Remembering World War Two Airmen: ace

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.