Most enthusiasts know who was the most successful fighter pilot in world history (well, in the last 100 years anyway). But who was second. Often times those who did not reach the pinnacle are often forgotten and so it is with Gerhard Barkhorn. Like Eric Hartmann, he was not flying combat when the war started and was one of those who saw little action in the first years of the war. This was just due to happenstance as his initial posting with JG 2 in January 1940 was on home defense. He then was posted to JG 52 in July 1940 and though it was on the western part of the Channel coast, was not engaged in much combat and when he did see action, he was unsuccessful.

All of that changed when JG 52 moved to the Eastern front and the start of the war against the Soviet Union. He recorded his first success in July 1941 and from there on was frequently successful, often recording multiple victories during missions. His score then started climbing rather rapidly, though not quite as rapidly as his Geschwader companion Eric Hartmann. Interestingly, there was no competition between the two men as there was between McGuire and Bong in the Pacific. It was not in Gerhard Barkhorn's nature to be competitive. He was a man who was greatly respected by the men he flew with and those who, in later years, he commanded. He was not above doing mundane tasks like test flying repaired aircraft or spending some time with the mechanics who worked on his and other aircraft.

Barkhorn was considerate enough to allow others to gain success as it was felt that if all did well, then the unit would be more cohesive. In other words, he was a born leader and eventually rose to command JG 52. His successes did not go unnoticed as he was awarded several levels of the Knight's Cross for his efforts. He was also wounded rather badly on several occasions, keeping him out of combat for many months during the war. This would naturally affect his ability to add to his score. In 1945 he was given command of JG 6 and after flying Bf-109s for his entire career, moved to the FW-190D-9. He did not like the 190D and stated that if he was given 6 months he would eventually learn to fly it properly, but that was not to be. His final score was at 301, an immense accomplishment.

After the war, no one had a use for a fighter pilot and he held many different jobs. He was invited to join the Bundeswaffe when it reformed and rose to the rank of Major General before retiring. His retirement was not long-lived as he and is wife were killed in a car accident in 1983.

Of course, there is much more to the book that the synopsis I have provided. Author Bernd Barbas is well known to Luftwaffe enthusiasts and has done an exceptional job of telling the story of Gerhard Barkhorn. The majority of the book is, of course, his Luftwaffe career. Barbas was able to use Barkhorn's flight log as well as other documents to tell the nearly mission by mission story of his WWII flying career. Not every flight is in there as Barkhorn flew more than 1,100 combat missions, but every one in which he scored a victory seems to have been covered.

The narrative flows well and one never gets the feeling that one is simply reading statistics, as can be the case with some other books. We get a real idea of what it was like during the constant moving around that these units did during the war. All of this is further enhanced by some excellent color profiles and by an outstanding selection of period photographs. Many of them are full page images, and this includes several dozen color images, most of which I have never seen. They are a real boon to the enthusiast and modeler alike as it is getting more difficult to see high quality images like this.

In all, it makes for another outstanding book from Start and while it is not a one-sitting read, it is one that I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy reading. Modelers will be wanting to get the accompanying decal sheet offered by Start on their web site. Most highly recommended.

September 2014

Review book courtesy of  Luftfahrtverlag-Start  where you can order your copy.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.