Hans Philipp

Hans Philipp (17 March 1917 – 8 October 1943) was a German Luftwaffe fighter ace during World War II. A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. He is credited with 206 enemy aircraft shot down in over 500 combat missions. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Eastern Front, with 29 claims over the Western Front.

Born in Meissen, Philipp grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany as the only child of a single parent, Alma Philipp. He was raised under challenging financial circumstances, and volunteered for military service in the Wehrmacht in 1936. Following flight training, he was posted to ''Jagdgeschwader'' 76 (JG 76—76th Fighter Wing) of the Luftwaffe and participated in the invasion of Poland and as a ''Staffelkapitän'' (squadron leader) in the Battle of France. His unit was reformed as II./''Jagdgeschwader'' 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing) in June 1940. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 22 October 1940 during the Battle of Britain. He then fought in the aerial battles of the Balkans Campaign and Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves after 62 aerial victories on 24 August 1941 and the Swords () to his Knight's Cross on 12 March 1942, his score now at 86 aerial victories. He claimed his 100th victory on 31 March 1942, the fourth fighter pilot to achieve this mark,|group="Note"|name="century"}} and his 150th aerial victory on 14 January 1943. Philipp claimed four aircraft shot down on 17 March 1943 taking his total to 203 aerial victories. He thus surpassed Hermann Graf as the leading German fighter pilot at the time, and six months after Graf, became the second pilot to claim more than 200 victories.

Philipp was promoted to ''Major'' (major) and given command as the ''Geschwaderkommodore'' (wing commander) of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 1 (JG 1—1st Fighter Wing) on 1 April 1943, conducting Defense of the Reich operations against the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). He was promoted to ''Oberstleutnant'' (lieutenant colonel) on 1 October 1943 and was killed in action a week later on 8 October during an attack on Bremen. It is believed that he was shot down by the P-47 Thunderbolt pilot Robert S. Johnson. Philipp managed to bail out but his parachute failed to open. Provided by Wikipedia