Public domain World War II pictures

Hartmann's method of shooting down the enemy was to wait till the last moment before starting to fire at the enemy. Marseille indeed was such an excellent shot that it took him just a few rounds to shoot down enemy planes always aiming for the cockpit. ...

Hartmann's method of shooting down the enemy was to wait till the last moment before starting to fire at the enemy. Marseille indeed was such an excellent shot that it took him just a few rounds to shoot down enemy planes always aiming for the cockpit. Cruel but effective.

i know what you're saying. Believe me ,if anybody can survive in the air that long , some great luck AND skill has to be involved

Boxer, referring to Bong being a very poor shot, Hartmann himself never claimed to be a great shot like Marseille and said that in up to 80% of his victories the enemy pilot never knew he was there. He viewed dogfighting as a waste of time and fuel.

Rick, of course you are absolutely right about 'Marseille' sounding french. He descended from a Huguenot family (french protestants) who fled from France to Prussia by the end of the 17th century due to violations because of their religion. Will respond...

Rick, of course you are absolutely right about 'Marseille' sounding french. He descended from a Huguenot family (french protestants) who fled from France to Prussia by the end of the 17th century due to violations because of their religion. Will respond to your issues later!

and as far as the russians learning...yessir, my dad said by the time they got their first Migs, they were damn good , as good as as anybody in the air

heres a history question for some german folks, now that we're on the subject of pilots. My nickname is Dutch, my whole family has called me that ever since i remember, my dad said that grandma gave me that nickname for a german pilot, who even went to ...

heres a history question for some german folks, now that we're on the subject of pilots. My nickname is Dutch, my whole family has called me that ever since i remember, my dad said that grandma gave me that nickname for a german pilot, who even went to britain some years after the war, to WW2 reunions, visiting his former enemies. does anybody know who this guy would be?they said she called me that cause of my black hair looked like his

I started some s&*@ here unintentionally, when i made that statement ,i was just responding to waqar's post wishing there could have been more dead english or french, i thought that was an asshole statement. i take nothing away from hartmann or...

I started some s&*@ here unintentionally, when i made that statement ,i was just responding to waqar's post wishing there could have been more dead english or french, i thought that was an asshole statement. i take nothing away from hartmann or marseille, who sounds french as hell to me, our best, Dick Bong, was actually self admittedly a bad shot, but an excellent pilot, who to make up for lack of gunmanship, would just fly dangerously close to his enemy before lighting him up, i know he had double digit kills, nowhere near those numbers though

Yup, Marseille achieved 7 victories over french soil before transfered to North Africa. The remaining ones he did all in North Africa.

You’re ahead of me, I just commented on Marseille under his picture. Where most of Marseille victories in the Mediterranean theater? His victories are impressive yes but the majority of the best British pilots stayed in England. And as his death proved,...

You’re ahead of me, I just commented on Marseille under his picture. Where most of Marseille victories in the Mediterranean theater? His victories are impressive yes but the majority of the best British pilots stayed in England. And as his death proved, no matter how good you are you can still run out of luck.

Good point here, Dixie. It's impossible to tell what could have happened but, yes, probably Hartmann wouldn't have reached 352 victories against western pilots. On the other hand, who knows what H.J. Marseille could have accomplished if he wasn't killed...

Good point here, Dixie. It's impossible to tell what could have happened but, yes, probably Hartmann wouldn't have reached 352 victories against western pilots. On the other hand, who knows what H.J. Marseille could have accomplished if he wasn't killed in September 1942 with 158 aerial victories, all against western opponents...