 | Titus70 (0)
04/28/2005 |  Erich Hartmann is the highest scoring air ace in history.
I doubt if his tally will ever be beaten.
He worried the communist Russians so much, they (Stalin) offered a 50,000 rouble reward on him.
But this didn't stop Hartmann who continued to notch up his air wins.
Victories: 352 total, seven P-51s over Rumania( Ploesti), all others Eastern Front.
Sorties: 1,400 total, 850 aerial combats
Shot Down: 16 times.
He flew a Messerschmitt Me109 fighter.
His arial victories are confirmed.
You can get more information about his life and war time experiences at:
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/WW2History-ErichHartmann.html
Hartmann shot down the equivalent of almost 15 Allied squadrons in aerial combat.
Surrendering to the Americans at Pisek at the close of the war in 1945 , Hartmann was turned over to the Russians by the U.S. authorities. Once the Soviets realized who they had as a prisoner, he was singled out for especially brutal treatment, including long periods of solitary confinement in total darkness. Using every persuasive device known, the Russians could not convert Hartmann to Communism, and get him to work for the Soviet airforce.
After a mock-up war-crime trial Hartmann was held in prison for ten years, far longer than the other POW's.
Illegally detained, it was only after Chancellor Adenauer of W. Germany personally visited Moscow in 1955 and arranged for his release that a gaunt and haggard Erich Hartmann was released by his captors, broken in body but not in spirit.
Hartmann regained his health and joined the new West German Air Force in 1959, becoming Kommodore of JG 71, the new Richthofen Geschwader based at Fliegerhorst Ahlhorn in Oldenberg. JG 71 was the first of the new Geschwadern formed by the Federal Republic's air force.
Hartmann is quoted as saying:
Of all my accomplishments I may have achieved during the war, I am proudest of the fact that I never lost a wingman
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/WW2History-ErichHartmann.html
(3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | Guy100 (1)
12/07/2004 | since he got the most killes, he is the best german fighter pilot during ww2.
By the way, I herd that he shot down much less than 352 enemy planes, because it depended on the amount of engines that the enemy plane had. so if the plane had 4 engines, then it equals 4 killes if the plane had 2 engines it equals to 2 killes and so on...
so actually this isn't killes, it's more like points (I don't know if it's right or wrong). As far as I know only the Germans used points to count how many enemy planes were shot down.
(2 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | Wg Cr Frame (1)
09/30/2004 | although Hartmann shot down 352 aircraft, he said his greatest achievment was that he never lost a wingman, a very humble pilot - that was one of the many things I like about him.
(3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | PzKpfw VI E (27)
09/30/2004 | Hell of a pilot, one of the best the Luftwaffe had, ranked up there with Galland and Marseilles.
(4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
