Erich Hartmann
Erich Hartmann was born in Weissach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany on April 19th, 1922 and is the Pilot. At the age of 71, Erich Hartmann biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 71 years old, Erich Hartmann has this physical status:
Erich Alfred Hartmann (1921 – 20 September 1993) was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in aerial warfare history.
He flew 1,404 combat missions and served in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions.
He was credited with shooting down 352 Allied aircraft, two Soviet and two American, while serving with the Luftwaffe.
Hartmann was forced to crash-land his fighter 16 times during his career, either because of damage caused by parts of enemy aircraft he hadn't shot down or mechanical failure.
He was posted on the Eastern Front with veteran Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52) and was fortunate to be put under the custody of some of the Luftwaffe's most experienced fighter pilots.
Hartmann continued to develop his tactics under their direction. On October 29, 1943, he was given the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for 148 enemy aircraft and the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross for 202 enemy aircraft, as well as the Swords to the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves exactly four months later, when a 268 enemy aircraft shot down.
Hartmann won the coveted Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds on August 25, 1944, for obtaining 301 aerial victories.
This was Germany's highest military decoration at the time of its presentation to Hartmann on May 8, 1945, just hours before the German surrender.
He surrendered to US Army forces and was turned over to the Red Army, as did the majority of JG 52.
He was charged on war crimes charges and found guilty in an effort to coerce him into service with the Soviet-friendly East German National People's Army.
He was first sentenced to 20 years in prison, later extended to 25 years, and spent ten years in various Soviet prison camps and gulags before being released in 1955.
The Russian Federation (posthumously) cleared him of all charges in 1997. Hartmann was the first Geschwaderkommodore of Jagdgeschwader 71 "Richthofen" in 1956, when he joined the newly established West German Air Force in the Bundeswehr.
He was forced to leave the F-104 Starfighter in 1970 due to his resistance to its acquisition.
He became a civilian flight instructor in his later years, after his military service service had ended.
Erich Hartmann died on September 20, 1993, at the age of 71.
Early life and career
Erich Hartmann was born in Weissach, Württemberg, on 19 April 1922, to Doctor Alfred Erich Hartmann and his wife, Elisabeth Wilhelmine Machtholf. Doctor Hartmann needed to work in China after World War II in Germany, and Erich spent his childhood there. In 1928, the family was forced to return to Germany as a result of the Chinese Civil War broke out. He was also a gunner on a Junkers Ju 87 in North Africa during World War II. Alfred Hartmann was kidnapped by the British and spent four years as a war prisoner.
Hartmann was educated at the Volksschule in Weil im Schönbuch (April 1928 – April 1936), the National Political Institutes of Education in Rottweil (April 1936 – April 1937), and the National Gymnasium in Korntal (April 1937 – April 1940), where he received his Abitur. Ursula "Usch" Paetsch, his husband-to-be, was visiting Korntal.
Hartmann's flying career began when he joined the fledgling Luftwaffe's glider training program and was taught to fly by his mother, one of Germany's first female glider pilots. The Hartmanns also owned a light aircraft but were forced to sell it in 1932 as the German economy plummeted. The rise of the Nazi Party in 1933 resulted in government support for gliding, and Elisabeth Hartmann founded the glider club in Weil im Schönbuch in 1936 and served as an instructor. In the Hitler Youth, the 14-year-old Hartmann became a gliding instructor. He obtained his pilot's license in 1937, allowing him to fly powered aircraft.
Hartmann began his military service in Neukuhren on October 1st, 1940, in the 10th Flying Regiment. He moved to Berlin-Gatow's Luftkriegsschule 2 (Air War School 2) on March 1, 1941, becoming his first flight with an instructor four days later and then flying in just under three weeks by his first solo flight. He completed his basic flying lessons in October 1941 and began advanced flight training at Lachen-Speyerdorf's 1 November 1941. Hartmann learned combat tactics and weapons control skills while in Paris. His advanced pilot training was completed on January 31, 1942, and he learned to fly the Messerschmitt Bf 109 at the Jagdflieger School 2 between 1 March 1942 and 20 August 1942 (Fighter Pilot School 2).
Hartmann's time as a trainee pilot was not always smooth. In his Bf 109 over the Zerbst airfield, he ignored rules and carried out some aerobatics. His term brought his week of confinement to a week of two-thirds, with the deposition of two-thirds of his salary in fines. Hartmann later recalled that the incident saved his life: he remembered that it was tragic: he was reminded that the incident saved his life:
Hartmann then exercised assiduously and adopted a new credo, "not with your head, not with your muscles." He struck a target drogue with 24 of the allotted 50 rounds of machine-gun fire in June 1942, a feat that was otherwise unobtainable. His education had prepared him to fly 17 different types of powered aircraft, and after his schooling, he was posted to Ergänzungs-Jagdgruppe Ost (Supplementary Fighter Group, East) in Kraków, Upper Silesia, where he remained until October 10, 1942.
Summary of career
Hartmann was credited with 352 aerial victories, according to US historian David T. Zabecki. Hartmann is also ranked with 352 aerial victories in 1,425 combat missions, many on the Eastern Front. Mathews and Foreman, the creators of Luftwaffe Aces: Biographies and Victory Claims, looked into German Federal Archives for 352 aerial victory claims, with two others unconfirmed. Two lawsuits concerning United States Army Air Forces flown P-51 Mustangs have been investigated, and 350 Soviet Air Forces piloted aircraft on the Eastern Front account for the total number. According to Daniel and Gabor Horvath's comparison to enemy loss reports, Hartmann's number of aircraft crashed by the 352 killed might have been much less than the 352 claimed, regardless of nationality.
During his time as a prisoner of war, Hartmann held the exact location of his Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross undercover from his captors, claiming that he had stolen it away from his captors. The hiding spot was in a tiny stream. When he was released from captivity, his comrade Hans "Assi" Hahn managed to conceal the Knight's Cross in a double bottom cigar box and smuggled it back to Germany.
Hartmann joined the military service in Wehrmacht on October 1st 1940. Neukuhren, he's first station in East Prussia, where he undertook his military basic training as a Luftwaffe recruit.