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Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 12, 2009 15:38:35 GMT 12
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Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 13, 2009 15:02:39 GMT 12
A list of the top ten fighter aces of all time: Erich Hartmann 352 Gerhard Barkhorn 301 Gunther Rall 275 Otto Kittel 267 Walter Nowotny 258 Wilhelm Batz 237 Erich Rudorffer 222 (12 in Me-262) Heinz Bär 220 (16 in Me-262) Hermann Graf 212 Heinrich Ehrler 208 (8 in Me-262)
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 13, 2009 17:34:03 GMT 12
Crikey, a total of those aces comes to 2552 Allied aircraft claimed as kills. A devastating team of 10 men.
The Allies would need almost 100 top aces to tally up that many Nazi aircraft shot down, surely.
I have seen Rall and Hartmann interviewed in the past in programmes and both seemed like very interesting and nice men. They may have been fighting for the wrong side but I do admire these guys for their individual skill and for carrying on in the face of constant combat without any rest. The mental strain alone on these German pilots must have been intense. Although I guess they may have treated it like top sportsmen do these days, the drive to continue to improve and be the best.
Amazing that anyone who went through that much back then could live a full life and die in their 90's.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 13, 2009 17:45:52 GMT 12
I've never seen Hartmann appear on TV but I did see Rall a few times, the most memorable being an explanation of the Bf109 to Robbie Coltrane on his TV series about engines.
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Post by baz62 on Oct 13, 2009 18:47:46 GMT 12
Yeah I watched that series, really interesting and Robbie was a real engineering geek thats for sure. Bet he'd love to tinker with Al's Bristol Hercules or the Freighter!
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 13, 2009 19:12:00 GMT 12
Hartmann appeared in a series in the 1990's called Hunters of the Sky from memory, Rall was in it too, as were many other top aces. It was a great series. I think I also saw him in a documentary on the Me109 back in the 1990's when Sky documentaries used to be free to air.
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Post by flyjoe180 on Oct 13, 2009 19:19:56 GMT 12
Last year I read Blonde Knight of Germany, the biography of Erich Hartmann by Col. Raymond F Toliver and Revor J Constable, with foreword by Adolf Galland. A good read if you get hold of a copy, it provides an insight into Hartmann's life, personality, tactics as well as the fascinating story of other pilots and ground crew around him during his war service and post-war captivation in Soviet work camps for ten years.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 13, 2009 19:24:15 GMT 12
Galland was in my opinion a self-centred nutcase. But then many top fighter pilots are.
The series I meant was in fact Hunters In The Sky
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 13, 2009 19:34:08 GMT 12
Surprise surprise Hunters in the Sky seems to be on Youtube.
Have a look at this series:
Episode 'Big Friend, Little Friend" about escort pilots and bombers
Episode "Tigers Over China" about those guys that flew US warbirds or somethinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ariaqS9OaE&feature=related
Episode "Red Stars Rising" about the Russians
Episode "Knights in the Sky"
Episode "Assault on Fortress Europe"
Episode "Reflections on War"
Episode "Hell In The Pacific"
Episode "Defending the Realm"
I'm sure there were other episodes too
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Post by shorty on Oct 13, 2009 20:34:05 GMT 12
I have just finished transferring my copies of that series from VHS to DVD.
Met Galland (and Stanford Tuck and Paul Tibbets) at a CAF airshow in Texas in 1980, signed Galland up as a member of the NZ CAF Squadron
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