Erich Hartmann was born on the 19th of April,1922 in Weissach,Germany.He was the first child of Elisabeth Wilhelmine Machtolf and Alfred Erich Hartmann.He had one younger brother by the name of Alfred Hartmann.Erichs family moved to China due to the hardships of the Treaty of Versailles.Erich's father purchased a small island in the middle of the Xiang River.Although the one thing Hartmann is best known for is being the top German ace in WW2 (Sherman). Erich Hartmann was one of the best Luftwaffe pilots of all time and took many steps to get to the point he left off on in his piloting career. Erich Hartmann enlisted in the Luftwaffe on October of 1940 and finished training in January of 1942 and then was assigned to the Jagdgeschwader 52 or the JG52.He flew a BF 109,it was a lightweight design and had a top speed of 250 miles per hour.Erich's first mission was on October 14,1942 (Sherman).…show more content… When Hartmann retired from the military he had a confirmed 352 Russian fighter pilots shot down. Hartmann was a Major when he retired.He fought around 850 times in aerial combat.The achievement Erich was most proud of was never loosing a wingman.He had also flown with the JG53 and the JG71.Hartmann died on September 20,1922 (Sherman).He had flown 1,456 missions in his career (Heaton). Erich Hartmann was an amazing pilot for many reasons and will always be remembered in
