Erich Alfred Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993), nicknamed “Bubi” (the hypocoristic form of “young boy”) by his comrades and “The Black Devil” by his Soviet adversaries, was a German fighter pilot during World War II and is the highest-scoring fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He claimed 352 aerial victories—that is, 352 aerial combat encounters resulting in the destruction of the enemy aircraft—in 1,404 combat missions. He engaged in aerial combat 825 times while serving with the Luftwaffe. During the course of his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his damaged fighter 14 times. This was due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to fire from enemy aircraft.
Hartmann, a pre-war glider pilot, joined the Luftwaffe in 1940 and completed his fighter pilot training in 1942. He was posted to Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) on the Eastern front and was fortunate to be placed under the supervision of some of the Luftwaffe’s most experienced fighter pilots. Under their guidance, Hartmann steadily developed his tactics, which earned him the coveted Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten (Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds) on 25 August 1944 for claiming 301 aerial victories.
On 25 August 1944, 1st Lt. Hartmann shot down 11 Soviet aircraft (of 58 shot down that day), thereby winning his 301st aerial victory, and was decorated with the Oak-leaf cluster to the Knight’s Cross degree of the Iron Cross.
At 8.30am on Tuesday 8 May 1945 Major Hartmann, commander of the 1st Grp, 52nd FW took off from Brad, Czechosolvakis on his 1405th enemy mission. He flew his Me 109G in the direction of Brunn. Eight Soviet Yak-11 were circling the city and flying aerobatics. Harmann attacked one just as it was flop, and shot it down. This was his 353nd kill and probably was the last made by the Luftwaffe.
He scored his 352nd and last aerial victory on 8 May 1945. He and the remainder of JG 52 surrendered to United States Army forces and were turned over to the Red Army. In an attempt to pressure him into service with the Soviet-friendly East German Volksarmee, he was convicted of false war crimes, a conviction posthumously voided by a Russian court as a malicious prosecution. Hartmann was sentenced to 25 years of hard labour and spent 10 years in various Soviet prison camps and gulags until he was released in 1955.
In 1956, Hartmann joined the newly established West German Air Force and became the first Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 71 “Richthofen”. Hartmann resigned early from the Bundeswehr in 1970, largely due to his opposition to the F-104 Starfighter deployment in the Luftwaffe and the resulting clashes with his superiors over this issue. He was later involved in flight training. He died of natural causes on 20 September 1993.
The final World War II rank-
Maj. Erich Hartmann (352)
Maj. Gerhard Barkhom (301)
Maj. Guenther Rall (275)
Maj. Wilhelm Batz (237)
All Aero 