Erich Alfred Hartmann was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He was credited with shooting down a total of 352 Allied aircraft: 345 Soviet and 7 American while serving with the Luftwaffe. During his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his fighter 16 times after either mechanical failure or damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had shot down; he was never shot down by direct enemy action.
Hartmann as a Luftwaffe Leutnant (1942–1944).
Bf 109 in the Hartmann color scheme on display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
Hartmann (right), in 1972 as a consultant during construction at Zurich Airport.
Grave in Weil im Schönbuch
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually considered to be five or more.
The "first French ace", Frenchman Adolphe Pégoud being awarded the Croix de guerre.
Manfred von Richthofen, known as the "Red Baron", scored the most officially accepted kills (80) in World War I and is arguably the most famous flying ace of all time.
French Colonel Rene Fonck, to this day the highest-scoring Allied flying ace with 75 victories.
Erich Hartmann, with 352 official kills the highest scoring fighter pilot of all time.