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Erich Alfred Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993), nicknamed "Bubi" by his German comrades and "The Black Devil" by his Soviet adversaries, was a German fighter pilot during World War II and is 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 claimed, and was credited with, shooting down 352 Allied aircraft—345 Soviet and 7 American—while serving with the ''Luftwaffe''. During the course of his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his damaged fighter 14 times due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire. Hartmann, a pre-war glider pilot, joined the ''Luftwaffe'' in 1940 and completed his fighter pilot training in 1942. He was posted to ''Jagdgeschwader'' 52 (JG 52) on the Eastern Front and was fortunate to be placed under the supervision of some of the ''Luftwaffe''s most experienced fighter pilots. Under their guidance, Hartmann steadily developed his tactics, which earned him the coveted ''Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten'' (Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds) on 25 August 1944 for claiming 301 aerial victories. At the time of its presentation to Hartmann, this was Germany's highest military decoration. Hartmann scored his 352nd and last aerial victory on midday 8 May 1945, only hours before the war ended. Along with the remainder of JG 52, he surrendered to United States Army forces and was turned over to the Red Army. In an attempt to pressure him into service with the Soviet-friendly East German ''Volksarmee'', he was tried on fabricated charges of war crimes and convicted, his conviction being posthumously voided by a Russian court as a malicious prosecution. Hartmann was sentenced to 25 years of hard labour and spent 10 years in various Soviet prison camps and gulags until he was released in 1955. In 1956, Hartmann joined the newly established West German ''Luftwaffe'' in the ''Bundeswehr'', and became the first ''Geschwaderkommodore'' of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 71 "Richthofen". Hartmann resigned early from the ''Bundeswehr'' in 1970, largely due to his opposition to the F-104 Starfighter deployment in the ''Luftwaffe'' and the resulting clashes with his superiors over this issue. In his later years, after his military career had ended, he became a civilian flight instructor. He died of natural causes on 20 September 1993. ==Early life== Erich Hartmann was born on 19 April 1922 in Weissach, Württemberg, to Doctor Alfred Erich Hartmann and his wife, Elisabeth Wilhelmine Machtholf. The economic depression that followed World War I in Germany prompted Doctor Hartmann to find work in Changsha, China, and Erich spent his early childhood there. The family was forced to return to Germany in 1928, when the Chinese Civil War broke out. During World War II, Hartmann's younger brother, Alfred, also joined the ''Luftwaffe'', serving as a gunner on a Junkers Ju 87 in North Africa. He was captured by the British and spent four years as a prisoner of war. Hartmann was educated at the ''Volksschule'' in Weil im Schönbuch (April 1928–April 1932), the Gymnasium in Böblingen (April 1932–April 1936), the National Political Institutes of Education in Rottweil (April 1936–April 1937), and the Gymnasium in Korntal (April 1937–April 1940), from which he received his Abitur. It was at Korntal that he met his wife-to-be, Ursula "Usch" Paetsch. Hartmann's flying career began when he joined the glider training program of the fledgling ''Luftwaffe'' and was taught to fly by his mother, one of the first female glider pilots in Germany. The Hartmanns also owned a light aircraft but were forced to sell it in 1932 as the German economy collapsed. The rise to power of the Nazi Party in 1933 resulted in government support for gliding, and, in 1937, Elisabeth Hartmann helped set up a flying school at Weil im Schönbuch, where 14-year-old Hartmann became an instructor. In 1939, he gained his pilot's license, allowing him to fly powered aircraft. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Erich Hartmann」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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