The most famous pilots of the Second World War. Luftwaffe aces in World War II

The air force plays one of the key roles during any war. Sometimes a timely sortie of aircraft can change the outcome of a battle. However, the air “machines” themselves will not do anything without competent pilots. Among these pilots there are also those who deserve the title of “ace pilot”, for the large number of destroyed enemy aircraft. Such pilots were in the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich.

1. Erich Hartmann

The most successful fighter pilot of Nazi Germany was Erich Hartmann. He is also recognized as the most successful pilot in the entire world history of aviation. Taking part in battles on the side of Germany, he made 1,404 combat missions, as a result of which he scored 352 victories over the enemy, most of them - 347 - were downed USSR aircraft. Eric won these victories while taking part in 802 battles with the enemy. Hartman shot down the last enemy aircraft on May 8, 1945.

Eric came from a middle-class family with two sons. The younger brother was also a Luftwaffe pilot. Eric's mother was also interested in aviation, and was among the first women to fly an airplane. The family even had a light plane, but it had to be sold due to lack of money in the family. Soon his mother set up a flight school, where Eric trained. Soon he becomes an instructor in the Hitler Youth.

In 1939 he entered the gymnasium in Korntal, where his sniper abilities were revealed, and at the end of his training he was an excellent fighter pilot. In the fall of 1942, after graduation, he was sent to the North Caucasus. Because of his youthful appearance, he received the nickname “Baby” among the pilots. Eric shot down the first enemy plane in November 1942, but the Battle of Kursk was the most effective for him; in September 1943, he had about ninety downed planes.

His victories were often questioned by the Luftwaffe and were rechecked three or four times, and during the flight he was followed by an observer plane. For his numerous victories, Hartmann was awarded the highest orders and medals in Germany. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. After the war he ended up in a Soviet camp, where he had to stay for ten years, after returning he served in the German aviation, and died in 1993.

2. Gerhard Barkhorn

The second place in the number of enemy aircraft shot down belongs to Gerhard Barkhorn. During his combat career, he flew more than 1,100 combat missions and destroyed 301 enemy aircraft, all of his effective missions during battles with the Soviet Union. Gerhard's flying career began after he joined the Luftwaffe in 1937.

He made his first flight as a fighter pilot in May 1940 while fighting in France. Barkhorn made his first successful flight in the Eastern direction in July 1941. From that moment on, he became the real “master of the sky.” And at the end of 1942, he already had 100 downed planes. After shooting down the 250th plane, Gerhard is awarded the Knight's Cross, later oak leaves and Swords are added to this award. However, he never received the highest award for shooting down three hundred planes - Diamonds to the Knight's Cross, since in the winter of 1945 he was transferred to the Western Front, which happened a couple of days after the downing of the three hundredth plane.

On the Western Front, he led JG 6, but did not make a single effective mission. In April, Barkhorn was transferred to a jet plane; he was soon wounded and captured by Allied forces, but was released in 1946. Soon he entered military service in Germany, where he remained until 1976. Gerhard Berkhorn died in 1983 as a result of a car accident.

3. Gunther Rall

The 52nd fighter squadron, where Hartmann and Barkhorn served, also served as the third-ranked ace pilot, Günter Rall. He flew a Misserschmitt, with personal number 13. Having completed 621 combat missions, Gunther was able to destroy 275 enemy aircraft, most in the Soviet direction and only three on the Western Front. His plane was shot down eight times, and the pilot himself was wounded three times.

Rall entered military service in 1936, and initially he joined an infantry regiment, but soon transferred to the Luftwaffe. He took part in the war from the beginning of the French campaign, and already in May 1940 he shot down the first Curtis -36 fighter; a couple of days later he already had two aircraft to his name. At the beginning of the summer of 1941, he received a transfer to the Eastern Front, and in November 1941, having already had 35 effective sorties to his name, he was seriously wounded. It took nine months to recover from the wound; after leaving the hospital, Rall received a knight's cross for 65 downed aircraft, and two months later the Oak Leaves from the hands of the Fuhrer were added to it for 100 victories.

A year later, in the summer of 1943, Gunther became the commander of the third group, and at the end of the summer he received the Swords to his Knight's Cross for 200 destroyed aircraft. In the spring, Gunther already had 273 aircraft shot down. In April, he was appointed commander of the second group in the air defense of the Third Reich, while in this position Günther shot down two more planes, and in mid-May 1944, while repelling the first mass raid of American fighters on the Reich oil industrial complex, Rall shot down his last plane. During this battle, the ace pilot was seriously injured, as a result of which he was prohibited from flying, so he transferred to the position of head of the fighter pilot school.

After the surrender of Germany, Gunther had to work in industry for some time, and later he entered service in the German aviation. While serving in the Air Force, he took part in the development of the F-104 fighter aircraft. Günter Rall's military career ended in 1975 as a member of the NATO military committee. Rall was the only German ace pilot to survive the 20th century, and died in 2009.

4. Otto Kittel

German fighter pilot Otto Kittel is fourth in the ranking of Luftwaffe aces. He had five hundred and eighty-three combat missions to his name with a total of 267 victories. He went down in the history of the Luftwaffe as a fighter who destroyed the most large quantity Il-2, ninety-four aircraft in total. Kittel was born in the town of Kronsdorf, and in 1939 he entered the Luftwaffe, where he soon received the rank of non-commissioned officer. For the first time at the controls of a fighter aircraft, he participated in a battle in April 1941 in Yugoslavia, but Otto was plagued by failures, he was unable to shoot down enemy planes, and at the end of May, during a flight, the engine failed and Otto ejected.

From the first days of the opening of the Eastern Front, he was transferred there by the leadership. And just two days later he shot down his first two SB-2 aircraft. A couple of days later, two more Il-2s were shot down. For his achievements, shooting down 12 aircraft, at the end of 1941 he was nominated for the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. In 1942 he was already flying as a wingman, and at the end of the year he had more than twenty successful attacks. In February 1943, he received the Golden German Cross for forty aircraft shot down. In March 1943, during an air battle, the engine of his plane failed, and he landed it on the territory of the USSR near Lake Ilmen. To avoid being captured, Kittel walked more than sixty kilometers in the cold and forded a river, but still reached his troops.

In the fall of 1943, he was sent as an instructor to France, he already had 130 downed aircraft, but in 1944 he was returned to the Soviet direction. After his victory count reached 200 in the fall, he was sent on leave while already holding the rank of lieutenant. During his entire service, his plane was shot down by the enemy twice. At the beginning, 1945, in the Baltic states, he was shot down for the third time, the plane fell into a swamp, Kittel did not have time to eject, as he died in the air. For his victories he was awarded the German Golden Cross and the Knight's Cross with Swords and Oak Leaves.

5. Walter Nowotny

The top five German pilots are aces Walter Nowotny. His personal record is 258 aircraft shot down; for this he needed 442 sorties; 255 aircraft were shot down on the Eastern Front. His flying career began on a twin-engine bomber, later he was given control of a four-engine bomber, and shot down his last three aircraft in the Me.262 jet fighter. He is the first pilot in the history of aviation to shoot down 250 enemy aircraft. In his personal collection is the Knight's Cross with Swords, Oak Leaves and Diamonds.

Walter came from a family of employees; in 1939 he volunteered to join the Luftwaffe. Initially, he wanted to be a simple pilot, but he was recommended for training to become a fighter pilot. Between 1939 and 1941 he rose to the rank of major and served as commander of one of the fighter aviation units. Walter's first flights were unsuccessful, for which he even received the playful nickname "Quax", but he opened his personal account with three planes at once, but he himself was shot down, this happened in July 1941.

However, a year later he had fifty planes shot down, and in mid-1943 their number exceeded a hundred. It took Novotny his last hundred kills in just over seventy days, and by October 1944 he had set a record of 250 kills. Nowatny's last flight took place in November 1944. On this day, he received orders to intercept two United States bombers. It is not entirely clear what happened in the sky, so he shot down two enemy planes and reported that his plane was also on fire, the connection was lost, and the plane crashed near the town of Bramsche.

Most of the names from the list of ace pilots of the Great Patriotic War are well known to everyone. However, besides Pokryshkin and Kozhedub, among the Soviet aces, another master of air combat is undeservedly forgotten, whose courage and courage even the most titled and successful pilots can envy.

Better than Kozhedub, better than Hartman...

Names of Soviet aces of the Great Patriotic War Ivan Kozhedub and Alexander Pokryshkin are known to everyone who is at least superficially familiar with Russian history. Kozhedub and Pokryshkin are the most successful Soviet fighter pilots. The first has 64 enemy aircraft shot down personally, the second has 59 personal victories, and he shot down 6 more planes in the group.
The name of the third most successful Soviet pilot is known only to aviation enthusiasts. During the war, Nikolai Gulaev destroyed 57 enemy aircraft personally and 4 in a group.
An interesting detail - Kozhedub needed 330 sorties and 120 air battles to achieve his result, Pokryshkin - 650 sorties and 156 air battles. Gulaev achieved his result by carrying out 290 sorties and conducting 69 air battles.
Moreover, according to award documents, in his first 42 air battles he destroyed 42 enemy aircraft, that is, on average, each battle ended for Gulaev with a destroyed enemy aircraft.
Fans of military statistics have calculated that Nikolai Gulaev’s efficiency coefficient, that is, the ratio of air battles to victories, was 0.82. For comparison, for Ivan Kozhedub it was 0.51, and for Hitler’s ace Erich Hartmann, who officially shot down the most aircraft during World War II, it was 0.4.
At the same time, people who knew Gulaev and fought with him claimed that he generously recorded many of his victories on his wingmen, helping them receive orders and money - Soviet pilots were paid for each enemy aircraft shot down. Some believe that the total number of planes shot down by Gulaev could reach 90, which, however, cannot be confirmed or denied today.

A guy from the Don.

Many books have been written and many films have been made about Alexander Pokryshkin and Ivan Kozhedub, three times Heroes of the Soviet Union, air marshals.
Nikolai Gulaev, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, was close to the third “Golden Star”, but never received it and did not become a marshal, remaining a colonel general. And in general, if in the post-war years Pokryshkin and Kozhedub were always in the public eye, engaged in the patriotic education of youth, then Gulaev, who was practically in no way inferior to his colleagues, remained in the shadows all the time.
Perhaps the fact is that both the war and post-war biography of the Soviet ace was rich in episodes that do not fit well into the image of an ideal hero.
Nikolai Gulaev was born on February 26, 1918 in the village of Aksai, which has now become the city of Aksai in the Rostov region. The Don freemen were in the blood and character of Nicholas from the first days until the end of his life. After graduating from a seven-year school and a vocational school, he worked as a mechanic at one of the Rostov factories.
Like many of the youth of the 1930s, Nikolai became interested in aviation and attended a flying club. This hobby helped in 1938, when Gulaev was drafted into the army. The amateur pilot was sent to the Stalingrad Aviation School, from which he graduated in 1940. Gulaev was assigned to air defense aviation, and in the first months of the war he provided cover for one of the industrial centers in the rear.

Reprimand complete with reward.

Gulaev arrived at the front in August 1942 and immediately demonstrated both the talent of a combat pilot and the wayward character of a native of the Don steppes.
Gulaev did not have permission to fly at night, and when on August 3, 1942, Hitler’s planes appeared in the area of ​​responsibility of the regiment where the young pilot served, experienced pilots took to the skies. But then the mechanic egged Nikolai on:
- What are you waiting for? The plane is ready, fly!
Gulaev, deciding to prove that he was no worse than the “old men,” jumped into the cockpit and took off. And in the very first battle, without experience, without the help of searchlights, he destroyed a German bomber. When Gulaev returned to the airfield, the arriving general said: “For the fact that I flew out without permission, I am reprimanding, and for the fact that I shot down an enemy plane, I am promoting him in rank and presenting him for a reward.”

Nugget.

His star shone especially brightly during the battles on the Kursk Bulge. On May 14, 1943, repelling a raid on the Grushka airfield, he single-handedly entered into battle with three Yu-87 bombers, covered by four Me-109s. Having shot down two Junkers, Gulaev tried to attack the third, but ran out of ammunition. Without hesitating for a second, the pilot went to ram, shooting down another bomber. Gulaev’s uncontrollable “Yak” went into a tailspin. The pilot managed to level the plane and land it at the leading edge, but on his own territory. Having arrived at the regiment, Gulaev again flew on a combat mission on another plane.
At the beginning of July 1943, Gulaev, as part of four Soviet fighters, taking advantage of the surprise factor, attacked a German armada of 100 aircraft. Having disrupted the battle formation, shooting down 4 bombers and 2 fighters, all four returned safely to the airfield. On this day, Gulaev’s unit made several combat sorties and destroyed 16 enemy aircraft.
July 1943 was generally extremely productive for Nikolai Gulaev. This is what is recorded in his flight log: “July 5 - 6 sorties, 4 victories, July 6 - Focke-Wulf 190 shot down, July 7 - three enemy aircraft shot down as part of a group, July 8 - Me-109 shot down , July 12 - two Yu-87s were shot down.”
Hero of the Soviet Union Fedor Arkhipenko, who had the opportunity to command the squadron where Gulaev served, wrote about him: “He was a genius pilot, one of the top ten aces in the country. He never hesitated, quickly assessed the situation, his sudden and effective attack created panic and destroyed the enemy’s battle formation, which disrupted his targeted bombing of our troops. He was very brave and decisive, often came to the rescue, and sometimes one could feel the real passion of a hunter in him.”

Flying Stenka Razin.

On September 28, 1943, the deputy squadron commander of the 27th Fighter Aviation Regiment (205th Fighter Aviation Division, 7th Fighter Aviation Corps, 2nd Air Army, Voronezh Front), Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev, was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
At the beginning of 1944, Gulaev was appointed squadron commander. His not very rapid career growth is explained by the fact that the ace’s methods of educating his subordinates were not entirely ordinary. Thus, he cured one of the pilots of his squadron, who was afraid of getting close to the Nazis, from fear of the enemy by firing a burst from his on-board weapon next to the wingman’s cabin. The subordinate’s fear disappeared as if by hand...
The same Fyodor Archipenko in his memoirs described another characteristic episode associated with Gulaev: “Approaching the airfield, I immediately saw from the air that the parking lot of Gulaev’s plane was empty... After landing, I was informed that all six of Gulaev were shot down! Nikolai himself landed wounded at the airfield with the attack aircraft, but nothing is known about the rest of the pilots. After some time, they reported from the front line: two jumped out of planes and landed at the location of our troops, the fate of three more is unknown... And today, many years later, I see the main mistake Gulaev made then in the fact that he took with him into combat the departure of three young pilots who had not been shot at at once, who were shot down in their very first battle. True, Gulaev himself won 4 aerial victories that day, shooting down 2 Me-109, Yu-87 and Henschel.”
He was not afraid to risk himself, but he also risked his subordinates with the same ease, which sometimes seemed completely unjustified. The pilot Gulaev did not look like the “aerial Kutuzov”, but rather like the dashing Stenka Razin, who had mastered a combat fighter.
But at the same time he achieved amazing results. In one of the battles over the Prut River, at the head of six P-39 Airacobra fighters, Nikolai Gulaev attacked 27 enemy bombers, accompanied by 8 fighters. In 4 minutes, 11 enemy vehicles were destroyed, 5 of them by Gulaev personally.
In March 1944, the pilot received a short-term leave home. From this trip to the Don he came withdrawn, taciturn, and bitter. He rushed into battle frantically, with some kind of transcendental rage. During the trip home, Nikolai learned that during the occupation his father was executed by the Nazis...

The Soviet ace was almost killed by a pig...

On July 1, 1944, Guard Captain Nikolai Gulaev was awarded the second star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for 125 combat missions, 42 air battles, in which he shot down 42 enemy aircraft personally and 3 in a group.
And then another episode occurs, which Gulaev openly told his friends about after the war, an episode that perfectly shows his violent nature as a native of the Don. The pilot learned that he had become a twice Hero of the Soviet Union after his next flight. Fellow soldiers had already gathered at the airfield and said: the award needed to be “washed,” there was alcohol, but there were problems with snacks.
Gulaev recalled that when returning to the airfield, he saw pigs grazing. With the words “there will be a snack,” the ace boards the plane again and a few minutes later lands it near the barns, to the amazement of the pig owner.
As already mentioned, the pilots were paid for downed planes, so Nikolai had no problems with cash. The owner willingly agreed to sell the boar, who was loaded with difficulty into the combat vehicle. By some miracle, the pilot took off from a very small platform together with the boar, distraught with horror. A combat aircraft is not designed for a well-fed pig to dance inside it. Gulaev had difficulty keeping the plane in the air...
If a catastrophe had happened that day, it would probably have been the most ridiculous case of the death of a twice Hero of the Soviet Union in history. Thank God, Gulaev made it to the airfield, and the regiment cheerfully celebrated the hero’s award.
Another anecdotal incident is related to the appearance of the Soviet ace. Once in battle he managed to shoot down a reconnaissance plane piloted by a Nazi colonel, holder of four Iron Crosses. The German pilot wanted to meet with the one who managed to interrupt his brilliant career. Apparently, the German was expecting to see a stately handsome man, a “Russian bear” who would not be ashamed to lose... But instead, a young, short, plump captain Gulaev came, who, by the way, in the regiment had a not at all heroic nickname “Kolobok”. The German's disappointment knew no bounds...

A fight with political overtones.

In the summer of 1944, the Soviet command decided to recall the best Soviet pilots from the front. The war is coming to a victorious end, and the leadership of the USSR begins to think about the future. Those who distinguished themselves in the Great Patriotic War must graduate from the Air Force Academy in order to then take leadership positions in the Air Force and Air Defense.
Gulaev was also among those summoned to Moscow. He himself was not eager to go to the academy; he asked to remain in the active army, but was refused. On August 12, 1944, Nikolai Gulaev shot down his last Focke-Wulf 190.
And then a story happened, which, most likely, became the main reason why Nikolai Gulaev did not become as famous as Kozhedub and Pokryshkin. There are at least three versions of what happened, which combine two words - “brawler” and “foreigners”. Let's focus on the one that occurs most often.
According to it, Nikolai Gulaev, already a major by that time, was summoned to Moscow not only to study at the academy, but also to receive the third star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Considering the pilot’s combat achievements, this version does not seem implausible. Gulaev’s company included other honored aces who were awaiting awards.
The day before the ceremony in the Kremlin, Gulaev went to the restaurant of the Moscow Hotel, where his pilot friends were relaxing. However, the restaurant was crowded, and the administrator said: “Comrade, there is no room for you!” It was not worth saying such a thing to Gulaev with his explosive character, but then, unfortunately, he also came across Romanian soldiers, who at that moment were also relaxing in the restaurant. Shortly before this, Romania, which had been an ally of Germany since the beginning of the war, went over to the side of the anti-Hitler coalition.
The angry Gulaev said loudly: “Is it that there is no place for the Hero of the Soviet Union, but there is room for enemies?”
The Romanians heard the pilot’s words, and one of them uttered an insulting phrase in Russian towards Gulaev. A second later, the Soviet ace found himself near the Romanian and hit him in the face.
Not even a minute had passed before a fight broke out in the restaurant between the Romanians and Soviet pilots.
When the fighters were separated, it turned out that the pilots had beaten members of the official Romanian military delegation. The scandal reached Stalin himself, who decided to cancel the awarding of the third Hero star.
If we were talking not about the Romanians, but about the British or Americans, most likely, the matter for Gulaev would have ended quite badly. But the leader of all nations did not ruin the life of his ace because of yesterday’s opponents. Gulaev was simply sent to a unit, away from the front, Romanians and any attention in general. But how true this version is is unknown.

A general who was friends with Vysotsky.

Despite everything, in 1950 Nikolai Gulaev graduated from the Zhukovsky Air Force Academy, and five years later from the General Staff Academy. He commanded the 133rd Aviation Fighter Division, located in Yaroslavl, the 32nd Air Defense Corps in Rzhev, and the 10th Air Defense Army in Arkhangelsk, which covered the northern borders of the Soviet Union.
Nikolai Dmitrievich had a wonderful family, he adored his granddaughter Irochka, was a passionate fisherman, loved to treat guests to personally pickled watermelons...
He also visited pioneer camps, participated in various veterans’ events, but still there was a feeling that instructions were given from above, in modern terms, not to promote his person too much.
Actually, there were reasons for this even at a time when Gulaev was already wearing general’s shoulder straps. For example, he could, with his authority, invite Vladimir Vysotsky to speak at the House of Officers in Arkhangelsk, ignoring the timid protests of the local party leadership. By the way, there is a version that some of Vysotsky’s songs about pilots were born after his meetings with Nikolai Gulaev.

Norwegian complaint.

Colonel General Gulaev retired in 1979. And there is a version that one of the reasons for this was a new conflict with foreigners, but this time not with the Romanians, but with the Norwegians. Allegedly, General Gulaev organized a hunt for polar bears using helicopters near the border with Norway. Norwegian border guards appealed to the Soviet authorities with a complaint about the general's actions. After this, the general was transferred to a staff position away from Norway, and then sent to a well-deserved rest.
It is impossible to say with certainty that this hunt took place, although such a plot fits very well into the vivid biography of Nikolai Gulaev. Be that as it may, the resignation had a bad effect on the health of the old pilot, who could not imagine himself without the service to which his whole life was dedicated.
Twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev died on September 27, 1985 in Moscow, at the age of 67 years. His final resting place was the Kuntsevo cemetery in the capital.

Any war is a terrible grief for any people that it affects in one way or another. Throughout its history, humanity has experienced many wars, two of which were world wars. The First World War almost completely destroyed Europe and led to the fall of some major empires, such as the Russian and Austro-Hungarian ones. But even more terrible in its scale was the Second World War, in which many countries from almost all over the world were involved. Millions of people died, and many more were left homeless. This terrible event still affects modern man in one way or another. Its echoes can be found everywhere in our lives. This tragedy left behind a lot of mysteries, disputes over which have not subsided for decades. The heaviest burden was assumed in this life-and-death battle by the Soviet Union, which was not yet fully strengthened from the revolution and civil wars and was only expanding its military and peaceful industry. An irreconcilable rage and desire to fight the invaders who encroached on the territorial integrity and freedom of the proletarian state settled in the hearts of people. Many went to the front voluntarily. At the same time, the evacuated industrial facilities were reorganized to produce products for the needs of the front. The struggle has assumed a truly national scale. That is why it is called the Great Patriotic War.

Who are the aces?

Both the German and Soviet armies were well trained and equipped with equipment, aircraft and other weapons. The personnel numbered in the millions. The collision of such two war machines gave birth to its heroes and its traitors. Some of those who can rightfully be considered heroes are the aces of World War II. Who are they and why are they so famous? An ace can be considered a person who has achieved heights in his field of activity that few others have managed to conquer. And even in such a dangerous and terrible matter as the military, there have always been their professionals. Both the USSR and the Allied forces, and Nazi Germany had people who showed the best results in terms of the number of enemy equipment or manpower destroyed. This article will tell about these heroes.

The list of World War II aces is extensive and includes many individuals famous for their exploits. They were an example for an entire people, they were adored and admired.

Aviation is without a doubt one of the most romantic, but at the same time dangerous branches of the military. Since any equipment can fail at any time, the job of a pilot is considered very honorable. It requires iron endurance, discipline, and the ability to control oneself in any situation. Therefore, aviation aces were treated with great respect. After all, to be able to show good results in such conditions when your life depends not only on technology, but also on yourself is the highest degree of military art. So, who are these ace pilots of World War II, and why are their exploits so famous?

One of the most successful Soviet ace pilots was Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub. Officially, during his service on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, he shot down 62 German aircraft, and he is also credited with 2 American fighters, which he destroyed at the end of the war. This record-breaking pilot served in the 176th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment and flew a La-7 aircraft.

The second most productive during the war was Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin (who was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union three times). He fought in Southern Ukraine, in the Black Sea region, and liberated Europe from the Nazis. During his service he shot down 59 enemy aircraft. He did not stop flying even when he was appointed commander of the 9th Guards Aviation Division, and achieved some of his aerial victories while already in this position.

Nikolai Dmitrievich Gulaev is one of the most famous military pilots, who set a record of 4 flights per destroyed aircraft. In total, during his military service he destroyed 57 enemy aircraft. Twice awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

He also had a high result. He shot down 55 German aircraft. Kozhedub, who happened to serve for some time with Evstigneev in the same regiment, spoke very respectfully of this pilot.

But, despite the fact that the tank forces were one of the most numerous in the Soviet army, for some reason the USSR did not have ace tankers of the Second World War. Why this is so is unknown. It is logical to assume that many personal scores were deliberately inflated or underestimated, so it is not possible to name the exact number of victories of the above-mentioned masters of tank combat.

German tank aces

But the German tank aces of World War II have a much longer track record. This is largely due to the pedantry of the Germans, who strictly documented everything, and they had much more time to fight than their Soviet “colleagues.” The German army began active operations back in 1939.

German tanker No. 1 is Hauptsturmführer Michael Wittmann. He fought with many tanks (Stug III, Tiger I) and destroyed 138 vehicles throughout the war, as well as 132 self-propelled artillery installations from various enemy countries. For his successes he was repeatedly awarded various orders and badges of the Third Reich. Killed in action in 1944 in France.

You can also highlight such a tank ace as For those who are in one way or another interested in the history of the development of the tank forces of the Third Reich, the book of his memoirs “Tigers in the Mud” will be very useful. During the war years, this man destroyed 150 Soviet and American self-propelled guns and tanks.

Kurt Knispel is another record-breaking tanker. During his military service, he knocked out 168 enemy tanks and self-propelled guns. About 30 cars are unconfirmed, which prevents him from matching Wittmann's results. Knispel died in battle near the village of Vostits in Czechoslovakia in 1945.

In addition, Karl Bromann had good results - 66 tanks and self-propelled guns, Ernst Barkmann - 66 tanks and self-propelled guns, Erich Mausberg - 53 tanks and self-propelled guns.

As can be seen from these results, both Soviet and German tank aces of World War II knew how to fight. Of course, the quantity and quality of Soviet combat vehicles was an order of magnitude higher than that of the Germans, however, as practice has shown, both were used quite successfully and became the basis for some post-war tank models.

But the list of military branches in which their masters distinguished themselves does not end there. Let's talk a little about submarine aces.

Masters of Submarine Warfare

Just as in the case of aircraft and tanks, the most successful are the German sailors. Over the years of its existence, Kriegsmarine submariners sank 2,603 ​​ships of allied countries, the total displacement of which reaches 13.5 million tons. This is a truly impressive figure. And the German submarine aces of World War II could also boast of impressive personal accounts.

The most successful German submariner is Otto Kretschmer, who has 44 ships, including 1 destroyer. The total displacement of the ships sunk by him is 266,629 tons.

In second place is Wolfgang Lüth, who sent 43 enemy ships to the bottom (and according to other sources - 47) with a total displacement of 225,712 tons.

He was also a famous naval ace who even managed to sink the British battleship Royal Oak. This was one of the first officers to receive oak leaves; Prien destroyed 30 ships. Killed in 1941 during an attack on a British convoy. He was so popular that his death was hidden from the people for two months. And on the day of his funeral, mourning was declared throughout the country.

Such successes of German sailors are also quite understandable. The fact is that Germany began a naval war back in 1940, with a blockade of Britain, thus hoping to undermine its naval greatness and, taking advantage of this, to successfully capture the islands. However, very soon the plans of the Nazis were thwarted, as America entered the war with its large and powerful fleet.

The most famous Soviet submarine sailor is Alexander Marinesko. He sank only 4 ships, but what ones! The heavy passenger liner "Wilhelm Gustloff", the transport "General von Steuben", as well as 2 units of the heavy floating battery "Helene" and "Siegfried". For his exploits, Hitler added the sailor to his list of personal enemies. But Marinesko’s fate did not work out well. He fell out of favor with the Soviet regime and died, and people stopped talking about his exploits. The great sailor received the Hero of the Soviet Union award only posthumously in 1990. Unfortunately, many USSR aces of World War II ended their lives in a similar way.

Also famous submariners of the Soviet Union are Ivan Travkin - he sank 13 ships, Nikolai Lunin - also 13 ships, Valentin Starikov - 14 ships. But Marinesko topped the list of the best submariners of the Soviet Union, as he caused the greatest damage to the German navy.

Accuracy and stealth

Well, how can we not remember such famous fighters as snipers? Here the Soviet Union takes the well-deserved palm from Germany. Soviet sniper aces of World War II had a very high track record. In many ways, such results were achieved thanks to massive government training of the civilian population in shooting from various weapons. About 9 million people were awarded the Voroshilov Shooter badge. So, what are the most famous snipers?

The name of Vasily Zaitsev frightened the Germans and inspired courage in Soviet soldiers. This ordinary guy, a hunter, killed 225 Wehrmacht soldiers with his Mosin rifle in just a month of fighting at Stalingrad. Among the outstanding sniper names are Fedor Okhlopkov, who (during the entire war) accounted for about a thousand Nazis; Semyon Nomokonov, who killed 368 enemy soldiers. There were also women among the snipers. An example of this is the famous Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who fought near Odessa and Sevastopol.

German snipers are less known, although several sniper schools have existed in Germany since 1942, which provided professional training. Among the most successful German shooters are Matthias Hetzenauer (345 killed), (257 killed), Bruno Sutkus (209 soldiers shot). Also a famous sniper from the countries of the Hitler bloc is Simo Haiha - this Finn killed 504 Red Army soldiers during the war years (according to unconfirmed reports).

Thus, the sniper training of the Soviet Union was immeasurably higher than that of the German troops, which allowed Soviet soldiers to bear the proud title of aces of the Second World War.

How did you become aces?

So, the concept of “ace of World War II” is quite broad. As already mentioned, these people achieved truly impressive results in their business. This was achieved not only through good army training, but also through outstanding personal qualities. After all, for a pilot, for example, coordination and quick reaction are very important, for a sniper - the ability to wait for the right moment to sometimes fire a single shot.

Accordingly, it is impossible to determine who had the best aces of World War II. Both sides performed unparalleled heroism, which made it possible to single out individual people from the general mass. But it was possible to become a master only by training hard and improving your combat skills, since war does not tolerate weakness. Of course, dry statistics will not be able to convey to modern people all the hardships and adversities that war professionals experienced during their rise to the honorary pedestal.

We, the generation that lives without knowing such terrible things, should not forget about the exploits of our predecessors. They can become an inspiration, a reminder, a memory. And we must try to do everything to ensure that such terrible events as the past wars do not happen again.

...the squadron lost 80 pilots in a fairly short period of time,
of which 60 never shot down a single Russian aircraft
/Mike Speake “Luftwaffe Aces”/

The Iron Curtain collapsed with a deafening roar, and a storm of revelations of Soviet myths arose in the media of independent Russia. The theme of the Great Patriotic War became the most popular - inexperienced Soviet people were shocked by the results of German aces - tank crews, submariners and, especially, Luftwaffe pilots.
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 is a pilot about whom, according to legend, the Germans warned by radio: “Akhtung! 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 the 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

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 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's a German ace with 24 shells on board a 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 relates 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 were counted towards me , like others, in 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 Normandie-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, of which 60 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 battle formation and became easy prey other fighters, the pilot was given 3 points, because he did the bulk of the work - breaking through the hurricane fire of the “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 plowed 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 they’re silver, 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 had an average of 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 achievement fades: 1,400 combat missions, 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

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.

Luftwaffe Aces of World War II

The film tells about the famous German ace pilots: Erich Hartmann (352 enemy aircraft shot down), Johan Steinhoff (176), Werner Mölders (115), Adolf Galland (103) and others. Rare footage of interviews with Hartman and Galland is presented, as well as unique newsreels of air battles.

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Our ace pilots terrified the Germans during the Great Patriotic War. The exclamation “Akhtung! Akhtung! Pokryshkin is in the sky!” became widely known. But Alexander Pokryshkin was not the only Soviet ace. We remembered the most productive ones.

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub

Ivan Kozhedub was born in 1920 in the Chernigov province. He is considered the most successful Russian fighter pilot in personal combat, with 64 aircraft shot down. The start of the famous pilot’s career was unsuccessful; in the very first battle, his plane was seriously damaged by an enemy Messerschmitt, and when returning to base, he was mistakenly fired upon by Russian anti-aircraft gunners, and only by a miracle did he manage to land. The plane could not be restored, and they even wanted to repurpose the unlucky newcomer, but the regiment commander stood up for him. Only during his 40th combat mission on the Kursk Bulge, Kozhedub, having already become a “father” - deputy squadron commander, shot down his first “laptezhnik”, as ours called the German “Junkers”. After that, the count went to tens.

Kozhedub fought his last battle in the Great Patriotic War, in which he shot down 2 FW-190s, in the skies over Berlin. In addition, Kozhedub also has two American Mustang planes shot down in 1945, which attacked him, mistaking his fighter for a German plane. The Soviet ace acted according to the principle that he professed even when working with cadets - “any unknown aircraft is an enemy.” Throughout the war, Kozhedub was never shot down, although his plane often received very serious damage.

Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin

Pokryshkin is one of the most famous aces of Russian aviation. Born in 1913 in Novosibirsk. He won his first victory on the second day of the war, shooting down a German Messerschmitt. In total, he has 59 planes shot down personally and 6 in a group. However, this is only official statistics, since, as the commander of an air regiment, and then an air division, Pokryshkin sometimes gave downed planes to young pilots in order to encourage them in this way.

His notebook, entitled “Fighter Tactics in Combat,” became a veritable manual for air warfare. They say that the Germans warned about the appearance of the Russian ace with the phrase: “Akhtung! Achtung! Pokryshkin in the air." The one who shot down Pokryshkin was promised a big reward, but the Russian pilot turned out to be too tough for the Germans. Pokryshkin is considered the inventor of the “Kuban whatnot” - a tactical method of air combat; the Germans nicknamed him the “Kuban escalator”, since the planes arranged in pairs resembled a giant staircase. In the battle, German planes leaving the first stage came under attack from the second, and then the third stage. His other favorite techniques were the falcon kick and the high-speed swing. It is worth noting that Pokryshkin won most of his victories in the first years of the war, when the Germans had a significant superiority in the air.

Nikolay Dmitrievich Gulaev

Born in 1918 in the village of Aksayskaya near Rostov. His first battle is reminiscent of the feat of the Grasshopper from the movie “Only Old Men Go to Battle”: without an order, for the first time in his life, taking off at night under the howl of an air raid on his Yak, he managed to shoot down a German Heinkel night fighter. For such self-will, he was punished and presented with a reward.

Subsequently, Gulaev usually did not limit himself to one downed plane per mission; three times he scored four victories in a day, twice destroyed three planes, and made a double in seven battles. In total, he shot down 57 aircraft personally and 3 in a group. Gulaev rammed one enemy plane when it ran out of ammunition, after which he himself got into a tailspin and barely had time to eject. His risky style of fighting became a symbol of the romantic trend in the art of aerial combat.

Grigory Andreevich Rechkalov

Born in 1920 in the Perm province. On the eve of the war, a slight degree of color blindness was discovered at the medical flight commission, but the regiment commander did not even look at the medical report - pilots were very much needed. He won his first victory on the outdated I-153 biplane number 13, which was unlucky for the Germans, as he joked. Then he ended up in Pokryshkin’s group and was trained on the Airacobra, an American fighter that became famous for its tough temperament - it very easily went into a tailspin at the slightest mistake by the pilot; the Americans themselves were reluctant to fly such aircraft. In total, he shot down 56 aircraft personally and 6 in a group. Perhaps no other ace of ours personally has such a variety of types of downed aircraft as Rechkalov, these include bombers, attack aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, fighters, transport aircraft, and relatively rare trophies - “Savoy” and PZL -24.

Georgy Dmitrievich Kostylev

Born in Oranienbaum, present-day Lomonosov, in 1914. He began his flight practice in Moscow at the legendary Tushinsky airfield, where the Spartak stadium is now being built. The legendary Baltic ace, who covered the skies over Leningrad and won the largest number of victories in naval aviation, personally shot down at least 20 enemy aircraft and 34 in the group.

He shot down his first Messerschmitt on July 15, 1941. He fought on a British Hurricane, received under lend-lease, on the left side of which there was a large inscription “For Rus'!” In February 1943, he ended up in a penal battalion for causing destruction in the house of a major in the quartermaster service. Kostylev was amazed by the abundance of dishes with which he treated his guests, and could not restrain himself, since he knew first-hand what was happening in the besieged city. He was deprived of his awards, demoted to the Red Army and sent to the Oranienbaum bridgehead, to the places where he spent his childhood. The penalty officers saved the hero, and already in April he again takes his fighter into the air and wins victory over the enemy. Later he was reinstated in rank and his awards were returned, but he never received the second Hero Star.

Maresyev Alexey Petrovich

A legendary man, who became the prototype of the hero of Boris Polevoy’s story “The Tale of a Real Man,” a symbol of the courage and perseverance of the Russian warrior. Born in 1916 in the city of Kamyshin, Saratov province. In a battle with the Germans, his plane was shot down, and the pilot, wounded in the legs, managed to land on territory occupied by the Germans. After which he crawled to his people for 18 days, in the hospital both legs were amputated. But Maresyev managed to return to duty, he learned to walk on prosthetics and took to the skies again. At first they didn’t trust him; anything can happen in battle, but Maresyev proved that he could fight no worse than others. As a result, to the 4 German planes shot down before the injury, 7 more were added. Polevoy’s story about Maresyev was allowed to be published only after the war, so that the Germans, God forbid, would not think that there was no one to fight in the Soviet army, they had to send disabled people.

Popkov Vitaly Ivanovich

This pilot also cannot be ignored, because it was he who became one of the most famous incarnations of an ace pilot in cinema - the prototype of the famous Maestro from the film “Only Old Men Go to Battle.” The “Singing Squadron” actually existed in the 5th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, where Popkov served, it had its own choir, and two aircraft were given to it by Leonid Utesov himself.

Popkov was born in Moscow in 1922. He won his first victory in June 1942 over the city of Kholm. He took part in battles on the Kalinin Front, on the Don and the Kursk Bulge. In total, he flew 475 combat missions, conducted 117 air battles, and personally shot down 41 enemy aircraft plus 1 in the group. On the last day of the war, Popkov, in the sky over Brno, shot down the legendary German Hartmann, the most successful ace of World War II, but he managed to land and survive, however, this still did not save him from captivity. Popkov's popularity was so great that a monument was erected to him during his lifetime in Moscow.