Re: Ace Pilots
Quote:
Originally posted by justin
I was just looking through fighter ace statistics, and as always it is incredible to look at the scores achieved by German aces compared to pilots of other nations. No allied pilot broke through 50 kills as far as I know, yet look at the number who broke through 100, 200 and Hartman's score is just phenomenol. The thing that is even more surprising is the score for Finnish pilots, people have forgotten about Finland, but when you look at their ace list they must have produced some brilliant fighter pilots.
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And what many people don't know is that WWII Luftwaffe scoring systems were extremely strict. All kill claims had to be verified by another pilot or on the ground by German troops. There were no fractional kill claims awarded.
Hartmann's (and other pilots) early victories came because of a relatively 'target-rich' environment - the Eastern Front. And, it was a policy of the Luftwaffe that you flew until you were killed or gravely wounded; many Allied aces were rotated out of combat to become training instructors and 'pitchmen' for war-bonds drives back home. This is why the highest-scoring US ace, Richard (the communist auto censor doesn't like D i c k)Bong only was credited with 40 kills. Hartmann was turned over to the Russians after the war and suffered 10 years in a Russian POW camp before being liberated.
Recommend reading "The Blond Knight of Germany", by Toliver and Constable - an outstanding biography of Hartmann.
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Chuck Corway (AlphaSigOU)
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