Top Ace of the Skies, Axis Powers

It seems to me that Grunter von Haart (spelling is correct), should be called the top ace of WW II; in Italy she was accredited with 168 kills, and a possible 39 kills over a nine month engagement. She states: "When in the air, in combat, all I think about is how best to kill the enemy." [See, "Ace of One ," By. Grunter von Haart, Olympic Press 1968, pages 112 - 113]. By far this women out shines most other fighter pilots in that theater. In 1967, she became a naturalized American Citizen, and died in 1991 at the ripe old age of 96 years. Her legacy of being called the first female ace in Germany is in concrete as she was awarded the Iron Cross First Class by Hitler himself, in 1943, and later received a prison sentence by the Americans. So let us heed to her words, written many years after the WW II, "War is an art that all who participate therein shall suffer, given the immensity of the troubled times, one must ask herself {or himself} not shall I defend my Country, but rather I shall lay my life down so that others may live in peace." [Id. at page 388]. -Cmd. Sgt. Maj. McKee [aka "Birdy"]

 

Fascinating story Birdy - there's no obvious information about her online - wikipedia even goes as far as to say that the only 2 female aces in history were the two Soviet ones, Lydia Litvyak and Katya Budanova. Also I couldn't find any mention of Grunter von Haart in the lists of female iron cross recipients, or any references to her book.

Do you have any further info or perhaps some more details of where you got the information - It sounds like it needs some research but I've drawn a complete blank so far.

Thanks

 

German Aces of WWII

I can't find info either? which would be odd? given the rep? apparently...don't know of any luftwaffe combat aces, female that is...

how could you have such a total in kills, and if confirmed? and not be in the list?...Erichs department...

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=77&t=84519&start=15
Worth mentioning is the fact that the only german female pilot that actually "saw combat" was Flugkapitän Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg, who was shot down by an american fighter aircraft on April 8, 1945 while piloting a Bücker Bü 181 from Berlin to southern Germany. She managed to make an emergency landing with her damaged aircraft while wounded but succumbed to her wounds and died a few hours later....taken from link..

 

The book in question was written in German and translated into English in 1968, I only recently obtained the book after browsing several stacks of books from an Estate Sale; I too could not find her on-line, but did manage to contact the Russian consulate in California, who seemed aware of her and only partially mentioned the brief history; intrigued, I then contacted the German Consulate (Main in Wa. DC), and explained my dilemma concerning her history. I spoke to a Mr. Grinkel (Sp. ?), he stated that she did, indeed, get the Iron Cross First Class by Hitler shortly before his death and her kills mentioned in the book are partially accurate, but he would not elaborate on any inaccuracies. The whole point in sharing the story was her final quote. Something to think about. [Note: The book was written first hand, and purported to be non-fiction]. -Birdy

 

No one with that name appears on the list I got ...

and also

source

 

See previous reply. The only reason for the post was to show the history of her final quote concerning the sacrifices of war. -Birdy

 

Yet it is still wrong to 'portrait' (or report) her as a Top Ace when obviously with that many victories she would be quite more known and she is not.

 

It's a nice quote Birdy. Unfortunately you have unearthed a mystery, hopefully we will get someone with some more info online later to throw some light on the subject. I for one am intrigued.

Edit; her scores seem remarkably similar to Kurt Knispel the tank ace, and not to any Luftwaffe aces? 168 kills in nine months would definitely make her famous, quite apart from being female.

 

The list of German Aces (recognized so far):



Does the book mention what Unit she was with , what plane she flew ? that could help narrowing the 'research'

 

can you confirm book title again, please birdy, and if there is an ISBN ..

 

I believe in German the book might be called 'Fleigenass von Einem', hopefully one of our German contributors can correct that, as I got no search hits.

 

I am, at this moment, holding the book in my hands, it is 12.5 cm x 16 cm x 6.5+ cm with 409 pages; the title is correct "Ace of One," By: Grunter von Haart; there is no front and no back cover, no ISBN Number is apparent; the pages are light/med. brown in color, the print is quite small (say a 9 pt.) the facts listed are verbatim. I have gone to great lengths to verify the facts of this book; but have only been met with muted comments and stone-walls, with the exception of the Russian and the German Consulate, mentioned earlier. And, yes I too am intrigued, it is a puzzle, a mystery [so to speak]. Having read the book, it doesn't mention the type of aircraft that she was flying, but it gives quite a bit of information on a variety of aircraft currently in that campaign. Nor does it specifically mention the base or air-field that she was operating out of, though it goes into great detail of an air-field and the 'aeroplanes,' thereon. -Birdy

 

any chance to photo pages, and post pic's, birdy, you got a few here champing at the bit with enthusiasm to find the answers?

 

Well there was quite a few units in Italy , to find one that could match will be tricky ..



Is there any mention of places or region ? Dates ?

 

I actually have a very grainy photo that I can scan into the computer after work tomorrow, hopefully this can assist in identifying her. A quick purview of the book gave me this little gem: Middle of page 68, she states that she served in the Luftflotte Nos. 2, in 1944 - 1945, hopefully this helps. The book is quite 'dry' and overly extremely wordy, in a , ahhim, mild sense. -Birdy

 

appreciated birdy...

 

Sorry, but I don't believe this story.

Women were not allowed to fly in front line units with the Luftwaffe, but if she had been a successful fighter ace with the amount of kills claimed, the Nazi propaganda machine would have been working overtime to get her publicity.

Also, why would the US give her a prison sentence, it didn't with any of the male Luftwaffe aces ????

The whole story reeks of B/S

 

Also in 1945 she would have been 50 years old according to the dates in the story. That is a little over the hill for a fighter pilot, especially one who is shooting down an enemy plane every two days.

Luftflotte 2 was in Italy though until it was disbanded in Sep 1944.

 

For the Luftflotte 2 ( here

the only place where an Ace would have been is in the Jagdfliegerführer Oberitalien : in one of those fighter squadrons JG2, JG4, JG53 or JG77


JG 2 not in Italy by the time mentionned (France and Germany)
JG 4 not in Italy (Germany)
JG 53 left Italy in June 44
JG 77 left Italy in September 44 (the only squadron 'she' could have served logically served because it goes up to the 24th or March 1945 when it was disbanded)

 

Just for the record...

There are no German pilots listed with 168 confirmed aerial victories....

The official list runs like this....

Hauptmann Heinrich Sturm.......................158
Hauptmann Hans-Joachim Marseille............158
Oberst Wulf-Dietrich Wilke.......................162
Major Horst Adement..............................166
Hauptmann Heinz Schmidt........................173
Hauptmann Emil Lang..............................173
Hauptmann Gunther Schack.....................174
Oberleutnant Ernst-Wilhelm Reinert............174
Oberst Johannes Steinhoff.......................176

This places her claims in some fairly distinguished company, running from possibly the best individual marksman of the war, (Marseille), to probably the most widely published (Galland excepted) post-war pilot of them all, "Macky" Steinhoff.