Flying ace

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When flying aces in the are airmen language military pilots referred to in hunting conditions hostile least five military aircraft shot down.

Origin of the term

The term ace was first associated with capable pilots in the French press in 1915 . For the first time, Adolphe Pégoud was referred to as "l'as de notre aviation" shortly after his death. The former aerobatic pilot Pégoud shot down six enemy aircraft in an aerial combat during World War I. Previously already Roland Garros finally been celebrated for his five victories in April 1915 as a hero. The term ace quickly became popular in French, so the French Air Force laid down rules that only pilots with at least five kills should be referred to that way. In German, the term was only used after the war. However, pilots like Max Immelmann , who was recognized as an aviator hero with five kills in October 1915, were used in war propaganda . Immelmann's aerial victories, for example, were recreated in short films to demonstrate German superiority.

Use of the term and criteria

Since the advent of fighter planes in 1915, and after the introduction of rigid forward-facing on-board armament, pilots who are now both pilot and gunner have been in the focus of propaganda . In part, the tradition of the romantic hero transfiguration of the Middle Ages was transferred to the "knights of the air". In fact, the first military fighter units were formed from cavalry units and adopted their association names such as Rotte , Staffel and Geschwader . The adoption of chivalric virtues in a time of industrialized war apparently corresponded to the need to counter the dehumanized modern warfare. Not infrequently, dogfights were portrayed as a fair duel in which the less capable opponent was pardoned .

Such representations, such as the aerial battle against Georges Guynemer described by Ernst Udet in 1917, did not withstand historical testing, but were received by the press and the film industry in the interwar period.

In English, French and Italian, the term fighter ace (English), as (French) or Asso dell'aviazione (Italian) was used for fighter pilots who were able to record at least five kills, and in France also participation in kills.

The way in which kills were recognized varied from country to country. While the German Air Force had a strict "one pilot - one kill" rule, the Allied Air Forces could also award shares in a kill . In addition to operational reports, statements from observers, on-board cameras or shooting cameras , the pilot's word of honor was sometimes also applicable .

From 1943 onwards, the Japanese air forces refrained from individual recognition of kills, the Soviet air forces differentiated between individual and collective successes.

The German Erich Hartmann , who was awarded 352 kills in World War II , scored the most individual kills in history .

During the time of National Socialism , flying aces were referred to as “experts” within the Air Force , with the number of confirmed kills being used in a point system that was relevant for the award of awards and promotions. Well-known German fighter pilots were used for propaganda purposes. Aces were by the Nazi offered propaganda especially adolescents 12 through 13 years as Imponierfiguren; therefore, portrait drawings of the aviator race were widespread among them.

The publication of the shooting figures of the enemy and one's own forces by the press, for example during the Battle of Britain , was tolerated by the air forces, but not specified.

When the numbers of the opponents or their own comrades were shot down, it sometimes came to the conclusion that the pilots were contesting a sporting competition. The most successful fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force , James Edgar Johnson , in his autobiographical book Wing Leader , justifies his suspicions that he had cared too much about his number of kills at the expense of his unit. As a result of the heroization carried out by the press, the Allied air forces partially lost solidarity with other components of the armed forces. Bomber crews sometimes felt too little attention in the light of the public, the saying arose: “Fighter pilots make movies, bomber pilots make history.” (German: “Fighter pilots make cinema films, bomber pilots make history”).

A famous French fighter pilot reported in shock about insults from guests in a Parisian café after the end of the war. He would have run away and played the “fine gentlemen” while his compatriots fought in the resistance and died.

Indeed, the prospect of survival for aircrews was slim. Over 60% of all crews were killed, only the crews of German submarines had a higher loss rate. In order to combat war fatigue and exhaustion, both the Allies and the Axis Powers administered amphetamines to pilots with the intention of increasing their performance and even abusing them. In Germany, pervitin (active ingredient: methamphetamine ) was made available in large quantities to the Wehrmacht. In the Luftwaffe, Pervitin was known as "Stuka tablets", "Hermann Göring pills" and "Aviator marzipan".

After 1945

In a number of wars after 1945, multiple pilots from different countries were awarded over five personal killing successes. The meaning of the term "flying ace" and the associated myth was noticeably weakened with the introduction of guided weapons . It is also not in the interests of the armed forces to encourage acts of revenge against war heroes by naming them.

Public commemoration of German fighter pilots during World War II, for example in the form of wreaths laid by veterans' associations , sometimes serves as a platform for history revisionists and neo-Nazis and leads to corresponding controversy, for example in Austria in the case of Walter Nowotny .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Niels Klussmann: Flying ace . In: Aviation Lexicon . 2004, p. 75 .
  2. ↑ a b Steven. A Fino: Tiger Check. Automating the US Air Force Fighter Pilot in Air-to-Air Combat, 1950-1980 . JHU Press, Baltimore 2017, p. 19.
  3. ^ A b Peter Fritzsche: A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation and the Popular Imagination . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1992, p. 74.
  4. ^ Edward H. Sims: Fighter Pilot . The great opponents of yore. 16th edition. Motorbuch, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-87943-115-9 , p. 33 ("Only those who demonstrated superior fighter-flying skills were considered 'experts' ...").
  5. ↑ Jakob Knab: False Glory . 1st edition. Ch. Links, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-86153-089-9 , pp. 76 ("Göring basked in the glow of the aviator ace Marseille ").
  6. ↑ Rolf Schörken: "Student Soldiers" . Imprint of a generation =. In: RD Müller, HE Volkmann (ed.): The Wehrmacht . Myth and Reality. Munich / Oldenburg 1999, ISBN 3-486-56383-1 , p. 466 (on behalf of the MGFA ).
  7. ↑ Sven Felix Kellerhoff: World War II: Even the Wehrmacht fought with crystal meth. In: welt.de . March 30, 2015, accessed May 25, 2019 .

literature

  • Patrick Deer: Culture in Camouflage: War, Empire, and Modern British Literature . Oxford UP, Oxford 2009.
  • Fernando Esposito: Mythical Modernism: Aviation, Fascism and the Longing for Order in Germany and Italy . Oldenbourg, Munich 2011.
  • Peter Fritzsche: A Nation of Fliers: German Aviation and the Popular Imagination . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1992. ISBN 9780674601222 .
  • Peter Hart: Aces Falling. War Above The Trenches, 1918 . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2007.
  • Christian Returns: Modern Warriors. The technical experience of German Air Force pilots 1910–1945 . Schöningh, Paderborn 2010 ( War in History 58). ISBN 978-3-506-76712-7 .
  • Linda R. Robertson: The Dream of Civilized Warfare: World War I Flying Aces and the American Imagination . University of Minneapolis Press, Minneapolis 2003
  • Robert Wohl: A Passion for Wings. Aviation and the Western Imagination, 1908-1918 . Yale UP, New Haven 1994.