I'm in too, and here's a reminder of just how enormous his achievement really was...
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Wikipedia
He scored 352 aerial victories (of which 345 were won against the Soviet Air Force, and 260 of which were fighters) in 1,404 combat missions and engaging in aerial combat 825 times while serving with the Luftwaffe in World War II. During the course of his career Hartmann was forced to crash land his damaged fighter 14 times. This was due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down, or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire.
|
... even though his first mission wasn't entirely succesful:
Quote:
His early missions were severely lacking compared to what Hartmann was to become.
Hartmann's first battle was, to say the least, disastrous. Flying as wingman to feldvebel
Rossmann he first spoiled his leaders attack by going for the kill himself, and then mistook his
leader's Bf 109 for a Russian fighter and fled in panic. At the end of the flight he ran out of fuel
and crash landed, totaling his 109.
|
Here's an article on Hartmann:
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/pdf/ErichHartmann.pdf
Same in Finnish:
http://www.virtualpilots.fi/hist/WW2...mannSuomi.html