Erich Alfred Hartmann, avendo iniziato all'età di soli 20 anni e con una carriera di pilota da caccia di soli due anni e mezzo (Novembre 1942-Maggio 1945), il Maggiore della Luftwaffe, con le sue 352 vittorie aeree, fu il più grande asso di tutti i tempi. Erich Hartmann, figlio di un medico, nacque a Weissach in Germania il 19th Aprile 1922. Egli imparò a pilotare alianti all'età di 14 anni grazie agli insegnamenti della madre. Si arruolò quindi nella Luftwaffe and venne inviato sul fronte orientale nell'autunno del 1942.
Pilota di eccezionali qualità, venne nominato Comandante di Squadriglia del 53° Gruppo Caccia nel 1944. Ai comandi del Messerschmitt Bf 109 conseguì, nel corso della Seconda Guerra Mondiale, 352 vittorie in combattimento aereo. Nei 30 mesi della sua carriera compì 1.425 missioni di combattimento e fu abbattuto sedici volte senza, però, rimanere mai ferito. Escludendo i sei velivoli Amaricani abbattuti sopra i campi petroliferi della Romania, tra cui 5 Mustang in un solo giorno, tutti suoi abbattimenti interessarono solo velivoli sovietici. Venne decorato con la più alta onorificenza militare tedesca, la Croce di cavaliere con foglie di quercia, spade e brillanti.
Gli ultimi giorni di guerra, Hartmann volò dalla sua base nella Boemia occupata dai tedeschi (l'odierna Repubblica Ceca e si arrese alle truppe britanniche presenti nella Germania nord-orientale, abbattendo anche uno Yak-11 sovietico per strada. Tuttavia, gli inglesi lo consegnarono all'Armata Rossa che lo tenne prigioniero in un campo di concentramento per ben dieci anni. Venne liberato nel 1955 e, dopo aver rifiutato un incarico nell'aeronautica della Germania dell'est, entrò invece nell'aeronautica della Germania Occidentale. La sua biografia autorizzata "Il biondo cavaliere tedesco" venne pubblicata nel 1970. Erich Hartmann morì a Stoccarda nel 1993 all'età di 71 anni.

  Erich Alfred "Bubi" Hartmann

Erich Alfred Hartmann with 352 confirmed kills in a combat career of only two and a half years - November 1942 to May 1945 - and begun at the age of only 20, the Luftwaffe Major was the greatest fighter ace of all time.  Erich Hartmann, the son of a doctor, was born in Weissach, Germany, on 19th April, 1922. He was taught to fly gliders by his mother at the age of 14. He joined the Luftwaffe and was sent to the Eastern Front in the autumn in 1942.
An outstanding pilot, he was appointed Squadron Commander of Fighter Group 53 in 1944. Flying an ME 109, he achieved 352 kills during the Second World War. In 30 months of fighting he flew 1,425 combat missions and was shot down sixteen times but was never wounded. Apart from six American planes shot down over the Romanian oilfields - including five Mustangs in one day - all his kills were Soviet aircraft. He was decorated with the Germany's absolutely highest military honour - the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds.
On the last day of the war, Hartmann flew from his base in German-occupied Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic) and surrendered to the British in north-western Germany, shooting down a Soviet Yak-11 along the way. But the British handed him over to the Red Army and the Soviets held him in a prison camp for ten years. After his release in 1955, Hartmann turned down the offer of a position in the East German air force and joined the West German Luftwaffe instead.  His authorized biography, The Blond Knight of Germany, was published in 1970. Erich Hartmann died in Stuttgart in 1993 aged 71.

The image above is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 Germany. Author Herbert Ringlstetter  http://en.wikipedia.org/

Soltanto 29 giorni dopo, Marseille rimaneva ucciso in un incidente di volo. Dovendo abbandonare il proprio velivolo a causa di un guasto al motore che aveva riempito l'abitacolo di gas di scarico, saltando dall'aereo era stato colpito violentemente alla testa dal piano di coda verticale del suo Messerschmitt rimanendo ucciso all'istante o, quantomeno, impossibilitato ad aprire il paracadute.

Hans-Joachim Marseille (13 December 1919 – 30 September 1942), was a Luftwaffe fighter pilot and flying ace during World War II. He is noted for his aerial battles during the North African Campaign and his bohemian lifestyle. Arguably one of the best fighter pilots of World War II, he was nicknamed the "Star of Africa". Marseille claimed all but seven of his "official" 158 victories against the British Commonwealth's Desert Air Force over North Africa, flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter for his entire combat career. No other pilot destroyed as many Western Allied aircraft as Marseille.
Marseille, of French Huguenot ancestry, joined the Luftwaffe in 1938. At the age of 20 he graduated from one of the Luftwaffe's fighter pilot school just in time to participate in the Battle of Britain, without notable success. A charming person, he had such a busy night life that sometimes he was too tired to be allowed to fly the next morning. As a result, he was transferred to another unit, which relocated to North Africa in April 1941.

Under the guidance of his new commander, who recognised the hidden potential in the young officer, Marseille started to improve his abilities as a fighter pilot. He reached the zenith of his fighter pilot career on 1 September, 1942, when during the course of three combat sorties he claimed 17 enemy fighters shot down, earning him the Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillianten (Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds). Only 29 days later, Marseille was killed in a flying accident, when an engine failure forced him to abandon his fighter. After he exited the smoke-filled cockpit, Marseille's chest struck the vertical stabiliser of his aircraft, either killing him instantly, or incapacitating him so that he was unable to open his parachute.

Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2 luglio 1916 - 18 dicembre 1982) nacque a Konradswaldau, in Alta Slesia che divenne una regione della Polonia dopo il 1945; il padre era un pastore protestante. Fin da molto giovane si iscrisse alle organizzazioni giovanili del partito nazista, rimanendo per sempre un convinto sostenitore della Germania di Hitler. Dopo avere abbandonato gli studi entrò, il 4 dicembre 1936, a far parte della Luftwaffe e venne addestrato nel ruolo di pilota osservatore, principalmente a causa del suo limitato curriculum scolastico.
Allo scoppio della Seconda guerra mondiale Rudel, promosso Leutnant (Tenente), partecipò alla campagna polacca nel ruolo di pilota ricognitore per missioni a lungo raggio meritando , per i risultati ottenuti, la Croce di Ferro di seconda classe l'11 ottobre 1939. Il 2 marzo 1940 Rudel fece domanda per essere ammesso al corso di addestramento per la specialità del bombardamento in picchiata (Stuka) e terminatolo con successo venne trasferito ad un reparto operativo nei pressi di Stoccarda. Partecipò alla campagna di Francia e all'invasione di Creta con il grado di Oberleutnant ma in entrambi i casi in ruoli non operativi. Nell'aprile 1941 venne trasferito presso il I Staffel/StukaGeschwader 2 Immelmann.
Fu allo scoppio delle ostilità contro l'Unione Sovietica che Rudel iniziò, il 23 giugno 1941, la sua vera esperienza bellica che lo portò ad ottenere già il 18 luglio 1941 la Croce di Ferro di prima classe a seguito delle sue eccezionali capacità nel bombardamento in picchiata. Il 23 settembre 1941, nell'attacco al porto di Kronstadt, durante le operazioni nei pressi di Leningrado, riuscì a colpire ed affondare (con una speciale bomba da 1000 kg) la corazzata sovietica Marat. In una successiva missione sugli stessi obbiettivi riuscì a distruggere un incrociatore e un cacciatorpediniere. Il 15 agosto 1942 venne nominato comandante di squadriglia (Staffelkapitän) del III Staffel/StukaGeschwader 2, reparto con il quale operò fino al termine del conflitto.
In totale Rudel effettuò durante la guerra 2.530 missioni di volo (un record assoluto), operando esclusivamente sul fronte orientale, conseguendo i seguenti risultati: 519 carri armati (l'equivalente di due divisioni corazzate), 150 cannoni contraerei e controcarro, 800 circa mezzi di trasporto e blindati, 11 vittorie aeree (9 caccia e 2 aerei da attacco al suolo Ilyushin Il-2 Šturmovik), 70 mezzi da sbarco, 1 cacciatorpediniere, 2 incrociatori, 1 corazzata e centinaia di ponti, bunker e linee di rifornimento nemiche
Il 10 febbraio 1943 raggiunse la millesima missione di volo. Grazie a questi successi divenne presto un eroe in patria ed il soldato più decorato della Germania hitleriana ottenendo: la Croce Tedesca in Oro, l'emblema da Pilota e quello da Osservatore in diamanti, la spilla per il raggiungimento delle 2.000 missioni in diamanti e fu, inoltre, l'unico soldato tedesco della guerra ad essere decorato con la Croce di Cavaliere con fronde di quercia dorate, spade e diamanti.
 

 Hans-Ulrich Rudel

Tale decorazione gli venne conferita il 1° gennaio 1945 direttamente dalle mani di Adolf Hitler che cercò in quell'occasione di impedirgli di volare al fronte per divenire istruttore (e veicolo propagandistico) in patria. Rudel declinò l'onore e confermò la volontà di continuare a volare insieme ai suoi compagni sul fronte orientale minacciando di rifiutare l'onorificenza se il Führer avesse insistito nel suo proposito. La maggior parte della carriera di Rudel si svolse sul bombardiere in picchiata Junkers Ju 87, inizialmente con le normali versioni per il bombardamento "a tuffo", per poi passare, appena disponibile, allo speciale Ju 87 G-2 Kanonenvogel (uccello con cannoni) armato con due cannoni Rheinmetall-Borsig da 37 mm controcarro, alloggiati in due gondole alla base delle ali. Tale modello risultò letale sia contro le formazioni corazzate che contro i corazzatissimi aerei da attacco al suolo Ilyushin Il-2 sovietici, altrimenti considerati difficilmente attaccabili dall'aviazione germanica.

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Rudel ebbe anche occasione di provare il cacciabombardiere Focke-Wulf Fw 190 nel corso del 1944 ma con esso non si trovò mai pienamente a suo agio e preferì continuare a volare con il vecchio Ju 87. L'8 febbraio 1945 Rudel, durante una missione, venne colpito da un colpo di contraerea alla gamba destra che dovette essere successivamente amputata. Nonostante questa menomazione Rudel tornò a volare con un arto artificiale già all'inizio di aprile dello stesso anno e combatté fino alla resa della Germania. Si arrese alle forze statunitensi l'8 maggio 1945, e dopo un breve periodo passato in prigionia si trasferì nel 1948 in Argentina, dove conobbe e divenne amico del presidente Juan Peron. Nonostante la sua menomazione rimase un appassionato sportivo giocando a tennis e sciando, oltre che compiendo spedizioni sulle più alte montagne del continente americano: l'Aconcagua (6.959 m) e il Llullay-Yacu. Rudel rientrò in Germania Ovest nel 1953 dove non tradì l'antica ideologia nazista e si iscrisse al Deutsche Reichspartei, partito ultraconservatore di estrema destra. Rudel morì, all'età di 66 anni, a Rosenheim, il 18 dicembre 1982 e venne sepolto presso il cimitero di Dornhausen.

Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2 July 1916 - 18 December 1982), the son of Lutheran minister Johannes, was born in Konradswaldau (Silesia), Germany (it became part of Poland after 1945). He was raised in a number of different Silesian parishes. A poor scholar but very keen sportsman, after the Abitur (certificate of education), he joined the Luftwaffe in August 1936 as an officer cadet, and began basic training at the "School of Air Warfare" at Wildpark-Werder.
In June 1938 he joined I./Stuka-Geschwader 168 in Graz as an officer senior cadet. Rudel had difficulty learning the new techniques, and with the rest of the unit already fully trained, he was marked as unsuitable as a combat pilot and was transferred for special training in operational reconnaissance at the Reconnaissance Flying School at Hildesheim on 1 January 1939 and promoted to Leutnant on that date. After completing training he was posted to Fernaufklärungsgruppe 121 (Long-Distance Reconnaissance Squadron) at Prenzlau.
Rudel was a teetotaler and non-smoker. His fellow pilots coined the phrase Hans-Ulrich Rudel, er trinkt nur Sprudel (Hans-Ulrich Rudel, he drinks only sparkling water).
As World War II started and during the Polish Campaign he flew (as an observer) long-range reconnaissance missions over Poland from Breslau. Rudel earned the Iron Cross Second Class on 11 October 1939. After a number of requests he was reassigned to dive bombing, joining an Aviation Training Regiment at Crailsheim and then he was assigned to his previous unit, I./StG 3, at Caen in May 1940. He spent the Battle of Britain as an Oberleutnant in a non-combat role. Still regarded as a poor pilot he was returned to a Reserve Flight at Graz for further training and was there confirmed for dive bombing training. Assigned to I./StG 2, based at Molai, his poor reputation preceded him and he also spent the invasion of Crete in a non-combat role.
Rudel flew his first four combat missions on 23 June 1941, during the German invasion of the Soviet Union. His piloting skills earned him the Iron Cross 1st Class on 18 July 1941. On 23 September 1941, he sank the Soviet battleship Marat, during an air attack on Kronstadt harbor in the Leningrad area, with a hit to the bow using a 1,000 kg bomb. By the end of December, he had flown his 400th mission and in January 1942 received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. On 10 February 1943, he became the first pilot in history to fly 1,000 sorties. Around this time he also started flying anti-tank operations with the 'Kanonenvogel', or G, version of the Ju-87, through the Battle of Kursk, and into the autumn of 1943, claiming 100 tanks destroyed.
Ju 87 G-2 "Kanonenvogel" with its twin Bordkanone BK 3.7, 37 mm guns.
By March 1944, he was already Gruppenkommandeur (commander) of III./StG 2 (appointed on 19 July 1943) and had reached 1,800 operations. At that time he claimed 202 tanks destroyed.
On 13 March 1944 Rudel may have been involved in aerial combat with the Hero of the Soviet Union Lev Shestakov. Shestakov failed to return from this mission and is posted as missing in action since. This is how the story comes from Rudel's memoirs:
Was he shot down by Gadermann [Rudel's rear gunner], or did he go down because of the backwash from my engine during these tight turns? It doesn't matter. My headphones suddenly exploded in confused screams from the Russian radio; the Russians have observed what happened and something special seems to have happened... From the Russian radio-messages, we discover that this was a very famous Soviet fighter pilot, more than once appointed as Hero of the Soviet Union. I should give him a credit: he was a good pilot.
In November 1944, he was wounded in the thigh and flew subsequent missions with his leg in a plaster cast. On 8 February 1945, a 40 mm shell hit his aircraft. He was badly wounded in the right foot and crash landed inside German lines. His life was saved by his observer Dr.med. Ernst Gadermann who stemmed the bleeding, but Rudel's leg was amputated below the knee. He returned to operations on 25 March 1945, claiming 26 more tanks destroyed before the end of the war. Determined not to fall into Soviet hands, he led three Ju 87s and four FW 190s westward from Bohemia in a 2-hour flight and surrendered to U.S. forces on 8 May 1945, after landing at Kitzingen airfield, home to the 405th Fighter Group. He had his men lock the brakes and collapse the landing gear to make the aircraft useless to the Americans.
Eleven months in hospital followed. Released by the Americans, he moved to Argentina in 1948.
According to official Luftwaffe figures, Rudel flew some 2,530 combat missions (a world record), during which he destroyed almost 2,000 ground targets (among them 519 tanks, 70 assault craft/landing boats, 150 self-propelled guns, 4 armored trains, and 800 other vehicles; as well as 9 planes (2 Il-2's and 7 fighters). He also sank a battleship, two cruisers and a destroyer. He was never shot down by another pilot, only by anti-aircraft artillery. He was shot down or forced to land 32 times (several times behind enemy lines), but always managed to escape capture despite a 100,000 ruble bounty placed on his head by Stalin himself. He was also wounded five times and rescued six stranded aircrew from enemy territory. The vast majority of his missions were spent piloting the various models of the Junkers Ju 87, though by the end of the war he flew the ground-attack variant of the Fw 190.
He went on to become the most decorated serviceman of all the fighting arms of the German armed forces (the only person to become more highly decorated was Hermann Göring who was awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross), earning by early 1945 the Wound Badge in Gold, the German Cross in Gold, the Pilots and Observer's Badge with Diamonds, the Front Flying Clasp of the Luftwaffe with 2,000 sorties in Diamonds, and the only holder of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (the highest-scoring ace of World War II, Erich Hartmann, also held the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds — but his Oak Leaves weren't gold). He was also promoted to Oberst at this time. He was the only foreigner to be honored with Hungary's highest decoration, the Golden Medal for Bravery.
After the war, Rudel for a time moved to South America where he became a close friend and confidante of the Argentine president Juan Perón, and Paraguay's dictator and Nazi admirer Alfredo Stroessner. Even missing one leg, he remained an active sportsman, playing tennis, skiing, and even climbing the highest peak in the Americas, Aconcagua (6,962 meters or 22,841 feet). He also ascended the second highest volcano on Earth three times, the Llullay-Yacu in the Argentine Andes (6,739 meters or 22,109 feet). During his stay he became friends with notorious Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele.
Rudel returned to West Germany in 1953 and became a leading member of the Neo-Nazi German Reich Party. During 1953 on Rudel's return to Germany he published a war diary entitled "Trotzdem" (Nevertheless, or In Spite of Everything). Discussion ensued in Germany on Rudel being allowed to publish the book because he was a known Nazi. In the book he supported almost every Nazi policy. This book was later re-edited and published in the United States as a book of memoirs called Stuka Pilot that supported the German invasion of the Soviet Union as the Cold War intensified.
He became a successful businessman in post-war Germany. In 1976 Rudel was involved in what came to be known as the Rudel Scandal. Two high-ranking Bundeswehr generals, Karl Heinz Franke and Walter Krupinski, were forced into early retirement. In addition, Rudel's input was used during the development of the A-10 ground attack aircraft. Rudel died in Rosenheim in 1982, and was buried in Dornhausen.