 267 victories (of which 94 were Il-2), and he was the fourth in the list of the most productive air aces in Germany and the most productive pilot of those who fought on the FV-190 fighter.

Captain Kittel was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords, the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, the German Cross in Gold.

Walter Nowi Novotny - Luftwaffe No. 5 ace, 258 victories.

Although Major Walter Nowotny is considered the fifth ace of the Luftwaffe in terms of the number of downed vehicles, during the war he was the most famous ace of the Second World War. Nowotny occupied an honorable place along with Galland, Melders and Graf in popularity abroad, his name was one of the few that became known behind the front lines during the war and was discussed by the Allied public, just as it was with Boelcke, Udet and Richthofen in time of the First World War.

Novotny enjoyed fame and respect among German pilots like no other pilot. For all his courage and obsession in the air, he was a charming and friendly man on the ground.

Walter Nowotny was born in the north of Austria in the town of Gmünde on December 7, 1920. My father was a railway worker, two brothers were officers of the Wehrmacht. One of them was killed near Stalingrad.

Walter Nowotny grew up exceptionally gifted in terms of sports: he won in running, javelin throwing, and sports competitions. He joined the Luftwaffe in 1939 at the age of 18 and attended a fighter pilot school in Schwechat near Vienna. Like Otto Kittel, he was assigned to JG54 and made dozens of sorties before he managed to overcome his interfering feverish excitement and acquire the "handwriting of a fighter."

On July 19, 1941, he won the first victories in the sky over Ezel Island in the Gulf of Riga, chalking up three “downed” Soviet I-153 fighters. At the same time, Novotny also learned the other side of the coin, when a skillful and determined Russian pilot shot him down and sent him to "drink water." It was already night when Novotny paddled on a rubber raft to the shore.

On August 4, 1942, having re-equipped with the Gustav (Me-109G-2), Novotny chalked up 4 Soviet aircraft at once and a month later was awarded the Knight's Cross. On October 25, 1942, V. Novotny was appointed commander of the 1st detachment of the 1st group of the 54th fighter squadron. Gradually, the group was re-equipped with relatively new vehicles - FV-190A and A-2. On June 24, 1943, he chalked up the 120th "shot down", which was the basis for awarding the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. On September 1, 1943, Novotny chalked up 10 "downed" Soviet aircraft at once. This is far from the limit for Luftwaffe pilots.

Emil Lang filled out forms for himself as much as 18 Soviet aircraft shot down in one day (at the end of October 1943 in the Kyiv region - a rather expected response of an annoyed German ace to the defeat of the Wehrmacht on the Dnieper, and the Luftwaffe - over the Dnieper), and Erich Rudorfer "shot down"

13 Soviet aircraft for November 13, 1943. Note that for the Soviet aces and 4 enemy aircraft shot down per day were an extremely rare, exceptional victory. This says only one thing - about the reliability of victories on the one hand and on the other: the calculated reliability of victories among Soviet pilots is 4-6 times higher than the reliability of the "victories" recorded by the aces of the Luftwaffe.

In September 1943, with 207 "victories", Lieutenant V. Novotny became the most productive Luftwaffe pilot. On October 10, 1943, he chalked up his 250th "victory". In the German press of that time, a real hysteria arose about this. On November 15, 1943, Novotny recorded his last, 255th, victory on the Eastern Front.

He continued combat work almost a year later, already on the Western Front, on the jet Me-262. On November 8, 1944, taking off at the head of the troika to intercept American bombers, he shot down a Liberator and a Mustang fighter, which became his last, 257th, victory. Me-262 Novotny was damaged and on the way to his own airfield was shot down either by the Mustang or by the fire of his own anti-aircraft artillery. Major V. Novotny died.

Novi, as his comrades were called, became a Luftwaffe legend during his lifetime. He was the first to chalk up 250 aerial victories.

Nowotny became the eighth German officer to receive the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. He was also awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class, the German Cross in Gold; Order of the Cross of Liberty (Finland), medals.

Wilhelm "Willi" Batz - the sixth ace of the Luftwaffe, 237 victories.

Butz was born on May 21, 1916 in Bamberg. After recruit training and a meticulous medical examination, on November 1, 1935, he was assigned to the Luftwaffe.

After completing his initial fighter pilot course, Batz was transferred as an instructor to a flight school in Bad Eilbing. He was distinguished by tirelessness and a real passion for flying. In total, during the training and instructor service, he flew 5240 hours!

From the end of 1942 he served in the spare part of JG52 2./ ErgGr "Ost". From February 1, 1943, he served as adjutant in the II. /JG52. The first downed aircraft - LaGG-3 - was recorded to him on March 11, 1943. In May 1943 he was appointed commander of 5./JG52. Butz achieved significant success only during the Battle of Kursk. Until September 9, 1943, 20 victories were recorded for him, and by the end of November 1943 - another 50.

Further, Batz's career went as well as the career of a famous fighter pilot on the Eastern Front often developed. In March 1944, Batz shoots down his 101st aircraft. At the end of May 1944, during seven sorties, he shot down as many as 15 aircraft. On March 26, 1944, Batz received the Knight's Cross, and on July 20, 1944, the Oak Leaves to him.

In July 1944, he fought over Romania, where he shot down a B-24 Liberator bomber and two R-51B Mustang fighters. By the end of 1944, Batz already had 224 air victories on his combat account. In 1945 he became commander of the II. /JG52. April 21, 1945 was awarded.

In total, during the war years, Batz made 445 (according to other sources - 451) sorties and shot down 237 aircraft: 232 on the Eastern Front and, modestly, 5 on the Western, among the last two four-engine bombers. He flew on Me-109G and Me-109K aircraft. In battles, Batz was wounded three times and shot down four times.

He died at the Mauschendorf clinic on September 11, 1988. Cavalier of the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (No. 145, 04/21/1945), German Cross in Gold, Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class.

Hermann Graf - 212 officially counted victories, ninth Luftwaffe ace, colonel.

Hermann Graf was born in Engen, near Lake Baden, on October 24, 1912. The son of a simple blacksmith, he, due to his origin and poor education, could not make a quick and successful military career. After graduating from college and working for some time in the lock shop, he went to the official service in the municipal office. At the same time, the fact that Herman was an excellent football player played a primary role, and the first rays of glory gilded him as a forward of the local football team. Herman began his journey into the sky as a glider pilot in 1932, and in 1935 he was accepted into the Luftwaffe. In 1936 he was accepted into the flying school in Karlsruhe and graduated on September 25, 1936. In May 1938, he improved his qualifications as a pilot and, having evaded being sent for retraining on multi-engine vehicles, as a non-commissioned officer, he insisted on being assigned to the second detachment of JG51, armed with Me-109 E-1 fighters.

author Yurado Carlos Caballero

Baltic Volunteers: The Luftwaffe In June 1942, a unit known as the Buschmann Naval Reconnaissance Squadron began recruiting Estonian volunteers. The following month it became the 15th Naval Air Reconnaissance Squadron of the 127th

author Zefirov Mikhail Vadimovich

Aces of the Luftwaffe attack aircraft The replicated view of the Ju-87 attack aircraft diving with a terrible howl at its target - the famous "Stuck" - for many years has already become a household word, personifying the offensive power of the Luftwaffe. So it was in practice. Effective

From the book of Asa Luftwaffe. Who is who. Endurance, power, attention author Zefirov Mikhail Vadimovich

Aces of the Luftwaffe bomber aircraft The words "restraint" and "power" in the titles of the two previous chapters can be fully attributed to the actions of the Luftwaffe bomber aircraft. Although formally it was not strategic, its crews sometimes had to carry out in the air

From the book "Stalin's Falcons" against the aces of the Luftwaffe author Baevsky Georgy Arturovich

The collapse of the Wehrmacht and the Luftwaffe The number of sorties from the Sprottau airfield has significantly decreased compared to our previous stay in February at this airfield. In April, instead of IL-2, we accompany new Il-10 attack aircraft with more

the author Karashchuk Andrey

Volunteers in the Luftwaffe. In the summer of 1941, during the retreat of the Red Army, all materiel of the former Estonian Air Force was destroyed or taken to the east. Only four Estonian-made RTO-4 monoplanes remained on the territory of Estonia, which were the property of

From the book Eastern Volunteers in the Wehrmacht, Police and SS the author Karashchuk Andrey

Volunteers in the Luftwaffe. While in Estonia the air legion actually existed since 1941, in Latvia the decision to create a similar formation was made only in July 1943, when the lieutenant colonel of the Latvian Air Force J. Rusels got into contact with representatives

Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe (Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe; ObdL), Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force. This post belonged to Herman

From the book The Greatest Air Aces of the 20th Century author Bodrikhin Nikolay Georgievich

Aces of the Luftwaffe At the suggestion of some Western authors, carefully accepted by domestic compilers, German aces are considered the most productive fighter pilots of the Second World War, and, accordingly, in history, who achieved fabulous

From the book The Big Show. World War II through the eyes of a French pilot author Klosterman Pierre

The last push of the Luftwaffe on January 1, 1945. On that day, the state of the German armed forces was not entirely clear. When the offensive in Rundstedt failed, the Nazis, who took up position on the banks of the Rhine and were pretty crushed by Russian troops in Poland and Czechoslovakia,

From the book "Air Bridges" of the Third Reich author Zablotsky Alexander Nikolaevich

THE IRON "Aunt" OF THE LUFTWAFFE AND OTHERS ... The bulky and angular, unsightly three-engine Ju-52 / 3m, better known in the Luftwaffe and in the Wehrmacht under the nickname "Aunt Yu", became the main type of aircraft of the military transport aviation of Germany. By the start of World War II, it seemed

From the book Aviation of the Red Army author Kozyrev Mikhail Egorovich

From the book World War II at sea and in the air. Causes of the defeat of the naval and air forces of Germany author Marshall Wilhelm

Luftwaffe in the war with Russia In the early autumn of 1940, the Luftwaffe began an air war against England. At the same time, preparations for war with Russia also unfolded. Even in the days of the decision-making regarding Russia, it became obvious that the defense capability of England is much higher, and

What prompted me to choose this topic?
War is a time of testing, where everyone shows their true nature. Someone betrays and sells loved ones, their ideals and values ​​in order to save their miserable life, which is essentially worthless.
But there is another group of people who, on the "scale" of values, assign to saving their lives, if not the last, then not the first place. Combat pilots also belong to this group of people.
I do not single out pilots by belonging to one or another opposing side. I don't draw any conclusions. Let everyone, having read the material provided by me, draw conclusions for himself. I just wrote about the brave people who were, are and will be in history. And I set these people as an example.

ace(fr. as - ace; first in his field) - master of air combat. For the first time this word was applied in the First World War to military pilots who are fluent in the art of piloting and air combat and shot down at least 5 enemy aircraft.
In World War II, the best ace of the USSR and allies is Ivan Kozhedub, who shot down 62 aircraft. Among the aces (experts) of Nazi Germany who fought on the Eastern Front, there were those whose combat score was in the hundreds. The absolute record for the number of confirmed victories in the history of aviation - 352 enemy aircraft - belongs to the Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann. Among the aces of other countries, the leadership belongs to the Finn Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, who has 94 enemy aircraft on his account.
After the end of World War II and the advent of jet aircraft, the number of downed aircraft per pilot fell, which was caused by the relative limitations of local conflicts. The appearance of new aces was noted only in the Korean, Vietnamese, Iranian-Iraqi, Arab-Israeli and Indo-Pakistani wars. Soviet pilots Yevgeny Pepelyaev and Nikolai Sutyagin won a record number of victories on a jet aircraft during the Korean War - 23 and 21 enemy aircraft, respectively. The third place in the number of downed aircraft in the history of jet aviation is occupied by Israeli Air Force Colonel Giora Epstein - 17 aircraft, and 9 of them - in two days.

Aces of the USSR

27 Soviet fighter pilots, awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union three times and twice for military exploits, won from 22 to 62 victories, in total they shot down 1044 enemy aircraft (plus 184 in the group). Over 800 pilots have 16 or more victories. Our aces (3% of all pilots) destroyed 30% of enemy aircraft.

Kozhedub, Ivan Nikitovich

Figure 1 - Three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Air Marshal Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub (June 8, 1920, Obrazhievka village, Glukhovsky district, Chernigov province, Ukrainian SSR - August 8, 1991, Moscow) - Soviet military leader, ace pilot of the Great Patriotic War, the most successful fighter pilot in Allied aviation (64 personal victories ). Three times Hero of the Soviet Union. Air Marshal (May 6, 1985).
Ivan Kozhedub was born in Ukraine into a peasant family. He made his first steps in aviation while studying at the Shostka flying club. Since 1940 - in the ranks of the Red Army. In 1941 he graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School, where he began his service as an instructor.
After the outbreak of war, together with the aviation school, he was evacuated to Central Asia. In November 1942, Kozhedub was seconded to the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 302nd Fighter Aviation Division, which was being formed in Ivanovo. In March 1943, as part of a division, he flew to the Voronezh Front.

Figure 2 - Ivan Kozhedub against the background of La-5FN (tail number 14)


Figure 3 - La-7 I.N. Kozhedub, 176th GvIAP, spring 1945

The first air battle ended in failure for Kozhedub and almost became the last - his La-5 was damaged by a Messerschmitt-109 cannon burst, the armored back saved him from an incendiary projectile, and upon returning he was fired upon by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners and 2 anti-aircraft shells hit the plane. Despite the fact that he managed to land the plane, it was not subject to full restoration, and Kozhedub had to fly on the "remnants" - free planes available in the squadron. Soon they wanted to take him to the alert post, but the regiment commander stood up for him. On July 6, 1943, on the Kursk Bulge, during the fortieth sortie, Kozhedub shot down his first German aircraft, the Junkers 87 bomber. The very next day he shot down the second, and on July 9 he shot down 2 Bf-109 fighters at once. The first title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Kozhedub on February 4, 1944 for 146 sorties and 20 downed enemy aircraft.
Since May 1944, Ivan Kozhedub fought on the La-5FN (side number 14), built at the expense of the collective farmer-beekeeper of the Stalingrad region V.V. Konev. In August 1944, he was appointed deputy commander of the 176th Guards Regiment and began to fight on the new La-7 fighter. The second medal "Gold Star" Kozhedub was awarded on August 19, 1944 for 256 sorties and 48 downed enemy aircraft.

Figure 4 - La-7 early series
Figure 5 - La-7 cockpit

By the end of the war, Ivan Kozhedub, by that time a major in the guards, flew La-7, made 330 sorties, shot down 62 enemy aircraft in 120 air battles, including 17 Ju-87 dive bombers, 2 Ju-88 and He bombers. -111, 16 Bf-109 and 21 Fw-190 fighters, 3 Hs-129 attack aircraft and 1 Me-262 jet fighter. The last battle in the Great Patriotic War, in which he shot down 2 FW-190s, Kozhedub fought in the sky over Berlin. Throughout the war, Kozhedub was never shot down. Kozhedub received the third Gold Star medal on August 18, 1945 for high military skill, personal courage and courage shown on the war fronts. He was an excellent shooter and preferred to open fire at a distance of 200-300 meters, rarely approaching a shorter distance.

Figure 6 - Medal "Gold Star" - an attribute of the Hero of the Soviet Union

In addition to A.I. Pokryshkin and I.N. Kozhedub three times Hero of the USSR was S.M. Budyonny. More stars (four) had L.I. Brezhnev and G.K. Zhukov.
Kozhedub's flight biography also includes two US Air Force P-51 Mustangs shot down in 1945, which attacked him, mistaking him for a German aircraft.
At the end of the war, Kozhedub continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1949 he graduated from the Red Banner Air Force Academy, in 1956 - the Military Academy of the General Staff. During the Korean War, he commanded the 324th Fighter Aviation Division as part of the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps. From April 1951 to January 1952, the division's pilots scored 216 air victories, losing only 27 aircraft (9 pilots died).
In 1964-1971 - Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District. Since 1971 he served in the central apparatus of the Air Force, and since 1978 - in the Group of General Inspectors of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. In 1985, I. N. Kozhedub was awarded the military rank of Air Marshal. He was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 2-5 convocations, a people's deputy of the USSR.
Died August 8, 1991. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. The bronze bust was installed at home in the village of Obrazhievka. His La-7 (tail number 27) is on display at the Air Force Museum in Monino. Also, a park in the city of Sumy (Ukraine) was named after Ivan Kozhedub; a monument to the pilot was erected near the entrance.

Pokryshkin, Alexander Ivanovich

Figure 7 - Three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Air Marshal Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin - Soviet ace pilot, the second most successful Soviet fighter pilot of the Great Patriotic War. The first three times Hero of the Soviet Union. Air Marshal (1972). Honorary citizen of Mariupol and Novosibirsk.
Pokryshkin was born in Novosibirsk, the son of a factory worker. Grew up in poverty. But unlike his peers, he was more interested in studying than in fights and petty crimes. In his youth he had the nickname Engineer. He became interested in aviation at the age of 12, at a local air show, and the dream of becoming a pilot never left him after that. In 1928, after graduating from a seven-year school, he went to work at a construction site. In 1930, despite his father's protests, he left home and entered the local technical school, where he studied for 18 months. Then he voluntarily joined the army and was sent to an aviation school. His dream seemed about to come true. Unfortunately, the profile of the school was suddenly changed and I had to study as an aircraft mechanic. Official requests for transfer to the flight department received the standard answer "Soviet aviation needs technicians." After graduating in 1933 from the Perm military-technical school, he quickly rose in position. In December 1934, he became chief aviation mechanic in the 74th Infantry Division. He remained in this position until November 1938. During this period, his creative nature began to come to light: he proposed a number of improvements to the ShKAS machine gun and a number of other things.
In the end, Pokryshkin outwitted his superiors: during his vacation in the winter of 1938, he completed the annual civilian pilot program in 17 days. This automatically made him eligible for flight school. Without even packing his suitcase, he boarded the train. He graduated with top marks in 1939, and with the rank of first lieutenant was assigned to the 55th Fighter Regiment.
He was in Moldova in June 1941, close to the border, and his airfield was bombed on June 22, 1941, the first day of the war. His first dogfight was a disaster. He shot down a Soviet plane. It was a Su-2, a light bomber, its pilot survived, but the gunner was killed.
He scored his first victory against the illustrious Bf-109 the next day, when he and his wingman were reconnaissance. On July 3, having won several more victories, he was hit by a German anti-aircraft gun behind the front line and made his way to his unit for four days. During the first weeks of the war, Pokryshkin clearly saw how outdated Soviet military doctrine was, and gradually began to enter his ideas into a notebook. He carefully recorded all the details of the air battles in which he and his friends participated and made a detailed analysis. He had to fight in the extremely difficult conditions of constant retreat. He later said "he who did not fight in 1941-1942 does not know the real war."
Pokryshkin was close to death several times. A machine gun round went through his seat on the right side, damaged his shoulder strap, ricocheted off the left side, and scratched his chin, covering his dashboard in blood.

Figure 8 - MiG-3 fighter A.I. Pokryshkin, 55th IAP, summer 1941

In the winter of 1941, Pokryshkin, flying a MiG-3, took off despite mud and rain after two other pilots crashed while trying to take off. His mission was to locate von Kleist's tanks, which were stopped in front of the town of Shakhty and then lost to the Soviets. After he, despite running out of fuel and terrible weather conditions, was able to return and report this important information, he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
In the late winter of 1942, his regiment was called back from the front to learn a new type of fighter P-39 Airacobra. During training, Pokryshkin often disagreed with the new regiment commander, who did not accept Pokryshkin's criticism of Soviet military aviation doctrine. The commander fabricated a case against Pokryshkin in a field court, accusing him of cowardice, lack of subordination and disobedience to orders. However, the highest authority acquitted him. In 1943, Pokryshkin fought in the Kuban against the famous German fighter air formations. His new tactics for patrolling the airspace, and the use of ground-based radar and an advanced ground-based control system, brought the Soviet Air Force its first major victory over the Luftwaffe.
In January 1943, the 16th Guards Aviation Regiment was sent to the border with Iran to receive new equipment and new pilots. The regiment returned to the front on April 8, 1943. During this period, Pokryshkin chalked up ten downed Bf-109s during his first flight on the Aerocobra. The next day, April 9, he was able to confirm 2 of the 7 aircraft he shot down. Pokryshkin received his first title of Hero of the Soviet Union on April 24, 1943., the rank of major was awarded to him in June.
In most sorties, Pokryshkin took on the most difficult task of shooting down the leader. As he understood from the experience of 1941-1942, knocking out the leader meant demoralizing the enemy and often forcing him to return to his airfield. Pokryshkin received the second Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union on August 24, 1943 after an investigation by the Specialists.

Figure 9 - MiG-3 at the field airfield
Figure 10 - Cockpit

Figure 11 - Installation of ShVAK guns on the MiG-3

In February 1944, Pokryshkin received a promotion and an offer of light paperwork to manage the training of new pilots. But he immediately rejected this offer and remained in his old regiment in his former rank. However, he did not fly as much as before. Pokryshkin became a famous hero and became a very important propaganda tool, so he was not allowed to fly much for fear of him being killed in battle. Instead of flying, he spent a lot of time in the bunker directing the battles of his regiment by radio. In June 1944, Pokryshkin was promoted to colonel and commanded the 9th Guards Air Division. On August 19, 1944, after 550 sorties and 53 official victories, Pokryshkin was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time. He became the first to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union three times. He was forbidden to fly with everyone, but sometimes allowed. Of his 65 official victories, only 6 were won in the last two years of the war.

Figure 12 - Medal "Gold Star" - an attribute of the Hero of the Soviet Union

After the war, he was passed over again and again for promotion. Only after Stalin's death did he again find himself in favor and was finally promoted to aviation general. However, he never held the highest positions in aviation. His highest post was the post of head of DOSAAF. Pokryshkin was again ostracized for his honesty and directness. Despite strong pressure, he refused to glorify Brezhnev and his role in the battle for the Kuban. Pokryshkin died on November 13, 1985 at the age of 72.

Aces of Germany

During World War II, according to German data, the Luftwaffe pilots scored about 70,000 victories. More than 5,000 German pilots became aces with five or more victories. More than 8,500 German fighter pilots were killed, 2,700 were missing or taken prisoner. 9,100 pilots were wounded during sorties.

Hartmann, Erich Alfred

Figure 13 - Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann

Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann German ace pilot, considered the most successful fighter pilot in the history of aviation. According to German data, during the Second World War, he made 1425 sorties, shooting down 352 enemy aircraft (of which 345 were Soviet) in 825 air battles. During this time, his plane was shot down 14 times, always for the same reasons - due to damage from the wreckage of the downed plane, or technical malfunctions, but he was never shot down by the enemy. During such occasions, Hartmann always managed to jump out with a parachute. Friends called him "the blond knight of Germany."
As a pre-war glider pilot, Hartmann joined the Luftwaffe in 1940 and completed pilot training in 1942. He was soon assigned to the 52nd Fighter Squadron (Jagdgeschwader 52) on the eastern front, where he came under the tutelage of experienced Luftwaffe fighter pilots. Under their guidance, Hartmann developed his skills and tactics, which eventually earned him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds on 25 August 1944 (only 27 men in the German armed forces held this distinction), for the 301st confirmed air victory.

Figure 14 - Fighter: Messerschmitt Bf 109

Figure 15 - Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds

Until the end of the war, Hartmann made more than 1,400 sorties, in which he conducted 825 air battles. Hartmann himself often said that the fact that he did not lose a single wingman during the entire war was dearer to him than all victories.
Erich Hartmann made his 352nd and last air victory on May 8, 1945. He and the remaining members of JG 52 surrendered to American forces, but were handed over to the Soviet Army. Accused of war crimes, sentenced to 25 years in maximum security camps, Hartmann would spend 10 and a half years in them, until 1955. In 1956, he joined the rebuilt West German Luftwaffe, and became the first squadron commander of JG 71 Richthoffen. In 1970, he left the army, largely due to his rejection of the American Lockheed F-104 Starfighter fighter, which was then equipped with the troops of the FRG, and constant conflicts with superiors. Erich Hartmann died in 1993.

Rudel, Hans-Ulrich (Attack Luftwaffe)

Figure 16 - Hans-Ulrich Rudel

Hans-Ulrich Rudel (German: Hans-Ulrich Rudel; July 2, 1916 - December 18, 1982) - the most famous and successful pilot of the Yu-87 Stuka dive bomber during the Second World War. The only holder of the full bow of the Knight's Cross: with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (since December 29, 1944). The only foreigner to be awarded Hungary's highest honor, the Gold Medal for Valor. Only Hermann Göring surpassed Rudel in the number of awards. Active Nazi, never criticized Hitler.
Hans-Ulrich Rudel is rightfully considered the most famous combat pilot of the Second World War. In less than four years, piloting mainly the slow and vulnerable Ju-87 "Shtuka" dive bombers, he made 2530 sorties, more than any other pilot in the world, destroyed 519 Soviet tanks (more than five tank corps), more than 1000 locomotives , cars and other vehicles, sank the battleship "Marat", a cruiser, a destroyer, 70 landing craft, bombed 150 artillery positions, howitzer, anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, destroyed many bridges and pillboxes, shot down 7 Soviet fighters and 2 Il-2 attack aircraft, himself was shot down by anti-aircraft fire about thirty times (and never by fighters), was wounded five times, two of them seriously, but continued to fly sorties after the amputation of his right leg, saved six crews who made an emergency landing in enemy territory, and at the end of the war became the only soldier of the German army to receive the highest and specially established award of his country for bravery, the "Golden Oak Leaves with Swords and Diamonds to the Knight's at the cross of the Iron Cross".

Figure 17 - Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds

Rudel started the war as a modest lieutenant, whom his colleagues bullied for his love of milk and for a long time was not allowed to take part in combat sorties as unable to learn how to fly an aircraft, and ended it with the rank of oberst, commander of the oldest and most famous aviation unit of the Ju-87 dive bombers (Schlachtgeschwader) SG2 " Immelman". Hitler forbade him to fly several times, believing that his death would be a severe blow to the nation, Field Marshal Ferdinand Scherner called him worthy of an entire division, and Stalin estimated his head at 100,000 rubles, which he promised to pay to anyone who could deliver Rudel, dead or alive, into the hands of the Soviet command.

Figure 18 - Junkers-87 "Thing" (Junkers Ju-87 Stu rz ka mpfflugzeug - dive bomber)

After the war, a book of Rudel's war memoirs, "Trotzdem", better known by its English title "Pilot" Stuki ", was published many times since then in many languages ​​​​of the world with a total circulation of more than a million copies. Nevertheless, a book that was unanimously recognized in its time literary event and became a military memoir classic over the past decades, has never been translated into Russian, despite the fact that Rudel made almost all of his sorties on the Eastern Front (according to other sources, the book was still published in Russia at least twice). This will be clear to the reader after viewing the very first chapters.From the pages of the book we see a portrait of a thinking man, cold-blooded, strong-willed, fearless, with bright commanding qualities, although not alien to emotions, vulnerable, sometimes doubting himself, constantly struggling with inhuman tension and fatigue. At the same time, Rudel remains a convinced fascist. This is not some yesterday's stu a dent trained in hastily to fly on a reduced program and thrown into battle, and a career officer of the Luftwaffe, who strives to inflict maximum damage on a hated enemy by any means and with any weapon at his disposal, the meaning of life of which is to exterminate the enemies of Germany, conquer her "living space" , successful missions, military career, awards, respect for subordinates, favorable attitude of Hitler, Goering, Himmler, adoration of the nation. Rudel will remain in the history of the Second World War and Hitler's Germany as a finished product of Nazi "indoctrination", the archetype of a fascist military officer, completely devoted to Hitler and the Third Reich, who until his death believed that Hitler's fight against the "Asian communist hordes" was the only possible and fair.

Figure 19 - Ju 87G "Shtuka" - tank destroyer. With two 37 mm BK 37 cannons mounted in pods under the wings

Figure 20 - "Pieces" - sortie

In mid-April 1946, after being discharged from a hospital in Bavaria where he was recovering from an amputation, Rudel worked as a transport contractor in Kösfeld, Westphalia. On his prosthesis, made especially for him by the famous master Strijde from Tyrol, he took part in a number of ski competitions and, together with his friends and fellow soldiers Bauer and Niermann, made a mountain trip to South Tyrol. Later, having lost his job and any prospects, with the label of "an ardent militarist and fascist", he moved to Rome, and in July 1948 v to Argentina, where, along with a number of other well-known Luftwaffe veterans, Generals Werner Baumbach and Adolf Galland, test pilots Behrens and Steinkamp, ​​the former Focke-Wulf designer Kurt Tank helped create Argentine military aviation, worked as a consultant in the aircraft industry.
Rudel, having settled in the vicinity of the Argentine city of Cordoba, where there was a large aircraft factory, was actively involved in his favorite sports in swimming, tennis, javelin and discus throwing, skiing and rock climbing in the Sierra Grande mountains. In his spare time he worked on his memoirs, first published in Buenos Aires in 1949. Despite his prosthesis, he took part in the South American Alpine Skiing Championship in San Carlos de Bariloja and finished fourth. In 1951, Rudel climbed Aconcagua in the Argentine Andes, the highest peak on the American mainland, and reached 7,000 meters when bad weather forced him to turn back.
While in South America, Rudel met and became close friends with Argentine President Juan Perón and Paraguayan President Alfredo Stroessner. He was active in social work among the Nazis who left Europe and immigrants of German origin, participating in the Kameradenhilfe, as his opponents believed, an "NSDAP-like" organization, which, nevertheless, sent food parcels to German prisoners of war and helped their families.
In 1951, Rudel published two political pamphlets in Buenos Aires - "We, the front-line soldiers and our opinion on the rearmament of Germany" and "Stab in the back or Legend." In the first book, Rudel, speaking on behalf of all front-line soldiers, claims that he is again ready to fight against the Bolsheviks and for the "living space" in the east, which is still necessary for the survival of the German nation. In the second, devoted to the consequences of the assassination attempt on Hitler in June 1944, Rudel explains to the reader that the responsibility for the defeat of Germany in the war lies with the generals who did not understand the strategic genius of the Fuhrer and, in particular, the conspiring officers, since the political crisis caused by their assassination attempt allowed Allies gain a foothold in Europe.
After the end of the contract with the Argentine government in the early 1950s. Rudel returned to Germany, where he continued his successful career as a consultant and businessman. In 1953, at the height of the first stage of the Cold War, when public opinion became more tolerant of former Nazis, he published his Trotzdem for the first time in his homeland. Rudel also made an attempt to run for the Bundestag on behalf of the ultra-conservative DRP, but was defeated in the elections. He took an active part in the annual meetings of veterans "Immelmann", in 1965 he opened a memorial to the dead SG2 pilots in Burg-Staufenburg. Despite a stroke in 1970, Rudel continued to play sports actively and contributed to the organization of the first German championships for disabled athletes. He spent the last years of his life in Kufstein, Austria, continuing to embarrass official Bonn with his far-right political statements.
Hans-Ulrich Rudel died in December 1982 from a cerebral hemorrhage in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 66.

Aces of Japan

Nishizawa, Hiroyoshi

Figure 21 - Hiroyoshi Nishizawa

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (January 27, 1920 - October 26, 1944) - Japanese ace, pilot of the Imperial Naval Aviation in World War II.
Perhaps Nishizawa was the best Japanese ace in the entire war: by the time of his death, he had won 87 aerial victories. These statistics are not very accurate, as in Japanese aviation it was customary to keep statistics of the squadron, and not personally pilots, and also because of excessively stringent accounting requirements. Newspapers wrote after his death about 150 victories, he told his family about 147, some sources mention 102, and even 202 are supposed.
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa gained fame after his death, to a large extent this was facilitated by his comrade Saburo Sakai. Both of these pilots were among the best aces of Japanese naval aviation. Nishizawa was born on January 27, 1920 in Nagano Prefecture in the family of a successful manager. In June 1936, he joined the navy, his decision was the result of an advertising campaign calling on young people to connect their lives with the imperial navy. Hiroyoshi had only one dream - to become a pilot. He carried it out by completing a flight training course in March 1939.
Before the start of the Pacific War, Nishizawa served in the Chitose air group, which was based in the Marshall Islands and was armed with Type 96 Claude fighters. In February 1942 he was transferred to the 4th air group. On February 3, 1942, Nishizawa shot down his first aircraft over Rabaul, flying an obsolete Claude.
With the arrival of the Tainan air group in Rabaul, the pilot was included in the 2nd squadron. Nishizawa got into the pleasant campaign of Saburo Sakai. Sakai, Nishizawa and Ota formed the famous "Brilliant Trio". The young pilot quickly became a skilled air fighter. He scored his first victory as part of the Tainan air group on May 1, 1942, shooting down an American Airacobra over Port Moresby. The next day, two P40s fell victim to his fighter's cannons. Opponents of the pilots of the Tainan air group in May 1942 were the pilots of the 35th and 36th squadrons of the US Air Force.
August 7, 1942 was the most successful day in the career of Hiroyoshi Nishizawa. During his very first encounter with American carrier-based fighter pilots, the Japanese shot down six F4Fs from the VF5 squadron. "Zero" Nishizawa was also damaged, but the pilot managed to return to his airfield.

Figure 22 - A6M2 "Zero" model 21 on the deck of the aircraft carrier "Shokaku" preparing for an attack on Pearl Harbor

On November 8, the 251st Air Group was created on the basis of the remnants of the Tainan Air Group.
On May 14, 1943, 33 Zero fighters escorted 18 Betty bombers flying to bomb American ships in Oro Bay. All planes of the 49th Fighter Air Group of the US Air Force, three P40 squadrons, rose to intercept. In the ensuing skirmish, Nishizawa shot down one Warhawk reliably and two suspected, then he scored his first victory over a twin-engined Lightning. In total, Japanese pilots chalked up 15 aircraft shot down in air combat; in fact, the Americans lost only one P38 Lightning fighter from the 19th Fighter Squadron of the US Air Force.
Sooner or later, Nishizawa had to meet in the air the best fighter of the Pacific War, the F4U Corsair. Such an encounter took place on June 7, 1943 over Russells, when 81 Zeros grappled with a hundred American and New Zealand fighters. Four Corsairs from the VMF112 squadron were shot down in that battle, three pilots managed to escape. Nishizawa chalked up one US Marine Corps Corsair and one New Zealand Air Force P40.
For the rest of the summer of 1943, Nishizawa flew almost daily combat missions around Rendova and Vella Lavella. American pilots from squadrons VMF121, VMF122, VMF123, VMF124 and VMF221 stubbornly and unsuccessfully hunted for the "Pacific Devil". For success in combat work, the commander of the 11th Air Fleet, Admiral Inichi Kusaka, solemnly presented Hiroyoshi Nishizawa with a samurai sword.
In September, the 251st air group began to prepare for night interceptions, and Nishizawa was transferred to the 253rd air group, which was based at the Rabaul airfield of Tobira. The ace fought in the new unit for only a month, after which he was recalled in October to instructor work in Japan. In November, Nishizawa was promoted to warrant officer.
The veteran of the Pacific battles perceived the new appointment as if he were appointed as a nurse in a nursery. Nishizawa rushed to the front. His numerous requests were granted: the pilot left for the Philippines at the disposal of the headquarters of the 201st air group. The Japanese were preparing to repel the American invasion of the Philippines.
The date of the first successful kamikaze attack is October 25, 1944, when Lieutenant Yukio Shiki and four other pilots attacked American aircraft carriers in Leyte Gulf. Nishizawa played a certain role in the success of the first suicidal action: he, at the head of the four fighters, accompanied the planes of kamikaze pilots. Nishizawa shot down two Hellcat patrols, allowing Shiki to launch his last assault. Nishizawa himself asked the command to allow him to become a kamikaze. The most experienced fighter pilot is too valuable to use in a suicide strike. Nishizawa's request was denied.
On October 26, Nishizawa flew the 1021st Naval Air Transport Group from Kubi Island to Mabalakat (Clark Field area) to receive a new Zero. On the route, the plane went missing, the radio operator managed to transmit an SOS signal. For a long time, nothing was known about the circumstances of the death of the car.
The circumstances of Nishizawa's death became clear only in 1982. The transport plane was intercepted over the northern tip of Mindoro Island by a pair of Helkets from VF14 squadron, which shot it down.
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was posthumously promoted to the rank of lieutenant. In accordance with the official data of the Japanese Navy, Nishizawa personally shot down 36 aircraft and damaged two during his service in the 201st air group. Shortly before his death, the pilot submitted a report to his commander, Commodore Harutoshi Okamoto, which indicated the number of victories won by Nishizawa in air battles - 86. In post-war studies, the number of aircraft shot down by the ace increased to 103 and even 147.

Link List

1. Wikipedia. Ace pilot. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace Pilot

2. Wikipedia. Kozhedub, Ivan Nikitovich. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kozhedub,_Ivan_Nikitovich

3. Wikipedia. Pokryshkin, Alexander I. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Pokryshkin,_Alexander_Ivanovich

4. Wikipedia. Hartmann, Erich Alfred. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartmann,_Erich_Alfred

5. Wikipedia. Rudel, Hans-Ulrich. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudel,_Hans-Ulrich

6. Wikipedia. Nishizawa, Hiroyoshi. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishizawa,_Hiroyoshi

7. Wikipedia. List of pilots-aces of the Second World War. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pilot-aces_of_Second_World_War

8. Corner of the sky. Sky knights. Pilots-aces of the Second World War. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://www.airwar.ru/history/aces/ace2ww/skyknight.html

9. Corner of the sky. MiG-3. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://www.airwar.ru/enc/fww2/mig3.html

10. Wikipedia. German Air Force 1933-1945. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe

11. Wikipedia. The hero of the USSR. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_the_Soviet_Union

12. Wikipedia. Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Cross_of_Iron_Cross

13. Stalin's falcons. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://www.hranitels.ru/

14. Dokuchaev A. Whose pilots were better in World War II? [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://www.allaces.ru/cgi-bin/s2.cgi/ge/publ/03.dat

15. Sinitsyn E. Alexander Pokryshkin - the genius of the air war. Psychology of heroism (fragments from the book). [Electronic resource] - Article access mode: http://www.s-genius.ru/vse_knigi/pokrishkin_universal.htm

16. Bakursky V. Comparison of fighters of the second world war. [Electronic resource] - Article access mode:

Our aces pilots during the Great Patriotic War terrified the Germans. The exclamation "Akhtung! Akhtung! Pokryshkin is in the sky!" became widely known. But Alexander Pokryshkin was not the only Soviet ace. We remembered the most productive.

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub

Ivan Kozhedub was born in 1920 in the Chernigov province. He is considered the most successful Russian fighter pilot in personal combat, with 64 aircraft shot down. The beginning of the career of the famous pilot was unsuccessful, in the very first battle his plane was seriously damaged by the enemy Messerschmit, and when returning to the base, Russian anti-aircraft gunners fired on him by mistake, and only by a miracle did he manage to land. The plane was not subject to restoration, and they even wanted to retrain the unlucky newcomer, but the regiment commander stood up for him. Only during his 40th sortie on the Kursk Bulge, Kozhedub, having already become a “batya” - deputy squadron commander, shot down his first “lappet”, as ours called the German Junkers. After that, the score went to tens.

The last battle in the Great Patriotic War, in which he shot down 2 FW-190s, Kozhedub fought in the sky over Berlin. In addition, Kozhedub also has two American Mustang aircraft shot down in 1945, which attacked him, mistaking his fighter for a German aircraft. The Soviet ace acted on the principle that he professed even when working with cadets - "any unknown aircraft is an enemy." Throughout the war, Kozhedub was never shot down, although often his plane received very serious damage.

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin

Pokryshkin is one of the most famous aces of Russian aviation. Born in 1913 in Novosibirsk. He won his first victory on the second day of the war, shooting down the German Messerschmitt. In total, he accounted for 59 personally shot down aircraft and 6 in the group. However, this is only official statistics, because, being the commander of an air regiment, and then an air division, Pokryshkin sometimes gave downed planes to young pilots in order to encourage them in this way.

His notebook, entitled "Fighter Tactics in Combat", became a real guide to air warfare. They say that the Germans warned about the appearance of a Russian ace with the phrase: “Akhtung! Achtung! Pokryshkin in the air. The one who knocked down Pokryshkin was promised a big reward, but the Russian pilot turned out to be too tough for the Germans. Pokryshkin is considered the inventor of the "Kuban whatnot" - a tactical method of air combat, the Germans called him the "Kuban escalator", because the planes arranged in pairs resembled a giant staircase. In battle, German aircraft leaving the first stage were hit by the second, and then the third stage. His other favorite tricks were "falcon strike" and "high-speed" swing ". It is worth noting that Pokryshkin won most of his victories in the early years of the war, when the Germans had a significant air superiority.

Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev

Born in 1918 in the village of Aksayskaya near Rostov. His first battle is reminiscent of the feat of the Grasshopper from the movie “Only Old Men Go to Battle”: without an order, for the first time in his life, taking off at night under the howling of an air raid on his Yak, he managed to shoot down a German Heinkel night fighter. For such arbitrariness, he was punished, while presenting him for a reward.

In the future, Gulaev was usually not limited to one downed aircraft per flight, he scored four victories three times a day, destroyed three aircraft twice, and made a double in seven battles. In total, he shot down 57 aircraft personally and 3 in the group. One enemy plane Gulaev, when he ran out of ammunition, took to ram, after which he himself fell into a tailspin and barely managed to eject. His risky manner of fighting became a symbol of the romantic trend in the art of aerial duel.

Grigory Andreevich Rechkalov

Born in 1920 in the Perm province. On the eve of the war, at the medical flight commission, he was found to have a slight degree of color blindness, but the regiment commander did not even look at the medical report - the pilots were very needed. He won his first victory on an outdated I-153 biplane number 13, unlucky for the Germans, as he joked. Then he got into Pokryshkin's group and was trained on the Aerocobra, an American fighter, which became famous for its tough temper - it very easily went into a tailspin at the slightest pilot error, the Americans themselves were reluctant to fly on such. In total, he shot down 56 aircraft personally and 6 in the group. Perhaps, none of our other ace on a personal account has such a variety of types of downed aircraft as Rechkalov, these are bombers, and attack aircraft, and reconnaissance aircraft, and fighters, and transport workers, and relatively rare trophies - "Savoy" and PZL -24.

Georgy Dmitrievich Kostylev

Born in Oranienbaum, now Lomonosov, in 1914. He began flying practice in Moscow at the legendary Tushino airfield, where the Spartak stadium is now being built. The legendary Baltic ace, who covered the sky over Leningrad, won the largest number of victories in naval aviation, personally shot down at least 20 enemy aircraft and 34 in a group.

He shot down his first Messerschmitt on July 15, 1941. He fought on a British Hurricane received under lend-lease, on the left side of which there was a large inscription "For Russia!". In February 1943, he landed in a penal battalion for having arranged a rout in the house of a major of the commissary service. Kostylev was struck by the abundance of dishes with which he regaled his guests, and could not restrain himself, because he knew firsthand what was happening in the besieged city. He was deprived of awards, demoted to the Red Army and sent to the Oranienbaum bridgehead, to the places where he spent his childhood. The prisoner saved the hero, and already in April he again lifts his fighter into the air and defeats the enemy. Later he was reinstated in the rank, the awards were returned, but he never received the second Star of the Hero.

Maresyev Alexey Petrovich

A legendary man who became the prototype of the hero of Boris Polevoy's story "The Tale of a Real Man", a symbol of the courage and stamina of a Russian warrior. Born in 1916 in the city of Kamyshin, Saratov province. In a battle with the Germans, his plane was shot down, the pilot, wounded in the legs, managed to land on the territory occupied by the Germans. After that, for 18 days he crawled out to his own, in the hospital both legs were amputated. But Maresyev managed to return to duty, he learned to walk on prostheses and again took to the skies. At first, they did not trust him, anything can happen in battle, but Maresyev proved that he can fight no worse than others. As a result, 7 more German aircraft were added to the 4 German aircraft shot down before being wounded. Polevoy's story about Maresyev was allowed to be printed only after the war, so that the Germans, God forbid, would not think that there was no one to fight in the Soviet army, they had to send invalids.

Popkov Vitaly Ivanovich

This pilot also cannot be ignored, because it was he who became one of the most famous incarnations of an ace pilot in cinema art - the prototype of the famous Maestro from the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle”. The "Singing Squadron" really existed in the 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, where Popkov served, it had its own choir, and Leonid Utyosov himself presented two aircraft to it.

Popkov was born in Moscow in 1922. He won his first victory in June 1942 over the city of Holm. Participated in battles on the Kalinin front, on the Don and the Kursk Bulge. In total, he made 475 sorties, conducted 117 air battles, personally shot down 41 enemy aircraft plus 1 in the group. On the last day of the war, Popkov shot down the legendary German Hartman, the most productive ace of World War II, in the sky over Brno, but he managed to land and stay alive, however, this still did not save him from captivity. Popkov's popularity was so great that a monument was erected to him during his lifetime in Moscow.