AA27113 Messerschmitt Bf109G-6 - Major Hermann Graf

A talented footballer and gifted glider pilot, Hermann Graf was considered old at 26, when he eventually joined Jagdgeschwader 51 during the summer of 1939. His early months of service were uneventful, however, a unit transfer to the Eastern Front soon saw Graf claiming aerial victories, along with him quickly becoming the unit’s most successful ‘Ace’ pilot. 

Scoring seven victories on the same day during combat with the Soviet Air Force, he would later celebrate his 100th combat victory whilst fighting over Kharkov in May 1942, with his reputation being enhanced still further when becoming only the second Luftwaffe pilot credited with 150 victories in September 1942. 

He would subsequently go on to become the leading German ace on the Eastern Front later that same month, but there were even greater accolades awaiting this accomplished fighter ace and his incredible victory tally. Graf would become the first pilot in history to score 200 aerial victories during September 1942, by which time he was considered far too valuable to Germany as war hero to be risked, and was withdrawn from operational flying, although he would be forced to return during Autumn 1943, to help combat Allied raids into Germany.

Several of Graf’s fighters were decorated with a distinctive ‘Red Tulip’ design befitting an ace of his status, which served both as an acknowledgement of his fighting prowess, but also to warn Allied pilots not to tangle with this ‘Experten’ Luftwaffe ace.