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Ace fighter pilot3/5/2023 In Finland, aircraft were modified to land on skis on ice and snow. Kittel was history’s highest-scoring fighter ace to die in combat. His wingman reported Kittel’s plane went down in flames, and the pilot did not bailout. On his 563 rd combat mission of the war, he attacked a formation of Shturmovik (ground attack) aircraft, which were armed with a rearward-facing gunner. In February 1945, his luck finally ran out. Throughout the summer of 1944 Kittel engaged in combat against the Soviets, piloting a Focke-Wulf FW 190, returning from several missions in damaged aircraft, riddled with bullet holes. In May, 1944, Kittel visited the Berghof where Adolf Hitler bestowed on him the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Germany’s highest military award. He immediately returned to combat duty, eschewing a period of leave. He returned to his unit after two weeks, having evaded capture and crossed the lines to safety. In the spring of 1943, Kittel failed to return from a mission over Soviet lines and was presumed lost by his superiors. During the early phases of the war in the East, Kittel flew in the bf 109. The first came on June 22, 1941, during the opening of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. By early 1945, Kittel had flown 582 combat missions, all against the Soviets, with 267 confirmed aerial victories. The Luftwaffe’s Otto Kittel flew his first combat mission in 1941, against the Soviet Air Force. Otto Kittel was the leading ace killed during World War II Germany’s leading aces shot down thousands of Soviet aircraft during the war. Sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in the gulags and released after serving ten, he escaped to the West and joined the West German Air Force in 1956. He refused to submit to Soviet pressure to join East German forces, and was charged, tried and convicted of war crimes. Hartmann also surrendered to the Americans, though Soviet pressure led to his being turned over to them in 1945. Barkhorn surrendered to the Western Allies in 1945, as did Rall. Together with Gunther Rall, who flew with Hartmann against the Soviets and scored 275 kills, the three leading German aces all survived the war. Gerhard Barkhorn, who fought in the Battle of France, Battle of Britain, on the Eastern Front, and against the Western Allies bombing campaign, scored 301. Only one other fighter pilot in history counted over 300 confirmed kills. By the end of the war two years later he had 352 confirmed kills against the Soviets, making him the leading fighter ace of World War II, as well as of all time. He did not achieve ace status until the spring of 1943, flying a Messerschmidt bf 109 against Soviet pilots on the Eastern Front. In World War II hundreds of German pilots earned the distinction of being labeled an ace pilot, many before Erich Hartmann did. Erich Hartmann led all aces in aerial victories Erich Hartmann, history’s all-time leading fighter ace. Some, like Richthofen, did not survive the war in which they fought. None of these pilots gained the everlasting fame associated with the Red Baron of Germany, but they all achieved success in the war in the skies. This list includes the top aces for several of the major combatants of World War II, on all fronts. If it were it would include only Germans. This list is not a comprehensive ranking of the top aces based on the number of air-to-air victories. The leading German and Finnish aces took their toll upon the Soviets, though Luftwaffe pilots on the Western Front also scored more than 100+ victories against the British Empire and American aircraft. Manfred von Richthofen, Germany’s legendary Red Baron. Yet few other than the most ardent World War II buffs can name him. The leading ace of World War II shot down more than four times the Red Baron’s total. More than 160 pilots totaled more kills than the legendary Red Baron, and all but two of them flew for the German Luftwaffe. When compared to the fighter aces of the Second World War, Richthofen’s total is far less impressive. That total made the Red Baron the leading fighter ace of the war, with more kills than any other pilot of any nation. Arguably the most famous fighter pilot in history, Germany’s Manfred von Richthofen shot down 80 enemy airplanes during World War I.
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