Hartmann's Gustav
Erich Hartmann pictured in the spring of 1944 after being awarded the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross. Photo: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
Text: Jan Bobek
With 352 victories to his credit, Erich Hartmann is a fighter pilot whose name is known even to people who are not interested in the Luftwaffe. A significant topic is the number of his victories and their credibility. Of Erich Hartmann's first 100 victories, 38 claimed kills can be compared in detail with Soviet losses, as the time and place of these kills are known. I am basing this on a summary prepared by Danny Case and Nick Hector. For these 38 victories, it is impossible to trace on the opposing side 13 losses that match the circumstances of the alleged shootdowns. In contrast, the 25 casualties that can be identified represent more than 60% credibility of Hartmann's victories from this period. A similar analysis was prepared by Ivan Lavrinenko, focusing on the 35 victories Hartmann claimed in the fighting over Romania between May 31 and June 6, 1944. The analysis revealed that, unlike many of Hartmann's colleagues whose claims were very accurate, in reality, this darling of propaganda shot down only one aircraft in the above period, and another six to seven Soviet aircraft may have fallen victim to either Hartmann or other German pilots.
Hartmann's results in the battles over Hungary at the turn of 1944 and 1945 were similar. Authors Dan and Gábor Horváth published a detailed analysis of these in their book “Verified Victories: Top JG 52 Aces over Hungary 1944-45”. Their work shows that of the 34 victories claimed by Hartmann in the battles over Hungary, only seven can be documented that he definitely achieved or may have participated in. This is no more than a 22% credibility of his claims. By comparison, Gerhard Barkhorn's claims were as accurate as 79% in the same period, and Helmut Lipfert's victories have up to 93% accuracy compared to Soviet losses. Interestingly these two airmen had lower accuracy of their claims in the earlier period, as documented by Ivan Lavrinenko in his book on the fighting over Crimea in the period 1943-1944.
I would venture to say that the credibility of Hartmann's victories declined as his career progressed, and his claimed victories were least accurate when some significant milestone in his kills was approaching and there was a film crew and photographers on the airfield. Günther Rall recalls in his memoirs that he never wanted to appoint Hartmann to command a Staffel, and when Rall, as Kommandeur III/JG 52, was on leave, another officer appointed Hartmann to command 9./JG 52 in Rall's absence.
One of the Luftwaffe fighter units that fought in Hungary in early 1945 was I./JG 53 under the command of Maj. Jürgen Harder. He led this Jagdgruppe for almost a year and reformed it into one of the most successful units in southern Europe. However, on January 22, he had to leave it because he was appointed Kommodore of JG 11 with bases in Germany. The unit was briefly led by Hptm. Ernst, but at the end of January Hptm. Erich Hartmann, who until then had led 4./JG 52 in Hungary as part of II./JG 52, was appointed commander of I./JG 53. The command of I./JG 53 was his first opportunity to take command of a Jagdgruppe. Strangely enough, he was appointed to such a position outside of JG 52, for he soon returned to his “home” unit, as commander of I./JG 52 in Silesia.
During his short service with I./JG 53, Hartmann immediately ordered the upper surfaces of I./JG 53 aircraft to be repainted with washable white paint, but he showed little interest in combat activity. This was disappointing to his new subordinates. But they explained it by the fact that Hartmann apparently did not see much importance in further combat and, moreover, he had already achieved all the military honours. After a fortnight, Hartmann handed over command of I./JG 53 to Hptm. Lipfert, who was previously in command of 6./JG 52.
An interesting topic is the personal aircraft that Hartmann used during this period. Marek Ryś depicted it on the box art of the Gustav part 2 kit. At the beginning of January 1945, I./JG 53 had two Bf 109 G-6/U4s, ten G-14/U2 (U2 is an error in unit´s monthly summary), sixteen G-14/U4 version, and two G-10/U4s. In several photos of Hartmann's machine, the battery cover at the rear of the cockpit is clearly visible, which should indicate the G-14 version. Erich Somavilla was using this plane as well and his logbook notes this aircraft as a G-6 version. Somavilla's personal aircraft was the G-14/AS version. A photograph of Hartmann's Bf 109 that I discovered years ago in the Preussischer Kulturbesitz digital archive shows that the machine has no intakes on the sides of the cockpit under the windscreen of the cockpit overlay, which identifies the Erla plant as its manufacturer. According to some researchers, it is a Bf 109 G-6 of the Erla factory of the 412xxx or 413xxx series. I dare not confirm whether this is the case or not. Production of these series ended in August 1944, and both the Bf 109 G-6/U2 and Bf 109 G-14 were produced in the blocks mentioned. Anyway, when building scale model of this Hartmann´s aircraft as per the instructions in the kit manual, use the correct windscreen and also the bulge on the right side of the engine cowling. Photos of the Hartmann aircraft can be found on the Falke Eins blog by Neil
Tulip markings were introduced by Hermann Graf on his aircraft in 1943. After he became Kommodore of JG 52 in the autumn of 1944, this pattern also appeared on several of Erich Hartmann's aircraft, as well as on the machines of the Stab JG 52. During Hartmann's brief tenure with I./JG 53, the black tulip also adorned his personal aircraft with the Gruppe commander's markings. Following Hartmann's departure from the units, some of his tulip-patterned aircraft were reassigned and utilized by other pilots.