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Marseille, Barkhorn, Hartman, Galland, Mölders.... all of them were absolute beasts

For me Hans-Joachim Marseille was, is and will always be the best German fighter pilot!!! 🦅

This is by far the most underrated aerial combat history channel on KZfaq. Not only is it underrated, but it is also one of the very best . Guy's, please like this video so that this channels algorithm gains more traction and can be seen by other aerial combat enthusiasts such as ourselves . TJ , keep up the amazing work that you put in to bring these videos to us , the fans.

My Great Uncle was an ace with JG 1 Anton Rudolph Piffer. He shot down 32 US Bombers amongst others in a FW190. I wish I knew more about him. He was shot down after D Day by British pilots in Mustangs.

If you're going to look at a German pilot, look at Heinz Baer (or Bar). A "first to last" pilot who started out flying Me 109 E's in 1939 to flying Me 262s in 1945. Second to Marseille in kills against the Western Allies, fought in all 3 theaters, 3 times nominated for the Diamonds to his Knights Cross and the Cherry on top, Georing didn't like him! As far as "Spitfire Killer" the top pilot was Josef Priller, who shot down 68 Spitfires.

Aussie here 👍🙃🍺🦘 Salutations to All WW2 Fighter pilots - what a fascinating period of History & its machinery

Historical notes - edit - also was just told I listed 1943 instead of 44. I'm sorry :( that was a typo I missed. - Well guys, I put an unreal amount of work into this video. But like all, there are small inaccuracies here and there. For one, the paint schemes of planes are always extremely difficult, especially in videos like this that take place across multiple years when models and camos are constantly changing (Like the Spitfire models and roundels here). I have done my best to maintain the closest possible model throughout though. Also, Nick Hector was a huge help here, and most kill claims looked pretty legit. There were some days however, when confirmations could not be found. The ace in a day mission in December was one of these for example. Lastly, with the gun camera footage, I cannot say with complete and full certainty that this is Egon's death. But James Marshall said that it was this one, and he is, without a doubt an expert on the air war over Europe in 1944 and likely worked with Gresham's family on a lot of this. And compared to the recollections that I could find, it checks out. Egon was killed in a wide turn, from a distance, and his plane "Blew up" and immediately went into a snap roll and spiral, similar to what we see here. Finally, obviously there were other German aces with more kills, I know. But I believe there is a case to be made (and is made here) that Mayer may have been the premier and most valuable pilot to the Luftwaffe, fighting on the Western front and making such significant contributions, hence me calling him the greatest! Thanks for watching, love you guys! -TJ

German fighter pilots did not make ace with just five kills. The term was "Expert" and given after 15 kills. And there were many of them.

Judging by that violent snap-roll, I wouldn't be surprised if Mayer got knocked unconscious by knocking his head against something in the cockpit, or canopy.

UK - I was a school boy during WW2 and even now when I hear a plane go over I look up and think is it German, we kids back then knew what we were seeing, It was a terrifying time. This was an amazing video for me, thank you.

The luftwaffe planes and pilots definitely have a romance all of their own. I love this work of yours and thoroughly enjoyed it. So completely unbiased, and that is a rare approach these days. Thank you!

Thanks for your dedication and hard work. A priceless contribution to history.

I always thought the Spitfire I & II were truly the classic planes. As far as the Me-109 I have often read that the "F" was one of the best. Marseille wanted to keep his, but was ordered into the "G" which had problems, and we know how that came out.

Luftwaffe Kill confirmation procedures were much stricter than the allies; In order for a Luftwaffe pilot to get credit for a kill there had to be either an air witness or a ground witness, PREFERABLY BOTH!!! Using this criteria, there were 107 Luftwaffe fighter pilots that qualified for the title of EXPERTEN (100 or more confirmed kills). All of the top scorers were on the eastern front; But 10 of them did it on the Western Front; and of those 10, 2 of them did it at night.........

Ain’t no way they used war thunder footage to make this 💀😭😭😭

Similar to the Canadian fighter ace, George 'Buzz' Beurling, Mayer, along with several other top Luftwaffe fighter pilots, became extremely adept at deflection shooting. Master that discipline, and the next requisites were great planes to fly in combat scenarios, top-class ground-crews and excellent wing-men. Plus plenty of ammo and some novice enemy pilots to engage.

Very well told sir and a fine tribute to one of the greatest fighter piloys of all time . I wonder if there is anything in existence told by Egon Mayer himself. Erich Hartmann perhaps the best pilot ever survived and lived a long life but dead man tell no tale . Long live Deutschland.

People need to understand that every time he shot down a bomber that was 10 men killed right there.

Both Hawker Hurricane Mk 1 and Supermarine Sptfire Mk !had an armament of 8 browning 303 machine guns. Also in BOB in 1940 All german Bf 109's were 109 E type, not type For G.

Thanks TJ for this fantastic video! It's an interesting question as to who was Germany's greatest fighter ace: Hartmann with the most aerial kills, Marseille with the most aerial kills against the Western Allies, etc... and Egon Mayer with his incredible achievements shown in your video on the Western Front was certainly one of them. Like all of them, he fought with tremendous skill and bravery for his country against increasingly overwhelming odds, but like so many, made the ultimate sacrifice. RIP Thanks for documenting his story so thoroughly and for all the other great videos you do.

Thanks you for all your hard work in these videos! I look forward to watching them and always learn from them. Much appreciated.

Very well done thank you for keeping history alive.

This is absolutely phenomenal and riveting content and presentation. I been following this page and related content for years and this is by far one of the most superior videos you have ever put out. Thank you so much!!!

You have without a doubt one of the best voices I have ever heard, describing action and allowing us to feel as if we are involved in the battles , Outstanding work and hope you get acclaimed recognition you deserve. Thank You and really enjoy as my favorite war your Vietnam docucoverage as well.

Brave German pilots! 😺👍💙🐺

Excellent video ! I’ve been a lifelong aviation enthusiast (since a little kid in the 70s), and it’s kinda hard to find really good stories/info that I haven’t already seen or read… Thanks for sharing something (new for me) that I can enjoy and learn even more. One thing is certain - there have been a lot of extraordinarily brave and excellent pilots fly into combat, on all sides and all theaters of war in the past 100 years !!

What a fantastic job you have done , I'm looking forward to your next one !! I hope you get rewarded for all your hard work

Wow! I have been with you for several years. This might be your best. You are getting good at this stuff!!!

Germany had a ton of high scoring aces Eichmann at 352 phenomenal totals. Wonder how good the opposition was but heck they felt with whatever came along. Heard the Russian combat was totally different from the other campaigns.

Amazing story and absolutly a top notch of production. It was very informative and for me personally an unknown part of german military history so far. There are so many german super-aces. Thank you guys, this will be shared 🛩🔥

This is why I love your channel, thorough research with respect to air to air victories.

Excellent video and that's what I call deep diving into history well done !

Excellent video and very informative . Hans Ulrich Rudel was the most decorated of the Luftwaffe aces as a ground attack pilot (Stuka) .

Welcome back TJ! Glad to see more video!

Excellent. WW2 aerial combat fascinated me at a very young age back in 1975. We should keep this history alive.

I always love your videos! You do such great work! Thanks!

crazy how quick things can change. a superior ace with a ton of talent and 102 aerial kills gets taken down by a pilot with zero aerial kills and very little combat experience

Heinrich Ehrler is my Blood relation. His family moved to California, there's a Ehrler civic center named after his family in Garden Grove, ca

That was the best WW2 prop fighter video I’ve ever seen Well done mate

They said that 109 wasn`t best fighter, but all top aces flown it. Its results was better than all allied fighters combined results was.

A program dedicated to wingmen would be great. How the concept began, their jobs:- biplane to jet age, and success stories.

Awesome video. Thanks for keeping this important history alive.

The research is just outstanding!

Experience counts for a lot , sadly many RAF pilots didn’t have this at the beginning of the war !

Early spits, other than having a tighter turning radius, was on par with the 109. This changed with the introduction of engines using high octane fuel.

nicely done. lot of great info/history

Thankyou TJ. I will be sure to watch it. Thanks again for the vid

The Spitfires “Achilles Heel” was in its design. It was designed as an interceptor, making it defensive rather than offensive weapon. That said, the Spitfire mk.IX’s pretty much roamed unchallenged over occupied Europe. It would be the RAF’s Typhoons and Mosquitoes, that would take the war to the Third Reich. “Head-on” attacks were nothing new. During the Battle of Britain RAF pilots were attacking German bombers head on.

Amazing effort and dedication . An exceptional work of tribute to valiant Luftwaffe and German pilots

I also wanted to say that this was Great and kept my attention through making dinner and cleaning up afterward! Great Job!

What a great and detailed video! Germany couldn't afford to send the aces back to train the next generation. That explains the absurdly high number of kills of German fighter aces.

Thank u for sharing this story. New subs here bro. Keep up the good work. ❤

Werner Molders, single handedly clear Krimean skies for Von Manstein

Wow, what a fantastic video of this amazingly skilled fighter pilot. The Luftwaffe were very lucky to have him on their side. He really was a workhorse for the German Airforce at this time. What a shame for him that he eventually succumbed to the wrath of the American Airforce.

A first class presentation. You definitely have a talent for delivering a narrative. Thanks kindly.

Thank you TJ3 History 👍

Thank You!! For being a real human narrator and not A.I.!! Not everyone can tell -but I can. Every time. I can bust the Turing test every time.

German aces are legends!

Awesome segment as always TJ!

Thanks for posting. Great job.

Erich Hartmann - 352 kills.

It is said that Egon Mayer and Georg-Peter Eder developed the devastating head-on attack tactic against American heavy bomber formations - particularly B-17s. During the early US daylight bombing raids into France, the Luftwaffe did not consider the threat seriously. American B-17 Flying Fortresses were heavily armed and entirely new to the Luftwaffe fighter pilots such as Mayer and JG-2. Hence, the German attacks were relatively ineffective and the B-17s were able to adequately defend themselves. But Mayer and Eder saw the growing threat of American daylight raids and set about determining new tactics to destroy the American B-17s. They soon discovered that the B-17s' greatest vulnerability was in the front. So Mayer and Eder began to attack American bomber formations head-on, closing rapidly and attempting to either hit the bombers' engines or kill the pilots. Then Mayer and Eder ripped through the formations (still attacking others head-on) or inverting and rapidly diving away. Mayer and Eder quickly proved head-on attacks as the most efficient, and then modified their tactics once again with wave after wave of Luftwaffe fighters coming head-on into American bomber formations. These continuous wave attacks were extraordinarily successful and remained in use until the end of the war, despite the addition of chin-turrets and extra machine guns to B-17 and B-24 noses. Mayer continued his success until 1944 when the increased number of P-47 and P-51 escort fighters became available, and tactics changed to find and destroy the Luftwaffe at every chance. Once free of escorting the bombers by rotating escorts, American fighter pilots hunted and killed expert Luftwaffe pilots such as Mayer. These were pilots and experience which the Luftwaffe could not replace, and never did.

VERY well done DOCU!… impressive graphics❗️

Thanks. Good Video and cudos to your persistent research. I look forward to seeing more.

Man shot down so many spitfires he pretty much new every weakness it had

Impressive work. Thank you.

For a long time, I wondered what happened to Egon. I heard later that he was jumped by fighters and his wingman was also shot down. Well, now I know for sure about what happened due to this excellent TJ3 episode. TJ3 is without a doubt one of the best You Tube channels. Thank You.

Glorifying killers is a popular fallacy mostly done by those of no experience of the reality. As a combat veteran of a more recent and very different war, my opinion is the life savers ie the medics were the real heroes .

Not every source is 100% accurate because the original sources are from the 40s

Great video, love the confirmation research.

The amount of work and effort behind these videos and the resulting quality is simply staggering....bravo!

one of the best german aces was erich hartmann with 352 confirmed kills

Most likely Target fixation!! As with anything who gets the jump on his enemy, ends the battle ❤️

Very forensic in your approach to history. Good work here.

i do believe the p-38 had the range to make it to target and back deep within germany before the p-51 came on scene. i can't recall why i'd read that they didn't make better use of the lightning for escort duty.......

Mayer is the uncontested best bomber killer but the title of your video is a bit misleading. In terms of kills, hartmann is the most successful ace of all time tho he only had 7 kills on the western front (all mustangs). That being said, job well done your video was very interesting 👌

Outstanding presentation. Really good work.

I first heard of Egon Mayer in that episode of Dogfights. I loved the show as a kid. It was my introduction to military history and aviation.

For me Erich Hartman is is Germany’s best ace

Keep the HB SG Johnny. Great show buddy, and I like your idea about an auction.

You are indeed a great person for your absolute accuracy of WWII .Well done ✔️

No one can argue the Germans had better equipment, discrediting their victory’s is very predictable for allies, people also easily forget the axis forces were amazingly outnumbered.

Erich Hartmann the best fighter pilot of the world.

Outstanding video!

Great video amazing story to listen. Thank you for your work. ❤

P47 shot down more than any allied fighter including the P51

Regarding claimed kills it is not unreasonable to assume that the Luftwaffe inflated the numbers of RAF losses, but what is never talked about is the fact that western (and Soviet) air forces did the same. It is irritatingly pathetic to read/hear the accounts of resentful 'authorities' that German pilots and aircraft simply were not that good, that if Luftwaffe official's mouths were moving they were lying. Fact of the matter is that German claims have shown to be the most accurate of any combatant nation in the war, and no, this is not the same thing as saying that German claims were never inflated, just that they were not as egregious as their opponents in this regard. The Americans were easily the worst. To soothe their massive egos American pilots were credited with half a kill, even a quarter kill, and, the cherry on top, full credit for parked aircraft at airbases. To rationalize this American veterans would claim that attacking airfields was much more dangerous than air to air combat because, well, you know, German pilots just weren't any good, especially against us . . . Much ink has been wasted by Brit writers in efforts to discredit Marseille's 17 kills in a day achievement because, well, you know, no-one could ever knock down 17 of our craft in a single day! It is interesting to note that none of these 'historians' have ever disputed Emil "Bully" Lang's remarkable accomplishment of downing 18 Soviet aircraft in a day, probably because the victims were Russian whom too many of said historians believe were lucky enough if they could even get a plane airborne. In theory history should be immune to resentment and ego, in reality it is not. Cheers!

What a great video, thank you for doing this.

Great video 👏👏

Beyond cool to find that footage, I’m a sub🥂

As others have noted, Hartmann had the most kills but against weaker opposition, Marseille, as far as I remember, was never even struck by a bullet! But died as a result of a malfunction. Mayer was certrainly also exceptional

Amazing vid, thanks.

Great video great job! Bravo !!

Great video. Thanks

Great Video Thanks

Interesting research and results 👍

I think Heinrich Bär was the best one. He flew in the east, west, and south. He was successful in adjusting his tactics to be effective in all 3 major regions.

Love your videos Dude ! 😎👍🏽 ✈️

Great work. Seeing the actual footage enables one to draw his own conclusions. Does anyone has the coordinates of the crash site or photos of it?