Hannes Trautloft Johannes " Hannes " Trautloft ( 3 March 1912 - 11 January 1995 ) was a German World War II fighter ace who served in the Luftwaffe from 1932 until the end of the war and again from 1957 - 1970 . He flew 560 combat sorties and was credited with 58 victories . He was regarded as a very competent leader , and much respected from those serving beneath him . He also was known as the father of JG 54 . Early life and service in Spain . Hannes Trautloft was born in Großobringen near Weimar in Thüringen . On 7 April 1931 , he began his pilot training at the " Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule " ( German Air Transport School ) at Schleißheim . The course he and 29 other trainees attended was called " Kameradschaft 31 " , abbreviated " K 31 " . Among the members of " K 31 " were men like Wolfgang Falck and Günther Lützow . Trautloft graduated from the Deutsche Verkehrfliegerschule 19 February 1932 . From " K 31 " Trautloft and 9 others were recommended for " Sonderausbildung " ( special training ) at the Lipetsk fighter - pilot school . These 10 men were the privileged few and were allowed to attend fighter pilot training . During this training , he spent four months in the Soviet Union , at the secret training facility Lipetsk . Upon returning to Germany Trautloft was promoted to Leutnant . With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War , Trautloft was one of six pilots sent aboard the Ursaramo to Cadiz to secretly aid General Franco . With them , the pilots had six crated Heinkel He 51 biplane fighters . The men and machines arrived in Spain on 7 August 1936 . Originally , they were intended to act as instructors , but the Spanish pilots struggled with learning to fly the He - 51 , so the German pilots soon took up combat duties . On 25 August Trautloft scored his first victory , shooting down a Republican Breguet XIX light bomber . Five days later , shortly after scoring his second victory ( a Potez 54 ) , Trautloft was himself shot down , crash - landing in his aircraft coded 2 - 4 . This was the first Luftwaffe pilot to be shot down in Spain . Trautloft escaped capture , however , and continued flying combat missions . As the war dragged on , the Soviets sent better planes to aid the Republicans . Among these were the agile Polikarpov I - 15 and Polikarpov I - 16 fighters . The He - 51 proved no match for these new aircraft , and after pressure from the German pilots , four of the new prototype Bf - 109 V3 were dispatched to the theater . Trautloft flew one of these new fighters , and scored a further three victories in Spain . Trautloft had the green heart symbolizing Thüringen painted on his plane . This symbol would later be the symbol of JG 54 once he assumed command . World War II . Following his service in Spain , Trautloft held various " Staffelkapitän " positions , and at the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1939 he was the commander of 2 . / Jagdgeschwader 77 . He commanded this squadron during the Invasion of Poland , in which he got one victory . Trautloft was promoted to " Hauptmann " and appointed " Gruppenkommandeur " of I . / JG 20 on 19 September . Trautloft got a further two victories during the Battle of France in May 1940 . On 4 July I . / JG 20 was redesignated III . / JG 51 . During the Battle of Britain Trautloft got a further two victories with JG 51 , bringing his total to 10 . In late August it was becoming apparent to the German High Command that the battle of Britain was not going as planned . A frustrated Göring relieved several " Geschwaderkommodore " of their commands , and appointed younger , more aggressive men in their place . Adolf Galland was given command of JG 26 on 22 August , and Trautloft was given command of JG 54 on 25 August and promoted to " Major " . Trautloft flew over 120 combat sorties over the English Channel with JG 54 , and the " Geschwader " earned a positive reputation among the German bomber crews . During this period Trautloft scored three more victories , bringing his total to 13 . In 1941 the " Geschwader " saw action in the East . First JG 54 took part in the Balkans Campaign , then Operation Barbarossa , the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22 June . On 27 June Trautloft was awarded the " Ritterkreuz " for 20 confirmed victories and outstanding leadership . On 4 December Trautloft ordered that all the aircraft of JG 54 would wear the Green Heart symbol of Thüringen that he himself had on his aircraft in Spain . From this date forth JG 54 became known as the " Grünherz - Geschwader " . During 1942 and 1943 Trautloft proved a popular leader , and his tally rose to 58 . On 6 July 1943 Trautloft was appointed as " Jagdflieger Inspizient Ost " , serving with the " General der Jagdflieger " office . This position put him in overall charge as Inspector of all the Fighter aircraft units fighting on the Eastern Front . In November he became " Inspekteur der Tagjäger " , giving him overall responsibilities for all day - fighters . In late 1944 , a rumor crossed Trautloft ' s desk that a large number of Allied airmen were being held at Buchenwald Concentration Camp . Trautloft decided to visit the camp and see for himself under the pretence of inspecting aerial bomb damage near the camp . Trautloft was about to leave the camp when captured US airman , Bernard Scharf , called out to him in fluent German from behind a fence . The SS guards tried to intervene , but Trautloft pointed out that he out - ranked them and made them stand back . Scharf explained that he was one of more than 160 allied airmen imprisoned at the camp and begged Trautloft to rescue him and the other airmen . Trautloft ' s adjutant also spoke to the groups commanding officer , Phil Lamason . Disturbed by the event , Trautloft returned to Berlin and began the process to have the airmen transferred out of Buchenwald . Seven days before their scheduled execution , the airmen were taken by train by the Luftwaffe to Stalag Luft III . In early 1945 Trautloft joined other high - ranking pilots in the " Fighter Pilots Revolt " , protesting the squandering of the precious Luftwaffe fighters and pilots in high - loss operations like Operation Bodenplatte . Following this revolt Trautloft was relieved of his position and sent to command the " 4 Flieger - Schule Division " ( 4th Pilot School Division ) in Strassburg . He spent the remainder of the war there . Trautloft ended the war as an " Oberst " . After World War II . After the war Trautloft joined the new " Bundesluftwaffe " on 1 October 1957 , now with the rank of " Brigadegeneral " . He served throughout the 1960s as deputy Inspector General of the Bundesluftwaffe , and retired in 1970 as a " Generalleutnant " . He was an active member of many veteran organizations until his death on 11 January 1995 at Bad Wiessee .