Aces of World War II. Aces of the Luftwaffe!! (historical photos)

Representatives of the Soviet air force made a huge contribution to the defeat of the Nazi invaders. Many pilots gave their lives for the freedom and independence of our Motherland, many became Heroes of the Soviet Union. Some of them forever entered the elite of the Russian Air Force, the famous cohort of Soviet aces - the thunderstorm of the Luftwaffe. Today we recall the 10 most productive Soviet fighter pilots, who chalked up the most enemy aircraft shot down in air battles.

On February 4, 1944, the outstanding Soviet fighter pilot Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was awarded the first star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. By the end of the Great Patriotic War, he was already three times Hero of the Soviet Union. During the war years, only one more Soviet pilot was able to repeat this achievement - it was Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin. But the history of Soviet fighter aviation during the war does not end with these two most famous aces. During the war, another 25 pilots were twice presented with the title of Heroes of the Soviet Union, not to mention those who were once awarded this highest military award of the country of those years.

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub

During the war years, Ivan Kozhedub made 330 sorties, conducted 120 air battles and personally shot down 64 enemy aircraft. He flew on La-5, La-5FN and La-7 aircraft.

The official Soviet historiography featured 62 downed enemy aircraft, but archival research showed that Kozhedub shot down 64 aircraft (for some reason, two air victories were missing - April 11, 1944 - PZL P.24 and June 8, 1944 - Me 109) . Among the trophies of the Soviet ace pilot were 39 fighters (21 Fw-190, 17 Me-109 and 1 PZL P.24), 17 dive bombers (Ju-87), 4 bombers (2 Ju-88 and 2 He-111), 3 attack aircraft (Hs-129) and one Me-262 jet fighter. In addition, in his autobiography, he indicated that in 1945 he shot down two American P-51 Mustang fighters, which attacked him from a long distance, mistaking him for a German aircraft.

In all likelihood, had Ivan Kozhedub (1920-1991) started the war in 1941, his account of downed aircraft could have been even higher. However, his debut came only in 1943, and the future ace shot down his first plane in the battle of Kursk. On July 6, during a sortie, he shot down a German Ju-87 dive bomber. Thus, the performance of the pilot is really amazing, in just two war years he managed to bring the score of his victories to a record in the Soviet Air Force.

At the same time, Kozhedub was never shot down during the entire war, although he returned to the airfield several times in a badly damaged fighter. But the last could have been his first air battle, which took place on March 26, 1943. His La-5 was damaged by a German fighter burst, the armored back saved the pilot from an incendiary projectile. And upon returning home, his own air defense fired at his plane, the car received two hits. Despite this, Kozhedub managed to land the plane, which was no longer subject to full restoration.

The future best Soviet ace made his first steps in aviation while studying at the Shotkinsky flying club. At the beginning of 1940, he was drafted into the Red Army and in the fall of the same year he graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School, after which he continued to serve at this school as an instructor. With the outbreak of war, the school was evacuated to Kazakhstan. The war itself began for him in November 1942, when Kozhedub was seconded to the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 302nd Fighter Aviation Division. The formation of the division was completed only in March 1943, after which it flew to the front. As mentioned above, he won his first victory only on July 6, 1943, but a start was made.

Already on February 4, 1944, Senior Lieutenant Ivan Kozhedub was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, at that time he managed to make 146 sorties and shoot down 20 enemy aircraft in air battles. He received his second star in the same year. He was presented for the award on August 19, 1944, already for 256 combat missions and 48 enemy aircraft shot down. At that time, as a captain, he served as deputy commander of the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment.

In air battles, Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub was distinguished by fearlessness, composure and automatism of piloting, which he brought to perfection. Perhaps the fact that before being sent to the front he spent several years as an instructor played a very large role in his future success in the sky. Kozhedub could easily conduct aimed fire at the enemy at any position of the aircraft in the air, and also easily performed complex aerobatic maneuvers. Being an excellent sniper, he preferred to conduct air combat at a distance of 200-300 meters.

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub won his last victory in the Great Patriotic War on April 17, 1945 in the sky over Berlin, in this battle he shot down two German FW-190 fighters. Three times Hero of the Soviet Union, the future air marshal (the title was awarded on May 6, 1985), Major Kozhedub became on August 18, 1945. After the war, he continued to serve in the country's Air Force and went through a very serious career path, bringing more benefits to the country. The legendary pilot died on August 8, 1991, and was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin

Alexander Ivanovich Tires fought from the very first day of the war to the last. During this time, he made 650 sorties, in which he conducted 156 air battles and officially personally shot down 59 enemy aircraft and 6 aircraft in the group. He is the second most successful ace of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition after Ivan Kozhedub. During the war he flew MiG-3, Yak-1 and American P-39 Airacobra.

The number of downed aircraft is very conditional. Quite often, Alexander Pokryshkin made deep raids behind enemy lines, where he also managed to win victories. However, only those of them were counted that could be confirmed by ground services, that is, if possible, over their own territory. He could have had 8 such unrecorded victories only in 1941. At the same time, they accumulated throughout the war. Also, Alexander Pokryshkin often gave the planes he shot down to the account of his subordinates (mostly followers), stimulating them in this way. In those days it was quite common.

Already during the first weeks of the war, Pokryshkin was able to understand that the tactics of the Soviet Air Force were outdated. Then he began to enter his notes on this account in a notebook. He kept an accurate record of the air battles in which he and his friends took part, after which he made a detailed analysis of what was written. At the same time, at that time he had to fight in very difficult conditions of the constant retreat of the Soviet troops. He later said: "Those who did not fight in 1941-1942 do not know the real war."

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and massive criticism of everything that was connected with that period, some authors began to "cut down" the number of Pokryshkin's victories. This was also due to the fact that at the end of 1944, official Soviet propaganda finally made the pilot "a bright image of a hero, the main fighter of the war." In order not to lose the hero in a random battle, it was ordered to limit the flights of Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin, who by that time had already commanded the regiment. On August 19, 1944, after 550 sorties and 53 officially won victories, he became three times Hero of the Soviet Union, the first in history.

The wave of "revelations" that swept over him after the 1990s also went through him because after the war he managed to take the post of Commander-in-Chief of the country's air defense forces, that is, he became a "major Soviet official." If we talk about the low ratio of victories to completed sorties, then it can be noted that for a long time at the beginning of the war, Pokryshkin on his MiG-3, and then the Yak-1, flew to attack enemy ground forces or perform reconnaissance flights. For example, by mid-November 1941, the pilot had already completed 190 sorties, but the vast majority of them - 144 were to attack enemy ground forces.

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin was not only a cold-blooded, courageous and virtuoso Soviet pilot, but also a thinking pilot. He was not afraid to criticize the existing tactics of using fighter aircraft and advocated its replacement. Discussions on this issue with the regiment commander in 1942 led to the fact that the ace pilot was even expelled from the party and sent the case to the tribunal. The pilot was saved by the intercession of the regimental commissar and the higher command. The case against him was dropped and reinstated in the party. After the war Pokryshkin long time clashed with Vasily Stalin, which adversely affected his career. Everything changed only in 1953 after the death of Joseph Stalin. Subsequently, he managed to rise to the rank of air marshal, which was awarded to him in 1972. The famous ace pilot died on November 13, 1985 at the age of 72 in Moscow.

Grigory Andreevich Rechkalov

Grigory Andreevich Rechkalov fought from the very first day of the Great Patriotic War. Twice Hero of the Soviet Union. During the war years, he completed more than 450 sorties, shooting down 56 enemy aircraft in person and 6 in a group in 122 air battles. According to other sources, the number of his personal air victories could exceed 60. During the war years, he flew the I-153 Chaika, I-16, Yak-1, P-39 Airacobra aircraft.

Probably no other Soviet fighter pilot had such a variety of downed enemy vehicles as Grigory Rechkalov. Among his trophies were Me-110, Me-109, Fw-190 fighters, Ju-88, He-111 bombers, Ju-87 dive bomber, Hs-129 attack aircraft, Fw-189 and Hs-126 reconnaissance aircraft, as well as such a rare car as the Italian "Savoy" and the Polish PZL-24 fighter, which was used by the Romanian Air Force.

Surprisingly, the day before the start of the Great Patriotic War, Rechkalov was suspended from flying by decision of the medical flight commission, he was diagnosed with color blindness. But upon returning to his unit with this diagnosis, he was still allowed to fly. The beginning of the war forced the authorities to simply turn a blind eye to this diagnosis, simply ignoring it. At the same time, he served in the 55th Fighter Aviation Regiment since 1939, together with Pokryshkin.

This brilliant military pilot was distinguished by a very contradictory and uneven character. Showing a model of determination, courage and discipline within the framework of one sortie, in another, he could be distracted from the main task and just as resolutely start pursuing a random enemy, trying to increase the score of his victories. His combat fate in the war was closely intertwined with the fate of Alexander Pokryshkin. He flew with him in the same group, replaced him as a squadron commander and regiment commander. Pokryshkin himself considered frankness and directness to be the best qualities of Grigory Rechkalov.

Rechkalov, like Pokryshkin, fought from June 22, 1941, but with a forced break for almost two years. In the first month of fighting, he managed to shoot down three enemy aircraft on his outdated I-153 biplane fighter. He also managed to fly on the I-16 fighter. On July 26, 1941, during a sortie near Dubossary, he was wounded in the head and leg by fire from the ground, but managed to bring his plane to the airfield. After this injury, he spent 9 months in the hospital, during which time the pilot underwent three operations. And once again, the medical commission tried to put an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the future illustrious ace. Grigory Rechkalov was sent to serve in a reserve regiment, which was equipped with U-2 aircraft. The future twice Hero of the Soviet Union took this direction as a personal insult. At the headquarters of the district air force, he managed to ensure that he was returned to his regiment, which at that time was called the 17th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. But very soon the regiment was withdrawn from the front for re-equipment with the new American Airacobra fighters, which went to the USSR as part of the Lend-Lease program. For these reasons, Rechkalov began to beat the enemy again only in April 1943.

Grigory Rechkalov, being one of the domestic stars of fighter aviation, could perfectly interact with other pilots, guessing their intentions and working together as a group. Even during the war years, a conflict arose between him and Pokryshkin, but he never sought to throw out some kind of negativity about this or blame his opponent. On the contrary, in his memoirs he spoke well of Pokryshkin, noting that they managed to unravel the tactics of the German pilots, after which they began to apply new techniques: they began to fly in pairs, not in flights, it is better to use radio for guidance and communication, to separate their cars in the so-called " whatnot."

Grigory Rechkalov won 44 victories on the Aerocobra, more than other Soviet pilots. Already after the end of the war, someone asked the famous pilot what he most appreciated in the Airacobra fighter, on which so many victories were won: the power of a fire salvo, speed, visibility, engine reliability? To this question, the ace pilot replied that all of the above, of course, mattered, these were the obvious advantages of the aircraft. But the main thing, he said, was in the radio. The Airacobra had excellent, rare radio communications in those years. Thanks to this connection, the pilots in battle could communicate with each other, as if by telephone. Someone saw something - immediately all the members of the group are aware of it. Therefore, in combat missions, we did not have any surprises.

After the end of the war, Grigory Rechkalov continued his service in the Air Force. True, not as long as other Soviet aces. Already in 1959, he retired with the rank of major general. After that he lived and worked in Moscow. He died in Moscow on December 20, 1990 at the age of 70.

Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev

Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev ended up on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War in August 1942. In total, during the war years, he made 250 sorties, conducted 49 air battles, in which he personally destroyed 55 enemy aircraft and 5 more aircraft in the group. Such statistics make Gulaev the most effective Soviet ace. For every 4 sorties, he had a downed aircraft, or an average of more than one aircraft for each dogfight. During the war, he flew the I-16, Yak-1, P-39 Airacobra fighters, most of his victories, like Pokryshkin and Rechkalov, he won on the Airacobra.

Twice Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev shot down not much less aircraft than Alexander Pokryshkin. But in terms of the effectiveness of the battles, he far surpassed both him and Kozhedub. At the same time, he fought for less than two years. At first, in the deep Soviet rear, as part of the air defense forces, he was engaged in the protection of important industrial facilities, protecting them from enemy air raids. And in September 1944, he was almost forcibly sent to study at the Air Force Academy.

The Soviet pilot made his most productive battle on May 30, 1944. In one air battle over Skuleni, he managed to shoot down 5 enemy aircraft at once: two Me-109s, Hs-129s, Ju-87s and Ju-88s. During the battle, he himself was seriously wounded in the right hand, but having concentrated all his strength and will, he was able to bring his fighter to the airfield, bleeding, landed and, having already taxied to the parking lot, lost consciousness. The pilot came to his senses only in the hospital after the operation, here he learned about the award of the second title of Hero of the Soviet Union to him.

All the time while Gulaev was at the front, he fought desperately. During this time, he managed to make two successful rams, after which he managed to land his damaged aircraft. Several times during this time he was wounded, but after being wounded he invariably returned back to duty. In early September 1944, the ace pilot was forcibly sent to study. At that moment, the outcome of the war was already clear to everyone, and they tried to protect the famous Soviet aces by sending them to the Air Force Academy by order. Thus, the war ended unexpectedly for our hero.

Nikolai Gulaev was called the brightest representative of the "romantic school" of air combat. Often the pilot dared to commit "irrational actions" that shocked the German pilots, but helped him win victories. Even among other far from ordinary Soviet fighter pilots, the figure of Nikolai Gulaev stood out for his colorfulness. Only such a person, possessing unparalleled courage, would be able to carry out 10 super-successful air battles, recording two of his victories for a successful ramming of enemy aircraft. Gulaev’s modesty in public and in his self-esteem was discordant with his exceptionally aggressive and persistent manner of air combat, and he managed to carry openness and honesty with boyish spontaneity throughout his life, retaining some youthful prejudices until the end of his life, which did not prevent him from rising to the rank of rank of Colonel General of Aviation. The famous pilot died on September 27, 1985 in Moscow.

Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev

Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev twice Hero of the Soviet Union. Like Kozhedub, he began his military career relatively late, only in 1943. During the war years, he made 296 sorties, conducted 120 air battles, personally shooting down 53 enemy aircraft and 3 in a group. He flew La-5 and La-5FN fighters.

The almost two-year "delay" with the appearance at the front was due to the fact that the fighter pilot suffered from stomach ulcers, and they were not allowed to go to the front with this disease. From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he worked as an instructor at a flight school, and after that he overtook Lend-Lease Aerocobras. Work as an instructor gave him a lot, like another Soviet ace Kozhedub. At the same time, Evstigneev did not stop writing reports to the command with a request to send him to the front, as a result, they were nevertheless satisfied. Kirill Evstigneev received his baptism of fire in March 1943. Like Kozhedub, he fought as part of the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment, flew a La-5 fighter. On his first sortie on March 28, 1943, he scored two victories.

For the entire duration of the war, the enemy never managed to bring down Kirill Evstigneev. But from his own he got twice. For the first time, the Yak-1 pilot, who was carried away by air combat, crashed into his plane from above. The Yak-1 pilot immediately jumped out of the plane, which lost one wing, with a parachute. But Evstigneev's La-5 suffered less, and he managed to reach the positions of his troops by landing the fighter next to the trenches. The second case, more mysterious and dramatic, occurred over its territory in the absence of enemy aircraft in the air. The fuselage of his plane was burst through, damaging Yevstigneev's legs, the car caught fire and went into a dive, and the pilot had to jump out of the plane with a parachute. At the hospital, doctors were inclined to amputate the pilot's foot, but he overtook them with such fear that they abandoned their idea. And after 9 days, the pilot escaped from the hospital and with crutches got to the location of his native part of 35 kilometers.

Kirill Evstigneev constantly increased the number of his air victories. Until 1945, the pilot was ahead of Kozhedub. At the same time, the doctor of the unit periodically sent him to the hospital to treat an ulcer and a wounded leg, which the ace pilot terribly opposed. Kirill Alekseevich was seriously ill from the pre-war times, in his life he underwent 13 surgical operations. Very often, the famous Soviet pilot flew, overcoming physical pain. Evstigneev, as they say, was obsessed with flying. In his spare time, he tried to train young fighter pilots. He was the initiator of training air battles. For the most part, Kozhedub turned out to be his opponent in them. At the same time, Evstigneev was completely devoid of a sense of fear, even at the very end of the war he calmly went into a frontal attack on the six-gun Fokkers, winning victories over them. Kozhedub spoke of his comrade-in-arms like this: "Flint pilot."

Captain Kirill Evstigneev finished the war of the Guards as a navigator of the 178th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. The pilot spent his last battle in the sky of Hungary on March 26, 1945, on his fifth La-5 fighter during the war. After the war, he continued to serve in the USSR Air Force, in 1972 he retired with the rank of Major General, and lived in Moscow. He died on August 29, 1996 at the age of 79, was buried at the Kuntsevsky cemetery of the capital.

Information sources:
http://svpressa.ru
http://airaces.narod.ru
http://www.warheroes.ru

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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", in the upper left segment of the heart the name of Hartman's bride "Ursel" is written (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 photo 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

Throughout the Great Patriotic War, with the exception of perhaps its last months, the Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber was one of the main opponents of Soviet fighter pilots, especially during periods of active hostilities. Therefore, in the lists of victories of many of our aces, the “lappeters” (this is precisely the nickname that the German dive bomber received from us for the characteristic non-retractable landing gear in massive fairings) occupy a prominent place.

A Ju 87B-2 from III./ St.G., which made an emergency landing due to engine damage. 2, autumn 1941,
area of Chudovo station, Leningrad region ( http://waralbum.ru)

Since there were a lot of victories over the Yu-87 (as the aircraft was designated in Soviet staff documents) - for 3000 aces pilots there are about 4000 applications for the destruction of enemy dive bombers - their presence in the battle accounts of aces is, in fact, directly dependent on the total number downed aircraft, and the top lines of the list are occupied by the most famous Soviet aces.

The most productive fighter pilot of the anti-Hitler coalition, three times Hero of the Soviet Union Kozhedub Ivan Nikitovich and another famous ace, twice Hero of the Soviet Union Arseniy Vasilyevich Vorozheikin, share the first place among the hunters for the “lappeters”. Both of these pilots have 18 Yu-87s shot down. Kozhedub shot down all his "Junkers" as part of the 240th IAP (the first victory over Yu-87 - 07/06/1943, the last - 06/01/1944), flying a La-5 fighter, Vorozheikin - as part of the 728th IAP on the Yak- 7B (the first downed "lappet" - 07/14/1943, the last - 04/18/1944). In total, during the war, Ivan Kozhedub won 64 personal air victories, and Arseniy Vorozheykin - 45 personally and 1 in a pair, and both of our outstanding pilots have the Yu-87 as the first in the extensive lists of aircraft shot down by them.

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub, the best ace of the anti-Hitler coalition, destroyed the most Yu-87s - on e
count of 18 German dive bombers ( http://waralbum.ru)

The second line in the conditional rating of destroyers of "pieces" is occupied by another pilot of the 240th IAP, who flew the La-5 - twice Hero of the Soviet Union Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev, who scored 13 personal victories over the Yu-87 during his combat career, also having one more knocked down in a group. In total, Evstigneev shot down 52 enemy aircraft personally and 3 in the group.

Pilots of the 205th Fighter Aviation Division, Hero of the Soviet Union Vasily Pavlovich Mikhalev from the 508th IAP (213th Guards IAP) and twice Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev (27th IAP / 129th Guards IAP), having on account of 12 destroyed "laptezhnikov" (Vasily Mikhalev, in addition, has 7 dive bombers shot down in the group). The first one began his combat career on the Yak-7B, “filling up” 4 Yu-87s on it, and shot down the rest while in the cockpit of the Lend-Lease P-39 Airacobra fighter; the second - the first 7 "pieces" sent to the ground, piloting the Yak-1 (moreover, Gulaev shot down two "Junkers" with ramming), the rest of the victories were won on the "Aerocobra". Mikhalev's final combat score was 23+14, and Gulaev's - 55+5 aerial victories.

The fourth position in the rating with 11 personal victories over the Yu-87 is occupied by the “magnificent five” of fighter pilots of the KA Air Force, which is headed by the Hero of the Soviet Union Fedor Fedorovich Arkhipenko, who also has 6 “lappeters” shot down in the group. The pilot won his victories over the Yu-87 in the ranks of two air regiments - the 508th IAP and the 129th Guards IAP, shooting down two bombers personally on the Yak-7B, the rest - on the Aerocobra. In total, during the war, Arkhipenko shot down 29 enemy aircraft personally and 15 in the group. Further in the list of pilots who shot down 11 Yu-87s, it looks like this: Trofim Afanasyevich Litvinenko (fought as part of the 191st IAP on the P-40 Kittyhawk and La-5, the final combat score was 18 + 0, Hero of the Soviet Union) ; Mikhalin Mikhail Fedorovich (191st IAP, Kittyhawk, 14+2); Rechkalov Grigory Andreevich (16th Guards IAP, "Aerocobra", 61 + 4, twice Hero of the Soviet Union); Chepinoga Pavel Iosifovich (27th IAP and 508th IAP, Yak-1 and Airacobra, 25+1, Hero of the Soviet Union).

Five more pilots have 10 personally shot down Yu-87s: Artamonov Nikolai Semenovich (297th IAP and 193rd IAP (177th Guards IAP), La-5, 28 + 9, Hero of the Soviet Union); Zyuzin Petr Dmitrievich (29th Guards IAP, Yak-9, 16+0, Hero of the Soviet Union); Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich (16th Guards IAP, Directorate of the 9th Guards IAD, "Aerocobra", 46 + 6, three times Hero of the Soviet Union); Rogozhin Vasily Aleksandrovich (236th IAP (112th Guards IAP), Yak-1, 23+0, Hero of the Soviet Union); Sachkov Mikhail Ivanovich (728th IAP, Yak-7B, 29+0, Hero of the Soviet Union).

In addition, 9 fighter pilots were sent to the ground by 9 dive Junkers, 8 people had 8 downed Yu-87s, 7 - 15 pilots each.

Luftwaffe

Eric Alfred Hartman (Bubi)

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!!

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.

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

Barkhorn Gerhard "Gerd"

Major / Major Barkhorn Gerhard / Barkhorn Gerhard

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

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.

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

Gunther Rall

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

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

Kittel Otto (Bruno)

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!

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

Plane "Bruno"

Novotny Walter (Novi)

Looking through the electronic library, I came across a rather interesting material about how the Germans and ours counted their victories in air battles during the Second World War, the author cited quite interesting facts indicating that not everything was safe with the counting of downed aircraft by both Lutwaffe aces and among the aviators of the Red Army, below I present to your attention an excerpt from this material.

When data on the personal accounts of German fighter pilots were published for the first time in the Russian press in a small note in the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper for 1990, the three-digit figures came as a shock to many. It turned out that the fair-haired 23-year-old Major Erich Hartmann claimed 352 downed aircraft, including 348 Soviet and four American.
His colleagues in the 52nd Luftwaffe Fighter Squadron Gerhard Barkhorn and Günther Rall claimed 301 and 275 shot down respectively.
These figures contrasted sharply with the results of the best Soviet fighter pilots, 62 victories of I.N. Kozhedub and 59 - A.I. Pokryshkin.

Erich Hartmann in the cockpit of his "Bf.109G-6".

Heated discussions immediately broke out about the methodology for counting downed, confirmation of the success of fighter pilots by ground services, photo machine guns, etc. The main thesis intended to remove tetanus from three-digit numbers was: "These were the wrong bees, and they made the wrong honey." That is, the aces of the Luftwaffe all lied about their successes, and in reality they shot down no more planes than Pokryshkin and Kozhedub.

However, few people thought about the expediency and validity of a head-on comparison of the results of the combat activity of pilots who fought in different conditions, with different intensity of combat work.

No one has attempted to analyze the value of such an indicator as "the highest number of shot down" from the point of view of the body of the air force of this particular country as a whole. What is the hundreds of downed, the girth of the biceps or the body temperature of a patient with a fever?

Attempts to explain the difference in the number of those shot down by a vicious method of counting do not stand up to scrutiny. Serious blunders in confirming the results of fighter pilots are found on both sides of the conflict.

An enemy plane was considered shot down, which, for example, according to a fighter pilot claiming to destroy it, "randomly fell down and disappeared into the clouds."

Often it was the change in the parameters of the flight of the enemy aircraft observed by the witnesses of the battle, the sharp decline, the tailspin that began to be considered a sign sufficient to credit the victory. It is not difficult to guess that after the "chaotic fall" the plane could be leveled by the pilot and safely return to the airfield.

Indicative in this regard are the fantastic accounts of the air gunners of the Flying Fortresses, who chalked up the Messerschmitts whenever they left the attack, leaving behind a trail of smoke. This trace was a consequence of the peculiarities of the operation of the Me.109 engine, which gave a smoky exhaust in afterburner and in an inverted position.

Naturally, when conclusions about the results of the attack were made on the basis of general words, problems arose even with fixing the results of air battles conducted over their territory. Let's take the most typical example, the air defense of Moscow, the pilots of the well-trained 34th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Here are the lines from the report presented at the end of July 1941 by the regiment commander, Major L.G. Rybkin to the commander of the air corps:

"... During the second flight on July 22 at 2.40 in the Alabino-Naro-Fominsk area at an altitude of 2500 m, Captain M.G. Trunov caught up with the Ju88 and attacked from the rear hemisphere. The enemy dropped to low ground. Captain Trunov slipped forward and lost the enemy. You can assume the plane has been shot down.

"... During the second takeoff on July 22 at 23.40 in the Vnukovo area, junior lieutenant A.G. Lukyanov attacked the Ju88 or Do215. In the Borovsk area (10-15 km north of the airfield), three long bursts were fired at the bomber. From hits were clearly visible on the ground. The enemy fired back, and then dropped sharply. We can assume the plane was shot down."

"... Junior Lieutenant N.G. Shcherbina on July 22 at 2.30 in the Naro-Fominsk region from a distance of 50 m fired two bursts at a twin-engine bomber. At this time, anti-aircraft artillery opened fire on the MiG-3, and the enemy aircraft was lost. We can assume the plane was shot down."

At the same time, reports of this kind were typical of the Soviet Air Force during the initial period of the war. And although in each case the commander of the air division notes that "there is no confirmation" (there is no information about the fall of enemy aircraft), in all these episodes victories were recorded on the account of the pilots and the regiment.

The result of this was a very significant discrepancy between the number of downed Luftwaffe bombers declared by the Moscow air defense pilots and their real losses.

In July 1941, the air defense of Moscow carried out 89 battles during 9 raids by German bombers, in August - 81 battles during 16 raids. 59 Vultures were reported shot down in July and 30 in August.

Enemy documents confirm 20-22 aircraft in July and 10-12 in August. The number of victories of air defense pilots turned out to be overestimated by about three times.

Opponents of our pilots on the other side of the front and allies spoke in the same spirit. In the first week of the war, June 30, 1941, a grandiose air battle took place over Dvinsk (Daugavpils) between bombers "DB-3", "DB-3F", "SB" and "Ar-2" of three aviation regiments of the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet and two groups of the 54th fighter squadron of the 1st air fleet of the Germans.

In total, 99 Soviet bombers took part in the raid on bridges near Daugavpils. Only German fighter pilots claimed 65 downed Soviet aircraft. Erich von Manstein in "Lost Victories" writes: "In one day our fighters and flak shot down 64 planes.

The real losses of the Air Force of the Baltic Fleet amounted to 34 aircraft shot down, and another 18 were damaged, but safely landed on their own or the nearest Soviet airfield.

There appears to be no less than a twofold excess of the victories declared by the pilots of the 54th Fighter Squadron over the real losses of the Soviet side. Recording at your own expense by a fighter pilot an enemy aircraft that safely reached its own airfield was a common occurrence.

The battles between the "Flying Fortresses", "Mustangs", "Thunderbolts" of the United States and the Reich air defense fighters gave rise to a completely identical picture.

During a fairly typical air battle for the Western Front, which unfolded during a raid on Berlin on March 6, 1944, escort fighter pilots announced 82 destroyed, 8 presumably destroyed and 33 damaged German fighters.

Bomber gunners reported 97 destroyed, 28 presumably destroyed and 60 damaged German air defense fighters.

If you add these applications together, it turns out that the Americans destroyed or damaged 83% of the German fighters that took part in repulsing the raid! The number declared as destroyed (that is, the Americans were sure of their death) - 179 aircraft - was more than twice the actual number shot down, 66 Me.109, FV-190 and Me.110 fighters.

In turn, the Germans immediately after the battle reported the destruction of 108 bombers, 20 escort fighters. Another 12 bombers and fighters were among those allegedly shot down.

In fact, the US Air Force lost 69 bombers and 11 fighters during this raid. Note that in the spring of 1944, both sides had photo machine guns.

Sometimes attempts are made to explain the high scores of the German aces by some system in which a twin-engine aircraft was counted for two "victories", a four-engine one - as much as four.

This is not true. The system for counting the victories of fighter pilots and points for the quality of those shot down existed in parallel. After the Flying Fortress was shot down, the Reich air defense pilot painted one, I emphasize, one strip on the keel.

But at the same time, he was awarded points, which were subsequently taken into account when awarding and conferring successive titles.

In the same way, in the Red Army Air Force, in parallel with the system of recording the victories of aces, there was a system of cash bonuses for downed enemy aircraft, depending on their value for the air war.

These poor attempts to "explain" the difference between 352 and 62 only testify to linguistic illiteracy. The term "victory" that came to us from the English-language literature about German aces is the product of a double translation.

If Hartmann scored 352 "victories", this does not mean that he claimed 150-180 single- and twin-engine aircraft. The original German term is abschuss, which the 1945 Military German-Russian Dictionary interprets as "shot down".

The British and Americans translated it as victory - "victory", which subsequently migrated to our literature about the war. Accordingly, the marks on the keel of the aircraft shot down in the form of vertical stripes were called by the Germans "abschussbalkens" (abschussbalken).

Pilots themselves experienced serious errors in identifying their own downed ones, seeing enemy aircraft, if not from tens, then from hundreds of meters. What then to say about the Red Army VNOS, where they recruited fighters unsuitable for military service. Often they simply wished for reality and determined an aircraft of an unknown type falling into the forest as an enemy one.

The researcher of the air war in the North, Yuri Rybin, gives such an example. After the battle that took place near Murmansk on April 19, 1943, the observers of the VNOS posts reported the fall of four enemy aircraft. Four victories were confirmed to the pilots by the notorious "ground services". In addition, all participants in the battle announced that the captain Sorokin shot down the fifth Messerschmitt. Although he was not confirmed by the VNOS posts, he was also recorded on the combat account of a Soviet fighter pilot.

After some time, the groups that went in search of the downed ones found instead of four downed enemy fighters ... one Messerschmitt, one Airacobra and two Hurricanes. That is, the VNOS posts phlegmatically confirmed the fall of four aircraft, including those shot down by both sides.

All of the above applies to both sides of the conflict. Despite the theoretically more advanced system of accounting for those shot down, Luftwaffe aces quite often reported something unimaginable.

Let's take as an example two days, May 13 and 14, 1942, the height of the battle for Kharkov. On May 13, the Luftwaffe claims 65 Soviet aircraft shot down, 42 of which are credited to the III Group of the 52nd Fighter Squadron.

The next day, the pilots of Group III of the 52nd Fighter Squadron report 47 Soviet aircraft shot down during the day. The commander of the 9th squadron of the group, Herman Graf, announced six victories, his wingman Alfred Grislavsky chalked up two MiG-3s, Lieutenant Adolf Dikfeld announced nine (!) victories that day.

The real losses of the Red Army Air Force on May 14 were three times less, 14 aircraft (5 Yak-1, 4 LaGG-3, 3 Il-2, 1 Su-2 and 1 R-5). MiG-3s are simply not on this list.

The "Stalin's falcons" did not remain in debt either. On May 19, 1942, twelve Yak-1 fighters of the 429th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which had just arrived at the front, engage in battle with a large group of Messerschmitts and, after a half-hour air battle, declare the destruction of five Xe-115s and one Me. 109". The "Xe-115" should be understood as a modification of the "Bf.109F", which was very different in its slick fuselage with a smooth transition between the propeller spinner and the engine hood from the angular "Bf.109E" more familiar to our pilots.

However, enemy data confirms the loss of only one "Xe-115", that is, "Bf.109F-4 / R1" from the 7th squadron of the 77th fighter squadron. The pilot of this fighter, Karl Stefanik, is missing.

Own losses of the 429th regiment amounted to four "Yak-1", three pilots successfully landed by parachute, one died.

As always, the losses of the enemy were declared somewhat more than their own losses. This was often one of the ways to justify the high losses of their aircraft in the face of command.

For unjustified losses, they could be court martialed, but if these losses were justified by equally high losses of the enemy, an equivalent exchange, so to speak, then repressive measures could have been safely avoided.

Portal for the student. Self-training

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