( (Courtesy of the Gray Family)) By January 14, 1945, I had been in England with the U. Brown, Jr. This is a list of fighter aces in World War II from Germany. The Tuskegee Airmen flew more than 15,000 sorties between May 1943 and June 1945. Theory was one thing. In 1943, German Bf 109 pilot Franz Stigler had Charlie Brown's B-17 in his sights — but then let him go. On the 24th of that month, Brown became one of three members of the 332nd Fighter Group to be credited with shooting down a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. B-17 Flying Fortresses flew in six-plane squadrons with two to four miles between squadrons, to avoid mid-air collisions between the inexperienced crews. Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both competitors and exceeded the air corps' expectations. Note that a fighter ace needs to shoot down five or more enemy aircraft to earn his title. The greatest slaughter of German fighter pilots was after the. In the early days, many flew P-39s or P-40s, and took a. John Sotham. Fortunately, Marshall kept a detailed diary during his time in the service. the German escort flew with the bomber precisely so that the German spotters would easily recognise a friendly plane escorting. “Bandits at 12 o’clock high!” By the end of the war, antiaircraft fire had brought down more than 5,400 bombers, compared to 4,300 claimed by fighters. If you look at the numbers of kills of B-17s and German fighter losses, very few and far between. But what he saw arrested any aggression he may. The Myth of Being First to Shoot Down German Jets 5. military was modernizing its air forces in response to developments in Europe. Maj. As Peterson's P-47’s approached their assigned stream of forty B-17’s, the formation came under attack by more than twenty German fighter aircraft. A wingman is visible in the take-off footage, and the attack is from the rear with focus on the tail gunner of the bomber aircraft. Davis led the Group on the longest escort mission ever flown by the Fifteenth Air Force, a 1600-mile round trip to the Daimler-Benz tank works in Berlin. An unbiased account of the top German Fighter Aces of the Second World War. Roscoe C. My memory is not what it was, however I think there was a Hungarian ace that flew Me-210 - a prince or noble as well. S. 20 September 1993 (aged 71) Weil im Schönbuch, Germany. Charles L. The usual Bomber escorts have deserted the bomber for a reason. His status as the top-scoring Mustang ace of the war—with a total of 27 1/2 confirmed aerial kills—crystallized his standing as one of America’s greatest war heroes. The strategies of Eddie Rickenbacker’s era live on today with pilots flying F-22 Raptors in the 94th Fighter Squadron. The difference between Big Week and the earlier attempts to destroy the German fighter force through attrition was the development of a true long-range escort: the P-51 Mustang. Born in Raudten, Vogt grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany. An element of a… The Fw-190 owed its origins to a pre-war competition run by the German Air Ministry for new fighters to equip the equally new Luftwaffe in 1934. Frankl, the highest scoring of the German Jewish Aces, was the son of a businessman in Hamburg. Operation Argument (‘Big Week’): The beginning of the end of the German Luftwaffe. ” However, bomber losses reached the unacceptable point in 1943 in the face of stiff German opposition, and the B-17s welcomed the introduction of long-range fighter escort before they could continue their war against the Reich. The B-17 and the B-24 were even faster and flew at altitudes too high for most pursuit aircraft to catch them. Army during World War II. The new Martin B-10 bomber could outfly the older fighters. The Luftwaffe simply massed its fighter strength inside Germany and waited until the Allied fighter escorts had reached the limit of their range, then struck the bombers. Often wondered why gunners on bombers never really got the credit they deserved while flying dangerous missions, here is a link of the best "ace" gunners of the war. On March 6, 1944, a field order was received directing the 357th Fighter Group to stand target area support for the Eighth Bomber Command during the bombing of Berlin, Germany. At no time on that mission did we have friendly fighter escort, except for the first long-range P-51D Mustang fighters. A Higher Call is mostly the story of Franz Stigler, an ace WWII German fighter pilot who came upon a heavily damaged and helpless American B-17 bomber struggling to return to England. Forty-eight P-51B’s were manned and took off in compliance with the order. Charlie Brown of the USAAF was a Lt. As a fighter ace, he claimed 206 enemy aircraft shot down in over 500 combat missions, eight of which while flying the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. Gerhard Vogt (29 November 1919 – 14 January 1945) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and fighter ace during World War II. He flew several missions against USAAF heavy bombers, shooting down at least one B-17, and possibly as many as three. The German fighter force in the Munich area was dominantly Me109G-6’s with a few 109G-6/U4’s and 109G-5’s. Born. B-17 Flying Fortresses from the 398th Bombardment Group flew a bombing run to Neumünster, Germany, on 13 April 1945. German officers and men stationed at the airfield in Drama, Greece, were shaken out of their beds by the thunder of heavy guns on. His first air-to-air victories occurred over the Eastern Front in March. On March 24, 1945, the 332nd Fighter Group of the U. From the time the Luftwaffe went to war on September 1, 1939, its fighter pilots immediately began to make their presence known. Marcellus G. The last production version, the G, carried 13 . S. Lt. "Bam" – C. The Me-262 that the Luftwaffe accepted was a single-seat, low-wing monoplane, with sharply swept back wings, a single tail, and powered by two Jumbo turbo-jet units. March 8, 1944 - The Group was again back to Berlin. 357th FG Ace Pete Peterson, Günther Rall, Walter Schuck and Bud. flying his first mission as an aircraft commander flying a B-17, “Ye Olde Pub” on a. It was 30-70 mph faster than any German piston-engine fighter until the Fw-190D and had better acceleration, while its maneuverability and climb rate matched or exceeded anything the Luftwaffe could field. The successes of such German ace pilots as Max Immelmann and Oswald. The “Jug” performed yeoman service in Normandy in the ground-attack role. Kurt Ebener (4 May 1920 – 7 May 1975) was a Luftwaffe fighter ace and recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross during World War II. For example, instead of dividing the force, the entire bomber force would be sent against Schweinfurt. As a flying ace, he is credited with 43 victories, all of them over the Western Front, for which he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. Army Air Forces, streaked across the skies near the German city of Bremen. Hartmann followed in the footsteps of another German fighter ace, Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron," who had 80 confirmed kills during World. /ZG26 and 12 Me410A-1’s from II. After flying the B-17 over an. His actions got nine men home for Christmas. Franz Stigler Oberleutnant Ludwig Franz Stigler (21 August 1915 – 22 March 2008) was a German fighter pilot and fighter ace in World War II . 1892 – Birth of Marcel Anatole Hugues, French WWI fighter ace, WWII pilot and commanding officer. Army Air Forces had been ordered to. During the Eighth Air Force bombing campaign they scored more fighters shot down than pilots, which I never really knew, as fighter pilots seem to get all the attention and. Find a Grave. “Jack” Donalson and 2nd Lts. Nevertheless, he returned to the air. A fast and high-flying bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Eastern Front, with 51 in the Mediterranean theatre and 20 over the Western Front. Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG 1) "Oesau" was a German World War II fighter wing created in 1939. A Higher Call is a non-fiction book by Adam Makos with Larry Alexander, published in 2012 by Berkley Books. , Charles Brantly and Earl Lane, each shot down a German Me-262 jet fighter aircraft. Warfare is not really a place for humanity, ethics and morals, but the Christmas Truce of WWII was a true example of a moment of humanity. This figure included seventeen four-engine bombers and 37. Martin Drewes (20 October 1918 – 13 October 2013) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and night fighter ace during World War II. The USAAF claimed they shot down 179 Luftwaffe fighters, broken-down as follows: B-17 gunners claimed 97 and their fighter escort claimed 82. In the skies high above Germany on November 26, 1943, Major Gabby Gabreski was pushing his Republic P-47 Thunderbolt hard. JG 1, who was shot down near Arnhem, Netherlands. He has been called “Canada’s most famous hero of Second World War,” “The. Luftwaffe ace Walter Krupinski trained, led and served alongside some of the greatest fighter pilots in history. The B-17E Flying Fortress, most likely B-17E 41-2471, was one of the few B-17 (D/E) Flying Fortresses that the Japanese captured during World War II, mostly from the Philippines and Java. He was credited with 102 enemy aircraft shot down in over 353 combat missions. Two aircraft were the backbone of the Luftwaffe fighter force during World War II: the Messerschmitt Bf 109 (shown above) and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Following the German invasion of Poland in. Pilots, navigators, bombardiers, maintenance and support staff, and instructors all played a role. It had maximum speeds of 515 mph at 1,640 feet; 530 mph at 10,000 feet; 540 mph at 20,000 feet; and, 550 mph at 30,000 feet. Peter Chen. Although unable. The revised doctrine from the Tactical School was that bombers could penetrate air defenses with acceptable losses so that fighter escorts were not necessary. He was. L-R: F/O Ferić, F/Lt Lt Kent, F/O Grzeszczak, P/O Radomski, P/O Zumbach, P/O Łokuciewski, F/O Henneberg, Sgt Rogowski, Sgt Szaposznikow, in 1940. But even they had problems when attacking formations of heavy bombers. Practice was another. What happened next was a fundamental, non. It was inferior to the Arado 89, He-112, and the Me-109. During World War II the Finnish variant of the U. Across the English Channel, Charlie Brown, a self-described “farm boy from West Virginia,” was gearing up to pilot his B-17F, the “Ye Olde Pub” as part of a bombing group targeting. The smaller, insert photograph is a formal portrait of General Adolf. Lacking a true heavy bomber at the start of World War II, the RAF purchased 20 B-17Cs. Certainly no entirely successful machine in this category emerged from the Second World War, and when Professor Willy Messerschmitt began design studies for such a warplane towards the end of 1934, at the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke at Augsburg, his. SAN ANTONIO — At. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Western Front, with 33 claims over the Eastern Front. The sleekly elegant Supermarine Spitfire is the iconic British fighter of World War II, the plane that kept the formerly unstoppable German air force at bay in the Battle of Britain. His victories were all claimed over the Western Front and included 26 four-engine bombers, 51 Supermarine Spitfires and 12 P-47. B/Gen. Of his 102 aerial victories achieved over the Western Allies, 46 were against Supermarine. In 1943, a severely damaged B-17, returning from a mission over Germany, was intercepted. The P-47 had an excellent kill rate vs German fighters and all the top P-47 aces survived the war – a testament to the ruggedness of the airplane. ‘The will at all times to be offensive will develop into his own tactics. B. Revenge, not honor, is what drove 2nd Lt. It could be said that the arrival of the P-51 in Europe did not relegate the P-47 to ground attack, rather it freed it from escort duty, and gave the USAAF the ability to use the P-47 where it was. Updated August 24, 2022. He was born in Verdun, Quebec in 1921, and he eventually joined the RAF. Valor was apparently a family trait. He is noted for his aerial battles. A fast and high-flying bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. Heinrich Ehrler (14 September 1917 – 4 April 1945) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and wing commander during World War II. The Nazis noticed, especially Adolf Galland, a fighter ace and senior commander of the Luftwaffe under Hermann Goering. Legendary German Ace Adolf Galland explains why Operation Bodenplatte, the final large-scale low. Luftwaffe fighter ace Hans Pilcher (75 kills) wrote that when he tried to make a tail attack on a P-38, it “disappeared, leaving us with our mouths wide open. Erich "Bubi" Hartmann, the leading German fighter ace of World War II, is credited with 352 confirmed aerial victories between October 1942 and May 1945. He flew 705 combat missions, and fought on the Western Front and in the Defence of the Reich. Half his crew lay wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail. Bf-109/110 dogfights were also staged for important foreign visitors and potential export buyers, with German national aerobatic champion Willi Stör flying the unbeatable 110, which he proclaimed was the best twin-engine aerobat on the planet. He was credited with 52 victories of which 43 were claimed at night whilst flying variants of the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter. Jagdgeschwader. TIL In the skies over Germany in WWII, a badly damaged American B-17 was escorted out of enemy airspace by a German fighter ace who could've easily shot them down. PTO/CBI Pilots of WWII Top American aces of the Pacific & CBI. And with 197 victories, he was no slouch himself. by HistoryNet Staff 6/12/2006. To Strait, being a fighter pilot meant shooting down airplanes; he wanted to become a fighter ace. His bomber and crew were in shambles after a mission, the plane itself barley staying together. He was officially credited with 72 victories, making him the top Canadian and British Empire ace of the war, and also received a Victoria Cross. With his slicked-back black hair and matching mustache, broken nose and perennial cigar, Lieutenant General Adolf Galland was the personification of the Luftwaffe fighter arm during World War II. During theBy Rachel S. TIL about German WWII fighter pilot Franz Stigler. On December 20, 1943, Charlie Brown, a Virginia farm boy who joined the U. When German fighter ace, Franz Stigler, was ordered to shoot it down, he risked his life to escort the bomber to safety instead of attacking. The usual Bomber escorts have deserted the bomber for a reason. TIL In the skies over Germany in WWII, a badly damaged American B-17 was escorted out of enemy airspace by a German fighter ace who could've easily shot them down. /JG 7 and I. It had maximum speeds of 515 mph at 1,640 feet; 530 mph at 10,000 feet; 540 mph at 20,000 feet; and, 550 mph at 30,000 feet. Egon Mayer was a Luftwaffe wing commander and fighter ace of Nazi Germany during World War II. His B-17 was called 'Ye Old Pub' and was in a terrible state, having been hit by flak and fighters. The famous. 7 mm) machine guns and one 0. This is a list of fighter aces World War II from Germany. The major threat came from the German fighter force, with its experienced pilots and rugged planes ready to maul the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B-24 Liberator formations. Of course, the straight-shooting Luftwaffe “experts” (fighter pilots with more than twenty-five kills; the Luftwaffe did not use the term “ace”) got a much higher percentage of their rounds on the target. On October 28, 1916, German pilot Oswald Boelcke. Knoke himself writes in one section that. T he fighter pilots of the Fifth Air Force, under General Kenney, flew and fought their way up the islands of the Southwest Pacific - New Guinea and the Philippines. American bombers suffered heavy losses in the daylight raid on the. Erich Hartmann took pride in his skills as a fighter pilot for the German Luftwaffe in World War II. . By way of a compromise the Army ordered 39 more B-17B's. The Focke-Wulf Fw 190A, already suffering from poor high-altitude performance, was outperformed by the Mustang at the B-17's altitude,. The Bf -109 is the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 airframes produced from 1936 up to April 1945. In the mid-1930s, the Messerschmidt firm produced the Me-109, at the time one of the most advanced fighters in service anywhere in the world. Jagdgeschwader 300 ( JG 300) was a Luftwaffe fighter - wing of World War II. ”. The ground crew is fitting the second of two underwing fuel tanks, which allowed the Mustangs to escort American strategic bombers to their targets inside Germany, engage German fighters. Among the pilots killed were two Staffelkapitane and the campaign’s then-leading FW-190 four-engine bomber ace, Oberfeldwebel Hans Laun of 1. German fighter pilot Franz Stigler had safely escorted them out of Germany, but he didn't expect the B-17 to make it home. A B-17 bomber is flying over German territory, Alone. The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often (erroneously) called Me 110, was a twin-engine heavy fighter (Zerstörer – German for "Destroyer" – a concept that in German service involved a long-ranged, powerful fighter able to range about friendly or even enemy territory destroying enemy bombers and even fighters when located) in the service of the Luftwaffe during. He was the first member of the Soviet armed forces to be awarded the title Hero of The Soviet Union three times. Lt. The Bf 109 is the most produced fighter aircraft in history, with a total of 33,984 airframes produced from 1936 to April 1945. Updated December 14, 2016. Fifteenth Air Force departed from its base in Italy to escort B-17 heavy bombers on a 1,600-mile round trip flight to the German capital. 10. On a June day in 1942 a few stubby, blunt-nosed U. Revenge, not honor, is what drove 2nd Lt. Charles "Charlie" Brown 's B-17F Flying Fortress Ye Olde Pub of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was severely damaged by German fighters. He escorted them. However, few feats of heroic derring-do in that or any other conflict could match the intrepid escape of US Army Air Forces Second Lieutenant Bruce Ward Carr (1924 – 1998) from.