Product Details

Gerhard Barkhorn is the second-highest scoring ace in history, his 301 victories surpassed only by the 352 of his fellow Jagd Geschwader (Hunting Wing) 52 officer, rival and close friend Erich Hartmann. Barkhorn was a generous man who lived and fought chivalrously. As great an authority as Johannes Steinhoff considered Barkhorn the best of the best. Barkhorn flew 1104 missions, and was himself shot down nine times. He entered combat in August , 1940 with II./JG 52 and became their commander in June 1943. It took him 120 missions to score his first victory in July 1941, but his 100th came in December 1942, his 200th in November 1943, and his 300th in January 1945. Hitler awarded him the Oak Leaves with Swords to the Knight's Cross. Both German and Soviet airfields were close to the front line during much of the war, and Barkhorn often flew several missions a day. On 31 May 1944, Barkhorn was escorting JU87's led by a Soviet P-39 and he was seriously wounded. During his recuperation, Hartmann overtook his score. Barkhorn returned to combat in late October 1944, but his wounds did not heal until after the war. He was re-assigned from II. /JG52 to command JG 6 in January 1945, and this led to his temporary adoption of a Fw190D. JG 6 was composed of former bomber and Zerstorer pilots and assigned red-and-white tail bands when they were formed in late summer 1944, to defend the Reich against American bombers. But photographs show the bands were dropped when JG 6 deployed to Silesia at the end of 1944. There are a number of photos of Barkhorn with his Fw190D-9, and while none show the aircraft's tail, the the best authorities agree that Barkhorn's plane lacked the red-and –white bands. The only personal markings on Barkhorn's aircraft were his wife's name, "CHRISTL", and a small "5", his lucky number. Barkhorn could not resist the opportunity to fly jets with Galland's JV44. But he flew only two Mw262 missions and did not add his score before being shot down and injured in the crash landing on 21 April 1945. He joined the post-war Bundesluftwaffe in 1956 and became a NATO Stabchef. Gerhard Barkhorn and his wife were killed in a traffic accident on 6 January 1983.