Erich was educated at the Volksschule in Weil im Schönbuch (April 1928 – April 1932), the Gymnasium in Böblingen (April 1932 – April 1936), the National Political Institutes of Education in Rottweil (April 1936 – April 1937), and the Gymnasium in Korntal (April 1937 – April 1940), from which received his Abitur. It was at Korntal that he met his wife-to-be, Ursula "Usch" Paetsch. She was 15 years old, and initially her parents disapproved of the relationship.

Hartmann's flying career began when he joined the glider training program of the fledgling Luftwaffe, and was taught to fly by his mother, one of the first female glider pilots in Germany. The Hartmanns also owned a light aircraft, but were forced to sell it in 1932 as the German economy collapsed. The rise to power of the Nazi party in 1933 resulted in government support for gliding, and in 1936 Elisabeth Hartmann helped set up a flying school at Weil im Schönbuch, where fourteen-year-old Erich became an instructor. In 1939 he gained his pilot's license, allowing him to fly powered aircraft.

Luftwaffe career

Hartmann began his military training on 1 October 1940 at the 10th Flying Regiment in Neukuhren. On 1 March 1941 he progressed to the Luftkriegsschule 2 in Berlin-Gatow, where his first flight with an instructor took place four days later, followed in just under three weeks by his first solo flight. He completed his basic flying training in October 1941, and began advanced flight training at pre-fighter school 2 in Lachen-Speyerdorf on 1 November 1941. There Hartmann learned combat techniques and gunnery skills. His advanced pilot training was completed on 31 January 1942, and between 1 March 1942 and 20 August 1942 he learned to fly the Messerschmitt Bf 109 at the Jagdfliegerschule 2 in Zerbst/Anhalt.

Hartmann's time as a trainee pilot did not always go smoothly, and on occasion he ran foul of his superiors. On 31 March 1942, during a gunnery training flight, he ignored regulations and performed some aerobatics in his Bf 109 over the Zerbst airfield. His punishment was a three-month period of confinement to quarters with the loss of two-thirds of his pay in fines. Hartmann later recalled that the incident saved his life:

That week confined to my room actually saved my life. I had been scheduled to go up on a gunnery flight the afternoon that I was confined. My roommate took the flight instead of me, in an aircraft I had been scheduled to fly. Shortly after he took off, while on his way to the gunnery range, he developed engine trouble and had to crash-land near the Hindenburg-Kattowitz railroad. He was killed in the crash.

Afterwards Hartmann practiced hard. During a gunnery practice session in June 1942, he hit a target drogue with 24 of the allotted 50 rounds of machine gun fire; a feat that was considered difficult to achieve. His training had qualified him to fly 17 different types of powered aircraft, and following his graduation he was posted on 21 August 1942 to Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost (Fighter Supply Group, East) in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, where he remained until 10 October 1942.^[6]

To the frontline

In October 1942 Hartmann was assigned to fighter wing Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52), based at Maykop on the Eastern Front in the Soviet Union. The wing was equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109G, but Hartmann and several other pilots were initially given the task of ferrying Junkers Ju 87 Stukas down to Mariupol. His first flight ended with brake failure, causing the Stuka to crash into and destroy the controller's hut. Hartmann was assigned to III./JG 52 led by Gruppenkommandeur Major Hubertus von Bonin, and placed under the experienced Oberfeldwebel Edmund "Paule" Roßmann, although he also flew with such experienced pilots as Alfred Grislawski, Hans Dammers and Josef Zwernemann. After a few days of intensive mock combats and practice flights, Grislawski conceded that, although Hartmann had much to learn regarding combat tactics, he was a quite talented pilot. It was, however, Paule Roßmann who taught Hartmann the fundamentals of the surprise attack, a tactic, which would lead to his "See – Decide – Attack – Break" style of aerial combat.

Hartmann flew his first combat mission on 14 October 1942 as Roßmann's wingman. When they encountered ten enemy aircraft below, Hartmann, obsessed by the idea of scoring his first kill, opened full throttle and became separated from Roßmann. He engaged an enemy fighter, but failed to score any hits, and nearly collided with it instead. He then ran for cover in low cloud, and his mission subsequently ended with a crash landing after his aircraft ran out of fuel. Hartmann had violated almost every rule of air-to-air combat, and von Bonin sentenced him to three days of working with the ground crew. Twenty-two days later, Hartmann claimed his first kill, an Il-2 of the 7th Guards Ground Attack Aviation Regiment, but by the end of 1942 he had added only one more kill to his tally. As with many top aces, it was to take some time to establish himself as a consistently scoring fighter pilot.

Hartmann's youthful appearance earned him the nickname Bubi (the hypocoristic form of "young boy" in the German language), and the ace Walter Krupinski, to whom Hartmann was assigned as wingman, would constantly urge him: "Hey, Bubi, get in closer". On 25 May 1943 he shot down a LaGG-5 before colliding with another Soviet fighter, but was able to maintain control of his damaged aircraft. On 7 July 1943, in the massive dogfights that occurred during the Battle of Kursk, he shot down seven enemy aircraft. At the start of August 1943 his tally stood at 50, and by the end of the month he had added another 48 kills. The following month he was appointed Staffelkapitän of 9./JG 52.

In the first year of service, Hartmann felt a distinct lack of respect towards Russian pilots. He recalled that most Soviet fighters did not have proper gunsights, and their pilots resorted to drawing them on the windshield by hand.

In the early days, incredible as it may seem, there was no reason for you to feel fear if the Russian fighter was behind you. With their hand-painted "gunsights" they couldn't pull the lead properly or hit you

While Hartmann considered the P-39, P-40, and Hurricane inferior to the Fw 190 and Bf 109, they did provide the Soviets with valuable gunsight technology.

The Germans did learn a few tricks from their enemy. Oil freezing in the DB 605 engines of their Bf 109G-6s made them difficult to start in the extreme cold of the Russian winter. A captured Soviet airman demonstrated how pouring fuel into the aircraft's oil sump would thaw the oil and allow the engine to start after only one attempt. Another solution to this problem, also learned from the Soviets, was to ignite fuel under the engine.

Behind enemy lines

By late August 1943, Hartmann had ninety aerial victories, but on 19 August, in combat with Il-2s, his aircraft was damaged by debris and he was forced to land behind Soviet lines. Hartmann's Geschwaderkommodore, Dietrich Hrabak, had given orders to Erich's unit to support the dive-bombers of Sturzkampfgeschwader 2, led by the famous Stuka pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel in a counter attack. The situation had changed, and the flight of eight German fighters engaged a mass of Russian Yakovlev Yak-9 and Lavochkin La-5 fighter aircraft that were protecting Il-2 Sturmoviks on a ground-attack mission. Hartmann shot down two enemy aircraft before his fighter was hit by debris and he was forced to make an emergency landing. He then, in accordance with Luftwaffe regulations, attempted to recover the precision board clock. As he was doing so, Soviet ground troops approached. Realising that capture was unavoidable, he faked internal injuries. Hartmann's acting so convinced the Soviets that they put him on a stretcher and placed him on a truck.

Hartmann patiently waited for the right moment to escape, then, using the distraction of the Stukas attack, he attacked the single guard. Hartmann "bailed out" the back of the truck and ran into a large field of giant sunflowers; evading the pursuing soldiers, Hartmann hid and waited for nightfall. In the dark, Hartmann followed a Russian patrol heading west to the front. As he approached the German position, a sentry challenged him and fired a shot which passed through Hartmann's trousers. When Hartmann's Crew Chief, Heinz "Bimmel" Mertens, heard what had happened, he took a rifle and went to search for Hartmann.

The Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross

In October 1943, Hartmann claimed another 33 kills, and on October 29 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz, at which point his tally stood at 148 kills. By the end of the year this had risen to 159. In the first two months of 1944 Hartmann claimed another 50 kills. Hartmann continued scoring at an even greater pace. His spectacular rate of kills raised a few eyebrows even in the Luftwaffe High Command; his claims were double- and triple-checked, and his performance closely monitored by an observer flying in his formation. On 2 March, he reached 202 kills. By this time, the Soviet pilots were familiar with Hartmann's radio call-sign of Karaya 1 and the Soviet Command had put a price of 10,000 rubles on the German pilot's head. Hartmann, for a time, used a black Tulip design around the engine cowling near the spinner of his aircraft, so Soviet personnel consequently nicknamed him Cherniy Chort ("Black Devil"). However, Hartmann's opponents were often reluctant to stay and fight if they noticed his personal design. As a result, this aircraft was often allocated to novices, who could fly it in relative safety. On 21 March, Hartmann scored JG 52s 3,500th kill of the war. Adversely, the reluctance of the Soviet airmen to fight caused Hartmann's kill rate to drop. Hartmann then had the tulip design removed, and his aircraft painted just like the rest of his unit. In the following two months, Hartmann amassed over 50 kills.

In March 1944, Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, Walter Krupinski and Johannes Wiese were summoned to Adolf Hitler's Berghof in Berchtesgaden. Barkhorn was to be honoured with the Swords while Hartmann, Krupinski and Wiese were to receive the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. On the train, all four of them got drunk on cognac and champagne. Supporting each other and unable to stand, they arrived at Berchtesgarden. Major Nicolaus von Below, Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant, was shocked. After some sobering up, Hartmann was still intoxicated. Hartmann took a German officer hat from a stand and put it on, but it was too large. Von Below became upset and told Hartmann it was Hitler’s and ordered him to put it back.

Fighting the United States Army Air Forces

On 21 May 1944, Hartmann engaged United States Army Air Force aircraft in Reichsverteidigung for the first time. While flying "top cover" for another Schwarm, Hartmann attacked a flight of four P-51s over Bucharest, Romania, downing two while the other two P-51s fell victim to his fellow pilots. On 1 June 1944, Hartmann shot down four P-51s in a single mission over the Ploieşti oil fields. Later that month, during his fifth combat with American pilots, he shot down two more P-51s before being forced to bail out, when eight other P-51s ran his Messerschmitt out of fuel. During the intense manoeuvring, Hartmann managed to line up one of the P-51s at close range, but heard only a "clank" when he fired, as he had run out of ammunition. Whilst hanging in his parachute, the P-51s circled above him, and Hartmann wondered if they would take this opportunity to kill him. One of the P-51Bs flown by Lt. Robert J. Goebel from the 31st Group, 308 Squadron broke away and headed straight for him. Goebel was making a camera pass to record the baleout and banked away from him only at the last moment, waving at Hartmann as he went by.

On 17 August 1944, Hartmann became the top scoring fighter ace, surpassing fellow JG 52 pilot Gerhard Barkhorn, with his 274th kill.

The Diamonds to the Knight's Cross

On 23 August 1944, Erich claimed eight victories in three combat missions bringing his score to 290 victories. Erich Hartmann passed the 300 kill mark on 24 August 1944, a day on which he shot down 11 aircraft in two combat missions bringing the number of aerial victories to an unprecedented 301 victories. He was immediately grounded by Luftwaffe chief of staff, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, who was fearful of the effect on German morale should such a hero be lost. Hartmann, however, later successfully lobbied to be reinstated as a combat pilot.

He became one of only 27 German soldiers in World War II to receive the Diamonds to his Knight's Cross. Hartmann was summoned to the Führerhauptquartier Wolfsschanze, Adolf Hitler's military headquarter near Rastenburg, to receive the coveted award from Hitler personally. On arrival, he was asked to surrender his side arm – a security measure caused by the aftermaths of the failed assassination attempt on 20 July 1944. Hartmann refused and threatened to decline the Diamonds if he were not trusted to carry his pistol. After consulting Oberst Nicolaus von Below, Hitler's Luftwaffe adjutant, Hartmann was allowed to keep his side arm and accepted the Diamonds.

During Hartmann's meeting with Hitler, Hartmann discussed at length the shortcomings of fighter pilot training. Allegedly, Hitler revealed to Hartmann that he believed that, "militarily, the war is lost", and that he wished the Luftwaffe had "more like him and Rudel".

The Diamonds to the Knight's Cross also earned him a ten day leave. On his way to his vacation, Hartmann was ordered by General der Jagdflieger Adolf Galland to attend a meeting in Berlin-Gatow. Galland wanted to transfer Hartmann to the Me 262 test program. Hartmann requested that the transfer be cancelled on the grounds of his deep attachment to JG 52. Galland, valuing comradeship and seeing the merit in Hartmann's request, cancelled the transfer to the jet squadron and rescinded the order that had taken him off combat operations. Galland then ordered Hartmann to the Jagdfliegerheim (vacation resort for fighter pilots) in Bad Wiessee, where, on 10 September 1944, Hartmann married his long-time teenage love, Ursula "Usch" Paetsch. Witnesses to the wedding included his friends Gerhard Barkhorn and Wilhelm Batz.

Fighting technique

Unlike Hans-Joachim Marseille who was a marksman and expert in the art of deflection shooting, Hartmann was a master of stalk-and-ambush tactics. By his own account he was convinced that 80% of the pilots he downed did not even realize what hit them. He relied on the powerful engine of his Bf-109 for high-power sweeps and quick approaches, occasionally diving through entire enemy formations to take advantage of the confusion that followed in order to disengage. His favourite method of attack was to hold fire until extremely close (60ft/20m or less-when the enemy plane filled his windscreen), then unleash a short burst at point-blank range – a technique he learned while flying as wingman of his former commander, Walter Krupinski, who favoured this approach. This technique, as opposed to long-range shooting, allowed him to:

However, firing at close range ran the risk of having to fly through the debris of a damaged or exploding aircraft, thereby damaging his own fighter in the process (much of the damage Hartmann sustained in combat was caused by collision with flying debris). If it was dangerous to dog-fight further he would break off and content himself with one victory. His careful approach was described by himself by the line "See – Decide – Attack – Break": observe the enemy, decide how to proceed with the attack, make the attack, and then disengage to re-evaluate the situation.

Surrender

From 1 February to 14 February 1945, Hartmann briefly led I./JG 53 as acting Gruppenkommandeur until he was replaced by Helmut Lipfert. In March 1945, Hartmann, his score now standing at 336 aerial victories, was asked a second time by General Adolf Galland to join the Me-262 units forming to fly the new jet fighter. Hartmann attended the jet conversion program led by Heinrich Bär. Galland also intended Hartmann to fly with JV 44. Hartmann declined the offer, preferring to remain with JG 52. Some sources report that Hartmann's decision to stay with his unit was due to a request via telegram made by Oberstleutnant Hermann Graf. Now Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 52, Erich Hartmann claimed his 350th aerial victory on 17 April 1945, in the vicinity of Chrudim. The last wartime photograph of Hartmann known was taken in connection with this victory.

At the end of the war, Erich Hartmann disobeyed General Hans Seidemann's order to Hartmann and Hermann Graf to fly to the British sector to avoid capture by Soviet forces. Hartmann later explained:

I must say that during the war I never disobeyed an order, but when General Seidemann ordered Graf and me to fly to the British sector and surrender to avoid the Russians, with the rest of the wing to surrender to the Soviets. I could not leave my men. That would have been bad leadership.

Hartmann's last kill occurred over Brno, Czechoslovakia, on 8 May 1945, the last day of the war in Europe. Early that morning, he was ordered to fly a reconnaissance mission and report the position of Soviet forces. Hartmann took off with his wingman at 08:30 and spotted the first Soviet units just forty kilometres away. Passing over the area, Hartmann saw two Yak-9s performing aerobatics for the Soviet columns. Determined to "spoil the party", Hartmann dove upon the fighters from his vantage point at 12,000 ft (3,700 m) and shot one down from a range of 200 feet (61 m). That was the last recorded aerial victory of WWII. As he lined up the second fighter, Hartmann noticed a flicker of shiny dots above him coming from the West: they were P-51s. Rather than make a stand and be caught between the Soviets and the Americans, Hartmann and his wingman fled into the pall of smoke that covered Brno at low level. When he landed, Hartmann learned that the Soviet forces were within artillery range of the airfield, so JG 52 destroyed Karaya One, 24 other Bf 109s, and large quantities of ammunition. Hartmann's last violent action in the war was to fire the guns on his fighter, while on the ground, into the forest that surrounded the airfield.  Hartmann later recalled that

we destroyed the aircraft and all munitions, everything. I sat in my fighter and fired the guns into the woods where all the fuel had been dropped, and then jumped out. We destroyed twenty-five perfectly good fighters. They would be nice to have in museums now.

As Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 52, Hartmann chose to surrender his unit to members of the US 90th Infantry Division.

Imprisonment

After his capture, the U.S. Army handed Hartmann, his pilots, and ground crew over to the Soviet Union on 24 May 1945, where he was imprisoned in accordance with the Yalta Agreements which stated that airmen and soldiers fighting Soviet forces had to surrender directly to them. Hartmann and his unit were led by the Americans to a large open-air compound to await the transfer. The number of prisoners grew to 50,000. Living conditions deteriorated and some American guards turned "a blind eye" to escapes. In some cases, they assisted by providing food and maps.

After being handed over to the Soviets, the German group was split up into groups according to gender. Hartmann witnessed widespread rape and murder of civilians. When the outnumbered Americans tried to intervene the Soviet soldiers charged towards them, firing into the air and threatening to kill them. Order was later restored, and some of the guilty soldiers were hanged "on the spot" by a Soviet commander.

Initially, the Russians tried to convince Erich to cooperate with them. He was asked to spy on fellow officers and become a Stukatch or "stool pigeon". He refused and was given 10 days' solitary confinement in a four-by-nine-by-six-foot chamber. He slept on a concrete floor and was given only bread and water. On another occasion, the Soviets threatened to kidnap his wife and murder her (the death of his son was kept from Hartmann). During similar interrogations, about his knowledge of the Me 262, Hartmann was struck by a Soviet officer using a cane, prompting Hartmann to slam his chair down on the head of the Russian, knocking him out. Expecting to be shot, Erich was transferred back to the small bunker.

Hartmann, not ashamed of his war service, opted to go on hunger strike and starve rather than fold to "Soviet will", as he called it. The Russians allowed the hunger strike to go on for four days before force feeding Hartmann. More subtle efforts by the Soviet authorities to convert Hartmann to Communism also failed. He was offered a post in the Luftstreitkräfte der Nationalen Volksarmee (East German Air Force), which he refused:

If, after I am home in the West, you make me a normal contract offer, a business deal such as people sign every day all over the world, and I like your offer, then I will come back and work with you in accordance with the contract. But if you try to put me to work under coercion of any kind, then I will resist to my dying gasp.

War crimes charges

Hartmann had gone too far with his resistance. He was falsely charged with war crimes, specifically the deliberate shooting of 780 Soviet civilians in the village of Briansk, attacking a "bread factory" on 23 May 1943, and destroying 345 "expensive" Soviet aircraft. He was subjected to harsh treatment during the early years of his imprisonment, including solitary confinement in total darkness. Hartmann refused to confess to these charges, and conducted his own defence, which was a waste of time, according to the judge. Hartmann was sentenced to 25 years hard labour, but he refused to work. He was eventually put into solitary confinement, which enraged his fellow prisoners. They began a revolt, overpowered the guards, and freed him. Hartmann made a complaint to the Kommandant's office, asking for a representative from Moscow and an international inspection as well as a tribunal to acquit him of his unlawful conviction. This was refused and he was transferred to another camp in Novocherkassk, spending five months in solitary confinement. Eventually, Hartmann was granted a tribunal, which upheld the sentence. He was sent to another camp in Diaterka, in the Ural Mountains.

During his long imprisonment, Hartmann's son, Erich-Peter, was born in 1945 and died as a three-year-old in 1948, without Hartmann ever seeing him. (Hartmann later had a daughter, Ursula Isabel, born on 23 February 1957). In 1955, Hartmann's mother wrote to the new West German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer to secure his freedom. Hartmann's release, and that of another 16,000 German military personnel, was obtained as part of a trade agreement between the two countries. After spending ten and a half years in Soviet POW camps, he was among the last batch of prisoners to be released in 1955 and returned to West Germany, where he was reunited with his wife Ursula, to whom he had written every day of the war.

In January 1997, the Russian government, as a legal successor to the Soviet Union, exonerated Hartmann, by admitting that his conviction for war crimes was unlawful.

In the Luftwaffe of the Bundeswehr

When he returned to West Germany, Hartmann reentered military service in the Bundeswehr and became an officer in the West German Air Force (Bundesluftwaffe), where he commanded West Germany's first all-jet unit, Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen", which was equipped initially with Canadair Sabres and later with Lockheed F-104 Starfighters. He also made several trips to the United States, where he was trained on U.S. Air Force equipment. He had the JG 71 aircraft painted with the same spreading black tulip pattern used by Karaya 1 on the Eastern Front.

Hartmann considered the F-104 a fundamentally flawed and unsafe aircraft and strongly opposed its adoption by the Bundesluftwaffe. Although events subsequently validated his low opinion of the aircraft (282 crashes and 115 German pilots killed on the F-104 in non-combat missions, along with allegations of bribes culminating in the Lockheed scandal), Hartmann's outspoken criticism proved unpopular with his superiors. General Werner Panitzki, successor to General Josef Kammhuber as Inspekteur der Luftwaffe, said "Erich is a good pilot but not a good officer" and this relationship with his superiors forced Hartmann into early retirement in 1970.

After retirement, from 1971 to 1974, he worked as a flight instructor in Hangelar, near Bonn. Hartmann also flew in an aerobatics team with "Dolfo" Galland. Hartmann had a sudden change in his lifestyle when in 1980 he had caught a cold, which developed into angina pectoris that had killed his father at the age of 58. He recovered and by 1983 had passed the medical examinations for flying and resumed instructing at the various flying schools. However, fearing a second attack, he became overly cautious and limited the number of public appearances. He stated: "I am retired and I am a civilian, and now I like to have my rest and peace. I do not live for exhibitions. After that, he decided to relax and enjoy life. Erich Hartmann died on 20 September 1993, at the age of 71, in Weil im Schönbuch.

Summary of career

Erich Hartmann flew 1,404 combat missions during World War II resulting in 825 engagements, and was never shot down.

He was never wounded and never bailed out due to damage inflicted by enemy pilots. His kill tally included some 200 various single-engined Soviet-built fighters, more than 80 US-built P-39s, 15 Il-2 ground attack aircraft, and 10 twin-engined medium bombers.

He often said that he was more proud of the fact that he had never lost a wingman in combat than he was about his rate of kills, however, he did at least have one shot down. Major Günther Capito had joined the unit in the spring of 1943. Capito was a former bomber pilot who had retrained on fighters. After scoring his fifth victory Capito asked to be Hartmann's wingman. Hartmann refused initially, believing Capito was insufficiently trained on Messerschmitts. On their first mission together they were engaged by P-39 Airacobras:

I called to him to turn hard opposite, so I could sandwich the Red fighters, but in his standard-rate bomber turn he got hit. I saw the whole thing and ordered him to dive and bail out immediately. To my intense relief I saw him leave the aircraft and his parachute blossom. I was happy to get this Airacobra, but I was mad at myself for not harkening to my intuition not to fly with Günther Capito.

Hartmann destroyed both the Soviet fighters soon afterwards.

Victories

One Soviet historian, Dimitri Khazanov, has attempted to prove that Hartmann did not score anywhere near 352 victories. Khazanov quoted Hartmann having shot down 70-80 Soviet aircraft. However, Khazanov has been heavily criticised by Jean-Yves Lorant and Hans Ring for faulty research. Ring and Lorant both point out that the missions that Khazonov tried to use to prove Hartmann's claims false, were riddled with false and misleading information. For example, Khazonov claimed on a mission on 20 August 1943, Hartmann claimed two victories west of Millerowo, but not a single Soviet aircraft was lost. German records show not a single claim was made in that area. Hartmann's victories were recorded east of Kuteinikowo, some 160 kilometres away. On 29 May 1944, Khazanov claimed Hartmann reported three La-5s shot down over Roman, Romania. This was also false. Hartmann claimed a single P-39 over Jassy. Hans Ring said the mistakes in Khazanov's work, "serve to expose the superficial nature of Khazanov's assertions and confirm that his only goal in compiling his article was to discredit Hartmann and his record". Even Khazanov points out in his article that during Hartmann's show trial, one of the Soviet charges was the destruction of 352 [the actual number was 345] Soviet aircraft.

^Editor

^{I met Hartmann while a Cadet at USMA West Point in 1956. He visited the Academy with Adolf Galland and I was assigned as their escort. Unfortunately at the time I had no idea who they were other than "German VIPs". Many years later I had both telephone and written correspondence with both, but never had the opportunity to visit personally with them again. The information in this bio came from Wikipedia, my personal conversations and correspondence, and other Internet sources.}

Colonel Philipp was born March 13, 1917 in  Meißen, Saxony and joined the Luftwaffe in 1936. He was killed in action October 8, 1943 near Neuenhaus in the Netherlands. It is believed he was shot down by Robert S. Johnson. Philipp was able to bail out but his parachute never opened. As part of I./JG 76 (later to renumber as II./JG 54) he first flew operations over Poland and scored his first victory. Serving later during the Battles of France and Britain, Hans Philipp was Staffelkapitän of 4./JG 54 by the end of 1940. On November 4 1940 he was awarded the Ritterkreuz for twenty victories. During the Balkans campaign in April 1941, JG 54 engaged the Bf 109's of Jugoslovensko Kraljevsko Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo (JKRV) in a massive air battle. Hans Philipp scored two of the JKRV 109s. Operation Barbarossa saw Philipp's score begin to escalate. On August 24, 1941, Philipp became the 33rd member recipient of the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. Philipp appointed as Kommandeur I./JG 54. In March 1942, he became the first member of JG 54 to be awarded the Swords to the Knight's Cross and on March 31, 1942 Philipp became the fourth Luftwaffe fighter pilot to achieve 100 victories. In April 1943 Philipp was transferred to Defense of the Reich duties as Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 1, flying high altitude interception operations over North Sea and Northern Germany. On October 4, 1943 Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring is said to have issued the following instructions after another attack by Eighth Air Force.

1. There are no meteorological conditions which would prevent fighters from taking off and engaging in combat.
2. Every fighter pilot taking off in a machine not showing any sign of combat, or without having recorded a victory will be prosecuted by a court-martial.
3. In the case of where a pilot uses up his ammunition, or if his weapons are unusable, he should ram the enemy bomber.

Geschwaderkommodore Philipp's response was "As far as I'm concerned, I categorically refuse to allow myself to be held to such advice; I know what I have to do!"

Was he shot down by Gadermann [Rudel's rear gunner], or did he go down because of the backwash from my engine during these tight turns? It doesn't matter. My headphones suddenly exploded in confused screams from the Russian radio; the Russians have observed what happened and something special seems to have happened... From the Russian radio-messages, we discover that this was a very famous Soviet fighter pilot, more than once appointed as Hero of the Soviet Union. I should give him a credit: he was a good pilot.

In November 1944, he was wounded in the thigh and flew subsequent missions with his leg in a plaster cast.

On February 8, 1945 a 40 mm shell hit his aircraft. He was badly wounded in the right foot and crash landed inside German lines. His life was saved by his observer Dr.med. Ernst Gadermann who stemmed the bleeding, but Rudel's leg was amputated below the knee. He returned to operations on March 25, 1945 being credited with 26 more tanks destroyed before the end of the war. Determined not to fall into Soviet hands, he led three Ju 87s and four FW 190s westward from Bohemia in a 2-hour flight and surrendered to U.S. forces on May 8, 1945, after landing at Kitzingen airfield, home to the 405th Fighter Group. In captivity, he spent eleven months in hospitals. Upon his release he moved to Argintina.

According to official Luftwaffe figures, Rudel flew some 2,530 combat missions (a world record), during which he destroyed almost 2,000 ground targets (among them 519 tanks, 70 assault craft/landing boats, 150 self-propelled guns, 4 armored trains, and 800 other vehicles; as well as 9 planes (2 II2's and 7 fighters). He also sank a battleship, two cruisers, and a destroyer.  He was shot down or forced to land 32 times (several times behind enemy lines), but always managed to escape capture despite a 100,000 ruble bounty placed on his head byStalin himself. He was also wounded five times and rescued six stranded aircrew from enemy territory. The vast majority of his missions were spent piloting the various models of the Junkers JU87, though by the end of the war he flew the ground-attack variant of the Fw 190.

He went on to become the most decorated serviceman of all the fighting arms of the German armed forces (the only person to become more highly decorated was Hermann Goring who was awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross)

After service in the Austrian Army Steinbatz joined the Luftwaffe as a trainee pilot in 1939. By November 1940 Steinbatz was posted to 9 Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 52. He often flew as wingman to future high scoring ace Hermann Graf, first seeing combat during the invasions of the Balkans and Crete.

He gained his first victory over the Soviet Union in early August 1941. by the end of November, he had claimed some 25 kills. In February 1942, Feldwebel Steinbatz was awarded the Ritterkreuz for 42 victories. He continued to score consistently through the summer air offensives and shot down seven Soviet aircraft on 8 May. Oberfeldwebel Steinbatz was awarded the Eichenlaub in June 1942. By mid June 1942, he had 95 claims to his credit.

However Steibatz had some fatigue problems after returning from leave in January 1942. He had dislayed a combat fever. Hermann Graf said:

After his return he proved to be absolutely reckless. He entered an unparalleled victory march, scoring one victory after another! As he achieved his no. 80 and was expected to be awarded the Oak Leaves, I urged him to take some leave. The combats had put a tremendous strain on his nerves. This was shown on several occasions. I grounded him for a couple of days, but then he requested that I allow him to start flying combat sorties again.

On 15 June 1942, Steinbatz recorded his 99th victory but, during the return from a combat sortie on this day, his Bf 109-F was hit by Russian anti-aircraft fire and he was killed after crashing into a forest near Volchansk. Steinbatz was posthumously promoted to the rank of Leutnant and awarded the Schwertern on 23 June 1942.^[1] By this time "Bazi" Steinbatz had flown about 300 combat missions and shot down 99 enemy aircraft, all on the Eastern Front.

Nordmann joined the Luftwaffe in 1937, and served as a reconnaissance pilot until March 1940, when he transferred to 1/StG 186, flying the Junkers Ju 87 'Stuka'. The unit was originally intended to serve on the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin, but in July 1940 was renamed III./StG 1 and flew conventional bombing missions during the battle of France and Battle of Britain. Nordmann was awarded the Iron cross 1st and 2nd class during 1940. In 1941 Normann's unit was relocated to the Mediterranean for actions against Malta, where he claimed a 5,000 ton merchantman sunk.

StG 1 took part in the invasion of Russia in June 1941 and in September 1941, after 200 operations and 20 tanks destroyed, he was awarded the Ritterkruez.

During the fighting over Orel in the summer of 1942 , Nordmann, as Staffelkapitän of 8./StG 1, made his 600th operational mission, the first Stuka pilot to achieve this total.

His radio operator and gunner, Feldwebel Gerhard Rothe, was one of only 15 Stuka gunners to be honored with the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

In January 1945 Nordmann was killed when his FW 190 collided with his wing man in bad weather. Nordmann was Gruppenkommandeur of II./SG 3 from October 1943 until his death in January 1945. He claimed some 80 Soviet tanks destroyed and flew over 1300 combat missions.

    On 5 July 1943, Mietusch became Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 26. He recorded a victory over an USAAF B-17 four-engine heavy bomber on 25 July, the first confirmed victory of 16 four-engine bombers he was to shoot down. His 50th victory was a B-17 shot down over Cambrai on 20 October. On 8 March 1944, the 8th Air Force, USAAF raided Berlin. Mietusch claimed a B-17 Herausschuss as the bombers made their way to Berlin for his 60th victory. However, when attempting to attack the withdrawing bombers, Mietusch was shot down in Bf 109 G-6 (W.Nr. 162 032) “Black 21” near Meppen by the USAAF P-47 fighter escort. He baled out and landed safely but had suffered injuries destined to keep him in hospital for the next few weeks. He was awarded the Ritterkreuz for his 60th victory on 26 March 1944. He received promotion to the rank of Major in April. While landing at Rouvres-Étain on 12 April, Mietusch’s Bf 109 G-6 (W.Nr. 162 345) “Black 24” hit a bomb crater and overturned. He suffered injuries that put him back in hospital for three weeks. Mietusch shot down a USAAF P-38 twin-engine fighter near Chartres on 4 July to record his 70th victory. On 17 July, Mietusch was shot down in Bf 109 G-6/U4 (W.Nr. 440 640) “White 20” by an RAF Spitfire. He baled out but did not return to his base until the next day. He was promptly sent to hospital in Germany. Mietusch was engaged in combat with USAAF P-51 fighters on 17 September 1944. After gaining his 75th, and final victory, he was shot down and killed in Bf 109 G-6 (W.Nr. 441 646) “Black 25” in the vicinity of Rath-Aldekerk by the American ace, Lieutenant William Beyer (9 victories) of the 376th Fighter Squadron of the 361st Fighter Group, USAAF. He was posthumously awarded the Eichenlaub (Nr 653) on 18 November.
    In 452 combat missions Klaus Mietusch gained 75 victories. He gained 60 victories over the Western Front including 13 four-engine bombers. He was wounded several times and was shot down ten times.

Born on December 27, 1916, in Cloppenburg, Baumbach entered the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was trained as a bomber pilot. He was one of the first pilots to fly the Ju 88 bomber and flew various bombing missions with KG 30. In 1942, Baumbach was removed from active pilot duty and started working on new bomber designs; among others, he helped design the composite bomber system Mistel. In 1944, he was placed in command of the newly-formed KG 200 and was in charge of all Luftwaffe special missions.

After the war, Baumbach spent three years as a prisoner of war before he moved to Argentina where he worked as a test pilot. He died in a plane crash on October 20, 1953.

Baumbach released his memoirs, Zu spät: Aufstieg und Untergang der deutschen Luftwaffe (English title: "Broken Swastika"), in the late 1940s. The book demonstrates that even after Germany's defeat, Baumbach still believed to a very large extent in the National Socialist ideology. The fact that Baumbach's time as commander of KG 200 is not mentioned with a single word highlights the extreme secrecy of Germany's special missions program.

In January 1945, Galland, along with other Luftwaffe officers, was sent back to operational units after questioning the competence of Hermann Göring. Galland surrendered to United States Army forces in May 1945. He claimed a total of 104 victories in 705 missions and was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz) with oak leaves, swords and diamonds, one of only 27 recipients of the highest German military decoration. His victory claims were all against the Western Allies.

Major Falck became Kommodore of the first dedicated night fighter unit Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 in June 1940, and received the Ritterkreuz in October 1940. He was to command NJG 1 for three years and in partnership with General Josef Kammhuber develop a highly effective night fighter force.

In July 1943, Falck was promoted to Oberst and transferred to the Generalstab as Kammhuber’s representative at the Luftwaffenführungsstab. Falck was then sent to Berlin and appointed within the Luftwaffenbefehlshaber Mitte, as overall responsible for the day and night fighter defence of the Reich.

Hermann Graf was born in Engen in Baden. Coming from a modest background and with relatively poor schooling, Graf first took an apprenticeship as a locksmith, and later worked as a clerk. Graf was a talented soccer player, playing as goalkeeper. Indeed, had the war not intervened, he may have become a German international. He did, like many other German youths, pursue gliding and this led to his being accepted to basic aviation training in 1936, and in 1938 Graf completed the advanced flying training. He was originally selected for multi-engine aircraft training, but he wanted to fly fighters and was assigned to 2./Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51) on 31 May 1939 with the rank of Unteroffizier.

At the outbreak of War on 1 September 1939 JG 51 was stationed at the French border. Graf, now a Feldwebel, flew many patrols, but had no opportunity to engage the enemy during this phoney war.

In early 1940 Graf was posted to a training unit, during which time he was promoted to leutnant on 1 May. On 6 October Graf was assigned to 9./Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52). His wingman at the time was Leopold Steinbatz. A few days later JG 52 was transferred to Romania, to help train Romanian pilots.

In May 1941 III./JG 52 was transferred to Greece to support Operation Merkur, the invasion of Crete. The unit flew mostly ground attack missions during this time. In early June the unit transferred back to Romania, and from 22 June the unit supported Operation Barbarossa. On 1 August JG 52 transferred to forward airfields in Ukraine, and on 4 August Graf got his first aerial victory against an I-16 while escorting a Ju 87 strike against Kiev. At this point he had clearly found his 'shooting eye' and quickly racked up further victories.

By early 1942 he had 45 victories, for which he was awarded the Ritterkreuz on 24 January. On 23 March Graf was appointed Staffelkapitän of 9./JG 52. Shortly thereafter he had an impressive string of successes, shooting down 48 enemy aircraft over a period of three weeks. On 14 May he shot down 8 enemy aircraft, and on 17 May he was awarded the Eichenlaub to his Ritterkreuz for reaching 104 victories. Only two days later he was awarded the Schwerter, after adding a further two victories to his tally.

From August onwards JG 52 supported Heeresgrüppe Süd's advances towards Stalingrad and Graf continued shooting down enemies at a high rate. In September alone he shot down 64 enemy aircraft, including 10 on 23 September. During this month he also became the first pilot to down 200 enemy aircraft, earning him the Brillianten on 16 September. Some time after this Graf was ordered not to fly operationally any more, as the High Command was concerned about the potential morale loss if he was to be shot down. Indeed, Graf received heavy damage to his aircraft on several occasions, including a cannon hit to the cockpit, and half the rudder shot away.

In early 1943 Graf, now a major, was sent to France to command Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost, an advanced fighter pilot school stationed near Bordeaux. On 21 June he was appointed commander of Jagdgruppe 50, a high-altitude fighter unit charged with combating the increasing menace of the high flying RAF De Havilland Mosquitos. Here Graf pulled together the Karaya Quartet.

In 1943, Graf used his fame and influence to intervene to save all the best German soccer players from front-line service, having them transferred into JGr 50, under the pretext that they were "badly needed technical experts". These included Fritz Walter, future captain of the West German World Cup winning team in 1954. Walter was the star in Graf's own soccer team, following Graf from JGr 50 to JG 1, JG 11, and JG 52^.

During this assignment Graf shot down three more enemy aircraft, including two B-17 Flying Fortress bombers. In October the unit was disbanded by Göring and absorbed into I./JG 301, and Graf was promoted to Oberst and appointed Geschwaderkommodore of JG 11 on 11 November. JG 11 was tasked with Reichsverteidigung (Defense of the Reich), and despite officially being banned from flying operational missions Graf managed to down 6 more aircraft over the next four months.

On 29 March 1944 Graf shot down one P-51 Mustang and in the confusion of the dog fight collided with another. He managed to bail out, but was injured and had to spend some time in a hospital. After recovering he was appointed Kommodore of his old unit JG 52 on 1 October, which was still operating on the Eastern Front. With German forces in retreat by this time Graf did not have opportunity for air combat. He managed to bring his tally to 212 before he surrendered to the Americans on 8 May 1945. Graf had disobeyed an order from General Hans Seidemann. Seidemann had ordered him and Erich Hartmann to fly to the British sector, to avoid capture by the Russians, with the rest of the wing surrendering to the Soviets. Instead Graf chose to surrender his unit to the 90th US Infantry Division.

Of his 212 victories, 10 were achieved in the West, and 6 of these were against heavy bombers.

Along with most of the JG 52 personnel, Graf was handed over to the Russians shortly after his surrender. Having become famous via the Nazi propaganda machine and as the Commander of JG 52, Graf was singled out for attention by the Soviets. He was imprisoned until 29 December 1949. This relatively early release was by many perceived to be caused by his willingness to co-operate with his Soviet captors, something fellow pilots criticized him for, especially following a 1950s book by fellow fighter ace & Soviet POW Hans "Assi" Hahn entitled I Tell the Truth.

This led to Graf being largely ostracized from post-war Luftwaffe comrade associations. After his release Graf became a salesman for an electronics manufacturer, and eventually rose to Head of Sales for the company. In 1965 Graf was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, and he died in his hometown Engen on 11 April 1988.

Bär, a Saxon with a strong accent, joined the Reichswehr in 1934 and transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1935. Serving first as a mechanic, then as a pilot on transport aircraft, he was informally trained as a fighter pilot. He claimed his first aerial victory in September 1939 on the French border. By the end of the Battle of Britain, his tally of victories had increased to 17. Transferred to the Eastern front to participate in Operation Barbarossa, he quickly accumulated further victories, a feat that earned him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub and Schwertern) for 90 aerial victories in February 1942.

During the remainder of World War II, Bär was credited with 130 other aerial victories, including 16 while flying one of the first jet fighters, the Me 262, an achievement which would normally have earned him the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillianten).^[4][6] However, Hermann Göring's personal dislike of Bär, coupled with Bär's insubordinate character and lack of military discipline, deprived him of this award.After World War II, Bär continued his career as an aviator and was killed in a flying accident on 28 April 1957 near Braunschweig.