| Gerhard Barkhorn is the
second-highest scoring ace in history, his 301 victories
surpassed only by the 352 of his fellow Jagd Geschwader
(Hunting Wing) 52 officer, rival and close friend Erich
Hartmann. Barkhorn was a generous man who lived and fought
chivalrously. As great an authority as Johannes Steinhoff
considered Barkhorn the best of the best. Barkhorn flew 1104
missions, and was himself shot down nine times. He entered
combat in August, 1940 with II./JG 52 and became their
commander in June 1943. It took him 120 missions to score his
first victory in July, 1941, but his 100th came in December,
1942, his 200th in November 1943, and his 300th in January
1945. Hitler awarded him the Oak Leaves with Swords to the
Knight's Cross. Both German and Soviet airfields were close to
the front line during much of the war, and Barkhorn often flew
several missions a day. On 31 May 1944, Barkhorn was escorting
Ju87's led by Hans Ulrich Rudel when his Messerschmitt 109G
was shot down by a Soviet P-39 and he was seriously wounded.
During his recuperation, Hartmann overtook his score. Barkhorn
returned to combat in late October, 1944 but his wounds did
not heal until after the war. He was re-assigned from II./JG
52 to command JG 6 in January 1945, and this led to his
temporary adoption of a Fwl90D. JG 6 was composed of former
bomber and Zerstorer pilots and assigned red-and-white tail
bands when they were formed in late summer 1944, to defend the
Reich against American bombers. But photographs show the bands
were dropped when JG 6 deployed to Silesia at the end of 1944.
There are a number of photos of Barkhorn with his Fwl90D-9,
and while none show the aircraft's tail, the best authorities
agree that Barkhorn's plane lacked the red-and-white bands.
The only personal markings on Barkhorn's aircraft were his
wife's name, "CHRISTL," and a small "5," his lucky number.
Barkhorn could not resist the opportunity to fly jets with
Galland's JV44. But he flew only two Me262 missions and did
not add to his score before being shot down and injured in the
crash landing on 21 April 1945. He joined the post-war
Bundesluftwaffe in 1956 and became a NATO Stabchef. Gerhard
Barkhorn and his wife were killed in a traffic accident on 6
January 1983. |
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