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A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. [1] German day and night fighter pilots claimed roughly 70,000 aerial victories during World War II, 25,000 over British or American and 45,000 over Soviet flown aircraft. 103 German fighter pilots shot down more than 100 enemy aircraft for a total of roughly 15,400 ...
It is relatively certain that 2,500 German fighter pilots attained ace status, having achieved at least five aerial victories. [81] [82] These achievements were honored with 453 German single and twin-engine (Messerschmitt Bf 110) day-fighter pilots receiving the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Intense personal rivalry may have played an ...
Theodor "Theo" Osterkamp (15 April 1892 – 2 January 1975) [2] was a German fighter pilot during World War I and World War II.A flying ace, he achieved 32 victories in World War I. [3] In World War II, he led Jagdgeschwader 51 up to the Battle of Britain and claimed a further six victories during World War II, in the process becoming one of only a few men to score victories and become an ace ...
German pilots were secretly trained for military aviation, first in the Soviet Union during the late 1920s, and then in Germany in the early 1930s. In Germany, the training was done under the guise of the German Air Sports Association ( German : Deutscher Luftsportverband (DLV)) at the Central Commercial Pilots School ( Zentrale der Verkehrs ...
There are a number of reasons why Germany's highest-scoring pilots shot down many more aircraft than the most successful Allied pilots. During the first years of the war, German day fighter pilots tended to enjoy favourable tactical circumstances; for instance, during the Battle of Britain British pilots generally tried to attack the German bombers rather than the fighters protecting them.
Franz Xaver Freiherr von Werra (13 July 1914 – 25 October 1941) was a German World War II fighter pilot and flying ace who was shot down over Britain and captured. He was the only Axis prisoner of war to escape from Canadian custody and return to Germany apart from a U-boat seaman, Walter Kurt Reich, said to have jumped from a Polish troopship into the St. Lawrence River in July 1940.
Josef "Pips" Priller (German:; 27 July 1915 – 20 May 1961) was a German military aviator and wing commander in the Luftwaffe during World War II.As a fighter ace, he was credited with 101 enemy aircraft shot down in 307 combat missions.
Siegfried Freytag (10 November 1919 – 1 June 2003) [1] was a World War II German Luftwaffe pilot and wing commander. As a fighter ace, he was credited with 102 aerial victories of which 49 victories were claimed over the Eastern Front. Among his victories over the Western Front are at least 2 four-engine bombers.