The Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII... Finalized.... (2 Viewers)

The Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII..........


  • Total voters
    259

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

I know he crashed in his plane a few times , but was he actually ever shot down. I heard he wasn't .
 
what were Hartmann's tacits anyway? all i know is that he gets in close and blasts them to hell with his MK108
 
most kills are made usually cause the pilot who was shot down didn't know that there was a 109 right behind him about to blast him to hell

Hartmann was called "Bubi" cause he looked young right?
anyways, Juutilainen is my fav pilot
 
Hartmann was called "Bubi" cause he looked young right?
Yup, he was nick named as such by his mentor....
anyways, Juutilainen is my fav pilot
And a good one to have, although I think Hans Wind was the better Finnish Ace...

Hans "Hasse" Wind and his last flight
by Ossi Juntunen

It was the 28th of June 1944 in Lappeenranta air base. The Red Army offensive in Karelia was reaching its culmination point at Ihantala. The command of the Finnish forces needed to know whether the enemy was getting any reinforcements by railway or the coast road at Viipuri (now Vyborg). The only planes even theoretically able to penetrate the airspace controlled by superior enemy were fast fighters. Also the older fighter pilots had received observer training.

The Commander of Fighter Squadron 24, Major Karhunen received orders to reconnoiter the target with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G fighters of his squadron. The phone rang in the pilot's hut of the 1st flight at Lappeenranta air base. Commander of the flight, 25-year old Captain Hans Wind picked up the handset, answered, listened, then said flatly: "Two, roger" and rang off.

His pilots looked at him questioningly. Wind paced round the room, then explained: he had received orders to reconnoiter with two planes east and south of Viipuri. He needed say nothing more. Every one of the pilots understood that it was an insane order, a true suicide mission. Probably Major Karhunen knew it, too, because he had ordered only two planes to the task - to minimize the likely loss. The enemy fighters constantly patrolled the airspace of the target and could summon reinforcements in a few minutes. The enemy most likely also had radar.

Capt. Wind felt as an officer that it was his duty to fulfill the order, however idiotic. He continued pacing, then turned to his wingman and friend, Sergeant Major Nils Katajainen with a question: "Nipa, would you join me ?". Katajainen agreed, saying that he could go since he already had had his breakfast and he did not expect to get any in enemy hands.

The two pilots donned their gear. To date Capt. Wind had scored 72 victories and Sergeant Major Katajainen 30. Then they studied the map and agreed on tactics: no radio traffic because the enemy would intercept the messages. Wind would do the reconnaissance and Katajainen would cover him. Then they climbed in their Bf 109 G-6 fighters - Wind was flying MT-439, Katajainen MT-476 - and the mechanics started the engines by hand-cranking. The two Messerschmitts took off at 10.25 a.m.

Approaching the target area at 5000 m the two pilots saw seven enemy Yak-9 fighters at low altitude. To the surprise of wingman Katajainen, his leader half-rolled and dived at the enemy: on reconnaissance mission battle must be avoided if only possible. (It is this author's guess that Wind wanted to abort the suicide mission gracefully - being drawn into battle against superior enemy is a honourable way to return from a mission not accomplished). But Katajainen had to follow his leader. At the very same moment he saw that they had been ambushed - 20 more Soviet fighters, Airacobras and Yak-9s were diving at them, and the enemy leader was calling for reinforcements.

A desperate air battle started at 4000 m. Captain Wind shot down one Yak-9 that happened to fly in his sights, Katajainen tried to follow, but then they were separated and both pilots had to fight alone. There were far too many enemies for Wind to dodge them all. His Messerschmitt was hit, but in turn he shot down two more Yaks in quick succession. Looking back, Wind saw the huge muzzle flashes of the Airacobra's 37 mm fuselage cannon.

He had just managed to damage one of the Airacobras as a 37 mm shell fired by another one exploded in his seat armour. Another shell pierced the armour glass behind his left shoulder, exploding in the instrument panel. Wind's left arm was badly wounded. Burning kerosene from the smashed liquid compass filled the cockpit with dark smoke. Wind put the smoking Messerschmitt in a nose-dive.

The enemy pilots considered the Bf 109 a confirmed victory and disengaged. Wind recovered his damaged fighter from the dive at a very low altitude and took the course to Lappeenranta. But he never knew what happened after that. He recovered consciousness for a while on the hospital operation table as he was being prepared for emergency operation.

The witnesses can tell that Capt. Wind sent a radio message: "Been hit, send for ambulance." - but he did not respond to any calls, just hallucinated in the radio to pilots flying too close on his wing - men who had been killed in action. The enemy shell had not only destroyed his instruments but also cut off the power adjustment lever - the Messerschmitt engine was stuck on full power and automatic prop pitch control. Wind was flying by instinct provided by training and experience. Approaching the base the wounded pilot was able to extend the undercarriage, but he had to land without the use of landing flaps with an initial speed of 500 km/h.

The ground crews and other pilots of the base watched in horror what would happen; the Bf 109 was notoriously difficult to land even when flown by a pilot in normal condition and not battle-damaged. Capt. Wind adjusted the engine power by switching ignition off and on, and MT-439 made a bouncing landing at 11.00 hours, staying on the gravel runway until at the end the fighter drifted to the left side.

Capt. Wind opened the cockpit canopy and tried to get out, but did not have any more strength to do it. He saw men running to help, and said to the first one: "Nipa got it" then collapsed back in the cockpit. His last flight had ended, and he had scored his last victories, making a total of 75.

He was given first aid - he had lost a lot of blood and had splinters in his left arm, hand and back - and then flown to a central hospital in Mikkeli on a Ju 52.

But Nipa had not got it. Somehow he managed to escape a little farther and he saw three fighters fall, believing that Wind's Messerschmitt was the last of them. As the enemy fighters rejoined for return to base, he approached them from below with revenge in mind. At a short range Katajainen aimed at the last Airacobra of the formation and fired a burst. The enemy fighter puffed out thick smoke and nose-dived. Katajainen half-rolled, dived and turned his course to the base in a somber mood.

Approaching the front line Katajainen by chance came across an enemy observation balloon - he flew through the AAA barrage and shot the "sausage" in flames. Then he crossed the front line. On the Finnish territory he happened to see nine Il-2M ground attack planes on return from their mission - he attacked them and managed to shoot down two before the escort fighters had time to disturb him. MT-476 landed at Lappeenranta at 11.05 hrs. Katajainen's first words to his ground crew were: "Hasse got it".

The same day Capt. Wind had been granted the Mannerheim cross for the second time.

When Capt. Wind returned to full consciousness about one week later, the first words he heard in his hospital bed were: - Hasse, how are you? The voice was familiar - Yes, it was Nipa Katajainen, his wingman, lying on the next bed. On the 3rd of July enemy AAA had got a bad hit in his machine, which had disintegrated during landing at Lappeenranta and left the pilot with fractured arms and legs.

Wind's MT-439 was repaired at the base with parts scavenged from other Bf's damaged beyond repair. It flew again some days later until it was shot down in July.

Hans Henrik Wind was born on 30 July 1919 in Tammisaari. He served in LLv 24. In air combat on 27 September 1941 "Hasse" scored his first victory - Soviet I-15bis. First 39 kills he achieved in Brewster B-239 fighters. In 1944 Wind achieved 25 kills in 10 days during the great Soviet offensive with his personal plane - a Messerschmitt Bf 109 G-6 numbered MT-439. Wind scored 36 kills with the Messerschmitts.

After dramatic combat on 28 June 1944, Wind didn't return to front duty, he was hospitalized for the rest of the war. He finished a total of 302 combat sorties, scoring 75 kills. He is ranked on second position on WWII FAF top aces list. He left FAF service on 10 October 1945 as a captain. "Hasse" Wind died on 24 July 1995 in Tampere.
 
Hartmann did not have success at first. It was not until he changed his tactics that he started getting kills.

He did not get the name Bubi just because he looked young, but because he was young.
 
it might be also interesting and I encourage you guys to do so for the ones that think Hartmann was the hottest the Luftwaffe had to offer................please do some research on Erich's most able wingman, another blond with over 110 kills to his credit. without him Hartmann would of been toast
 
I don't think any fighter pilot would last very long in combat without a wingman The exception being the consumate fighter pilot Beurling
 
you have pics of Marseille and his plane all over ur posts lol
is he the guy who died when he bailed out and got hit by the tailplane?
 
I'm surprised by one name not on the list .Brendan ' paddy ' Finucane ,he fought in the battle of britian .He had 32 confirmed kills , 9 probable ,8 damaged. He was the youngest wing commander in the R.A.F ( june 1942 ) and he was awarded the D.S.O and D.F.C with two bars. He was killed by ground fire over France on 15th July 1942. His aircraft crashed into the sea and was never found .
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back