Sunday, August 5, 2007

Erich Hartmann: The Greatest Fighter Pilot of All Time


Hartmann chalked up most of his victories on the Eastern Front. He remains the greatest fighter pilot of all time in terms of enemy aircraft destroyed.


In terms of claimed aircraft, German super-ace Erich Hartmann is the greatest ace of all time, in any war . Hartmann is credited with 352 victories. The top US ace, Richard Bong, had 40. The top British ace, South African Marmaduke Pattle, had 51. The top Soviet ace, Ivan Kozhedub, had 62. Japan's top fighter ace, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, had an incredible 87. It should be noted that the German pilots flew until they were killed, while Allied pilots often were promoted out of combat positions. Also, Soviet aircraft and pilots were poor in comparison to the highly-skilled German pilots and their high performance aircraft. However, this in no way tarnishes the fact that Hartmann had on average 300 more victories than even the best of his contemporaries.

Erich Hartmann joined the German Air Force in October 1940 at age 18. In March 1941 he entered flight school, and in October 1942, already in the 2nd half of World War 2, he graduated as a fighter pilot at age 20, and was posted to fighter wing 52 (JG52) which operated Me-109 fighters in South Russia. He remained in JG52 until the last day of the war, and in 1400 combat sorties he scored 352 victories which make him the all time ace of aces, the most successful fighter pilot in history. All his victories were in the eastern front. Most of them were Russian aircraft.
A very young Erich Hartmann, 20 years old and a fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe.


When he arrived, with a group of new pilots, his squadron leader, who had 13 victories then, told the new pilots that "On the ground we live by standard military discipline. In the air, the only thing that counts is how many victories you scored. Not rank, aristocratic title, age, nothing. Just how many enemy aircraft you shot down. The highest scoring pilots will always lead the formations, regardless of rank." The message was very clear and definitely got through. Erich Hartmann was assigned as wingman of Rossmann, an experienced pilot with many victories.

On the last day of the war, Hartmann flew from his base in German-occupied Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) and surrendered to the British in north-western Germany, shooting down a Soviet Yak-11 along the way. But the British handed him over to the Red Army and the Soviets held him in a prison camp for ten years. After his release in 1955, Hartmann turned down the offer of a position in the East German air force and joined the West German Luftwaffe instead.

Hartmann died in Stuttgart in 1993. His biography, The Blond Knight of Germany, written with Raymond Toliver, is recommended reading for anyone interested in the WWII air war.

Hartmann's grave in Stuttgart, Germany.

The Amazon link for Hartmann's biography is http://www.amazon.com/Blond-Knight-Germany-Raymond-Toliver/dp/0830681892/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7258335-3060614?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186347914&sr=8-1

4 comments:

Mary Shepherd said...

great to see nice input for my hero BUT the info is wrong. Erich DID NOT surrender to the brits as he was ordered to do, he would not leave his squadron. they surrendered to the us, who handed them over the russians and at gun point he witnessed the worst atrocities imaginable. then 10 years in hell. please see book blond knight of germany. a man above all men!

Anonymous said...

IT WAS COMMON PRACTICE BY US-ARMY IN AGREE-
MENT BETWEEN STALIN AND HIS WESTERN ALLIES TO
HAND OVER AFTZER WARE ALL GERMAN PRISIONERS OF WAR WHO CAME FROM THE EASTERN FRONT BACK TO THE SOVIET UNION, THERE ABT. 75 % OF THE PRI- SONERS DIED DURING SLAVEWORK OF UP TO OVER 10 YEARS. ALSO GERMAN PRISONERS OF WARE WERE GIVEN AFTER WAR FROM CAMPS IN USA TO CAMPS IN
UK AND FRANCE TO DO SLAVEWORK THERE FOR SEVE- RAL YEARS. 0VER 1 MILLION GIRLS AND WOMEN IN AGREEMENT WITH STALIN WERE CAPTURED AS SLAVES.

mister said...

Many more facts, and information in conflict with some in the article, can be found in "The Blond Knight of Germany". This man's life was an inspiration;
not only for his abilities, but for
his unfailing gallantry and forti-
tude.
Hartmann served not only at the Eastern Front, but in North Africa,
where in one day of multiple sor-ties, he had seven kills !
It should be noted that due to
shortages of pilots, the Luftwaffe
needed them to serve for "the duration", and to fly multiple
sorties day after day, resulting
in numerous of them having very
high kill counts. (Read the book ! )
After Maj. H. was released from
prison, he re-joined the Luftwaffe,
and was priviledged to fly U.S. -
made F104 Starfighters, VERY high-
performance fighter jets. I'm sure
it felt like time-travel to him;
going from 350 mph ME 109's to
1400 mph jets.Robert Mapes

r morris said...

Thank you for your corrections and comments. :)