While looking through the electronic library I came across quite interesting material about how the Germans and ours counted their victories in air battles during the Second World War, the author cited quite interesting facts indicating that not all was well with the counting of downed aircraft for both Lutwaffe aces and from the Red Army aviators, below I present to your attention an excerpt from this material.
When, in a small article in the newspaper "Arguments and Facts" in 1990, data on the personal accounts of German fighter pilots were first published in the domestic press, for many the three-digit figures came as a shock. It turned out that blond 23-year-old Major Erich Hartmann laid claim to 352 downed aircraft, including 348 Soviet and four American.
His colleagues in the 52nd Luftwaffe Fighter Squadron, Gerhard Barkhorn and Günther Rall, claimed 301 and 275 kills, respectively.
These figures contrasted sharply with the results of the best Soviet fighter pilots, 62 victories of I.N. Kozhedub and 59 - A.I. Pokryshkina. 
Erich Hartmann in the cockpit of his Bf.109G-6.
Heated discussions immediately broke out about the method of counting those shot down, confirmation of the successes of fighter pilots by ground services, machine guns, etc. The main thesis, intended to relieve tetanus from three-digit numbers, was: “These were the wrong bees, and they made the wrong honey.” That is, the Luftwaffe aces lied about their successes, and in reality they shot down no more planes than Pokryshkin and Kozhedub.
However, few people have thought about the expediency and validity of a head-to-head comparison of the results of the combat activities of pilots who fought in different conditions, with different intensity of combat work.
No one has attempted to analyze the value of such an indicator as “the largest number of kills” from the point of view of the air force of a given country as a whole. What is hundreds of knocked down, the girth of a bicep or the body temperature of a fever patient?
Attempts to explain the difference in the number of people shot down by a flawed counting technique do not stand up to criticism. Serious failures in confirming the results of fighter pilots are found on both sides of the conflict.
An enemy plane was considered shot down, which, for example, according to a report from a fighter pilot who claimed to destroy it, “fell randomly down and disappeared into the clouds.”
Often, it was the change in the flight parameters of the enemy aircraft observed by witnesses of the battle, a sharp decline, or a spin that began to be considered a sign sufficient to qualify for victory. It is not difficult to guess that after a “disorderly fall” the plane could have been leveled by the pilot and returned safely to the airfield.
In this regard, the fantastic accounts of the air gunners of the “Flying Fortresses” are indicative, chalking up “Messerschmitts” every time they left the attack, leaving a trail of smoke behind them. This trace was a consequence of the peculiarities of the Me.109 engine, which produced a smoky exhaust in afterburner and in an inverted position.
Naturally, when conclusions about the results of the attack were made on the basis of general words, problems arose even with recording the results of air battles conducted over one’s territory. Let's take the most typical example, the air defense of Moscow, the pilots of the well-trained 34th Fighter Aviation Regiment. Here are lines from a report presented at the end of July 1941 by the regiment commander, Major L.G. Rybkin to the air corps commander:
"... During the second flight on July 22 at 2.40 in the Alabino - Naro-Fominsk area at an altitude of 2500 m, Captain M.G. Trunov caught up with the Ju88 and attacked from the rear hemisphere. The enemy dropped to low level. Captain Trunov jumped forward and lost the enemy. It is possible believe the plane was shot down."
"...During the second takeoff on July 22 at 23.40 in the Vnukovo area, junior lieutenant A.G. Lukyanov was attacked by a Ju88 or Do215. In the Borovsk area (10-15 km north of the airfield), three long bursts were fired at the bomber. With "The hits were clearly visible on the ground. The enemy returned fire, and then sharply descended. We can assume the plane was shot down."
“...Junior Lieutenant N.G. Shcherbina on July 22 at 2.30 in the Naro-Fominsk area, from a distance of 50 m, fired two bursts at a twin-engine bomber. At this time, anti-aircraft artillery opened fire on the MiG-3, and the enemy plane was lost. We can assume the plane was shot down." 
However, reports of this kind were typical for the Soviet Air Force during the initial period of the war. And although in each case the air division commander notes that “there is no confirmation” (there is no information about the crash of enemy aircraft), in all these episodes victories were credited to the pilots and the regiment.
The result of this was a very significant discrepancy between the number of downed Luftwaffe bombers declared by Moscow air defense pilots and their actual losses.
In July 1941, the Moscow air defense carried out 89 battles during 9 raids by German bombers, in August - 81 battles during 16 raids. 59 vultures were reported shot down in July and 30 in August.
Enemy documents confirm 20-22 aircraft in July and 10-12 in August. The number of victories of air defense pilots turned out to be overestimated by about three times.
Opponents of our pilots on the other side of the front and allies spoke in the same spirit. In the first week of the war, June 30, 1941, a grandiose air battle took place over Dvinsk (Daugavpils) between the DB-3, DB-3F, SB and Ar-2 bombers of three air regiments of the Baltic Fleet Air Force and two groups of the 54th Fighter Squadron of the 1st Air Fleet of the Germans.
In total, 99 Soviet bombers took part in the raid on the bridges near Daugavpils. German fighter pilots alone claimed to have shot down 65 Soviet aircraft. Erich von Manstein writes in “Lost Victories”: “In one day our fighters and flak 64 planes were shot down."
The actual losses of the Baltic Fleet Air Force amounted to 34 aircraft shot down, and another 18 were damaged, but landed safely at their own or the nearest Soviet airfield.
It appears that the victories declared by the pilots of the 54th Fighter Squadron exceed the real losses of the Soviet side by at least two times. A fighter pilot recording an enemy aircraft that reached his airfield safely was a common occurrence.
The battles between the “Flying Fortresses”, “Mustangs”, “Thunderbolts” of the USA and the Reich air defense fighters gave rise to a completely identical picture.
In a fairly typical Western Front air battle that unfolded during the raid on Berlin on March 6, 1944, escort fighter pilots reported 82 German fighters destroyed, 8 presumed destroyed, and 33 damaged.
Bomber gunners reported 97 German air defense fighters destroyed, 28 presumed destroyed, and 60 damaged.
If you add these requests together, it turns out that the Americans destroyed or damaged 83% of the German fighters that took part in repelling the raid! The number declared as destroyed (that is, the Americans were confident of their destruction) - 179 aircraft - was more than twice the actual number of those shot down, 66 Me.109, FV-190 and Me.110 fighters.
In turn, the Germans immediately after the battle reported the destruction of 108 bombers and 20 escort fighters. Another 12 bombers and fighters were among those believed to have been shot down.
In fact, the US Air Force lost 69 bombers and 11 fighters during this raid. Note that in the spring of 1944 both sides had photo machine guns. 
Sometimes attempts are made to explain the high scores of German aces by some kind of system in which a twin-engine aircraft was counted for two “victories”, a four-engine aircraft - as many as four.
This is not true. The system for counting victories of fighter pilots and points for the quality of those shot down existed in parallel. After the downing of the Flying Fortress, the Reich air defense pilot painted one, and I emphasize, one stripe on the fin.
But at the same time he was awarded points, which were subsequently taken into account when rewarding and assigning subsequent titles.
In the same way, in the Red Army Air Force, parallel to the system of recording the victories of aces, there was a system of monetary bonuses for downed enemy aircraft, depending on their value for the air war.
These pathetic attempts to “explain” the difference between 352 and 62 only indicate linguistic illiteracy. The term “victory”, which came to us from English-language literature about German aces, is the product of double translation.
If Hartmann scored 352 “victories”, this does not mean that he laid claim to 150-180 single- and twin-engine aircraft. The original German term is abschuss, which the 1945 German-Russian Military Dictionary interprets as “shot down.”
The British and Americans translated it as victory, which later migrated into our literature about the war. Accordingly, the marks on the keel of an aircraft in the form of vertical stripes were called “abschussbalken” by the Germans.
Serious errors in identifying their own downed victims were experienced by the pilots themselves, who saw enemy aircraft if not from tens, then from hundreds of meters. What then can we say about the Red Army soldiers VNOS, where they recruited soldiers unsuitable for combat service. Often they simply wished for reality and identified an unknown type of aircraft falling into the forest as an enemy one.
A researcher of the air war in the North, Yuri Rybin, gives this example. After the battle that took place near Murmansk on April 19, 1943, observers at VNOS posts reported the crash of four enemy aircraft. Four victories were confirmed to the pilots by the notorious “ground services.” In addition, all participants in the battle stated that Guard Captain Sorokin shot down the fifth Messerschmitt. Although he was not confirmed by VNOS posts, he was also recorded in the combat account of the Soviet fighter pilot.
The groups that went in search of the downed fighters some time later found instead of four downed enemy fighters... one Messerschmitt, one Airacobra and two Hurricanes. That is, VNOS posts phlegmatically confirmed the fall of four planes, including those shot down by both sides.
All of the above applies to both sides of the conflict. Despite a theoretically more advanced system for recording downed victims, Luftwaffe aces often reported something unimaginable.
Let's take two days as an example, May 13 and 14, 1942, the height of the Battle of Kharkov. On May 13, the Luftwaffe announced 65 downed Soviet aircraft, 42 of which were attributed to the III Group of the 52nd Fighter Squadron.
The next day, pilots of the III Group of the 52nd Fighter Squadron report that 47 Soviet aircraft were shot down during the day. The commander of the 9th squadron of the group, Hermann Graf, declared six victories, his wingman Alfred Grislavski chalked up two MiG-3s, Lieutenant Adolf Dickfeld declared nine (!) victories for that day.
The real losses of the Red Army Air Force on May 14 amounted to three times less, 14 aircraft (5 Yak-1, 4 LaGG-3, 3 Il-2, 1 Su-2 and 1 R-5). MiG-3 is simply not on this list. 
“Stalin's falcons” did not remain in debt either. On May 19, 1942, twelve Yak-1 fighters of the 429th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which had just arrived at the front, got involved in a battle with a large group of Messerschmitts and, after a half-hour air battle, declared the destruction of five He-115s and one Me. 109". The “Xe-115” should be understood as a modification of the “Bf.109F”, which was very different in its sleek fuselage with a smooth transition between the propeller spinner and the engine cowling from the angular “Bf.109E”, which is more familiar to our pilots.
However, enemy data confirms the loss of only one Xe-115, that is, Bf.109F-4/R1 from the 7th Squadron of the 77th Fighter Squadron. The pilot of this fighter, Karl Stefanik, went missing.
The 429th Regiment's own losses amounted to four Yak-1s, three pilots successfully landed by parachute, one was killed.
Everything is as always, the enemy’s losses were stated to be slightly greater than their own losses. This was often one of the ways to justify the high losses of their aircraft in the face of the command.
For unjustified losses, they could be put on trial, but if these losses were justified by equally high losses of the enemy, an equivalent exchange, so to speak, then repressive measures could be safely avoided.
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. It went down in the history of the Luftwaffe as the fighter that destroyed the largest number of Il-2s, a total of ninety-four aircraft. 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 the engine failed during a flight 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, his plane’s engine failed, and he landed it on USSR territory 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.
The huge flow of information that has literally fallen upon all of us recently 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 bother to explain to readers (especially young ones): where did such numbers come from and what do 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 hottest 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 it had the lowest level of losses in air battles during the war years.
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 completely 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 provide air cover for the 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 recalled that since the end of 1944 their personal tally of air victories stopped growing. German planes were no longer seen in the sky so often, and combat missions of fighter air 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 completely lost the air war in strategic terms.
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, and destroyed a defense base, 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 cue from such selfless defenders of their people as, for example, the epic hero Ilya Muromets and Prince Alexander Nevsky. At that time, the military exploits of the legendary heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the heroes of the Civil War were still fresh in the memory of the people. 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, patriotism and native land were. 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, and mothers, did German pilots from the Air Defense forces selflessly begin to rush into deadly air battles with an enemy superior in numbers, 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...
Ivan Kozhedub is considered the record holder for the number of German aircraft shot down. He has 62 enemy vehicles to his credit. Alexander Pokryshkin was 3 planes behind him - it is officially believed that ace No. 2 can paint 59 stars on his fuselage. In fact, the information about Kozhedub’s championship is erroneous.
There are eight of them - there are two of us. Layout before the fight
Not ours, but we will play!
Seryozha, hold on! There is no light for us with you.
But the trump cards must be leveled.
I will not leave this heavenly square -
The numbers don't matter to me right now:
Today my friend protects my back
This means the chances are equal.
Vladimir Vysotsky
Several years ago, in the archives of three times hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Pokryshkin, records were discovered that allow us to take a different look at the merits of the legendary pilot. It turns out that for decades the true number of fascist planes he shot down was greatly underestimated. There were several reasons for this.
Firstly, the very fact of the fall of each downed enemy aircraft had to be confirmed by reports from ground observers. Thus, by definition, all vehicles destroyed behind the front line were not included in the statistics of Soviet fighter pilots. Pokryshkin, in particular, lost 9 “trophies” because of this.
Secondly, many of his comrades recalled that he generously shared with his wingmen so that they could quickly receive orders and new titles. Finally, in 1941, during the retreat, Pokryshkin’s flight unit was forced to destroy all documents, and more than a dozen victories of the Siberian hero remained only in his memory and personal notes. After the war, the famous pilot did not prove his superiority and was satisfied with the 59 enemy aircraft recorded to his account. Kozhedub, as we know, had 62 of them. Today we can say that Pokryshkin destroyed 94 aircraft, knocked out 19 (some of them, no doubt, could not reach the airfield or were finished off by other pilots), and destroyed 3 on the ground. Pokryshkin dealt primarily with enemy fighters - the most difficult and dangerous targets. It happened that he and two of his comrades fought with eighteen opponents. The Siberian ace shot down 3 Fokkers, 36 Messers, knocked out 7 more, and burned 2 at airfields. He destroyed 33 light bombers, 18 heavy ones. He was rarely distracted by smaller targets, shooting down 1 light reconnaissance aircraft and 4 transport aircraft. To be completely truthful, it should be said that he began his combat account on June 22, 1941 by shooting down our light two-seat Su-2 bomber, which, due to the stupidity of the command, was so classified that not a single Soviet fighter knew its silhouette. And the slogan of every combat pilot is not original: “If you see an unfamiliar plane, take it for the enemy.”
American President Franklin Roosevelt called Pokryshkin the most outstanding ace of World War II. It’s hard to disagree with this, although Kozhedub’s military merits are no less significant. Surely there are also unregistered planes on his account.
A Soviet pilot named Ivan Fedorov was even less fortunate in this regard. He shot down 134 enemy planes, carried out 6 ramming attacks, and “captured” 2 aircraft - forcing them to land at his airfield. At the same time, he was never shot down and did not lose a single wingman. But this pilot remained completely unknown. Pioneer squads were not named after him, and no monuments were erected to him. Problems arose even with awarding him the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
Ivan Fedorov was first nominated for this high award back in 1938 - for 11 aircraft shot down in Spain. With a large group of officers from Spain, Fedorov came to Moscow for the presentation ceremony. Among those awarded, in addition to pilots, were sailors and tank crews. At one of the “banquets,” representatives of friendly branches of the military began to find out which type of armed forces was better. The dispute escalated to a fight, and then to a shootout. As a result, 11 ambulances transported the victims to Moscow hospitals and morgues. Ivan Fedorov did not take much part in the fight, but, becoming too furious, he hit the NKVD officer assigned to him. The pilot was a first-class boxer; on the second day, the special officer died without regaining consciousness. As a result, Fedorov was declared one of the instigators of the scandal. The leadership of the People's Commissariat of Defense hushed up this incident, but no awards were given to anyone. Everyone was scattered among military units with characteristics completely unsuitable for a future career.
As for Fedorov, he and several other pilots were called by the Chief of the General Aviation Staff, Lieutenant General Smushkevich, and said: “We fought heroically - and it’s all down the drain!” And left alone with Fedorov, he confidentially and friendlyly warned that the NKVD had opened a special file on him on the personal orders of Lavrentiy Beria. Then Stalin himself saved Fedorov from arrest and death, who ordered Beria not to touch the pilot, so as not to complicate relations with the Spaniards, for whom Ivan was a national hero. However, Fedorov was fired from the Air Force and transferred as a test pilot to the S.A. Design Bureau. Lavochkina.
Deprived of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, Fedorov literally a few months before the invasion of Nazi Germany in the USSR managed to receive the highest military award of the Third Reich. It turned out like this.
In the spring of 1941, the USSR and Germany, which were then on very friendly relations, exchanged delegations of test pilots. Fedorov went to Germany as part of the Soviet pilots. Wanting to show a potential enemy (and Ivan never doubted for a minute that war with Germany was inevitable) the power of Soviet military aviation, the pilot demonstrated the most complex aerobatic maneuvers in the air. Hitler was stunned and amazed, and Reichsmarschall Goering gloomily confirmed that even the best German aces would not be able to repeat the “aerial acrobatic tricks” of the Soviet pilot.
On June 17, 1941, a farewell banquet was held at the residence of the Reich Chancellor, where Hitler presented awards to Soviet pilots. Fedorov received from his hands one of the highest orders of the Reich - the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, 1st class. Fedorov himself recalled this award reluctantly: “They gave me some kind of cross, I don’t understand it, I don’t need it, it was lying in my box, I didn’t wear it and would never wear it.” Moreover, a few days after the return of the Soviet pilots, the Great Patriotic War began...
The war found Fedorov in Gorky, where he worked at a factory as a tester. For a whole year, the pilot unsuccessfully bombarded the higher authorities with reports asking to send him to the front. Then Fedorov decided to cheat. In June 1942, on an experimental LaGT-3 fighter, he made 3 “dead loops” under the bridge over the Volga. The hope was that the air hooligan would be sent to the front for this. However, when Fedorov made his fourth approach, the anti-aircraft gunners from the bridge guards opened fire on the plane, apparently thinking that it could destroy the bridge. Then the pilot decided that he would not even return to his airfield, and flew straight to the front...
The front line was almost 500 km away, and Fedorov was not only fired upon by anti-aircraft guns, but also attacked by two MIG-3s of the Moscow air defense forces. Having happily avoided danger, Ivan Evgrafovich landed at the Klin airfield near Moscow, at the headquarters of the 3rd Air Army.
Army commander Mikhail Gromov, a famous polar pilot, after listening to the detailed report of the “volunteer”, decided to keep him. Meanwhile, the management of the Gorky Aviation Plant declared Fedorov a deserter and demanded that he be returned from the front. He sent them a telegram: “I didn’t run away to come back to you. If guilty, bring him to court.” Apparently, Gromov himself stood up for the “deserter”: “If you had fled from the front, then you would have been tried, but you go to the front.” Indeed, the case was soon closed.
In the first month and a half, Fedorov shot down 18 German aircraft and already in October 1942 he was appointed commander of the 157th Fighter Aviation Regiment. He met the spring of 1943 as the commander of the 273rd Air Division. And from the summer of 1942 to the spring of 1943, Fedorov commanded a unique group of 64 penalty pilots, created by Stalin’s personal order. He considered it unreasonable to send even seriously guilty pilots to ground penal battalions, where they could not bring any benefit, and the situation at the front then was such that every trained and experienced pilot was literally worth his weight in gold. But none of the aces wanted to command these “air hooligans”. And then Fedorov himself volunteered to lead them. Despite the fact that Gromov gave him the right to shoot anyone on the spot at the slightest attempt at disobedience, Fedorov never took advantage of this.
The penalty fighters performed brilliantly, shooting down about 400 enemy aircraft, although victories were not counted towards them, just like Fedorov himself, but were distributed among other air regiments. Then, after the official “forgiveness,” several of Fedorov’s wards became Heroes of the Soviet Union. The most famous of them was Alexey Reshetov.
In May 1944, Fedorov, having voluntarily resigned from the post of commander of the 213th Air Division, not wanting to do “paper” work, in his opinion, became deputy commander of the 269th Air Division, having the opportunity to fly more. Soon he managed to assemble a special group consisting of nine pilots, with whom he engaged in the so-called “free hunt” behind the front line.
After a thorough reconnaissance, a group of Fedorov’s “hunters”, who knew the location of enemy airfields well, usually flew over one of them in the evening and dropped a pennant, which was a can of American stew with cargo and a note inside. In it, in German, Luftwaffe pilots were asked to fight, strictly according to the number of those arriving from the Soviet side. In case of violation of numerical parity, the “extra” were simply knocked down on takeoff. The Germans, of course, accepted the challenge.
In these “duels” Fedorov won 21 victories. But, perhaps, Ivan Evgrafovich spent his most successful battle in the skies over East Prussia at the end of 1944, shooting down 9 Messerschmitts at once. Thanks to all these striking achievements, the ace received the front-line nickname Anarchist.
All pilots of the Fedorov group received the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and Vasily Zaitsev and Andrei Borovykh were awarded it twice. The only exception was the commander himself. All of Fedorov’s aspirations for this title were still “turned up.”
After the Great Victory, Fedorov returned to the Lavochkin Design Bureau, where he tested jet aircraft. He was the first in the world to break the sound barrier on the La-176 aircraft. In general, this pilot holds 29 world aviation records. It was for these achievements that on March 5, 1948, Stalin awarded Ivan Fedorov the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
As for the obscurity of the most successful ace of the Soviet Air Force, Ivan Evgrafovich never sought to debunk this misconception: “I have always been able to stand up for myself and will be able to, but I will never bother and write to higher authorities in order to return undelivered awards. And I don’t need them anymore - my soul lives on other matters.”
So the best Soviet aces of World War II - such a misconception! — Pokryshkin and Kozhedub are still considered.
Kozhedub Ivan Nikitich: To the 62 German planes officially shot down by I.N. Kozhedub during the Great Patriotic War, we should add 2 American fighters shot down by him at the very end of the war. In April 1945, Kozhedub drove off a pair of German fighters from an American B-17 with a barrage, but was attacked by covering fighters that opened fire from a long distance. With a flip over the wing, Kozhedub quickly attacked the outer car. It started smoking and descended towards our troops (the pilot of this car soon jumped out with a parachute and landed safely). The second photo is his plane. - La-7 I.N. Kozhedub, 176th GvIAP, spring 1945)
2. Pokryshkin Alexander Ivanovich: On May 24, Pokryshkin was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. By this time, he had already shot down 25 enemy aircraft. Three months later he was awarded a second Gold Star. While fighting the Luftwaffe in southern Ukraine, Pokryshkin chalked up 18 more Junkers, including two high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. In November 1943, using drop tanks, he hunted for Ju.52s operating on air communications over the Black Sea. Over four flights in changeable sea weather conditions, the Soviet pilot sent five three-engine transport aircraft to the bottom.
In May 1944, Pokryshkin was appointed commander of the 9th Guards Air Division, but despite his high position, he did not stop combat missions, scoring another seven victories by the end of the year. The combat activities of the most famous ace of the USSR ended in Berlin. In total, during the war years, he made 650 sorties, conducted 156 air battles, shot down 59 enemy aircraft personally and 6 in a group. (pictured below is his plane)
3.
Gulaev Nikolai Dmitrievich: In total, during the war, Major Gulaev conducted 240 combat missions, in 69 air battles he personally shot down 57 and 3 enemy aircraft in a group. Its “productivity”, 4 sorties per shot down, became one of the highest in Soviet fighter aviation.
4.
Evstigneev Kirill Alekseevich: In total, during the war years he made about 300 combat missions, conducted over 120 air battles, shot down 52 personally and 3 enemy aircraft as part of a group. “The pilot is a flint,” - this is how Ivan Kozhedub, who served for some time with Evstigneev in the same regiment, spoke of him.
5.
Glinka Dmitry Borisovich: After almost six months of vacation, study and replenishment, the pilots of the 100th GIAP took part in the Iasi operation. In early May, in a battle where 12 Cobras attacked about fifty Yu-87s, Glinka shot down three bombers, and in just a week of fighting here he destroyed 6 enemy aircraft.
While flying on a Li-2, he had an accident: the plane hit the top of a mountain. What saved him and his comrades was that they were located at the rear of the car - they slept on airplane covers. All other passengers and crew were killed. As a result of the accident, he was seriously injured: he was unconscious for several days. He was discharged from the hospital two months later and during the Lvov-Sandomierz operation he managed to destroy 9 German vehicles. In the battles for Berlin, he shot down 3 planes in one day, and won his last victory on April 18, 1945, at point-blank range, from 30 meters, shooting an FV-190.
In total, during the war he conducted about 300 sorties, 100 air battles, and personally shot down 50 enemy aircraft, 9 of them in the Yak-1, the rest in the Airacobra.
ALLIES
1.
Bong Richard Ira "Dick" (USA). At the end of 1944, the American ace reappeared at the front and in just 30 combat missions brought his tally to 40 victories. In December he returned to the United States and became a test pilot. Unfortunately, his career did not last long, and in August 1945 he died while testing the new F-80 Shooting Star jet. Shortly after takeoff, the engine of this car failed, and Bong was unable to leave it with a parachute.
2.
Johnson James "Johnny" (England): In March 1943, he was promoted to command the Canadian Wing, armed with the same Spitfires, but modified Mk.IX. At this point, he already had 14 personal victories and 5 in the group. He took an active part in the Normandy landings, commanding the 144th Wing.
Finished the war with 34 personal and 7 group air victories
3.
Major Thomas McGuire (USA): McGuire died on January 7, 1945 over the island of Los Negros at the age of 24, having 17 high decorations and the Congressional Medal of Honor. He scored 38 aerial victories in 17 months. In honor of his accomplishments, the US Air Force base at Fort Dickey in Ricetown, New Jersey was named McGuire Air Force Base.
4. Pierre Klosterman (France): He finished the war as an aviation colonel, at the age of only 24 years. In total, he scored 33 aerial victories, of which 19 FW 190 and 7 Bf 109, in addition, he destroyed 30 aircraft, 72 locomotives, and 225 trucks on the ground. Over the course of three years, he flew 432 combat missions and logged 2,000 flight hours.
5.
In short, I made a slide again, but then he opened fire at a lead angle of 90." Needless to say, I was lucky twice, but now he still hit the right spot, I mean, he hit! I heard the explosion and immediately felt, like my leg was filling with lead. The engine speed dropped sharply. I remember I said: “Oh, damn!” Then I dived sharply. I was afraid to look at my leg. I’m afraid that if I saw blood or something like that, I would simply lose consciousness. In general, I didn’t look there.” At that time, Gabreski disappeared into a cloud and avoided death, and then still managed to reach his airfield with practically dry tanks. In total, during the war years he shot down 28 aircraft, including 21 single-engine fighters. True, on July 20, 1944, his plane was hit by an anti-aircraft shell in the Koblenz area, but Gabreski remained unharmed, although he was captured.
After the war, Gabreski remained in the US Air Force and was responsible for six more MiG-15s during combat in Korea. He died on January 31, 2002 at the age of 83.
German pilots
1.
In total, Hartman had 352 aerial victories, 260 of them over fighters. He flew exclusively on the Bf 109G and spoke about it like this: “It was a very maneuverable aircraft and also easy to fly. It picked up speed very quickly, especially if you dived a little beforehand. During aerobatics on the 109 you could calmly enter a spin and then easily come out of it. The only problem was takeoff. The plane had a very powerful engine and a narrow track landing gear. If you took off the ground too early, the plane could turn ninety degrees. Because of such unsuccessful takeoffs, we lost a lot good pilots."
In May 1945, Erich Hartmann, along with the remnants of his group, surrendered to an American tank unit, which, in turn, handed him over to the Soviet command. After serving 10 years in Russian prisons and camps, Hartman returned to his homeland, into the arms of his beloved wife Ursula, whose love and tenderness warmed his soul during difficult trials and helped him overcome many obstacles.
Erich Hartmann's record will never be broken. There are few in the history of aviation units that lost 352 aircraft from their composition, and, moreover, from cannons and machine guns of a single fighter pilot!
2.
Marseille Hans-Joachim: Marseille's final result was 158 victories, of which 151 were won during combat operations in the African deserts (101 Curtiss P-40s, 30 Hurricanes, 16 Spitfires and four twin-engine bombers).