He had 158 kills during the war, so many that they put marks for them on the tail of his plane. Was this common practice in the Luftwaffe?
Well, two other Luftwaffe pilots also worth to mention here are Gerhard Barkhorn and Gunther Rall. These two eminent fighter aces were then decorated with Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords (Ritterkreuz mit Eichenlaub) for their courage and bravery. Other than this trio,at least 60 more Luftwaffe pilots have atleast 100 kills before war seized. This not included the Sonderkommando Elbe mission by mid-1945..
I haven't seen any. Then again, I don't think any of the RAF or US pilots got into the triple digit kills.
Number of kills deferred here between Luftwaffe and Allied Pilots primarily due their own Governmental policies. After completion of one mission,Allied pilots usually send for either training or relocated to act as trainer.There was no scarcity of fresh entries or number of cadets passing-out.So it was less required to return. During late '43, Axis(including Japan) pilots had to return as many times possible,and have to serve for their nation till death(not mandatory to return with same machine).This often uplifts their skills up to zenith.Obviously if you spend more time in sorties ,your tactical parameter 'll show high. One more important thing was Party-pressure(Nazi).If you unable to kill, or even kill poorly(by number)than their expectations........you 'll be killed instantly.Many German officers been passed thorough the way.
Thanks Peter...we must mention some other Allied aces to their honor here,can't we ? To understand the differences 'btween Aces scenario better,here they are.. Dick Bong[US] with 40 kills.He was assigned to 9th Fighter Group in Brisbane-Australia.He relocated later. James Johnson[RAF] with 38 kills.His was against single-engined fighters and made him top scoring Allied Ace during WW2. Obviously I unable to resist to mention Capt. I Kozhedub[then USSR] with 62 kills.Probably he was the best contemporary Russian Ace,I'm not sure of it.
