I offer my colleagues to read the introductory part from my book “The Devil's Dozen Luftwaffe Aces.” This material was written into the book at my request by Sergei Sidorenko Jr.
By 1939, Germany was fully prepared for revenge for the shame of the First World War. Aviation was especially proud, as it demonstrated convincing superiority over any enemy. The pilots - heirs to the traditions of the best aces of the last war - after the "Spanish triumph" and the victorious European "blitzkriegs" were surrounded by an aura of universal admiration and glory.
The definition of “ace” first appeared during the First World War - then an ace was called a pilot with five confirmed victories. This standard has been adopted by most states, except Germany. German pilots were considered aces only in overcoming the threshold of 10 enemy aircraft shot down. During World War II, Germany replaced the term "ace" with "expert". To gain the right to be called an “expert,” the pilot, first of all, had to demonstrate his professionalism in battle, and not shoot down as many enemy aircraft as possible. In terms of Allied standards, the Luftwaffe gave the world about 2,500 aces. The number of “experts” was much smaller - about 500.
What distinguished German pilots from pilots of other countries? Why is the number of their air victories disproportionately greater?
In past years, many materials have been published in foreign literature about the victories of the best Luftwaffe fighter pilots in the period 1939-1945. The much larger number of planes shot down by German pilots compared to Allied aviation pilots gave rise to persistent distrust of this fact not only on the part of aviation historians, but also by the participants in air battles themselves. A large number of Luftwaffe “experts” at the end of the Second World War were taken to England, where specialists carefully compared their testimony about personal victories with the data and circumstances of their own losses. Until now, these protocols are classified.
As a result of research, especially recently, a significant part of aviation historians, even among former opponents of Nazi Germany, are increasingly convinced of the reality and plausibility of the victories of German fighter pilots. The British are known for their pedantic attitude towards recording victories and dividing them into half, quarter and even eighth. However, there is no reason to believe that if the allied aviation aces do not have such a number of downed aircraft to their credit, then the Germans cannot have this either.
The technical equipment, training and fighting spirit attributed to the Luftwaffe "experts" cannot sufficiently explain the huge number of their victories. One of the main factors that makes it possible to clarify this confusing problem can be the significant number of combat missions that German pilots made during the war, compared to Allied aviation pilots. The number of combat sorties, for example, that of Erich Hartmann, among allied aviation pilots has no analogues at all. He flew 1,400 combat missions and fought 800 air battles. Gerhard Barkhorn fought 1,100 fights. Günter Rall scored his 200th victory in his 555th combat mission. The result of Wilhelm Butz, who achieved 237 victories in his 455th combat mission, was surprising.
On the Allied side, the most active fighter pilots flew between 250 and 400 combat missions. Based on this fact alone, German pilots had a much better chance of winning (and being defeated!) in battle.
These data alone show that German “experts” spent tens of times more time in the air than their rivals on the other side of the front. They could not be recalled from the front after achieving a certain number of sorties, as was the case in American aviation. German ace pilots moved up the hierarchy very slowly, which meant that the war was long and difficult for them, so the more and more they flew, the better and better they became and, as a result, achieved a high level of professionalism inaccessible to others. In the Luftwaffe, the division of pilots into two categories was clearly visible: aces, making up 15-20% of the total number, and middle-class pilots, who were also very strong and practically not inferior in skill to the pilots of the allied aviation. There was also the “old guard of the Luftwaffe,” which had been forged for a long time in the crucible of the European sky, bombarded pilots, each of whom had 3-4 thousand flight hours. Most of them went through the school of war in Spain and consistently participated in all European conflicts. They knew the war down to the last detail and were in absolute command of their machines, so meeting them in the air was extremely dangerous for any enemy.
Due to their national mentality, the Germans strictly and unquestioningly carried out the orders of the command - zeal, multiplied by skill, made them the most dangerous rivals. Their motto is "victory or death." However, not everyone could obtain the right to be called an “expert”. Experienced fighter pilots, “experts,” generally have a special combination of personal qualities. He must have extraordinary endurance and excellent vision. The ability to accurately fire at an enemy indicates his training and sniper qualities. Only quick reaction and a sense of danger developed at the level of instinct can guarantee life in an air battle. Fluency in an aircraft helps you gain self-confidence in a combat situation and focus on the enemy's actions. The courage characteristic of infantry soldiers and officers is replaced in aviation by a more important quality - self-control. And although aggressiveness is an important character trait for a fighter pilot, it should not be allowed to prevail over vigilance. However, it cannot be said that these qualities were characteristic only of German pilots. The main differences were in tactics, techniques and methods of conducting air combat, the system for counting air victories, the number of sorties and the theater of operations. “It was easier to fight in the East. When the war began, the Russians were not ready for it, either technically or psychologically. They did not have such effective fighters as ours, our advantage was especially great in 1941-42. Closer to the middle of the Second World War war, in 1943-44, the Russians accumulated extensive experience in combat operations and they had vehicles that met the requirements of those days" (Günther Rall).
A very strong point of the German Air Force was tactics. Such recognized “experts” as Galland and Mölders have been working on its improvement since the Spanish War. They resolutely fought against the outdated tactical principles of the First World War and developed new techniques for conducting group and individual air combat that corresponded to the technical capabilities of the aircraft of their time. Unsurpassed individual combat tactician, Erich Hartmann. said: “In an air battle, you should remain unnoticed by the enemy for as long as possible. It is advisable to start an attack from the direction of the sun. After a rapid dive, you need to be behind and slightly below the enemy, so that he cannot see your plane from the cockpit. When approaching the enemy, you need to be extremely attentive, especially when attacking a bomber, fearing the tail gunner. It is important to open fire first - this will give a huge psychological advantage over the enemy. It is better to shoot in short bursts and preferably for sure.” And one more thing: “...the attack should be carried out in four stages: be the first to detect the enemy, assess the situation and take an advantageous position for a surprise attack, carry out the attack itself and try to quickly leave “... for a cup of coffee.” If the enemy is the first to find you, it is necessary to break away from him and (or) take a wait-and-see position, or even leave the battle."
After the war, the German aces themselves were looking for an answer to such a complex question: why did the Allied aviation pilots have a significant lag in the number of victories won? “The Americans, for example, considered an ace to be a pilot who had five downed planes in his combat account. Just think - five! For us, such a number, to put it mildly, was not a source of pride. How did German pilots manage to shoot down a hundred or more planes? the fact that we were looking for the enemy, and not he for us. It was a risky endeavor, but the end often justified the means. Many Americans flew fifty or more combat missions over German territory, but never shot down a single one of our planes. they couldn't even detect us. So the first thing we need to do is find the enemy. Constant combat missions allowed us to maintain our qualifications, and this was also the key to the success of the Luftwaffe. We often lacked experienced pilots, and therefore the number of sorties was much more than planned. The same Americans, having completed fifty flights, were sent back to the states as heroes. After several combat missions, the British returned home either for retraining or for examination in a hospital. But we were placed in more stringent conditions, and we had to take risks" (Günter Rall).
Walter Krupinski also recalled on this occasion: “American and English pilots, after completing their missions, returned to their homeland. Their lives were not exposed to the same danger that we or the Russians had to experience. Having completed a hundred flights, I only had to my credit two downed enemy planes. This suggests that I learned the basics of air combat rather slowly, but at the same time, I accumulated the necessary experience. After all, one does not become an ace right away, but gradually acquires combat skills in war... Later I trained myself. training for fighter pilots, which consisted of simply taking one of the newcomers with me on a mission. One of my students was Hartman, who later became a famous ace... Experience is of paramount importance for a fighter pilot...”
Since German pilots were not recalled from the front to train young recruits or after completing a certain number of combat missions, as was the case with many ace pilots of the Allied aviation (we can also mention here the promotion of distinguished pilots, which took them out of active combat operations), it is obvious that the formation of an elite corps of German pilots with huge personal victories was inevitable. The air combat experience gained by these pilots is unmatched by pilots of any other country.
In World War II, the Germans had the following aircraft, here is a list of them with photographs:
1. Arado Ar 95 - German two-seater seaplane torpedo bomber-reconnaissance
2. Arado Ar 196 - German military reconnaissance seaplane
3. Arado Ar 231 - German light single-engine military seaplane
4. Arado Ar 232 - German military transport aircraft
5. Arado Ar 234 Blitz - German jet bomber
6. Blomm Voss Bv.141 - prototype of a German reconnaissance aircraft
7. Gotha Go 244 - German medium military transport aircraft
8. Dornier Do.17 - German twin-engine medium bomber
9. Dornier Do.217 - German multi-purpose bomber
10. Messerschmitt Bf.108 Typhoon - German all-metal single-engine monoplane
11. Messerschmitt Bf.109 - German single-engine piston low-wing fighter
12. Messerschmitt Bf.110 - German twin-engine heavy fighter
13. Messerschmitt Me.163 - German missile interceptor fighter
14. Messerschmitt Me.210 - German heavy fighter
15. Messerschmitt Me.262 - German turbojet fighter, bomber and reconnaissance aircraft
16. Messerschmitt Me.323 Giant - German heavy military transport aircraft with a payload of up to 23 tons, the heaviest land aircraft
17. Messerschmitt Me.410 - German heavy fighter-bomber
18. Focke-Wulf Fw.189 - twin-engine, two-boom, three-seat tactical reconnaissance aircraft
19. Focke-Wulf Fw.190 - German single-seat, single-engine piston fighter monoplane
20. Focke-Wulf Ta 152 - German high-altitude interceptor
21. Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor - German 4-engine long-range multi-role aircraft
22. Heinkel He-111 - German medium bomber
23. Heinkel He-162 - German single-engine jet fighter
24. Heinkel He-177 - German heavy bomber, twin-engine all-metal monoplane
25. Heinkel He-219 Uhu - twin-engine piston night fighter equipped with ejection seats
26. Henschel Hs.129 - German single-seat twin-engine specialized attack aircraft
27. Fieseler Fi-156 Storch - small German aircraft
28. Junkers Ju-52 - German passenger and military transport aircraft
29. Junkers Ju-87 - German two-seat dive bomber and attack aircraft
30. Junkers Ju-88 - German multi-purpose aircraft
31. Junkers Ju-290 - German long-range naval reconnaissance aircraft (nicknamed the “Flying Cabinet”)
On September 17, 1935, the first flight of the German Junkers Ju.87 Stuka dive bomber took place. It got its nickname from the German word Sturzkampfflugzeug, which meant “dive bomber.” For convenience, German pilots used the abbreviationStuKa, which later took root in the Soviet troops.
The Yu-87 was a single-engine, two-seat dive bomber and attack aircraft from World War II. It was designed by designer Hermann Pohlmann. The Stuka made its first combat mission in 1936 as part of the Condor Legion in Spain. In total, approximately 6,500 winged aircraft were built between 1936 and August 1944.
Despite the low speed and mediocre aerodynamics (the landing gear was non-retractable), it was one of the most effective Luftwaffe combat aircraft due to its ability to bomb from a steep dive. Yu-87 became one of the most famous symbols of the blitzkrieg.
Video
“Military Affairs” program on NTV channel on YouTube
Yu-87 "Stuka"
In the Soviet troops he had the nicknames “laptezhnik” (for his non-retractable landing gear of a specific type) and “singer” or “organ grinder” (for the howl of a siren, “Jericho trumpet” or “organ grinder” during a dive).
On this occasion, SmartNews decided to compile a list of the best Luftwaffe aircraft.
JUNKERS JU 88
It was a World War II Luftwaffe multi-role aircraft. It became one of the most versatile aircraft of the war, serving as a bomber, fast bomber, reconnaissance aircraft, torpedo bomber and night fighter.
As a bomber, the Ju 88 had the ability to deliver precision bombs, however, despite all its modifications, dive bombing placed great stress on the aircraft's frame. In 1943, the tactics were changed, and bombs could be dropped from a dive at an angle of 45°. The aircraft and sight were modified accordingly. With the improved bombsight, accuracy remained at a very good level. The maximum bomb load for the aircraft was 2800 kg, but in practice the standard load was 1500-2000 kg.
HEINKEL HE 111
This is a medium bomber, which became one of the main ones in the Luftwaffe in this class (there were also modifications of torpedo bombers and attack aircraft). In total, more than 7,600 He 111s of various modifications were built, making this aircraft the second most popular German bomber in World War II. The first flight took place on February 25, 1935.
The aircraft was equipped with two Jumo-211 engines with a power of 1350 hp each. The bomb load of the aircraft was 2500 kg. A disadvantage of the aircraft's design was that the bombs in the bomb bay were positioned vertically, so their caliber was limited. A 20 mm cannon (on some aircraft) and six machine guns (7.92 mm) were installed as defensive weapons.
Video
Video: wizzoplanes on YouTube
"Focke-Wulf" FW 189
Officially, this aircraft was called the Focke-Wulf FW 189, but in the Soviet Union it was better known by the nickname “frame” given to it at the front. This multi-purpose vehicle, the main place of use of which was the Soviet-German front, was highly appreciated by both German pilots and their opponents. The first flight of the FW 189 took place in July 1938.
Feedback from Luftwaffe flight and ground personnel about this vehicle was extremely favorable. Reliability, maneuverability, ease of piloting and maintenance were its distinctive features. A very valuable feature of the aircraft was its high stability, which was simultaneously combined with good controllability. The Argus engines started up perfectly and worked like clockwork. However, the failure of one engine practically did not threaten the crew of the “frame”: it flew perfectly on the remaining one.
The survivability of the FW 189 was very high. With its high maneuverability (provided by low wing load), it was a rather difficult target. The plane withstood a large number of hits from bullets and shell fragments. There were even cases when the “frame” returned to base after a ramming.
Video
Video: Aser Ser on YouTube
Fw-189. "Frame". Educational film.
MESSERSCHMITT BF 109
The official name of this aircraft in Germany was Bf 109, but in the USSR it was called Me-109. The Bf 109 is a single-engine piston fighter that was in service with the Luftwaffe and Air Forces of various countries for about 30 years. Depending on the modification, it was used as a fighter, fighter-interceptor, high-altitude fighter, fighter-bomber, reconnaissance aircraft. The first flight took place on May 28, 1935.
Actually, the problem is this: 104 German pilots have a record of 100 or more downed aircraft. Among them are Erich Hartmann (352 victories) and Gerhard Barkhorn (301), who showed absolutely phenomenal results. Moreover, Harmann and Barkhorn won all their victories on the Eastern Front. And they were no exception - Gunther Rall (275 victories), Otto Kittel (267), Walter Nowotny (258) - also fought on the Soviet-German front.
At the same time, the 7 best Soviet aces: Kozhedub, Pokryshkin, Gulaev, Rechkalov, Evstigneev, Vorozheikin, Glinka were able to overcome the bar of 50 downed enemy aircraft. For example, Three-time Hero of the Soviet Union Ivan Kozhedub destroyed 64 German aircraft in air battles (plus 2 American Mustangs shot down by mistake). Alexander Pokryshkin, a pilot about whom, according to legend, the Germans warned by radio: “Achtung! Pokryshkin in der Luft!”, chalked up “only” 59 aerial victories. The little-known Romanian ace Constantin Contacuzino has approximately the same number of victories (according to various sources, from 60 to 69). Another Romanian, Alexandru Serbanescu, shot down 47 aircraft on the Eastern Front (another 8 victories remained “unconfirmed”).
The situation is much worse for the Anglo-Saxons. The best aces were Marmaduke Pettle (about 50 victories, South Africa) and Richard Bong (40 victories, USA). In total, 19 British and American pilots managed to shoot down more than 30 enemy aircraft, while the British and Americans fought on the best fighters in the world: the inimitable P-51 Mustang, P-38 Lightning or the legendary Supermarine Spitfire! On the other hand, the best ace of the Royal Air Force did not have the opportunity to fight on such wonderful aircraft - Marmaduke Pettle won all his fifty victories, flying first on the old Gladiator biplane, and then on the clumsy Hurricane.
Against this background, the results of Finnish fighter aces look completely paradoxical: Ilmari Yutilainen shot down 94 aircraft, and Hans Wind - 75.
What conclusion can be drawn from all these numbers? What is the secret of the incredible performance of Luftwaffe fighters? Maybe the Germans simply didn’t know how to count?
The only thing that can be stated with a high degree of confidence is that the accounts of all aces, without exception, are inflated. Extolling the successes of the best fighters is a standard practice of state propaganda, which by definition cannot be honest.
German Meresyev and his "Stuka"
As an interesting example, I propose to consider the incredible story of bomber pilot Hans-Ulrich Rudel. This ace is less known than the legendary Erich Hartmann. Rudel practically did not participate in air battles; you will not find his name in the lists of the best fighters.
Rudel is famous for having flown 2,530 combat missions. He piloted the Junkers 87 dive bomber and at the end of the war took the helm of the Focke-Wulf 190. During his combat career, he destroyed 519 tanks, 150 self-propelled guns, 4 armored trains, 800 trucks and cars, two cruisers, a destroyer, and seriously damaged the battleship Marat. In the air he shot down two Il-2 attack aircraft and seven fighters. He landed on enemy territory six times to rescue the crews of downed Junkers. The Soviet Union placed a reward of 100,000 rubles on the head of Hans-Ulrich Rudel.
Just an example of a fascist
He was shot down 32 times by return fire from the ground. In the end, Rudel's leg was torn off, but the pilot continued to fly on a crutch until the end of the war. In 1948, he fled to Argentina, where he became friends with dictator Peron and organized a mountaineering club. Climbed the highest peak of the Andes - Aconcagua (7 kilometers). In 1953 he returned to Europe and settled in Switzerland, continuing to talk nonsense about the revival of the Third Reich.
Without a doubt, this extraordinary and controversial pilot was a tough ace. But any person accustomed to thoughtfully analyzing events should have one important question: how was it established that Rudel destroyed exactly 519 tanks?
Of course, there were no photographic machine guns or cameras on the Junkers. The maximum that Rudel or his gunner-radio operator could notice: covering a column of armored vehicles, i.e. possible damage to tanks. The dive recovery speed of the Yu-87 is more than 600 km/h, the overload can reach 5g, in such conditions it is impossible to accurately see anything on the ground.
Since 1943, Rudel switched to the Yu-87G anti-tank attack aircraft. The characteristics of this "laptezhnika" are simply disgusting: max. speed in horizontal flight is 370 km/h, rate of climb is about 4 m/s. The main weapons of the aircraft were two VK37 cannons (caliber 37 mm, rate of fire 160 rounds/min), with only 12 (!) rounds of ammunition per barrel. Powerful guns installed in the wings, when firing, created a large turning moment and rocked the light aircraft so much that firing in bursts was pointless - only single sniper shots.
And here is a funny report on the results of field tests of the VYa-23 aircraft gun: in 6 flights on the Il-2, the pilots of the 245th assault air regiment, with a total consumption of 435 shells, achieved 46 hits in a tank column (10.6%). We must assume that in real combat conditions, under intense anti-aircraft fire, the results will be much worse. What is a German ace with 24 shells on board the Stuka!
Further, hitting a tank does not guarantee its defeat. An armor-piercing projectile (685 grams, 770 m/s), fired from a VK37 cannon, penetrated 25 mm of armor at an angle of 30° from the normal. When using sub-caliber ammunition, armor penetration increased by 1.5 times. Also, due to the aircraft’s own speed, armor penetration in reality was approximately another 5 mm greater. On the other hand, the thickness of the armored hull of Soviet tanks was less than 30-40 mm only in some projections, and it was impossible to dream of hitting a KV, IS or heavy self-propelled gun in the forehead or side.
In addition, breaking through armor does not always lead to the destruction of a tank. Trains with damaged armored vehicles regularly arrived in Tankograd and Nizhny Tagil, which were quickly restored and sent back to the front. And repairs to damaged rollers and chassis were carried out right on site. At this time, Hans-Ulrich Rudel drew himself another cross for the “destroyed” tank.
Another question for Rudel is related to his 2,530 combat missions. According to some reports, in the German bomber squadrons it was customary to count a difficult mission as an incentive for several combat missions. For example, captured captain Helmut Putz, commander of the 4th detachment of the 2nd group of the 27th bomber squadron, explained the following during interrogation: “... in combat conditions I managed to make 130-140 night sorties, and a number of sorties with a complex combat mission was counted towards me, like others, for 2-3 flights." (interrogation protocol dated June 17, 1943). Although it is possible that Helmut Putz, having been captured, lied, trying to reduce his contribution to the attacks on Soviet cities.
Hartmann against everyone
There is an opinion that ace pilots filled their accounts without any restrictions and fought “on their own,” being an exception to the rule. And the main work at the front was performed by semi-qualified pilots. This is a deep misconception: in a general sense, there are no “averagely qualified” pilots. There are either aces or their prey.
For example, let's take the legendary Normandy-Niemen air regiment, which fought on Yak-3 fighters. Of the 98 French pilots, 60 did not win a single victory, but the “selected” 17 pilots shot down 200 German planes in air battles (in total, the French regiment drove 273 planes with swastikas into the ground).
A similar picture was observed in the US 8th Air Force, where out of 5,000 fighter pilots, 2,900 did not achieve a single victory. Only 318 people recorded 5 or more downed aircraft.
American historian Mike Spike describes the same episode related to the actions of the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front: “... the squadron lost 80 pilots in a fairly short period of time, 60 of whom never shot down a single Russian aircraft.”
So, we found out that ace pilots are the main strength of the Air Force. But the question remains: what is the reason for the huge gap between the performance of the Luftwaffe aces and the pilots of the Anti-Hitler Coalition? Even if we split the incredible German bills in half?
One of the legends about the inconsistency of the large accounts of German aces is associated with an unusual system for counting downed aircraft: by the number of engines. Single-engine fighter - one plane shot down. Four-engine bomber - four aircraft shot down. Indeed, for pilots who fought in the West, a parallel score was introduced, in which for the destruction of a “Flying Fortress” flying in battle formation, the pilot was credited with 4 points, for a damaged bomber that “fell out” of the battle formation and became easy prey other fighters, the pilot was given 3 points, because He did the bulk of the work - fighting through the hurricane fire of "Flying Fortresses" is much more difficult than shooting down a damaged single aircraft. And so on: depending on the degree of participation of the pilot in the destruction of the 4-engine monster, he was awarded 1 or 2 points. What happened next with these reward points? They were probably somehow converted into Reichsmarks. But all this had nothing to do with the list of downed aircraft.
The most prosaic explanation for the Luftwaffe phenomenon: the Germans had no shortage of targets. Germany fought on all fronts with a numerical superiority of the enemy. The Germans had 2 main types of fighters: Messerschmitt 109 (34 thousand were produced from 1934 to 1945) and Focke-Wulf 190 (13 thousand fighter version and 6.5 thousand attack aircraft were produced) - a total of 48 thousand fighters.
At the same time, about 70 thousand Yaks, Lavochkins, I-16s and MiG-3s passed through the Red Army Air Force during the war years (excluding 10 thousand fighters delivered under Lend-Lease).
In the Western European theater of operations, Luftwaffe fighters were opposed by about 20 thousand Spitfires and 13 thousand Hurricanes and Tempests (this is how many vehicles served in the Royal Air Force from 1939 to 1945). How many more fighters did Britain receive under Lend-Lease?
Since 1943, American fighters appeared over Europe - thousands of Mustangs, P-38s and P-47s plowed the skies of the Reich, accompanying strategic bombers during raids. In 1944, during the Normandy landings, Allied aircraft had a six-fold numerical superiority. “If there are camouflaged planes in the sky, it’s the Royal Air Force, if there are silver ones, it’s the US Air Force. If there are no planes in the sky, it’s the Luftwaffe,” German soldiers joked sadly. Where could British and American pilots get large bills under such conditions?
Another example - the most popular combat aircraft in the history of aviation was the Il-2 attack aircraft. During the war years, 36,154 attack aircraft were produced, of which 33,920 Ilovs entered the army. By May 1945, the Red Army Air Force included 3,585 Il-2s and Il-10s, and another 200 Il-2s were in naval aviation.
In a word, the Luftwaffe pilots did not have any superpowers. All their achievements can only be explained by the fact that there were many enemy aircraft in the air. The Allied fighter aces, on the contrary, needed time to detect the enemy - according to statistics, even the best Soviet pilots had an average of 1 air battle per 8 sorties: they simply could not meet the enemy in the sky!
On a cloudless day, from a distance of 5 km, a World War II fighter is visible like a fly on a window pane from the far corner of the room. In the absence of radar on aircraft, air combat was more of an unexpected coincidence than a regular event.
It is more objective to count the number of downed aircraft, taking into account the number of combat sorties of pilots. Viewed from this angle, Erich Hartmann's achievements fade: 1,400 sorties, 825 air combats and "only" 352 aircraft shot down. Walter Novotny has a much better figure: 442 sorties and 258 victories.
Friends congratulate Alexander Pokryshkin (far right) on receiving the third star of the Hero of the Soviet Union
It is very interesting to trace how ace pilots began their careers. The legendary Pokryshkin, in his first combat missions, demonstrated aerobatic skill, audacity, flight intuition and sniper shooting. And the phenomenal ace Gerhard Barkhorn did not score a single victory in his first 119 missions, but he himself was shot down twice! Although there is an opinion that not everything went smoothly for Pokryshkin either: his first plane shot down was the Soviet Su-2.
In any case, Pokryshkin has his own advantage over the best German aces. Hartman was shot down fourteen times. Barkhorn - 9 times. Pokryshkin was never shot down! Another advantage of the Russian miracle hero: he won most of his victories in 1943. In 1944-45 Pokryshkin shot down only 6 German aircraft, focusing on training young personnel and managing the 9th Guards Air Division.
In conclusion, it is worth saying that you should not be so afraid of the high bills of Luftwaffe pilots. This, on the contrary, shows what a formidable enemy the Soviet Union defeated, and why Victory has such high value.
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Ten years after the end of the Gulf War, the public learned about the use of military equipment - “ghosts” to deceive the enemy and distract him from the location of important targets: infantry, trucks, tanks, artillery, aircraft... The list goes on for a long time and the methods that are now being found applications are increasingly complex, often making these copies more "real" than the original, which is also the target. But few people know that the creation of false targets is hundreds of years old and that we find the first mention of this in the history of antiquity! However, without going into deep antiquity, we will focus on decoy aircraft, which were manufactured and used in large quantities during the Second World War.
The most representative were Luftwaffe decoy planes, as the air force of the Third Reich saw the war from the first to the last day. The creation of "ghost planes" increased sharply in 1942, when the Allies intensified their bombing of German-occupied territories. These attacks led the Germans to the need to urgently manufacture decoy aircraft around airfields, designed to distract the enemy’s attention and very easily identifiable (lit buildings, aircraft, fake bombs left on the field, etc.). The remains of real aircraft (captured, unserviceable or considered obsolete) joined the ranks of these machines, doomed to remain on the ground forever. Below is a small selection of life-size models.
Probably the most beautiful "ghost plane" presented in this article: a fake Heinkel He 111 is inspected by a British officer on a field in Normandy, August 1944. The plane, although in poor condition, was later restored with great love for detail (IWM)
located at the Norwegian airfield Stavanger-Sola (Stavanger-Sola) decoy Ju 88 A, 1940. The code of this “ghost plane” “EI+A4” corresponds to the real military number of the machine tested in Rechlin! (DR)
three photographs of the production of a fake Ju 87 Stuka on a field in France, autumn 1940. The model was brought on a two-wheeled cart, placed on the outskirts of the forest, after which German identification marks were applied. From the air the fake looked perfect (DR)
This cute Bf 109 E (tail number - white "1") will never join its comrades in the background and will not participate in air patrol! But this is just a model made of wood and canvas... (DR)
the use of "ghost planes" would become an urgent necessity for the Germans in Normandy, especially given the omnipresence of Allied aircraft. The Bf 109 Jumo was "liberated" in August 1944. A fancy military number painted on the side; most likely it is “W5 + YV” (USAF)
in contrast, decoys could be placed at actual airfields to give the impression of an agricultural area. In this case, the hangars were disguised as farms. Looks like these wooden cows are good fun for a mechanic (DR)
a fine example of a fake airfield (Scheinflugplatz) "captured" by the Allies in Normandy. The control tower, the buildings, the plane (the remains of the He 111 in the background on the right) - everything is fake! Only the farmers in whose fields this happened were real... (IWM)
many real aircraft wrecks were also placed at decoy airfields, such as this crudely painted Curtiss H-75A; Normandy, summer 1944. This vehicle is either modification A-1 No. 14 (X-813) or modification A-2 No. 112 (U-013). Maybe readers know more? (IWM)
"Surprise! Who's there?" These jeeps "fell" on a squadron of fake Ju 88s scattered across a field in Epinay, 1944 (USAF)
nice shot with two (second in the background) fake Ju 88 A in Salon de Provence, late 1944. The "ghost plane" in the foreground, its tail dismantled, bore the military number "L2 + EE". Theoretically, the car should have belonged to the 2nd training aviation squadron (Lehrgeschwader 2) ... (USAF)
a cemetery of “ghost planes” that fell into the hands of the Allies, probably the Dijon area. The fuselage element on the right side of the photo corresponds to a Messerschmitt Bf 109 (USAF)
A "classic" decoy - a fake Ju 88 - was photographed in Aalborg (Denmark) at the end of the war (Mombek collection)
mock-up of a Messerschmitt 109 captured by units of the US 3rd Army near Ohrdruss in 1945. Purists will argue that the aircraft modifications (Jumo engine and two-bladed propeller) and markings are not suitable for this phase of the war, but who cares! The main thing is that the outline is suitable (USAF)
