Shoot-down!

This is coolbert:

From the previous blog entry:

"a most senior combat fighter plane unit commander of the most MARKED ABILITY, ALMOST WITHOUT PEER!!"

"Johannes SHOT-DOWN A DOZEN TIMES!! Johannes when shot down only taking to his parachute on one occasion!"

Johannes Steinhoff! German  Luftwaffe combat commander of World War Two [WW2]. An illustrious record without question. A man as were all of the top German Luftwaffe aces of WW2 of marked ability, but again, NOT totally omnipotent in the skies.

Shot down a dozen times, surviving what I surmise as a crash-landing, his warplane so badly damaged as to be unworthy of further flight or combat action.

And the experience of Johannes far from unique among the top two dozen German aces of WW2! It being quite common for those aces, with hundreds of kills to their record - - to themselves being shot down on numerous occasions, survivors that lived to fight again!!

From the web site "Experten - German and other Luftwaffe Aces of WW2" and thanks to various wiki entries as from the German we have the records of the top two dozen Luftwaffe aces, the record of surviving aerial combat, shoot-down, crash landing, taking to the parachute, etc.

[of those top two dozen Luftwaffe aces, seven perishing and one missing in action, presumed dead prior to the end of the war!]

"was forced to crash-land his damaged fighter 14 times . . . was never shot down or forced to land due to fire from enemy aircraft." Hartmann.

"was shot down 9 times, bailed out once and was wounded 3 times." Barkhorn.

"was shot down 8 times and was wounded 3 times"  Rall.

"He was wounded three times and was shot down four times."  Batz.

"shot down by flak and enemy fighters 16 times and had to take to his parachute 9 times."  Rudorffer.

"crash-landed or bailed out 18 times and was wounded three times in combat." Bar.

"He was shot down fifteen times, without being injured." Lipfert.

"Krupinski had bailed out four times and had been wounded five times."  Krupinski.

 "He was shot down eight times and wounded four times" Hackl.

Erich Hartmann, the ace of aces and always will be, his aircraft so badly damaged from combat action, being struck repeatedly by bits and pieces of enemy warplanes he had engaged and shot down - - Hartmann NEVER himself NOT a casualty from enemy fire!!

It has been commented upon by various authorities that it is a rule of thumb as observed in both World Wars that 90 % of shoot-downs were accomplished by only 10 % of the combat aviators. It seems there is no or very little in between with those that can and those that can't!! A Darwinian Selection process is at work here? Those German fighter pilots of WW2 also had a lot of moxie? Nerve and courage in the extreme - - AND LOTS AND LOTS OF TARGETS TO SHOOT AT!!

coolbert.