What prompted me to choose this topic?
War is a time of testing, where everyone shows their true essence. Someone betrays and sells loved ones, their ideals and values in order to save their miserable life, which is essentially worthless.
But there is another group of people who place saving their lives on the “scale” of values, if not the last, then not the first place. Combat pilots also belong to this group of people.
I do not single out pilots based on their affiliation with one or another warring side. I don't draw any conclusions. Let everyone, after reading the material I provide, draw conclusions for themselves. I simply wrote about brave people who were, are and will be in history. And I set these people as an example for myself.
Ace(French as - ace; first in his field) - master of air combat. This word was first used in the First world war to military pilots who are fluent in the art of piloting and air combat and have shot down at least 5 enemy aircraft.
In World War II, the best ace of the USSR and allies was Ivan Kozhedub, who shot down 62 aircraft. Among the aces (experts) of Nazi Germany who fought on the Eastern Front, there were those whose combat count numbered in the hundreds. The absolute record for the number of confirmed victories in the history of aviation - 352 enemy aircraft - belongs to Luftwaffe pilot Erich Hartmann. Among the aces of other countries, the leadership belongs to the Finn Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, who accounted for 94 enemy aircraft.
After the end of World War II and the advent of jet aviation, the number of aircraft shot down per pilot fell, which was caused by the comparative limited nature of local conflicts. The appearance of new aces was noted only in the Korean, Vietnamese, Iran-Iraq, Arab-Israeli and Indo-Pakistan wars. A record number of victories on a jet aircraft were achieved by Soviet pilots Evgeniy Pepelyaev and Nikolai Sutyagin during the Korean War - 23 and 21 enemy aircraft, respectively. The third place in the number of aircraft shot down in the history of jet aviation is taken by Israeli Air Force Colonel Giora Epstein - 17 aircraft, and 9 of them in two days.
Aces of the USSR
27 Soviet fighter pilots awarded the title of Hero three times and twice for their military exploits Soviet Union, scored from 22 to 62 victories, in total they shot down 1044 enemy aircraft (plus 184 in the group). Over 800 pilots have 16 or more victories. Our aces (3% of all pilots) destroyed 30% of enemy aircraft.
Kozhedub, Ivan Nikitovich
Figure 1 - Three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Air Marshal Ivan Nikitovich KozhedubIvan Nikitovich Kozhedub (June 8, 1920, Obrazhievka village, Glukhov district, Chernigov province, Ukrainian SSR - August 8, 1991, Moscow) - Soviet military leader, ace pilot during the Great Patriotic War Patriotic War, the most successful fighter pilot in Allied aviation (64 personal victories). Three times Hero of the Soviet Union. Air Marshal (6 May 1985).
Ivan Kozhedub was born in Ukraine into a peasant family. He took his first steps in aviation while studying at the Shostka flying club. Since 1940 - in the ranks of the Red Army. In 1941 he graduated from the Chuguev Military Aviation Pilot School, where he began serving as an instructor.
After the start of the war, he was evacuated to Central Asia along with the aviation school. In November 1942, Kozhedub was seconded to the 240th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the 302nd Fighter Aviation Division, which was being formed in Ivanovo. In March 1943, as part of the division, he flew to the Voronezh Front.
Figure 2 - Ivan Kozhedub against the background of La-5FN (side number 14) 
Figure 3 - La-7 I.N. Kozhedub, 176th GvIAP, spring 1945
The first air battle ended in failure for Kozhedub and almost became the last - his La-5 was damaged by a cannon fire from a Messerschmitt-109, the armored back saved him from an incendiary shell, and upon returning he was fired upon by Soviet anti-aircraft gunners and the plane was hit by 2 anti-aircraft shells. Despite the fact that he managed to land the plane, it was not subject to full restoration, and Kozhedub had to fly on the “remnants” - the available aircraft in the squadron. Soon they wanted to take him to the warning post, but the regiment commander stood up for him. On July 6, 1943, on the Kursk Bulge during his fortieth combat mission, Kozhedub shot down his first German aircraft - a Junkers 87 bomber. The very next day he shot down the second, and on July 9 he shot down 2 Bf-109 fighters at once. The first title of Hero of the Soviet Union was awarded to Kozhedub on February 4, 1944 for 146 combat missions and 20 downed enemy aircraft.
Since May 1944, Ivan Kozhedub fought on the La-5FN (side number 14), built at the expense of the collective farmer-beekeeper of the Stalingrad region V.V. Konev. In August 1944, he was appointed deputy commander of the 176th Guards Regiment and began to fight on the new La-7 fighter. Kozhedub was awarded the second Gold Star medal on August 19, 1944 for 256 combat missions and 48 downed enemy aircraft.
Figure 4 - La-7 early series 
Figure 5 - La-7 cockpit By the end of the war, Ivan Kozhedub, by that time a guard major, flew the La-7, made 330 combat missions, shot down 62 enemy aircraft in 120 air battles, including 17 Ju-87 dive bombers, 2 Ju-88 and He bombers each -111, 16 Bf-109 and 21 Fw-190 fighters, 3 Hs-129 attack aircraft and 1 Me-262 jet fighter. Kozhedub fought his last battle in the Great Patriotic War, in which he shot down 2 FW-190s, in the skies over Berlin. Throughout the war, Kozhedub was never shot down. Kozhedub received the third Gold Star medal on August 18, 1945 for high military skill, personal courage and bravery shown on the war fronts. He was an excellent shooter and preferred to open fire at a distance of 200-300 meters, rarely approaching at a shorter distance.
Figure 6 - Medal “Gold Star” - attribute of the Hero of the Soviet Union In addition to A.I. Pokryshkin and I.N. Kozhedub three times Hero of the USSR was S.M. Budyonny. More stars (four) had L.I. Brezhnev and G.K. Zhukov.
Kozhedub’s flight biography also includes two US Air Force P-51 Mustangs shot down in 1945, which attacked him, mistaking him for a German plane.
At the end of the war, Kozhedub continued to serve in the Air Force. In 1949 he graduated from the Red Banner Air Force Academy, in 1956 - from the Military Academy of the General Staff. During the Korean War, he commanded the 324th Fighter Division as part of the 64th Fighter Corps. From April 1951 to January 1952, the division's pilots scored 216 aerial victories, losing only 27 aircraft (9 pilots died).
In 1964-1971 - Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District. Since 1971 he served in the central apparatus of the Air Force, and since 1978 - in the Group of Inspectors General of the USSR Ministry of Defense. In 1985, I. N. Kozhedub was awarded the military rank of Air Marshal. He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the 2nd-5th convocations, and a people's deputy of the USSR.
Died on August 8, 1991. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow. A bronze bust was installed in his homeland in the village of Obrazhievka. His La-7 (board number 27) is on display at the Air Force Museum in Monino. Also, a park in the city of Sumy (Ukraine) is named after Ivan Kozhedub; a monument to the pilot is erected near the entrance.
Pokryshkin, Alexander Ivanovich
Figure 7 - Three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Air Marshal Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin is a Soviet ace pilot, the second most successful Soviet fighter pilot of the Great Patriotic War. First three times Hero of the Soviet Union. Air Marshal (1972). Honorary citizen of Mariupol and Novosibirsk.
Pokryshkin was born in Novosibirsk, the son of a factory worker. Grew up in poverty. But unlike his peers, he was more interested in studying than in fights and petty crimes. IN teenage years had the nickname Engineer. He became interested in aviation at the age of 12 at a local air show and the dream of becoming a pilot never left him after that. In 1928, after graduating from seven-year school, he went to work in construction. In 1930, despite his father's protests, he left home and entered a local technical school, where he studied for 18 months. Then he voluntarily joined the army and was sent to aviation school. His dream seemed about to come true. Unfortunately, the profile of the school was suddenly changed and I had to study as an aviation mechanic. Official requests for transfer to the flight department received the standard answer “Soviet aviation needs technicians.” Having graduated from the Perm Military-Technical School in 1933, he quickly rose in rank. In December 1934, he became senior aviation mechanic of the 74th Infantry Division. He remained in this position until November 1938. During this period, his creative nature began to emerge: he proposed a number of improvements to the ShKAS machine gun and a number of other things.
In the end, Pokryshkin outwitted his superiors: during his vacation in the winter of 1938, he completed the annual civil pilot program in 17 days. This automatically made him eligible for admission to flight school. Without even packing his suitcase, he boarded the train. He graduated with top marks in 1939, and with the rank of first lieutenant was assigned to the 55th Fighter Regiment.
He was in Moldova in June 1941, close to the border, and his airfield was bombed on June 22, 1941, the first day of the war. His first dogfight was a disaster. He shot down a Soviet plane. It was a Su-2, a light bomber, its pilot survived, but its gunner was killed.
He scored his first victory against the famed Bf-109 the next day while he and his wingman were conducting reconnaissance. On July 3, having won several more victories, he was hit by a German anti-aircraft gun behind the front line and spent four days making his way to his unit. During the first weeks of the war, Pokryshkin clearly saw how outdated Soviet military doctrine was, and began to little by little write down his ideas in a notebook. He carefully recorded all the details of the air battles in which he and his friends participated and made a detailed analysis. He had to fight in extremely difficult conditions of constant retreat. Later he said “those who did not fight in 1941-1942 do not know the real war.”
Pokryshkin was close to death several times. The machine gun round went through his seat on the right side, damaged his shoulder strap, ricocheted off the left side and grazed his chin, covering his dashboard with blood.
Figure 8 - MiG-3 fighter by A.I. Pokryshkin, 55th IAP, summer 1941. In the winter of 1941, Pokryshkin, flying a MiG-3, took off despite mud and rain after two other pilots crashed trying to take off. His mission was to locate von Kleist's tanks, which had been stopped in front of the town of Shakhty and then lost to Soviet troops. After he, despite running out of fuel and terrible weather conditions, was able to return and report this important information, he was awarded the Order of Lenin.
In the late winter of 1942, his regiment was recalled from the front to master a new type of fighter, the P-39 Airacobra. During training, Pokryshkin often disagreed with the new regiment commander, who did not accept Pokryshkin's criticism of Soviet military aviation doctrine. The commander fabricated a case against Pokryshkin in a field court, accusing him of cowardice, lack of subordination and disobedience to orders. However, the highest authority acquitted him. In 1943, Pokryshkin fought in the Kuban against the famous German fighter aircraft formations. His new tactics for air policing, and the use of ground-based radars and advanced ground control systems, brought the Soviet Air Force its first major victory over the Luftwaffe.
In January 1943, the 16th Guards Aviation Regiment was sent to the border with Iran to receive new equipment and new pilots. The regiment returned to the front on April 8, 1943. During this period, Pokryshkin recorded ten Bf-109s shot down during his first flight in an Airacobra. The next day, April 9, he was able to confirm 2 of the 7 aircraft he shot down. Pokryshkin received his first title of Hero of the Soviet Union on April 24, 1943, he was awarded the rank of major in June.
In most sorties, Pokryshkin took on the most difficult task of shooting down the leader. As he understood from the experience of 1941-1942, knocking out a leader meant demoralizing the enemy and often thereby forcing him to return to his airfield. Pokryshkin received the second Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union on August 24, 1943 after the special investigation.
Figure 9 - Mig-3 at a field airfield 
Figure 10 - Cockpit 
Figure 11 - Installation of ShVAK cannons on the MiG-3 In February 1944, Pokryshkin received a promotion and an offer of light paperwork to manage the training of new pilots. But he immediately rejected this offer and remained in his old regiment in his previous rank. However, he did not fly as much as before. Pokryshkin became a famous hero and became a very important propaganda tool, so he was not allowed to fly much for fear of his death in battle. Instead of flying, he spent a lot of time in a bunker directing his regiment's battles by radio. In June 1944, Pokryshkin received the rank of colonel and began to command the 9th Guards Air Division. On August 19, 1944, after 550 combat missions and 53 official victories, Pokryshkin was awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for the third time. He became the first to be awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union three times. He was forbidden to fly with everyone else, but sometimes he was allowed. Of his 65 official victories, only 6 were won in the last two years of the war.
Figure 12 - Medal “Gold Star” - attribute of the Hero of the Soviet Union After the war he was passed over for promotion again and again. Only after Stalin's death did he find himself in favor again and was finally promoted to aviation general. However, he never held senior positions in aviation. His highest post was the head of DOSAAF. Pokryshkin was again ostracized for his honesty and directness. Despite strong pressure, he refused to glorify Brezhnev and his role in the Battle of Kuban. Pokryshkin died on November 13, 1985 at the age of 72.
Aces of Germany
During World War II, according to German data, Luftwaffe pilots scored about 70,000 victories. More than 5,000 German pilots became aces, scoring five or more victories. More than 8,500 German fighter pilots were killed and 2,700 were missing or captured. 9,100 pilots were injured during combat missions.
Hartmann, Erich Alfred
Figure 13 - Erich Alfred "Booby" Hartmann Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann (German: Erich Alfred Hartmann; born 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 made 1,425 combat missions, shooting down 352 enemy aircraft (of which 345 were Soviet) in 825 air battles. During this time, his plane was shot down 14 times, always for the same reasons - due to damage from the debris of the downed plane, or technical malfunctions, but he was never shot down by the enemy. During such cases, Hartmann always managed to jump out with a parachute. Friends called him “the blond knight of Germany.”
A pre-war glider pilot, Hartmann joined the Luftwaffe in 1940 and completed pilot training in 1942. He was soon assigned to the 52nd Fighter Squadron (German: Jagdgeschwader 52) on the Eastern Front, where he came under the tutelage of experienced Luftwaffe fighter pilots. Under their guidance, Hartmann developed his skills and tactics, which eventually earned him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (only 27 men in the German Armed Forces had this distinction) on 25 August 1944, for the 301st confirmed air victory.
Figure 14 - Fighter: Messerschmitt Bf 109 
Figure 15 - Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds
Until the end of the war, Hartmann flew more than 1,400 missions, in which he fought 825 air battles. Hartmann himself often said that what was dearer to him than all victories was the fact that during the entire war he did not lose a single wingman.
Erich Hartmann achieved his 352nd and last air victory on May 8, 1945. He and the remaining troops from JG 52 surrendered to American forces, but were handed over to the Soviet Army. Accused of war crimes and sentenced to 25 years in maximum security camps, Hartmann would spend 10 and a half years in them until 1955. In 1956 he joined the rebuilt West German Luftwaffe, and became the first commander of the JG 71 Richthoffen squadron. In 1970, he left the army, largely due to his rejection of the American Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, which was then used to equip the German troops, and constant conflicts with his superiors. Erich Hartmann died in 1993.
Rudel, Hans-Ulrich (Luftwaffe attack aircraft)
Figure 16 - Hans-Ulrich Rudel Hans-Ulrich Rudel (German: Hans-Ulrich Rudel; July 2, 1916 - December 18, 1982) was the most famous and successful pilot of the Ju-87 Stuka dive bomber during World War II. The only recipient of the full bow of the Knight's Cross: with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds (since December 29, 1944). The only foreigner to receive Hungary's highest award, the Gold Medal of Valor. Only Hermann Goering surpassed Rudel in the number of awards. An active Nazi, never criticized Hitler.
Hans-Ulrich Rudel is rightfully considered the most famous combat pilot of the Second World War. In less than four years, piloting mostly the slow and vulnerable Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, he flew 2,530 combat missions, more than any other pilot in the world, destroying 519 Soviet tanks(more than five tank corps), more than 1000 locomotives, cars and other vehicles, sank the battleship "Marat", a cruiser, destroyer, 70 landing ships, bombed 150 artillery positions, howitzer, anti-tank and anti-aircraft, destroyed many bridges and pillboxes, shot down 7 Soviet fighters and 2 Il-2 attack aircraft, he himself was shot down by anti-aircraft fire about thirty times (and never by fighters), was wounded five times, two of them seriously, but continued to fly combat missions after the amputation of his right leg, saved six crews who made forced landing on enemy territory, and at the end of the war he became the only soldier of the German army to receive his country's highest and specially established award for bravery, the Golden Oak Leaves with Swords and Diamonds to the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Figure 17 - Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds Rudel began the war as a humble lieutenant, who was bullied by his colleagues for his love of milk and for a long time was not allowed to take combat missions as he was unable to learn to fly an aircraft, but graduated with the rank of Oberst, commander of the oldest and most famous aviation unit of the Ju-87 dive bombers (Schlachtgeschwader) SG2 "Immelman". Hitler forbade him to fly several times, believing that his death would be the hardest blow for the nation, Field Marshal Ferdinand Scherner called him worth an entire division, and Stalin valued his head at 100,000 rubles, which he promised to pay to anyone who could deliver Rudel, alive or dead, into the hands of the Soviet command.
Figure 18 - Junkers-87 "Stuka" (Junkers Ju-87 Stu rz ka mpfflugzeug - dive bomber) After the war, Rudel's book of war memoirs, "Trotzdem", better known by its title, was published. English name“The Stuka Pilot” has since been reprinted many times in many languages of the world with a total circulation of more than a million copies. However, the book, unanimously recognized in its time as a literary event and which over the past decades has become a military memoir classic, has never been translated into Russian, despite the fact that Rudel made almost all of his combat missions on the Eastern Front (according to other sources, the book was still published in Russia at least twice). The reasons for this will be clear to the reader after viewing the very first chapters. From the pages of the book we see a portrait of a man thinking, cold-blooded, strong-willed, fearless, with bright commanding qualities, although not alien to emotions, vulnerable, sometimes doubting himself, constantly struggling with inhuman tension and fatigue. At the same time, Rudel remains a convinced fascist. This is not some yesterday a student, hastily trained to fly according to an abbreviated program and thrown into battle, but a career Luftwaffe officer, who strives to inflict maximum damage on the hated enemy by any means and with any weapon at his disposal, the meaning of his life is to exterminate the enemies of Germany, to conquer “living space” for her , successful missions, military career, awards, respect from subordinates, favorable attitude of Hitler, Goering, Himmler, adoration of the nation. Rudel will remain in the history of the Second World War and Hitler's Germany as a finished product of Nazi "indoctrination", the archetype of a fascist military officer, completely devoted to Hitler and the Third Reich, who, until his death, believed that Hitler's fight against the "Asian communist hordes" was the only possible one. and fair.
Figure 19 - Ju 87G "Stuka" - tank destroyer. With two 37 mm BK 37 cannons mounted in nacelles under the wings 
Figure 20 - "Stukas" - combat sortie In mid-April 1946, after being released from a hospital in Bavaria where he was recovering from an amputation, Rudel worked as a transport contractor in Kösfeld, Westphalia. Using his prosthesis, made especially for him by the famous master Streide from Tyrol, he took part in a number of skiing competitions and, together with his friends and fellow soldiers Bauer and Nierman, made a mountain trip to South Tyrol. Later, having lost his job and any prospects, and labeled as an “ardent militarist and fascist,” he moved to Rome, and in July 1948 to Argentina, where, along with a number of other famous Luftwaffe veterans, Generals Werner Baumbach and Adolf Galland, test pilots Behrens and Steinkamp, former Focke-Wulf designer Kurt Tank helped create Argentine military aviation, and worked as a consultant in the aircraft industry.
Rudel, having settled in the vicinity of the Argentine city of Cordoba, where a large aircraft manufacturing plant was located, was actively involved in his favorite sports: swimming, tennis, javelin and discus throwing, alpine skiing and rock climbing in the Sierra Grande mountains. IN free time he was working on his memoirs, first published in Buenos Aires in 1949. Despite his prosthesis, he took part in the South American Alpine Ski Championships in San Carlos de Bariloja and took fourth place. In 1951, Rudel climbed Aconcagua in the Argentine Andes, the highest peak on the American mainland, and reached 7,000 meters when bad weather forced him to turn back.
Being in South America, Rudel met and became close friends with Argentine President Juan Peron and Paraguayan President Alfredo Stroessner. He was actively involved in social activities among Nazis and immigrants of German origin who had left Europe, participating in the work of the Kameradenhilfe, as his opponents believed, a “NSDAP-like” organization, which nevertheless sent food parcels to German prisoners of war and helped their families.
In 1951, Rudel published two political pamphlets in Buenos Aires - “We, the front-line soldiers and our opinion on the rearmament of Germany” and “A stab in the back or a Legend.” In the first book, Rudel, speaking on behalf of all front-line soldiers, claims that he is again ready to fight against the Bolsheviks and for the “living space” in the east, which is still necessary for the survival of the German nation. In the second, dedicated to the consequences of the assassination attempt on Hitler in June 1944, Rudel explains to the reader that responsibility for Germany’s defeat in the war lies with the generals who did not understand the strategic genius of the Fuhrer and, in particular, with the conspiratorial officers, since the political crisis caused by their assassination attempt allowed Allies to gain a foothold in Europe.
After the end of the contract with the Argentine government in the early 1950s. Rudel returned to Germany, where he continued his successful career as a consultant and businessman. In 1953, at the height of the first stage cold war, when public opinion became more tolerant of former Nazis, he published his Trotzdem for the first time in his homeland. Rudel also attempted to run for the Bundestag as a candidate for the ultra-conservative DRP, but was defeated in the elections. He took an active part in the annual meetings of Immelman veterans, and in 1965 he opened a memorial to the fallen SG2 pilots in Burg-Staufenburg. Despite a stroke suffered in 1970, Rudel continued to be actively involved in sports and contributed to the organization of the first German championships for disabled athletes. Last years He lived his life in Kufstein, Austria, continuing to embarrass official Bonn with his far-right political statements.
Hans-Ulrich Rudel died in December 1982 from a cerebral hemorrhage in Rosenheim, Germany, at the age of 66.
Aces of Japan
Nishizawa, Hiroyoshi
Figure 21 - Hiroyoshi Nishizawa Hiroyoshi Nishizawa (January 27, 1920 – October 26, 1944) was a Japanese ace and pilot in the Imperial Naval Air Force during World War II.
Nishizawa was arguably the best Japanese ace of the entire war, having scored 87 aerial victories by the time of his death. These statistics are not very accurate, since in Japanese aviation it was customary to keep statistics of the squadron, and not individual pilots, and also due to overly stringent requirements for accounting. Newspapers wrote after his death about 150 victories, he told his family about 147, some sources mention 102, and even 202 are supposed.
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa gained fame after his death, to a large extent this was facilitated by his comrade Saburo Sakai. Both of these pilots were among the best aces of Japanese naval aviation. Nishizawa was born on January 27, 1920 in Nagano Prefecture into the family of a successful manager. In June 1936, he enlisted in the navy, his decision being the result of an advertising campaign encouraging young men to join the Imperial Navy. Hiroyoshi had one dream - to become a pilot. He accomplished it by completing his flight training course in March 1939.
Before the outbreak of the Pacific War, Nishizawa served in the Chitose air group, which was based in the Marshall Islands and was armed with Type 96 Claude fighters. In February 1942 he was transferred to the 4th Air Group. Nishizawa shot down his first plane on February 3, 1942 over Rabaul, flying an outdated Claude.
Upon arrival in Rabaul of the Tainan air group, the pilot was included in the 2nd squadron. Nishizawa found himself in a pleasant campaign by Saburo Sakai. Sakai, Nishizawa and Ota formed the famous "Brilliant Trio". The young pilot quickly became a skilled air fighter. He scored his first victory as part of the Tainan air group on May 1, 1942, shooting down an American Airacobra over Port Moresby. The next day, two P40s fell victim to the guns of his fighter. The opponents of the pilots of the Tainan air group in May 1942 were pilots of the 35th and 36th squadrons of the US Air Force.
August 7, 1942 was the most successful day in the career of Hiroyoshi Nishizawa. During his very first collision with American carrier-based fighter pilots, the Japanese shot down six F4Fs from the VF5 squadron. Nishizawa's Zero was also damaged, but the pilot managed to return to his airfield.
Figure 22 - A6M2 "Zero" model 21 on the deck of the aircraft carrier "Shokaku" preparing for an attack on Pearl Harbor On November 8, based on the remnants of the Tainan air group, the 251st air group was created.
On May 14, 1943, 33 Zero fighters escorted 18 Betty bombers flying to bomb American ships in Oro Bay. All aircraft of the 49th Fighter Group of the US Air Force, three P40 squadrons, scrambled to intercept. In the ensuing battle, Nishizawa shot down one Warhawk for certain and two presumably, then he scored his first victory over the twin-engine Lightning. In total, Japanese pilots recorded 15 aircraft shot down in air combat; in fact, the Americans lost only one aircraft, the P38 Lightning fighter from the 19th Fighter Squadron of the US Air Force.
Sooner or later Nishizawa had to meet in the air best fighter Pacific War F4U "Corsair". Such a meeting took place on June 7, 1943 over Russell, when 81 Zeros engaged with a hundred American and New Zealand fighters. Four Corsairs from the VMF112 squadron were shot down in that battle, three pilots managed to escape. Nishizawa chalked up one US Marine Corps Corsair and one New Zealand Air Force P40.
For the rest of the summer of 1943, Nishizawa flew almost daily on combat missions in the Rendova and VellaLavella area. American pilots from squadrons VMF121, VMF122, VMF123, VMF124 and VMF221 persistently and unsuccessfully hunted for the "devil" Pacific Ocean"For success in combat work, the commander of the 11th Air Fleet, Admiral Inichi Kusaka, in a solemn ceremony presented Hiroyoshi Nishizawa with a samurai sword.
In September, the 251st Air Group began to prepare for night interceptions, and Nishizawa was transferred to the 253rd Air Group, which was based at the Tobira airfield in Rabaul. The ace fought in the new unit for only a month, after which he was recalled to instructor work in Japan in October. In November, Nishizawa was promoted to warrant officer.
The veteran of the Pacific battles perceived the new assignment as if he had been appointed a nurse in a children's nursery. Nishizawa was eager to go to the front. His numerous requests were satisfied: the pilot left for the Philippines at the disposal of the headquarters of the 201st air group. The Japanese were preparing to repel the American invasion of the Philippines.
The date of the first successful kamikaze attack is considered to be October 25, 1944, when Lieutenant Yukio Shiki and four other pilots attacked American aircraft carriers in Leyte Gulf. Nishizawa played a certain role in the success of the first suicide attack: he, at the head of four fighters, accompanied the planes of kamikaze pilots. Nishizawa shot down two patrol Hellcats, allowing Shiki to launch his last attack. Nishizawa himself asked the command to allow him to become a kamikaze. An experienced fighter pilot is too valuable to be used in a suicidal strike. Nishizawa's request was denied.
On October 26, Nishizawa flew the 1021st Naval Airlift Group from Cuba Island to Mabalacat (Clark Field area) to receive the new Zero. On the route, the plane went missing, the radio operator managed to send an SOS signal. For a long time nothing was known about the circumstances of the car’s death.
The circumstances of Nishizawa's death became clear only in 1982. The transport plane was intercepted over the northern tip of the island of Mindoro by a pair of Helkets from the VF14 squadron, which shot it down.
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was posthumously awarded the rank of lieutenant. According to official data from the Japanese Navy, Nishizawa personally shot down 36 aircraft and damaged two during his service in the 201st Air Group. Shortly before his death, the pilot submitted a report to his commander, Commodore Harutoshi Okamoto, which indicated the number of victories Nishizawa won in air battles - 86. In post-war studies, the number of aircraft shot down by the ace increased to 103 and even 147.
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15. Sinitsyn E. Alexander Pokryshkin - the genius of air warfare. The psychology of heroism (excerpts from the book). [Electronic resource] - Access mode to the article: http://www.s-genius.ru/vse_knigi/pokrishkin_universal.htm
16. Bakursky V. Comparison of fighters of the Second World War. [Electronic resource] - Access mode to the article:
Actually, the problem is this: 104 German pilots have a record of 100 or more downed aircraft. Among them are Erich Hartmann (352 victories) and Gerhard Barkhorn (301), who showed absolutely phenomenal results. Moreover, Harmann and Barkhorn won all their victories on the Eastern Front. And they were no exception - Gunther Rall (275 victories), Otto Kittel (267), Walter Nowotny (258) - also fought on the Soviet-German front.
At the same time, the 7 best Soviet aces: Kozhedub, Pokryshkin, Gulaev, Rechkalov, Evstigneev, Vorozheikin, Glinka were able to overcome the bar of 50 enemy aircraft shot down. For example, Three-time Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub destroyed 64 German aircraft in air battles (plus 2 American Mustangs shot down by mistake). Alexander Pokryshkin, a pilot about whom, according to legend, the Germans warned by radio: “Achtung! Pokryshkin in der Luft!”, chalked up “only” 59 aerial victories. The little-known Romanian ace Constantin Contacuzino has approximately the same number of victories (according to various sources, from 60 to 69). Another Romanian, Alexandru Serbanescu, shot down 47 aircraft on the Eastern Front (another 8 victories remained “unconfirmed”).
The situation is much worse for the Anglo-Saxons. The best aces were Marmaduke Pettle (about 50 victories, South Africa) and Richard Bong (40 victories, USA). In total, 19 British and American pilots managed to shoot down more than 30 enemy aircraft, while the British and Americans fought on the best fighters in the world: the inimitable P-51 Mustang, P-38 Lightning or the legendary Supermarine Spitfire! On the other hand, the best ace of the Royal Air Force did not have the opportunity to fight on such wonderful aircraft - Marmaduke Pettle won all his fifty victories, flying first on the old Gladiator biplane, and then on the clumsy Hurricane.
Against this background, the results of Finnish fighter aces look completely paradoxical: Ilmari Yutilainen shot down 94 aircraft, and Hans Wind - 75.
What conclusion can be drawn from all these numbers? What is the secret of the incredible performance of Luftwaffe fighters? Maybe the Germans simply didn’t know how to count?
The only thing that can be stated with a high degree of confidence is that the accounts of all aces, without exception, are inflated. Extolling the successes of the best fighters is a standard practice of state propaganda, which by definition cannot be honest.
German Meresyev and his "Stuka"
As an interesting example, I propose to consider the incredible story of bomber pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel. This ace is less known than the legendary Erich Hartmann. Rudel practically did not participate in air battles; you will not find his name in the lists of the best fighters.
Rudel is famous for having flown 2,530 combat missions. He piloted the Junkers 87 dive bomber and at the end of the war took the helm of the Focke-Wulf 190. During his combat career, he destroyed 519 tanks, 150 self-propelled guns, 4 armored trains, 800 trucks and cars, two cruisers, a destroyer, and seriously damaged the battleship Marat. In the air he shot down two Il-2 attack aircraft and seven fighters. He landed on enemy territory six times to rescue the crews of downed Junkers. The Soviet Union placed a reward of 100,000 rubles on the head of Hans-Ulrich Rudel.
Just an example of a fascist
He was shot down 32 times by return fire from the ground. In the end, Rudel's leg was torn off, but the pilot continued to fly on a crutch until the end of the war. In 1948, he fled to Argentina, where he became friends with dictator Peron and organized a mountaineering club. Climbed the highest peak of the Andes - Aconcagua (7 kilometers). In 1953 he returned to Europe and settled in Switzerland, continuing to talk nonsense about the revival of the Third Reich.
Without a doubt, this extraordinary and controversial pilot was a tough ace. But any person accustomed to thoughtfully analyzing events should have one important question: how was it established that Rudel destroyed exactly 519 tanks?
Of course, there were no photographic machine guns or cameras on the Junkers. The maximum that Rudel or his gunner-radio operator could notice: covering a column of armored vehicles, i.e. possible damage to tanks. The dive recovery speed of the Yu-87 is more than 600 km/h, the overload can reach 5g, in such conditions it is impossible to accurately see anything on the ground.
Since 1943, Rudel switched to the Yu-87G anti-tank attack aircraft. The characteristics of this "laptezhnika" are simply disgusting: max. speed in horizontal flight is 370 km/h, rate of climb is about 4 m/s. The main weapons of the aircraft were two VK37 cannons (caliber 37 mm, rate of fire 160 rounds/min), with only 12 (!) rounds of ammunition per barrel. Powerful guns installed in the wings, when firing, created a large turning moment and rocked the light aircraft so much that firing in bursts was pointless - only single sniper shots.
And here is a funny report on the results of field tests of the VYa-23 aircraft gun: in 6 flights on the Il-2, the pilots of the 245th assault air regiment, with a total consumption of 435 shells, achieved 46 hits in a tank column (10.6%). We must assume that in real combat conditions, under intense anti-aircraft fire, the results will be much worse. What is a German ace with 24 shells on board the Stuka!
Further, hitting a tank does not guarantee its defeat. An armor-piercing projectile (685 grams, 770 m/s), fired from a VK37 cannon, penetrated 25 mm of armor at an angle of 30° from the normal. When using sub-caliber ammunition, armor penetration increased by 1.5 times. Also, due to the aircraft’s own speed, armor penetration in reality was approximately another 5 mm greater. On the other hand, the thickness of the armored hull of Soviet tanks was less than 30-40 mm only in some projections, and it was impossible to even dream of hitting a KV, IS or heavy self-propelled gun in the forehead or side.
In addition, breaking through armor does not always lead to the destruction of a tank. Trains with damaged armored vehicles regularly arrived in Tankograd and Nizhny Tagil, which were quickly restored and sent back to the front. And repairs to damaged rollers and chassis were carried out right on site. At this time, Hans-Ulrich Rudel drew himself another cross for the “destroyed” tank.
Another question for Rudel is related to his 2,530 combat missions. According to some reports, in the German bomber squadrons it was customary to count a difficult mission as an incentive for several combat missions. For example, captured captain Helmut Putz, commander of the 4th detachment of the 2nd group of the 27th bomber squadron, explained the following during interrogation: “... in combat conditions I managed to make 130-140 night sorties, and a number of sorties with a complex combat mission was counted towards me, like others, for 2-3 flights." (interrogation protocol dated June 17, 1943). Although it is possible that Helmut Putz, having been captured, lied, trying to reduce his contribution to the attacks on Soviet cities.
Hartmann against everyone
There is an opinion that ace pilots filled their accounts without any restrictions and fought “on their own,” being an exception to the rule. And the main work at the front was performed by semi-qualified pilots. This is a deep misconception: in a general sense, there are no “averagely qualified” pilots. There are either aces or their prey.
For example, let's take the legendary Normandy-Niemen air regiment, which fought on Yak-3 fighters. Of the 98 French pilots, 60 did not win a single victory, but the “selected” 17 pilots shot down 200 German aircraft in air battles (in total, the French regiment drove 273 aircraft with swastikas into the ground).
A similar picture was observed in the US 8th Air Force, where out of 5,000 fighter pilots, 2,900 did not achieve a single victory. Only 318 people recorded 5 or more downed aircraft.
American historian Mike Spike describes the same episode related to the actions of the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front: “... the squadron lost 80 pilots in a fairly short period of time, 60 of whom never shot down a single Russian aircraft.”
So, we found out that ace pilots are the main strength of the Air Force. But the question remains: what is the reason for the huge gap between the performance of the Luftwaffe aces and the pilots of the Anti-Hitler Coalition? Even if we split the incredible German bills in half?
One of the legends about the inconsistency of the large accounts of German aces is associated with an unusual system for counting downed aircraft: by the number of engines. Single-engine fighter - one plane shot down. Four-engine bomber - four aircraft shot down. Indeed, for pilots who fought in the West, a parallel score was introduced, in which for the destruction of a “Flying Fortress” flying in battle formation, the pilot was credited with 4 points, for a damaged bomber that “fell out” of the battle formation and became easy prey other fighters, the pilot was given 3 points, because He did the bulk of the work - fighting through the hurricane fire of "Flying Fortresses" is much more difficult than shooting down a damaged single aircraft. And so on: depending on the degree of participation of the pilot in the destruction of the 4-engine monster, he was awarded 1 or 2 points. What happened next with these reward points? They were probably somehow converted into Reichsmarks. But all this had nothing to do with the list of downed aircraft.
The most prosaic explanation for the Luftwaffe phenomenon: the Germans had no shortage of targets. Germany fought on all fronts with a numerical superiority of the enemy. The Germans had 2 main types of fighters: Messerschmitt 109 (34 thousand were produced from 1934 to 1945) and Focke-Wulf 190 (13 thousand fighter version and 6.5 thousand attack aircraft were produced) - a total of 48 thousand fighters.
At the same time, about 70 thousand Yaks, Lavochkins, I-16s and MiG-3s passed through the Red Army Air Force during the war years (excluding 10 thousand fighters delivered under Lend-Lease).
In the Western European theater of operations, Luftwaffe fighters were opposed by about 20 thousand Spitfires and 13 thousand Hurricanes and Tempests (this is how many vehicles served in the Royal Air Force from 1939 to 1945). How many more fighters did Britain receive under Lend-Lease?
Since 1943, American fighters appeared over Europe - thousands of Mustangs, P-38s and P-47s plied the skies of the Reich, accompanying strategic bombers during raids. In 1944, during the Normandy landings, Allied aircraft had a six-fold numerical superiority. “If there are camouflaged planes in the sky, it’s the Royal Air Force, if there are silver ones, it’s the US Air Force. If there are no planes in the sky, it’s the Luftwaffe,” German soldiers joked sadly. Where could British and American pilots get large bills under such conditions?
Another example - the most popular combat aircraft in the history of aviation was the Il-2 attack aircraft. During the war years, 36,154 attack aircraft were produced, of which 33,920 Ilovs entered the army. By May 1945, the Red Army Air Force included 3,585 Il-2s and Il-10s, and another 200 Il-2s were in naval aviation.
In a word, the Luftwaffe pilots did not have any superpowers. All their achievements can only be explained by the fact that there were many enemy aircraft in the air. The Allied fighter aces, on the contrary, needed time to detect the enemy - according to statistics, even the best Soviet pilots on average had 1 air battle per 8 sorties: they simply could not meet the enemy in the sky!
On a cloudless day, from a distance of 5 km, a World War II fighter is visible like a fly on a window pane from the far corner of the room. In the absence of radar on aircraft, air combat was more of an unexpected coincidence than a regular event.
It is more objective to count the number of downed aircraft, taking into account the number of combat sorties of pilots. Viewed from this angle, Erich Hartmann's achievements fade: 1,400 sorties, 825 air combats and "only" 352 aircraft shot down. Walter Novotny has a much better figure: 442 sorties and 258 victories.
Friends congratulate Alexander Pokryshkin (far right) on receiving the third star of the Hero of the Soviet Union
It is very interesting to trace how ace pilots began their careers. The legendary Pokryshkin, in his first combat missions, demonstrated aerobatic skill, audacity, flight intuition and sniper shooting. And the phenomenal ace Gerhard Barkhorn did not score a single victory in his first 119 missions, but he himself was shot down twice! Although there is an opinion that not everything went smoothly for Pokryshkin either: his first plane shot down was the Soviet Su-2.
In any case, Pokryshkin has his own advantage over the best German aces. Hartman was shot down fourteen times. Barkhorn - 9 times. Pokryshkin was never shot down! Another advantage of the Russian miracle hero: he won most of his victories in 1943. In 1944-45. Pokryshkin shot down only 6 German aircraft, focusing on training young personnel and managing the 9th Guards Air Division.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that you should not be so afraid of the high bills of Luftwaffe pilots. This, on the contrary, shows what a formidable enemy the Soviet Union defeated, and why Victory has such high value.
A huge flow of information that literally collapsed into Lately on all of us, sometimes plays an extremely negative role in the development of the thinking of the guys who are replacing us. And it cannot be said that this information is deliberately false. But in its “naked” form, without a reasonable explanation, it sometimes carries a monstrous and inherently simply destructive character.
How can this be?
Let me give you one example. More than one generation of boys in our country has grown up with the firm conviction that our famous pilots Ivan Kozhedub and Alexander Pokryshkin are the best aces of the last war. And no one ever argued with this. Neither here nor abroad.
But one day I bought in a store a children’s book “Aviation and Aeronautics” from the encyclopedic series “I Explore the World” from one very famous publishing house. The book, published in a circulation of thirty thousand copies, turned out to be really very “educational”...
For example, in the section “Gloomy Arithmetic” there are quite eloquent figures regarding air battles during the Great Patriotic War. I quote verbatim: “Three times Heroes of the Soviet Union, fighter pilots A.I. Pokryshkin and I.N. Kozhedub shot down 59 and 62 enemy aircraft, respectively. But the German ace E. Hartmann shot down 352 aircraft during the war years! And he was not alone. In addition to him, the Luftwaffe had such masters of air combat as G. Barkhorn (301 downed aircraft), G. Rall (275), O. Kittel (267)... In total, 104 pilots of the German Air Force had more than a hundred downed aircraft each, and the top ten destroyed a total of 2,588 enemy aircraft!”
Soviet ace, fighter pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Baranov. Stalingrad, 1942 Mikhail Baranov - one of the best fighter pilots of the Second World War, the most productive Soviet ace, fighter pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union Mikhail Baranov. Stalingrad, 1942 Mikhail Baranov is one of the best fighter pilots of the Second World War, the most effective at the time of his death, and many of his victories were won in the initial, most difficult period of the war. If not for his accidental death, he would have been as famous a pilot as Pokryshkin or Kozhedub - aces of the Second World War.
It is clear that any child who sees such numbers of air victories will immediately come to mind that it was not ours, but the German pilots who were the best aces in the world, and our Ivans were oh so far from them (by the way, the authors For some reason, the aforementioned publications did not provide data on the achievements of the best ace pilots of other countries: the American Richard Bong, the British James Johnson and the Frenchman Pierre Klostermann with their 40, 38 and 33 aerial victories, respectively). The next thought that flashes through the guys’ heads, naturally, will be that the Germans flew much more advanced aircraft. (It must be said that during the survey, not even schoolchildren, but students of one of the Moscow universities responded to the presented figures of aerial victories in a similar way).
But how should one generally react to such, at first glance, blasphemous figures?
It is clear that any schoolchild, if he is interested in this topic, will go to the Internet. What will he find there? It’s easy to check... Let’s type in the search engine the phrase “The best ace of the Second World War.”
The result appears quite expected: a portrait of blond Erich Hartmann, hung with iron crosses, is displayed on the monitor screen, and the entire page is replete with phrases like: “German pilots are considered the best ace pilots of the Second World War, especially those who fought on the Eastern Front...”
Here you go! Not only did the Germans turn out to be the best aces in the world, but most of all they defeated not just any British, Americans or French and Poles, but our guys.
So, is it really possible that the true truth was laid out in educational books and on the covers of notebooks by uncles and aunts who bring knowledge to children? Just what did they mean by this? Why did we have such careless pilots? Probably not. But why do the authors of many printed publications and information hanging on the pages of the Internet, citing a lot of seemingly interesting facts, never bothered to explain to readers (especially young ones): where such numbers came from and what they mean.
Perhaps some of the readers will find the further story uninteresting. After all, this topic has been discussed more than once on the pages of serious aviation publications. And this is all clear. Is it worth repeating? It’s just that this information never reached ordinary boys in our country (considering the circulation of specialized technical magazines). And it won't come. What about the boys? Show the above figures to your school history teacher and ask him what he thinks about this and what he will tell the children about this? But the boys, having seen the results of the aerial victories of Hartman and Pokryshkin on the back of their student notebooks, will probably ask him about it. I'm afraid that the result will shock you to the core... That's why the material presented below is not even an article, but rather a request to you, dear readers, to help your children (and maybe even their teachers) understand some "stunning" numbers . Moreover, on the eve of May 9, we will all again remember that distant war.
Where did these numbers come from?
But really, where did, for example, such a figure as Hartman’s 352 victories in air battles come from? Who can confirm it?
It turns out, no one. Moreover, the entire aviation community has known for a long time that historians took this figure from Erich Hartmann’s letters to his bride. So the first question that arises is: did the young man embellish his military achievements? There are known statements by some German pilots that at the final stage of the war, air victories were simply attributed to Hartman for propaganda purposes, because the collapsing Hitler regime, along with a mythical miracle weapon, also needed a superhero. It is interesting that many of the victories claimed by Hartman are not confirmed by losses that day on our part.
The study of archival documents from the period of World War II convincingly proved that absolutely all types of troops in all countries of the world sinned with postscripts. It is no coincidence that in our army, soon after the start of the war, the principle of strict recording of downed enemy aircraft was introduced. The plane was considered downed only after ground troops discovered its wreckage and thereby confirmed the aerial victory.
The Germans, as well as the Americans, did not require confirmation from ground troops. The pilot could fly in and report: “I shot down the plane.” The main thing is that the film machine gun at least records the impact of bullets and shells on the target. Sometimes this allowed us to score a lot of “points”. It is known that during the “Battle of Britain” the Germans claimed to have shot down 3,050 British aircraft, while the British actually lost only 910.
From here the first conclusion should be drawn: our pilots were given credit for the planes they actually shot down. For the Germans - air victories, sometimes not even leading to the destruction of an enemy aircraft. And often these victories were mythical.
Why didn’t our aces have 300 or more air victories?
All that we mentioned just above in no way relates to the skill of ace pilots themselves. Let's look at this question: could German pilots even have shot down the stated number of planes? And if they could, then why?
A.I. Pokryshkin, G.K. Zhukov and I.N. Kozhedub
Oddly enough, Hartman, Barkhorn, and other German pilots, in principle, could have over 300 aerial victories. And it must be said that many of them were doomed to become aces, since they were real hostages of the Nazi command, which threw them into the war. And they fought, as a rule, from the first to the last day.
The command took care of and valued the ace pilots of England, the USA and the Soviet Union. The leadership of the listed air forces believed this: since a pilot shot down 40-50 enemy aircraft, it means that he is a very experienced pilot who can teach flying skills to a dozen talented young guys. And let each of them shoot down at least ten enemy aircraft. Then the total number of destroyed planes will be much greater than if they were shot down by a professional who remained at the front.
Let us remember that already in 1944, our best fighter pilot Alexander Pokryshkin was completely forbidden by the Air Force command to participate in air battles, entrusting him with command of an air division. And it turned out to be correct. By the end of the war, many pilots from his formation had more than 50 confirmed air victories to their combat account. Thus, Nikolai Gulaev shot down 57 German planes. Grigory Rechkalov - 56. Dmitry Glinka chalked up fifty enemy aircraft.
The command of the American Air Force did the same, recalling its best ace Richard Bong from the front.
It must be said that many Soviet pilots could not become aces only for the reason that there was often simply no enemy in front of them. Each pilot was assigned to his own unit, and therefore to a specific section of the front.
For the Germans, everything was different. Experienced pilots were constantly transferred from one sector of the front to another. Each time they found themselves in the most hot spot, in the thick of things. For example, during the entire war, Ivan Kozhedub took to the skies only 330 times and fought 120 air battles, while Hartman made 1,425 sorties and participated in 825 air battles. Yes, our pilot, even if he wanted to, could not even see as many German planes in the sky as Hartman caught in his sights!
By the way, having become famous aces, the Luftwaffe pilots did not receive indulgence from death. Literally every day they had to participate in air battles. So it turned out that they fought until their death. And only captivity or the end of the war could save them from death. Only a few of the Luftwaffe aces survived. Hartman and Barkhorn were just lucky. They became famous only because they miraculously survived. But Germany's fourth most successful ace, Otto Kittel, died during an air battle with Soviet fighters in February 1945.
A little earlier, Germany's most famous ace, Walter Nowotny, met his death (in 1944, he was the first Luftwaffe pilot to reach 250 aerial victories). Hitler’s command, having awarded the pilot all the highest orders of the Third Reich, instructed him to lead a formation of the first (still “raw” and unfinished) Me-262 jet fighters and threw the famous ace into the most dangerous part of the air war - to repel raids on Germany by American heavy bombers. The pilot's fate was sealed.
By the way, Hitler also wanted to put Erich Hartmann on a jet fighter, but the smart guy got out of this dangerous situation, managing to prove to his superiors that he would be more useful if he was again put on the old reliable Bf 109. This decision allowed Hartmann to save his life from inevitable death and eventually become the best ace in Germany.
The most important proof that our pilots were in no way inferior to the German aces in air combat skills is eloquently shown by some numbers that people abroad don’t really like to remember, and some of our journalists from the “free” press, who undertake to write about aviation, they just don’t know.
For example, aviation historians know that the most effective Luftwaffe fighter squadron that fought on the Eastern Front was the elite 54th Air Group "Green Heart", which brought together the best aces of Germany on the eve of the war. So, out of 112 pilots of the 54th squadron who invaded the airspace of our Motherland on June 22, 1941, only four survived to see the end of the war! A total of 2,135 fighters from this squadron remained lying in the form of scrap metal in a vast area from Ladoga to Lvov. But it was the 54th squadron that stood out among other Luftwaffe fighter squadrons in that during the war it had the most low level losses in air battles.
It is interesting to note another little-known fact, which few people pay attention to, but which very well characterizes both our and German pilots: already at the end of March 1943, when air supremacy still belonged to the Germans, bright “green hearts” proudly shining on the sides of the Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs of the 54th squadron, the Germans painted over them with matte gray-green paint, so as not to tempt the Soviet pilots, who considered it a matter of honor to “take down” some vaunted ace.
Which plane is better?
Anyone who has been interested in the history of aviation to one degree or another has probably heard or read statements from “experts” that the German aces had more victories not only because of their skill, but also because they flew better aircraft.
No one disputes that a pilot flying a more advanced aircraft will have a certain advantage in combat.
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 successful pilots of the Second World War, having 352 and 301 aerial victories, respectively. In the lower left corner of the photo is E. Hartmann's autograph.
In any case, the pilot of a faster aircraft will always be able to catch up with the enemy, and, if necessary, leave the battle...
But here’s what’s interesting: the entire world experience of air wars suggests that in an air battle it is usually not the better plane that wins, but the one with the best pilot. Naturally, all this applies to aircraft of the same generation.
Although the German Messerschmitts (especially at the beginning of the war) were superior to our MiGs, Yaks and LaGGs in a number of technical indicators, it turned out that in the real conditions of the total war that was waged on the Eastern Front, their technical superiority was not so obvious.
The German aces gained their main victories at the beginning of the war on the Eastern Front thanks to the experience accumulated during previous military campaigns in the skies over Poland, France, and England. At the same time, the bulk of Soviet pilots (with the small exception of those who managed to fight in Spain and Khalkhin Gol) had no combat experience at all.
But a well-trained pilot, who knew the merits of both his plane and the enemy’s plane, could always impose his air combat tactics on the enemy.
On the eve of the war, our pilots had just begun to master the latest fighters such as the Yak-1, MiG-3 and LaGG-3. Lacking the necessary tactical experience, solid skills in controlling an aircraft, and not knowing how to shoot properly, they still went into battle. And therefore they suffered great losses. Neither their courage nor heroism could help. I just needed to gain experience. And this took time. But there was no time for this in 1941.
But those pilots who survived the brutal air battles of the initial period of the war later became famous aces. They not only beat the Nazis themselves, but also taught young pilots how to fight. Nowadays you can often hear statements that during the war years, poorly trained young people came to fighter regiments from flight schools, who became easy prey for German aces.
But at the same time, such authors for some reason forget to mention that already in fighter regiments, senior comrades continued to train young pilots, sparing neither effort nor time. They tried to make them experienced air fighters. Here is a typical example: from mid-autumn 1943 to the end of winter 1944 alone, the 2nd Guards Aviation Regiment flew about 600 flights just to train young pilots!
For the Germans, at the end of the war, the situation turned out to be worse than ever. The fighter squadrons, which were armed with the most modern fighters, were sent to unfired, hastily prepared boys, who were immediately sent to their deaths. “Horseless” pilots from defeated bomber air groups also ended up in fighter squadrons. The latter had extensive experience in air navigation and knew how to fly at night. But they could not conduct maneuverable air battles on equal terms with our fighter pilots. Those few experienced “hunters” who were still in the ranks could in no way change the situation. No amount of technology, even the most advanced technology, could save the Germans.
Who was shot down and how?
People far from aviation have no idea that Soviet and German pilots were placed in complete different conditions. German fighter pilots, and Hartmann among them, very often engaged in so-called “free hunting.” Their main task was to destroy enemy aircraft. They could fly when they saw fit, and where they saw fit.
If they saw a single plane, they rushed at it like wolves at a defenseless sheep. And if they encountered a strong enemy, they immediately left the battlefield. No, it was not cowardice, but precise calculation. Why run into trouble if in half an hour you can again find and calmly “kill” another defenseless “lamb”. This is how German aces earned their awards.
It is interesting to note the fact that after the war, Hartman mentioned that more than once he hastily left for his territory after he was informed by radio that Alexander Pokryshkin’s group had appeared in the air. He clearly didn’t want to compete with the famous Soviet ace and run into trouble.
What happened to us? For the command of the Red Army, the main goal was to deliver powerful bombing attacks on the enemy and air cover ground forces. Bomb attacks on the Germans were carried out by attack aircraft and bombers - relatively slow-moving aircraft and representing a tasty morsel for German fighters. Soviet fighters constantly had to accompany bombers and attack aircraft on their flight to and from their targets. And this meant that in such a situation they had to conduct not an offensive, but a defensive air battle. Naturally, all the advantages in such a battle were on the enemy’s side.
While covering the ground forces from German air raids, our pilots were also placed in very difficult conditions. The infantry constantly wanted to see the red star fighters above their heads. So our pilots were forced to “buzz” over the front line, flying back and forth at low speed and at low altitude. And at this time, the German “hunters” from a great height were only choosing their next “victim” and, having developed enormous speed in a dive, shot down our planes with lightning speed, the pilots of which, even seeing the attacker, simply did not have time to turn around or pick up speed.
Compared to the Germans, our fighter pilots were not allowed to fly on free hunts as often. Therefore, the results were more modest. Unfortunately, free hunting for our fighter aircraft was an unaffordable luxury...
The fact that free hunting made it possible to gain a significant number of “points” is evidenced by the example of French pilots from the Normandie-Niemen regiment. Our command took care of the “allies” and tried not to send them to cover troops or on deadly raids to escort attack aircraft and bombers. The French were given the opportunity to engage in free hunting.
And the results speak for themselves. So, in just ten days of October 1944, French pilots shot down 119 enemy aircraft.
Soviet aviation not only at the beginning of the war, but also at its final stage, had a lot of bombers and attack aircraft. But serious changes occurred in the composition of the Luftwaffe as the war progressed. To repel enemy bomber raids, they constantly needed more and more fighters. And the moment came that the German aviation industry was simply unable to produce both bomb carriers and fighters at the same time. Therefore, already at the end of 1944, the production of bombers in Germany almost completely ceased, and only fighters began to emerge from the workshops of aircraft factories.
This means that Soviet aces, unlike the Germans, no longer encountered large, slow-moving targets in the air so often. They had to fight exclusively with the fast Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and the latest Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter-bombers, which were much more difficult to shoot down in air combat than a clumsy bomb carrier.
From this overturned Messerschmitt, damaged in battle, Walter Nowotny, who was at one time the No. 1 ace in Germany, had just been extracted. But his flying career (as, indeed, life itself) could well have ended with this episode…
Moreover, at the end of the war the skies over Germany were literally teeming with Spitfires, Tempests, Thunderbolts, Mustangs, Silts, Pawns, Yaks and Lavochkins. And if each flight of the German ace (if he managed to take off at all) ended with the accrual of points (which no one really counted then), then the Allied aviation pilots still had to look for an aerial target. Many Soviet pilots they recalled that since the end of 1944 their personal tally of air victories stopped growing. We didn't meet so often in the sky anymore german planes, and combat missions fighter regiments were mainly carried out for the purpose of reconnaissance and attack of enemy ground forces.
What is a fighter jet for?
At first glance, this question seems very simple. Any person, even those not familiar with aviation, will answer without hesitation: a fighter is needed to shoot down enemy planes. But is it really that simple? As you know, fighter aircraft are part of the air force. The Air Force is an integral part of the Army.
The task of any army is to defeat the enemy. It is clear that all the forces and means of the army must be united and aimed at defeating the enemy. The army is led by its command. And the result of military operations depends on how the command manages to organize the management of the army.
The Soviet and German commands had different approaches. The Wehrmacht command instructed its fighter aircraft to gain air supremacy. In other words, German fighter aircraft had to stupidly shoot down all enemy aircraft seen in the air. The hero was considered the one who shot down the most enemy planes.
It must be said that this approach greatly appealed to the German pilots. They gladly took part in this “competition”, considering themselves real hunters.
And everything would be fine, but the German pilots never completed the task. A lot of planes were shot down, but what was the point? Every month there were more and more Soviet and allied aircraft in the air. The Germans were still unable to cover their ground forces from the air. And the loss of bomber aviation only made life even more difficult for them. This alone suggests that the Germans were in an air war strategic plan completely lost.
The command of the Red Army saw the tasks of fighter aviation in a completely different way. First of all, Soviet fighter pilots had to cover ground forces from attacks by German bombers. They also had to protect attack and bomber aircraft during their raids on the positions of the German army. In other words, fighter aviation did not act on its own, like the Germans, but exclusively in the interests of the ground forces.
It was hard, thankless work, during which our pilots usually received not glory, but death.
It is not surprising that the losses of Soviet fighters were enormous. However, this does not mean at all that our planes were much worse, and the pilots were weaker than the German ones. In this case, the outcome of the battle was determined not by the quality of the equipment and the skill of the pilot, but by tactical necessity and a strict order from the command.
Here, probably, any child will ask: “And what are these stupid battle tactics, what are these idiotic orders, because of which both planes and pilots died in vain?”
This is where the most important thing begins. And you need to understand that in fact, this tactic is not stupid. After all, the main striking force of any army is its ground forces. A bomb attack on tanks and infantry, on weapons and fuel depots, on bridges and crossings can greatly weaken the combat capabilities of ground forces. One successful air strike can radically change the course of an offensive or defensive operation.
If a dozen fighters are lost in an air battle while protecting ground targets, but not a single enemy bomb hits, for example, an ammunition depot, then this means that the fighter pilots have completed their combat mission. Even at the cost of their lives. Otherwise, an entire division, left without shells, may be crushed by the advancing enemy forces.
The same can be said about escort flights for attack aircraft. If they destroyed an ammunition depot, bombed a railway station filled with trains with military equipment, destroyed the strong point of defense, this means that they made a significant contribution to the victory. And if at the same time the fighter pilots provided the bombers and attack aircraft with the opportunity to break through to the target through enemy air barriers, even if they lost their comrades, then they also won.
And this is truly a real aerial victory. The main thing is that the task set by the command is completed. A task that could radically change the entire course of hostilities in a given sector of the front. From all this the conclusion suggests itself: German fighters are hunters, Red Army Air Force fighters are defenders.
With the thought of death...
No matter what anyone says, there are no fearless pilots (as well as tank crews, infantrymen or sailors) who are not afraid of death. In war there are plenty of cowards and traitors. But for the most part, our pilots, even in the most difficult moments of air combat, adhered to the unwritten rule: “die yourself, but help your comrade.” Sometimes, no longer having any ammunition, they continued to fight, covering their comrades, going to ram, wanting to inflict maximum damage on the enemy. And all because they defended their land, their home, their family and friends. They defended their homeland.
The fascists who attacked our country in 1941 consoled themselves with the thought of world domination. At that time, German pilots could not even think that they would have to sacrifice their lives for the sake of someone or for the sake of something. Only in their patriotic speeches were they ready to give their lives for the Fuhrer. Each of them, like any other invader, dreamed of receiving a good reward after the successful completion of the war. And in order to get a tasty morsel, you had to live until the end of the war. In this state of affairs, it was not heroism and self-sacrifice for the sake of achieving a great goal that came to the fore, but cold calculation.
We should not forget that the boys of the Soviet country, many of whom later became military pilots, were brought up somewhat differently than their peers in Germany. They took their cues from such selfless defenders of their people as, for example, epic hero Ilya Muromets, Prince Alexander Nevsky. At that time, the military exploits of the legendary heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812, heroes Civil War. And in general, Soviet schoolchildren were brought up mainly on books whose heroes were true patriots of the Motherland.
End of the war. Young German pilots receive a combat mission. In their eyes there is doom. Erich Hartmann said about them: “These young men come to us and are almost immediately shot down. They come and go like surf waves. This is a crime... I think our propaganda is to blame here.”
Their peers from Germany also knew what friendship, love, what patriotism and motherland. But we should not forget that in Germany, with its centuries-old history of chivalry, the latter concept was especially close to all boys. Knightly laws, knightly honor, knightly glory, fearlessness were placed at the forefront. It is no coincidence that even the main award of the Reich was the knight's cross.
It is clear that every boy in his soul dreamed of becoming a famous knight.
However, we should not forget that the entire history of the Middle Ages indicates that the main task of the knight was to serve his master. Not to the Motherland, not to the people, but to the king, duke, baron. Even the independent knights-errant glorified in legends were, in essence, the most ordinary mercenaries, earning money by the ability to kill. And all these crusades glorified by chroniclers? Pure robbery.
It is no coincidence that the words knight, profit and wealth are inseparable from each other. Everyone also knows well that knights rarely died on the battlefield. In a hopeless situation, they, as a rule, surrendered. The subsequent ransom from captivity was quite an ordinary matter for them. Ordinary commerce.
And is it any wonder that the chivalric spirit, including in its negative manifestations, most directly affected the moral qualities of future Luftwaffe pilots.
The command knew this very well, because it considered itself a modern knighthood. No matter how much it wanted, it could not force its pilots to fight the way Soviet fighter pilots fought - sparing neither strength nor life itself. This may seem strange to us, but it turns out that even in the charter of German fighter aviation it was written that the pilot himself determines his actions in air combat and no one can forbid him to leave the battle if he considers it necessary.
It is clear from the faces of these pilots that these are victorious warriors. The photo shows the most successful fighter pilots of the 1st Guards Fighter Air Division of the Baltic Fleet: Senior Lieutenant Selyutin (19 victories), Captain Kostylev (41 victories), Captain Tatarenko (29 victories), Lieutenant Colonel Golubev (39 victories) and Major Baturin (10 victories)
That is why the German aces never protected their troops over the battlefield, that is why they did not protect their bombers as selflessly as our fighters did. As a rule, German fighters only cleared the way for their bomb carriers and tried to hinder the actions of our interceptors.
The history of the last world war is replete with facts of how German aces, sent to escort bombers, abandoned their charges when the air situation was not in their favor. The hunter's prudence and self-sacrifice turned out to be incompatible concepts for them.
As a result, it was aerial hunting that became the only acceptable solution that suited everyone. The Luftwaffe leadership proudly reported on its successes in the fight against enemy aircraft, Goebbels's propaganda enthusiastically told the German people about the military merits of the invincible aces, and they, working out the chance given to them to stay alive, scored points with all their might.
Perhaps something changed in the minds of German pilots only when the war came to the territory of Germany itself, when Anglo-American bomber aircraft began to literally wipe out entire cities from the face of the earth. Women and children died in tens of thousands under Allied bombs. Horror paralyzed the civilian population. Only then, gripped by fear for the lives of their children, wives, mothers, did the German pilots leave the forces Air defense selflessly began to rush into deadly air battles with superior numbers of enemies, and sometimes even went to ram “flying fortresses”.
But it was already too late. By that time, there were almost no experienced pilots or a sufficient number of aircraft left in Germany. Individual ace pilots and hastily trained boys could no longer save the situation even with their desperate actions.
The pilots who fought on the Eastern Front at that time were, one might say, lucky. Practically deprived of fuel, they almost never took off, and therefore at least survived until the end of the war and remained alive. As for the famous fighter squadron “Green Heart” mentioned at the beginning of the article, its last aces acted quite like a knight: on the remaining planes they flew to surrender to their “knight friends” who understood them - the British and Americans.
It seems that after reading all of the above, you will probably be able to answer your children’s question about whether German pilots were the best in the world? Were they really an order of magnitude superior to our pilots in their skill?
Sad note
Not long ago I saw in a bookstore a new edition of the same children's book on aviation with which I started the article. In the hope that the second edition would differ from the first not only with a new cover, but also give the guys some kind of intelligible explanation of such a fantastic performance of the German aces, I opened the book to the page that interested me. Unfortunately, everything remained unchanged: 62 planes shot down by Kozhedub looked like ridiculous numbers against the background of Hartman’s 352 aerial victories. Such sad arithmetic...
The title ace, in reference to military pilots, first appeared in French newspapers during the First World War. In 1915 journalists nicknamed them “aces”, and translated from french word"as" means "ace", pilots who have shot down three or more enemy aircraft. The legendary French pilot Roland Garros was the first to be called an ace.
The most experienced and successful pilots in the Luftwaffe were called experts - “Experte”
Luftwaffe
Eric Alfred Hartman (Boobie)
Erich Hartmann (German: Erich Hartmann; April 19, 1922 - September 20, 1993) was a 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 flight school in 1941 and was assigned to the 52nd Fighter Squadron on the Eastern Front in October 1942. His first commander and mentor was the famous Luftwaffe expert Walter Krupinsky.
Hartmann shot down his first plane on November 5, 1942 (an 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, focusing on the effectiveness of the first attack
Oberleutnant Erich Hartmann 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 Pottiondy. German fighter pilot Erich Hartmann - the most successful ace of World War II
Krupinski Walter is 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. Pictured is Krupinski wearing the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, which he received on March 2, 1944 for 177 victories in air combat. Shortly after this photograph was taken, Krupinski was transferred to the West, where he served with 7(7-5, JG-11 and JG-26), ending the war in an Me-262 with J V-44.
In the photo from 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.
Wedding of Luftwaffe ace Erich Hartmann (1922 - 1993) and Ursula Paetsch. To the left of the couple is Hartmann's commander, Gerhard Barkhorn (1919 - 1983). On the right is Hauptmann Wilhelm Batz (1916 - 1988).
Bf. 109G-6 Hauptmann Erich Hartmann, Buders, Hungary, November 1944.
Barkhorn Gerhard "Gerd"
Major Barkhorn Gerhard
He began flying with JG2 and was transferred to JG52 in the fall of 1940. From January 16, 1945 to April 1, 1945 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 while landing by American fighters. He was seriously wounded and was held captive by the Allies for four months.
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 successful pilots of the Second World War, having 352 and 301 aerial victories, respectively. In the lower left corner of the photo 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 color was washed off the Bf 109. The fighter takes off right through the spring puddles.)!.
Captured Soviet airfield: I-16 stands next to Bf109F from II./JG-54.
In tight formation, a Ju-87D bomber from StG-2 “Immelmann” and “Friedrich” from I./JG-51 are carrying out a combat mission. At the end of the summer of 1942, the pilots of I./JG-51 switched 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 with a Messerschmitt fighter Bf.109G-6 at Bagerovo airfield.
Walter Krupinski, Gerhard Barkhorn, Johannes Wiese and Erich Hartmann
The 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” of I./JG-52 commander Hauptmann Gerhard Barkhorn, Kharkov-Yug, 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 plane Barkhorn flew in when he was commander of I./JG-52, when he had not yet crossed the 200-victory mark. Barkhorn survived; in total he shot down 301 aircraft, all on the eastern front.
Gunter Rall
German ace fighter pilot Major Günther Rall (03/10/1918 - 10/04/2009). Günther Rall was the third most successful German ace of World War II. He has 275 air victories (272 on the Eastern Front) in 621 combat missions. 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 September 12, 1943 for 200 air victories.
“Friedrich” from III./JG-52, this group in the initial phase of Operation Barbarossa covered the troops of the countries operating in the coastal zone of the Black Sea. Note the unusual angular tail number “6” and the “sine wave”. Apparently, this plane belonged to the 8th Staffel.
Spring 1943, Rall looks on approvingly as Lieutenant Josef Zwernemann drinks wine from a bottle
Günther Rall (second from left) after his 200th aerial victory. Second from right - Walter Krupinski
Shot down Bf 109 of Günter Rall
Rall in his Gustav IV
After being seriously wounded and partially paralyzed, Oberleutnant Günther Rall returned to 8./JG-52 on 28 August 1942, and two months later he became a Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves. Rall ended the war, taking an honorable third place in performance among Luftwaffe fighter pilots
won 275 victories (272 on the Eastern Front); shot down 241 Soviet fighters. He flew 621 combat missions, was shot down 8 times and wounded 3 times. His Messerschmitt had the personal number "Devil's Dozen"
The commander of the 8th squadron of the 52nd fighter squadron (Staffelkapitän 8.Staffel/Jagdgeschwader 52), Oberleutnant Günther Rall (1918-2009), with the pilots of his squadron, during a break between combat missions, plays with the squadron mascot - a dog named “Rata” .
In the photo in the foreground from left to right: non-commissioned officer Manfred Lotzmann, non-commissioned officer Werner Höhenberg, and lieutenant Hans Funcke.
In the background, from left to right: Oberleutnant Günther Rall, Lieutenant Hans Martin Markoff, Sergeant Major Karl-Friedrich Schumacher and Oberleutnant 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 Hertha, 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 to his name. Before being transferred to the West in the spring of 1944, he shot down another 235 Soviet aircraft. Pay attention to the symbols of III./JG-52 - the emblem on the front of the fuselage and the “sine wave” drawn closer to the tail.
Kittel Otto (Bruno)
Otto Kittel (Otto "Bruno" Kittel; February 21, 1917 - February 14, 1945) was a German ace pilot, fighter, and participant in World War II. He flew 583 combat missions and scored 267 victories, which is the fourth most in history. Luftwaffe record holder for the number of shot down Il-2 attack aircraft - 94. Awarded the Knight's Cross with oak leaves and swords.
in 1943, luck turned his face. On January 24, he shot down the 30th plane, and on March 15, the 47th. On the same day, his plane was seriously damaged and fell 60 km behind the front line. In thirty-degree frost on the ice of Lake Ilmen, Kittel went out to his own.
This is how Kittel Otto returned from a four-day journey!! His plane was shot down behind the front line, 60 km away!!
Otto Kittel on vacation, summer 1941. At that time, Kittel was an ordinary 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 is "Bruno"
Otto Kittel with his wife!
Killed on February 14, 1945 during an attack by a Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft. Shot down by the gunner's return fire, Kittel's Fw 190A-8 (serial number 690 282) crashed into a swampy area near Soviet troops and exploded. The pilot did not use a parachute because he died in the air.
Two Luftwaffe officers bandage the hand of a wounded Red Army prisoner near a tent
Airplane "Bruno"
Novotny Walter (Novi)
German ace pilot of World War II, during which he flew 442 combat missions, scoring 258 air victories, including 255 on the Eastern Front and 2 over 4-engine bombers. The last 3 victories were won while flying the Me.262 jet fighter. He scored most of his victories flying the FW 190, and approximately 50 victories in 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 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, “laptezhniki” (this is exactly the nickname the German dive-bomber received in our country for its characteristic non-retractable landing gear in massive fairings) occupy a prominent place.
The Ju 87B-2 from III./St.G, which made an emergency landing due to engine damage. 2, autumn 1941,
Chudovo station area, 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 every 3,000 ace pilots there are about 4,000 applications for the destruction of enemy dive bombers - their presence in the combat accounts of aces is, in fact, directly dependent on the total number of downed planes, and the top lines of the list are occupied by the most famous Soviet aces.
The first place among the hunters for “laptezhniki” is shared by the most successful fighter pilot of the anti-Hitler coalition, three times Hero of the Soviet Union, Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub, and another famous ace, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Arseny Vasilyevich Vorozheikin. 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 the Yu-87 was 07/06/1943, the last was on 06/01/1944), flying a La-5 fighter, Vorozheikin - as part of the 728th IAP on the Yak- 7B (the first Laptezhnik shot down was 07/14/1943, the last one was 04/18/1944). In total, during the war, Ivan Kozhedub scored 64 personal aerial victories, and Arseny Vorozheikin - 45 individually and 1 in a pair, and both of our outstanding pilots had the Yu-87 first on the extensive lists of aircraft they shot down.
Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub, the best ace of the anti-Hitler coalition, destroyed the most Yu-87 - on e
counted 18 German dive bombers ( http://waralbum.ru)
Second place in the conditional ranking of “stuka” destroyers is occupied by another pilot of the 240th IAP, who flew the La-5 - twice Hero of the Soviet Union Kirill Alekseevich Evstigneev, who during his combat career scored 13 personal victories over the Yu-87, also having another shot down in a group. In total, Evstigneev shot down 52 enemy aircraft personally and 3 in a group.
Third place in the list of personal victories is shared by 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), each having 12 destroyed “laptezhniki” (Vasily Mikhalev, in addition, has 7 dive bombers shot down in the group). The first began his combat career on the Yak-7B, “killing” 4 Yu-87s on it, and shot down the rest while in the cockpit of the Lend-Lease P-39 Airacobra fighter; the second - he sent the first 7 "pieces" to the ground, piloting the Yak-1 (and Gulaev shot down two "Junkers" with ram attacks), the rest of the victories were won on the "Air Cobra". Mikhalev’s final combat score was 23+14, and Gulaev’s was 55+5 aerial victories.
The fourth position in the ranking with 11 personal victories over the Yu-87 is occupied by the “magnificent five” fighter pilots of the KA Air Force, headed by Hero of the Soviet Union Fedor Fedorovich Arkhipenko, who also has 6 “laptezhniki” 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 in the Yak-7B, the rest in the Airacobra. In total, during the war, Arkhipenko shot down 29 enemy aircraft personally and 15 in a group. Further on the list of pilots who shot down 11 Ju-87s each looks like this: Trofim Afanasyevich Litvinenko (fought as part of the 191st IAP on the P-40 Kittyhawk and La-5, final combat score - 18+0, Hero of the Soviet Union) ; Mikhalin Mikhail Fedorovich (191st IAP, “Kittyhawk”, 14+2); Rechkalov Grigory Andreevich (16th Guards IAP, “Airacobra”, 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, “Airacobra”, 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 diving Junkers, 8 people had 8 downed Yu-87s, 15 pilots had 7 each.
