Gerhard BarkHorn

Gerhard was the most high scoring ace of all time. He was the top flying ace of WW2 in Germany and of the war. He flew a Bf 109 and was mostly places at the Russian Front. He was born May 20th 1919 in Königsberg in East Prussia. In 1937, when he was 18 years old, he joined the Luftwaffe. Luftwaffe is the German word for "Air Force". He began to flight train in Germany in 1938 and finally went on his first mission to England on August 1st, 1940 during the Battle of Britain. Although, Gerhard, the 2nd highest scoring Ace of all time, did not shoot down any enemy aircraft's. He was actually the one who got shot down! He finally scored his first victory, or kill/shot down plane, on his 120th mission on July 2nd, 1941. he was located in the eastern front where he stayed for quite awhile. While he was there for most of the war, he kept a steady pace that most aces kept but he was one of the youngest pilots. On his good days he would get to 4-7 victories and he had up to 10 missions a day too.

Some Other Highlights of Barkhorn's career include:
5 January 1942 - his 30th victory
1 March - Staffelkapitän of 4./JG 52
25 July - wounded while flying Bf 109 F-4 (# 13388) 'White 5'
23 August - awarded the Ritterkreuz, with 64 victories
19 December - his 100th victory
11 January 1943 - awarded the Oak Leaves, with 105 victories
8 August - his 150th victory
1 September - Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 52
30 November - his 200th victory
23 January 1944 - 1,000 combat missions (the first fighter pilot in history to do so)
13 February - his 250th victory
2 March - awarded the Swords
5 January 1945 - his 301st, and last, victory

After the war Barkhorn became a Generalleutnant, or a German General, in the Bundesluftwaffe. He retired in 1976 and finally died, with his wife Christl, in an automobile accident on 6 January 1983.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe
http://www.acepilots.com/german/barkhorn.html