Luftwaffe Fighter Aces (34 page)

Baer’s 220 confirmed victories place him eighth on the overall list of
Experten.
On the other hand, he accounted for more Western-flown aircraft (124) than any other German pilot except Marseille, and whereas almost all Marseille’s victories were scored in Africa, Baer scored at least 75 of his against British and American-flown aircraft in Europe—a much tougher proposition. Of these, sixteen were scored with the Me 262, making him the leading jet ace of all nations until about 1973, a handful being scored with a special aircraft fitted with a rocket motor, so adapted to intercept high-flying Mosquitos.

It was not done without cost. Baer was a victim eighteen times in all, baling out four times and force-landing the rest. Spitfires were responsible on seven of these occasions. Pritzl Baer survived the war, but he died in a light aircraft accident in 1957.

ERICH RUDORFFER
The only record remotely comparable with Heinz Baer’s is that of Erich Rudorffer, a natural marksman with a flair for high-angle-off attacks, who was reckoned to be one of the four best shots in the
Luftwaffe.

Rudorffer’s career parallels that of Baer in many ways. He began the war as an
Oberfeldwebel
(Flight Sergeant) with
I/JG 2
in 1940 and ended it as a
Major.
His first victory, like that of Baer, was over a Curtiss Hawk 75, on 14 May 1940. He scored eight more before the capitulation. He flew throughout the Battle of Britain, and legend has him being pursued down Croydon High Street below rooftop level by a Hurricane! His nineteenth victory was achieved on 1 May 1941, which put him slightly ahead of Baer at the time; he was appointed
Staffelkapitän
of
6/JG 2
the following month. With this
Geschwader
he stayed on the Channel coast, flying with such worthies as Mayer and Eder. Like Eder, he could be chivalrous. He recalled:

Once—I think it was 31 August 1940—I was in a fight with four Hurricanes over Dover. I was back over the Channel when I saw another Hurricane coming
from Calais, trailing white smoke, obviously in a bad way. I flew up alongside him and escorted him all the way to England and then waved goodbye. A few weeks later the same thing happened to me.

In November 1942, by now equipped with FW 190As, Rudorffer’s unit was sent to Tunisia. Like Werner Schroer, Rudorffer adopted Marseille’s technique:

When we started for the bombers the Curtiss fighters came down on us and that’s when the dogfight began. After a time the P-40s, which were not as fast as us, went into a Lufbery circle and I began to slip in from low and high and shoot them down. I managed to shoot down six in seven minutes. As I recall the combat report, I got one at 13.59; another at 14.00; a third within the minute; another at 14.02; one at 14.05; and the last at 14.06. By that time the fight had broken up and everyone had scattered.

After Tunisia fell, Rudorffer returned to the Channel, but in June 1943 he was transferred to the Russian Front as
Kommandeur
of
II/JG 54.
On 6 November he had his biggest ever day, with thirteen victories. His score advanced rapidly against the Russians, but in January he was recalled to command
II/JG
7. He scored twelve victories with the Me 262, to bring his final total to 222, of which 136 were on the Eastern Front and ten were American heavy bombers. The cost was high: he was shot down sixteen times, and he outclassed Baer in parachute jumps with no fewer than nine.

Although ranked in seventh place overall, one ahead of Baer, Rudorffer did less well against the Western powers. Of his 86 in the West, nine were in the French campaign and 26 in Tunisia.

There is little to choose between Baer and Rudorffer. But, having said that, contenders such as Schnaufer and Schroer should not lightly dismissed.

The organisation and command structure of
Luftwaffe
units bore very little resemblance to British or American practice, and for this reason the author has not attempted to use English or American terminology, even as approximations.

The largest tactical formation was the
Jagdgeschwader
, usually abbreviated to
JG,
or in the case of night fighters,
NJG,
for
Nachtjagdgeschwader.
This varied in size, consisting of three, occasionally four, and rarely (towards the end of the war), five
Gruppen,
plus a
Stab
(staff) flight, typically of four aircraft. Its strength was normally between 90 and 120 fighters, and it was commanded by an officer whose rank could be anything from a
Major
to a full
Oberst,
who received the honorific title of
Kommodore.
(This is broadly comparable with the RAF practice of using acting ranks for unit commanders on some occasions.)

The basic fighting unit was the
Gruppe,
which generally consisted of three
Staffeln
plus a
Stab. Gruppe
numbering within the
Geschwader
was given in Roman numerals; for example, the third
Gruppe
of
JG 26
was written as
III/JG 26. Gruppen
could be, and often were, detached from the
Geschwader
to operate autonomously, even to a different theatre of operations. On other occasions,
Gruppen
were formed as independent units, usually prior to the formation of a new
Geschwader.
These were abbreviated as, for example,
JGr 101.
A
Gruppe
was commanded by an officer ranking from
Hauptmann
to
Oberstleutnant,
with the title of
Kommandeur.
Although often of comparable size, the
Gruppe
bore little relationship to the British Wing.

The
Staffel
was a sub-unit of the
Gruppe,
with a nominal strength of 10–12 aircraft.
Staffeln
were numbered within the
Geschwader
rather than the
Gruppe,
in arabic numerals; for example, the fifth
Staffel
of
JG 2
is written as
5/JG 2
(and this also indicates that it is part of
II/JG 2
)
.
A
Staffel
was commanded by anyone from a
Leutnant
to a
Hauptmann,
with the honorific of
Staffelkapitän.
In effect, the
Staffel
was, in British or American terms, more or less an overgrown Flight.

Other fighter units were
Zerstörergeschwader
, which were equipped with twin-engine heavy fighters, or destroyers (typically the Bf 110), and
Lehrgeschwader,
which were originally operational evaluation units but which on the outbreak of war retained their names. These are abbreviated as, for example,
ZG 26
and
LG 1
respectively. A final one-off fighter unit was the
Jagdverband
, formed in the closing months of the war; this was
JV 44.

As mentioned in the Prologue, the basic fighting unit was the element of two, or
Rotte
(literally, ‘gang’), consisting of a leader,
or Rottenführer,
and his wingman, or
Rottenflieger.
Two
Rotten
made up a four-aircraft
Schwarm,
led by a
Schwarmführer,
and in action a
Staffel
consisted of two or three
Schwarme,
depending on aircraft availability. On rare occasions a three-aircraft
Kette
was used, but this was dictated by operational practicalities rather than actual
Luftwaffe
fighter doctrine.

Promotion to command in
Jagdflieger
units was largely based on combat success, with top scorers rising rapidly. In a few cases this meant that young men were promoted beyond their organisational or administrative capabilities, but by and large the system worked well. If for any reason the designated unit commanders were not available to lead in action, the next best qualified pilot took over. In practice this meant that a
Geschwader
might be led by the most successful
Gruppe Kommandeur,
a
Gruppe
might be led by the most successful
Staffelkapitän,
while, at
Staffel
level, the lead was often taken by an experienced NCO, with inexperienced officers in his formation.

While the fighter
Geschwader
were normally all equipped with the same type of aircraft, this was not necessarily the case. It was not unknown for the
Gruppen
within the
Geschwader
to operate different types from each other, and sometimes the
Stab
was also differently equipped. In the later stages of the war, when it was inexpedient to withdraw units to re-equip with a different type, this took place
in situ,
with the
Gruppen
using both the outgoing and incoming aircraft simultaneously. In particular the
Lehrgeschwader
varied, as these were responsible for the evaluation of both fighters and bombers. A
Lehrgeschwader
fighter sub-unit was designated as such, for example,
3
(Jagd)/LG 2
or
II(Z)/LG 1.

As the
Luftwaffe
did not subscribe to the Western convention that five victories make an ace but used the term
Experte
to denote a pilot with a high level of achievement over a protracted period, this list has necessarily to be selective. Entries are therefore restricted to those with at least 60 victories, and are in numerical order of victories.

The following abbreviations/symbols have been used:

Where combat début is uncertain—often the case prior to the opening of hostilities with the Soviet Union—the abbreviations WF 40 or WF 40/41 are used.

Erich Hartmann****
JG 52.
TV 352 (all EF but inc. 7 USAAF P-51s over Romania). CD EF Oct. 42. TS 1,425. SR 4.05.

Gerhard Barkhorn***
JG 52, JG 6, JV 44.
TV 301 (all EF). CD BoB Aug. 40.TS 1,104. SR 3.67.

Günther Rall***
JG 52, JG 11, JG 300.
TV 275 (272 EF, 3 WF). CD F 40. TS 621. SR 2.26.

Otto Kittel***
JG 54.
TV 267 (all EF). CD EF autumn 41. TS 583. SR 2.18. KIA Courland 14.2.45.

Walter Nowotny****
JG 54, Kdo ‘Nowotny’.
TV 258 (255 EF, 3 WF inc. one 4/e)
.
CD WF Feb. 41. TS unknown. KIA Achmer flying Me 262, 8.11.44.

Wilhelm Batz***
JG 52.
TV 237 (232 EF, 5 WF inc. 2 4/e). CD EF Dec. 42. TS 445. SR 1.88.

Erich Rudorffer***
JG 2, JG 54, JG
7. TV 222 (136 EF, 26 NA, 60 F, BoB and WF inc. 10 4/e, 12 with Me 262). CD F spring 40. TS 1,000+. SR c.4.50.

Heinz Baer***
JG
51,
JG 71, JG 1, JG 3, JV 44.
TV 220 (4 F, 13 BoB, 79 EF, 45 NA and M, 83 WF inc. 21 4/e, 16 with Me 262). CD F Sept. 39. TS c. 1,000. SR c.4.54.

Hermann Graf****
JG 51, JG 52, JG 50, JG 11.
TV 212 (202 EF, 12 WF inc. 10 4/e). CD EF July 41. TS c.830. SR c.3.92.

Heinrich Ehrler**
JG5, JG
7. TV c.209 (199 EF, 10 WF inc. 5 with Me 262). CD Norway 41. TS not known. KIA Stendal 4.4.45.

Theodor Weissenberger**
Zerstörerstaffel JG 77, JG 5, JG 7.
TV 208 (23 as Bf 110 pilot, 175 EF, 33 WF inc. 8 with Me 262). CD Norway Oct. 41. TS 500+. SR c.2.40.

Hans Philipp***
JG 76, JG 54.
TV 206 (178 EF, 1 P, 29 WF, F and BoB inc. 1 4/e). CD P Sept. 39. TS not known. KIA Nordhorn 8.10.43.

Walter Schuck**
JG 5, JG 7.
TV 206 (198 EF, 8 WF all with Me 262, inc. 4 4/e). CD Norway 41. TS not known.

Anton Hafner**
JG 51, JG 3.
TV 204 (184 EF, 20 NA inc. 5 4/e). CD EF June 41. TS 794. SR 3.90. KIA EF 17.10.44.

Helmut Lipfert**
JG 52, JG 53.
TV 203 (all EF inc. 2 USAAF 4/e over Romania). CD EF Dec 42. TS 700. SR 3.45.

Walter Krupinski**
JG 52, JG 5, JG 11, JV 44.
TV 197 (177 EF, 20 WF inc. 1 4/e). CD EF Jan. 42. TS c.1,100. SR c.5.58.

Anton Hackl***
JG 77, JG 11, JG 300.
TV 192 (105 EF, 87 F, BoB and WF, inc. 32 4/e). CD F 39. TS 1,000+. SR c.5.21.

Joachim Brendel**
JG 51.
TV 189 (all EF). CD EF June 41. TS 950. SR 5.03.

Max Stotz**
JG 54.
TV 189 (173 EF, 16 F and BoB). CD F spring 40. TS 500+. SR c2.65. MIA Vitebsk 19.8.43.

Joachim Kirschner**
JG 3, JG 27.
TV 188 (167 EF, 21 M inc. 2 4/e). CD EF late 41. TS c.600. SR c.3.19. KIA Croatia 17.12.43.