Luftwaffe Aces & aircrafts.

[labdarugo]

Another new guy. Long time lurker, first time poster

Unless I missed it, there was no mention anywhere here of a book by Gunther Rall’s book - “My Logbook: Reminiscences 1938-2006.” Written by Rall himself (the Luftwaffe’s third leading ace with 275 kills), it’s a remarkable read and so much more that a mere “shoot 'em up.” I bought a copy for my dad and he was over the moon.

It’s a little pricy at $65, but it has one fantastic feature (in addition to the thoughtful writing and the personal photos) – every copy is signed by Gunther Rall himself. Talk about a connection to history!

http://ww2fighters.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php?t3385.html

[Panzerknacker]

Unless I missed it, there was no mention anywhere here of a book by Gunther Rall’s book - "My Logbook: Reminiscences 1938-2006

That is because this topic was not created to promoting books, there is a place for that in other section.

Welcome to our forum.

[system]

Johannes Steinhoff was one of very few Luftwaffe pilots who survived to fly operationally through the whole of the war period 1939-45. He was one of the highest-scoring pilots with 176 victories, and one of the first to fly the Me 262 jet fighter in combat, being a member of the famous aces squadron JV 44 led by Adolf Galland.

Adolf Galland was a World War II German fighter pilot and commander of Germany’s fighter force (General der Jagdflieger) from 1941 to 1945. He claimed a total of 103 victories in 705 missions and was awarded the Knight’s Cross (Ritterkreuz) with oakleaves, swords and diamonds, one of only 27 recipients of the highest German military decoration. His victory claims were all against the Western Allies.

The Kolibri was the first helicopter to be used in warfare. During World War II, Nazi Germany tested the craft in the Mediterranean theatre. Plans to build 1,000 Kolibris were abandoned after the Flettner factories were bombed by the Allies. Only three survived the war; the rest were destroyed to prevent capture. Today only a few components still exist. Another plan was the use of Flettner Fl 282A “Kolibri” Disarmable recon-helicopter version from long range submarines.

[Panzerknacker]

German pilot shot down Little Prince author

Former German World War II fighter pilot has claimed he shot down French literary hero Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, 63 years after the event.
However, Horst Rippert, 88, said he
would have held his fire on July 31, 1944, had he known his victim was one of his favourite authors.
“If I had known it was Saint-Exupéry I would never have shot him down,” said Mr Rippert.
“He knew admirably how to describe the sky, the thoughts and feelings of pilots”, he added.
“His work inspired many of us to take up our vocation.” Saint-Exupéry’s 1942 memoir Pilote de guerre (Flight to War) recounts a terrifying mission above the French town of Arras as the pilot of a reconnaissance plane during the Battle of France in 1940.

Full article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/16/wprince116.xml

[gumalangi]

Hey,. nobody talk about Marseille, his claims all are western aircrafts, event the brits doubting the legitimacy of his claims.

In particular, some historians and Allied veterans have questioned the accuracy of the 26 claims made by JG 27 on 1 September 1942, of which 17 where claimed by Marseille alone. Another biographer, Franz Kurowski, claims that the victories were verified through Allied records after the war.[77] A USAF historian, Major Robert Tate states: “For years, many British historians and militarists refused to admit that they had lost any aircraft that day in North Africa. Careful review of records however do show that the British [and South Africans] did lose more than 17 aircraft that day, and in the area that Marseille operated.”[78]

[Twitch1]

Come on. If anyone can still believe that all the German aces kills were fabricated they must be daft. The Luftwaffe required as stringent confirmations as any country. It’s so easy to look back with 2008 values and not understand how much damned hot water a Luftwaffe pilot would be in if he faked a claim. I talked to Galland about this back in the 1980s and he was mellow about the whole situation. He shrugged and said, “frankly I don’t give a damn what anyone believes or not.”

The relatively few skilled aces compared to all the Luftwaffe many of whom flew and fought for 5 or 6 years rather than 150 missions like Allies, in target rich skies all the time, while mostly over friendly territory, and the ability to fly several missions daily give the advantage to the Luftwaffe aces.

And right Gumalangi, Marseille used less ordnance per kill than anybody and his ordnance was mostly smaller caliber than equivalent Russian Front Luftwaffe fighters or even enemy fighters.