Sometimes in my life, amazing paradoxes happen that make me believe in the initial predetermination of human fate. Such thoughts come to mind when you read the biography of one of the most famous German pilot aces, whose name is Gerhard Barkhorn. Having flown the whole war in military vehicles and repeatedly on the brink of death, he remained unharmed and ingloriously died in peacetime while driving his car.
True Aryan Barkhorn Gerhard
Who is this man, who became the pride of the Luftwaffe during the war, today they know not only in Germany, but also beyond its borders. He was born on March 20, 1919 in Königsberg - present-day Kaliningrad, and in those years the large city of East Prussia. He was eighteen when, inspired by the Fuhrer’s speeches from all the speakers, he decided to devote himself to military aviation - a powerful striking force, which was to become the key to future victories in Germany.
First combat experience
In 1937, the young man enters a flight school, and, after graduating from him two years later, is promoted to the staff of one of the regiments of the Wehrmacht air forces as a lieutenant. Gerhard Barkhorn received his baptism of fire in 1940 in the battle for Britain - one of the first air battles of World War II.
His biographers, covering this period of the war, note that he was not lucky, because, having made one hundred sorties, the pilot did not shoot down any enemy aircraft and was forced to leave the burning car with a parachute twice. Once this happened over the English Channel, and he spent considerable time in ice water until he was picked up by rescuers. So the future ace - Gerhard Barkhorn was gaining combat experience.
Germany opens the Eastern Front
He was able to fully realize the experience gained in air battles with the British the next year, when Germany launched an offensive on the Eastern Front. Making a hundred and twenty flight sortie in July 1941, he opened the account for his air victories, having shot down a DB-3 bomber in the Ukrainian sky. By November of that year, his track record already included ten destroyed enemy aircraft. Gerhard Barkhorn was marked by command. He was promoted to lieutenant and promoted, having been appointed unit commander 4./JG52.
First awards
By the summer of 1942, a real air ace was formed from a young pilot. In July, he had already had sixty-four victories in his combat account, but during the next sortie, his luck changed and his plane was shot down by a Soviet fighter. Barkhorn managed to parachute and leave the burning car, but he himself was seriously injured and spent several months in the hospital.
The scars for a long time reminded him of that July day and the unknown Russian pilot, who almost put an end to his life. After discharge for courage and heroism, Gerhard was presented with military decorations - the German cross in gold, and a little later, the Knight's Cross was added to it . In those days, he was only twenty-three years old.
New air victories and rewards
Having finally recovered and gained strength after being wounded, he returned to his squadron, and from that time on, his expense in air victories began to grow with extraordinary speed. By January 1943, having won a hundred and fifth victory in the sky, Barkhorn was awarded one of the most significant awards of the Third Reich - the Knight's Cross with oak leaves. In the next two months, he shot down another fifteen enemy aircraft, bringing the total to one hundred and thirty.
By January next 1944, Gerhard Barkhorn set a record, becoming the first of the German aces to complete a thousand sorties, and in March the number of his air victories increased to two hundred and forty. Its performance is second only to one Luftwaffe pilot, Erich Hartmann, with whom he serves in the same flight regiment. As a result, another reward, this time a Knight's Cross with oak leaves and swords.
Again endless air battles and again wounded. This time in May 1944, a Soviet pilot sent him to the hospital for four months, mutilating his right arm. Returning to the regiment in October and resuming flights, Gerhard Barkhorn destroys another fifteen enemy fighting vehicles over Hungary. Last time, luck smiled at him in January 1945. It was his last, three hundred and first air victory.
Veteran recalls
Barkhorn's records of air battles in which he had a chance to participate were preserved. From his recollections, it is clear that he preferred the tactics of surprise attacks, skillfully diving at the enemy from the side of the sun or going from below, into the tail of an enemy aircraft. But at the same time, he perfectly mastered the technique of classical combat using turns and all other arsenal of air combat techniques.
Remembering the years of the war, he praises the courage and skill of many Soviet pilots. An example of this is the description of his duel with an unknown Russian pilot, which lasted almost forty minutes and did not bring victory to either side. Gerhard tells how, performing aerobatics, they tried to get each other out of machine gun bursts and could not do this: the skill level of both was equal, and at the same time unusually high.
New jet technology
By the end of the war, the German air forces were armed with the latest Me-262 jets . These machines were equipped with a regiment commanded by Lieutenant General Galland. To master the new technology, a high-class pilot Barkhorn Gerhard was seconded to him.
However, having undergone appropriate training, the German ace only twice ascended into the sky in a new car. During the second sortie, the engine failed, and to top it all, at this critical moment, he was unexpectedly attacked by a Soviet fighter. It is difficult to say what saved Barkhorn's life: whether it was luck that did not leave him all the days of the war, or the highest skill, but only this time he escaped death by safely landing a plane with a faulty engine.
Already on earth, he is injured, getting out of the cockpit. Suddenly, the lantern slams open in the air when he tries to make a parachute jump, and Gerhard Barkhorn receives a severe blow to the neck. As a result of this, he met the end of the war in the hospital. The result of his military journey is very impressive: 1104 sorties, during which he himself was shot down nine times, and 301 enemy aircraft destroyed. By that time, only one person had reached the highest levels in the history of the Luftwaffe - his colleague Erich Hartmann.
Air Force Service in West Germany
At the end of the war, luck still did not change the well-deserved ace, as evidenced by his biography. Gerhard Barkhorn was captured by the Western Allies and the next year was already free. In 1946, Major Barkhorn continued to serve in the flight units of the air forces of West Germany, and in the sixties he began to test new models of aircraft.
A case is known that happened to him during this period of his life and proving that the presence of spirit and sense of humor never betrayed him. Once an experienced pilot made a mistake. He was not able to gently lower the Koestler aircraft, designed for vertical take-off and landing, onto a concrete strip. A new expensive car was wrecked. The airport employees, having run up, were most worried about the state of Barkhorn Gerhard himself. The phrase they heard opening the cockpit made everyone smile: "This is my three hundred and second."
Death is sudden and ridiculous
And now, returning to the beginning of the article, it is appropriate to devote a few words to the vicissitudes of human destiny. In January 1983, on the freeway leading to Munich, the honored veteran and his wife had a car accident. The woman died on the spot, and two days later in the hospital, Gerhard Barkhorn himself died.
His last words did not become known to the press, and it is not known what, saying goodbye to life, this 63-year-old man who made more than a thousand sorties, visited the edge of death more than once and ended his life driving a car on one of the most comfortable roads in Europe . Truly the ways of the Lord are inscrutable.