Hermann Graf Colonel Hermann Graf ( 24 October 1912 – 4 November 1988 ) was a German Luftwaffe Second World War fighter ace . A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat . He served on both the Eastern and Western Fronts . He became the first pilot in aviation history to claim 200 aerial victories — that is , 200 aerial combat encounters resulting in the destruction of the enemy aircraft . He claimed 212 aerial victories in over 830 combat missions , 202 of which were on the Eastern Front . Graf , a pre - war football player and glider pilot , joined the " Luftwaffe " in 1935 and initially selected for transport aviation was posted to " Jagdgeschwader 51 " ( JG 51 — 51st Fighter Wing ) in May 1939 . At the outbreak of war he was stationed on the German – Franco border flying uneventful patrols . Serving as a flight instructor he was stationed in Romania as part of a German military mission training Romanian pilots . Graf flew a few ground support missions in the closing days of the German invasion of Crete . In the late spring , 1941 Graf claimed his first aerial victory on 4 August 1941 during Operation Barbarossa , the German invasion of the Soviet Union . He was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross ( ) after 45 victories on 24 January 1942 . By 16 September 1942 his number of victories had increased to 172 for which he was honored with the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves , Swords and Diamonds ( ) . At the time of its presentation to Graf it was Germany ' s highest military decoration . On 26 September 1942 he became the first fighter pilot in aviation history to claim 200 enemy aircraft shot down . A national hero , Graf was taken off combat operations and posted to a fighter pilot training school in France before being tasked with leadership of a high flying de Havilland Mosquito intercept unit called Jagdgeschwader 50 . In November 1943 Graf returned to combat operations . He was appointed " Geschwaderkommodore " ( Wing Commander ) of " Jagdgeschwader 11 " ( JG 11 — 11th Fighter Wing ) and claimed his last aerial victory on 29 March 1944 . He was severely injured during this encounter and after a period of convalescence became " Geschwaderkommodore " of " Jagdgeschwader 52 " ( JG 52 — 52nd Fighter Wing ) . He and the remainder of JG 52 surrendered to units of the United States Army on 8 May 1945 , and were turned over to the Red Army . Graf was held in Soviet captivity until 1949 . After the war he worked as an electronic sales manager and died of Parkinson ' s disease in his home town of Engen on 4 November 1988 . Early life . Childhood . Hermann Anton Graf was born on 24 October 1912 in Engen in the Grand Duchy of Baden not far from the Swiss border , the son of Wilhelm Graf ( 1878 – 1937 ) , a small farmer , and his wife Maria , née Sailer ( 1877 – 1953 ) . He was the third of three children , with two older brothers , Wilhelm Wilhelm ( 1904 – 1981 ) and Josef Wilhelm ( 1909 – 1981 ) . His father had fought in World War I as an artillery soldier and was awarded the Iron Cross ( " Eisernes Kreuz " ) . He did not return home until Hermann was six years old . The young Hermann ' s main reference point was therefore his mother , and the bond he formed with her lasted the remainder of her life . Inflation in the Weimar Republic in 1923 wiped out all the family savings . From a very early age , Hermann learned to work very hard to make a living . As a young boy , Graf was fascinated by football . He started with the football club " DJK Engen " ( " Deutsche Jugendkraft " — Litteral for " German Youthful Strength " , a Catholic sports organisation dating back to 1920 ) and later became a goalkeeper in " FC Höhen " . In his teens , he had been selected to join a group of talented young football players who were trained by Sepp Herberger , a former forward ( 1921 – 1925 ) of the German national football team and later head coach of the German team winning the 1954 FIFA World Cup . A broken thumb ended all of Graf ' s early hopes for a career on the national football team . Graf graduated from the " Volksschule " ( primary school ) in 1926 at the age of thirteen . Since the savings for Graf ' s higher education had been lost in the 1923 inflation , he had no option but to apply for a vocational education . For the next three years , Graf worked as a locksmith apprentice at a local factory . A locksmith had a low income and when he received an offer to work as a clerk apprentice , he gladly accepted a change in careers . In this position , Graf helped Jewish families escape to Switzerland at a time when the " J " stamp in German Jews ' passport had been demanded by Germany ' s neighbouring countries . He took a great personal risk and came close to getting caught . Graf was assisted by " Gruppenführer " ( Group Leader ) Albert Keller of the Nazi Glider Club NSFK in Engen , who cleared all the tracks that Graf had left . Amateur pilot and joining the Luftwaffe . Graf saw his first aircraft when he was twelve years old causing an emotional conflict between his passion for football and aviation . He had started working at the Engen town Hall in 1930 , saving all his money to buy a glider . Before his twentieth birthday he contributed a homemade glider to the newly founded Engen Glider Club . Every Sunday he would go out to the nearby Ballenberg mountain until an almost fatal crash destroyed his glider in the fall of 1932 . In 1935 when Adolf Hitler nullified the Treaty of Versailles , Hermann Graf applied for flight training in the newly created " Luftwaffe " . Graf was accepted for the " Luftwaffe " s A pilot training school in Karlsruhe on 2 June 1936 . Following basic training , flight training progressed through the levels A1 , A2 and B1 , B2 , referred to as A / B flight training . Graf ' s A training included theoretical and practical training in aerobatics , navigation , long - distance flights and dead - stick landings , graduating from A2 on 25 September 1936 . Graf joined the B1 school in Ulm - Dornstadt on 4 October 1937 . The B courses included high - altitude flights , instrument flights , night landings and training to handle the aircraft in difficult situations . He completed his B1 training on 23 December 1937 and progressed to B2 training in Karlsruhe on 19 January 1938 , completing on 31 May 1938 . After the B2 course the pilots were either selected for fighter pilot training and transferred to a " Jagdfliegerschule " ( fighter pilot school ) or chosen for bomber or transport pilot training at a C flight school . Graf , at the age of twenty - six , was initially thought to be too old for fighter pilot training and selected for the transport pilot C school . Largely due to the fact that the fighter force was in dire need for new officers " Unteroffizier " ( non - commissioned officer ) Graf , without training on modern fighter aircraft , was transferred to the 2 . " Staffel " ( 2nd squadron ) of the I . / Jagdgeschwader 51 ( I . / JG 51 — 1st group of the 51st fighter wing ) at Bad Aibling on 31 May 1939 after he had completed his officers candidate training at Neubiberg . I . / JG 51 was equipped with the most modern German fighter aircraft at the time , the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E1 . Graf , who had never flown a modern fighter aircraft before , ended his first flight on the Bf 109 with a crash . In July 1939 , I . / JG 51 was briefly reequipped with the Czechoslovakian built Avia B - 534 biplane , giving Graf an opportunity to show his flying skills as well as to reestablish his self - confidence . World War II . At the outbreak of war on 1 September 1939 I . / JG 51 was stationed at the French border at Speyer and Graf was promoted to " Feldwebel " ( sergeant ) . I . / JG 51 exchanged the Avia B - 534 biplanes again for the Bf 109 and was tasked with protection of Germany ' s Western border during the Phoney War — the phase in the months following Britain and France ' s declaration of war on Germany in September 1939 and preceding the Battle of France in May 1940 . Graf flew twenty - one combat sorties without firing his guns and was still considered an unreliable pilot . On 20 January 1940 , his " Gruppenkommandeur " ( Group Commander ) Hans - Heinrich Brustellin had Graf transferred to the " Ergänzungs - Jagdgruppe Merseburg " ( a supplementary training unit stationed at Merseburg ) where he provided newly trained fighter pilots from the fighter pilot schools with combat experience as an instructor . His assignment led to the promotion to " Leutnant " ( second lieutenant ) on 1 May 1940 . At Merseburg Graf met and befriended two fighter pilot trainees Alfred Grislawski and Heinrich Füllgrabe . " Ergänzungs - Jagdgruppe Merseburg " at the time was under the command of " Major " Gotthard Handrick , the 1936 Olympic gold medalist and former commander of " Jagdgruppe 88 " of the " Condor Legion " during the Spanish Civil War . On 6 October 1940 , " Major " Handrick was appointed " Gruppenkommandeur " of III . / Jagdgeschwader 52 ( III . / JG 52 — 3rd group of the 52nd fighter wing ) . Handrick had some influence on the personnel rotation within the Luftwaffe and had Graf , Füllgrabe and Grislawski transferred to 9 . / JG 52 ( 9th squadron of the 52nd fighter wing ) on 6 October 1940 as well . Service in Romania and invasion of Greece . Romania , isolated and threatened following the non - aggression pact signed by Germany and the Soviet Union , was seeking to uphold its neutrality . The Soviet occupation of Romania ' s regions , Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina , consented to by the king Carol II of Romania , caused Carol ' s popularity to fall . This gave Ion Antonescu an opportunity to rise to power and he soon established a dictatorship in Romania . Under Antonescu , Romania ' s armed forces were reorganized , supported by a military mission from Germany called " Luftwaffenmission Rumänien " ( Luftwaffe Mission Romania ) under the command of " Generalleutnant " ( Lieutenant General ) Wilhelm Speidel . Stationed in Bucharest , III . / JG 52 was temporarily renamed I . / Jagdgeschwader 28 ( I . / JG 28 — 1st group of the 28th fighter wing ) until 27 December 1940 . Its primary task was to train the Romanian Air Force personnel . Here the trio of Füllgrabe , Graf and Grislawski is joined by Ernst Süß , and later by Leopold Steinbatz and Edmund Roßmann . The German airmen of 9 . / JG 52 spent a number a very relaxing days in Bucharest . Graf even managed to play football when a team of the " Deutsche Luftwaffe " played against Cyclope Bucharest at the Bucharest Sport ' s Arena before thirty thousand spectators . The relaxed life continued until late 1940 when the Romanian internal political situation deteriorated . Ion Antonescu , mainly a nationalist and the Iron Guard , led by Horia Sima , formed a tense alliance climaxing in the brief but bloody civil war from 21 – 24 January 1941 . The three - day civil war was eventually won by Antonescu with support from the German army . In May 1941 III . / JG 52 was transferred to Greece to support Operation Merkur , the invasion of Crete . The unit flew mostly ground attack missions during this time . War against the Soviet Union . In early June the unit transferred back to Romania , and from 22 June the unit supported Operation Barbarossa . On 1 August JG 52 transferred to forward airfield s in Ukraine , and on 4 August Graf claimed his first aerial victory against an Polikarpov I - 16 while escorting a Junkers Ju 87 strike . Graf recorded the victory at 06 : 20 . His second victory fell the next day . Graf became an official ace upon achieving his fifth victory on 6 September 1941 . The victory was achieved at night , 18 : 23 local time , in the vicinity of Krementschug . By early 1942 he had 45 victories , for which he was awarded the " Ritterkreuz " on 24 January . On 23 March Graf was appointed " Staffelkapitän " of 9 . / JG 52 . Shortly thereafter he shot down 48 enemy aircraft over a period of three weeks . On 14 May he shot down 8 enemy aircraft , and on 17 May he was awarded the " Eichenlaub " to his " Ritterkreuz " for reaching 104 victories . Only two days later he was awarded the " Schwerter " , after adding a further two victories to his tally . From August onwards JG 52 supported " Heeresgruppe Süd ' s " advances towards Stalingrad and Graf continued shooting down enemies at a high rate . In September alone he shot down 64 enemy aircraft , including 10 on 23 September . Graf had achieved his 172 aerial victory on 9 September 1942 for which he was awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves , Swords and Diamonds on 16 September . On 2 October he also became the first pilot in aviation history to down 200 enemy aircraft for which he received a promotion to " Major " . Some time after this Graf was ordered not to fly operationally any more , as the High Command was concerned about the potential morale loss if he was to be shot down . Indeed , Graf received heavy damage to his aircraft on several occasions , including a cannon hit to the cockpit , and half the rudder shot away . Fighter pilot instructor — " Jagdgruppe Ost " . On 28 January 1943 Graf , now a " Major " ( major ) , was sent to southern France to command " Ergänzungs - Jagdgruppe Ost " ( Supplemntary Fighter Group East ) , a fighter pilot school . Here newly trained fighter pilots destined for the Eastern Front received their final training from experienced Eastern Front pilots . The main base was at St . Jean d ' Angély north of Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast . However , he spent most of his time at the Toulouse - Blagnac Airport where he nursed his passion for football . Peter Düttmann , whom Graf would later send to JG 52 , was one of the pilots at the time at " Jagdgruppe Ost " . Graf selected a Focke - Wulf Fw 190 A - 5 aircraft for his personal use . On 11 March " Reichsmarschall " Hermann Göring was summoned to the Wolf ' s Lair by Hitler . Following the Allied aerial bombings of Nuremberg and Paderborn , Hitler blamed Göring for the Luftwaffe ' s inability to protect the German cities against the intensified Allied bomber offensive . Especially the fast and high - flying de Havilland Mosquito fighter - bombers had all returned home without having been intercepted . Two days after the attack on Paderborn , Göring met with Germany ' s leading aircraft manufacturers Willy Messerschmitt , Ernst Heinkel and Claude Dornier on 18 March 1943 . Göring accused them for their inability to produce a German aircraft capable of competing with the Mosquito . He then withdrew to Berchtesgarden where he came up with the idea to create a Mosquito intercept task force led by Graf and Herbert Ihlefeld . Graf was ordered to Berchtesgarden where he received his instructions from Göring directly . Graf was directly subordinated to Göring and when asked what he required , responded that he wanted to appoint his own team . Göring approved and subsequently Graf was able to call upon his old friends Grislawski , Süß and Füllgrabe , as well as a number of good football players , who had served as administrators , drivers and mechanics in southern France . Following the meeting with Göring at Bertechsgaden , Graf travelled to Berlin to organize the necessary personnel authorizations at the " Luftwaffenpersonalamt " ( Luftwaffe personnel office ) . In Berlin , he took the opportunity to watch a football match at the Olympic Stadium . Here Graf was introduced to the young film actress Jola Jobst . Graf flew back to Toulouse from Berlin only to learn that his Mosquito assignment had been delayed . Hitler , who had assisted Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War , made repeated efforts to convince Franco into joining the war on Germany ' s side . Since 1941 Spanish fighter squadrons had operated together with the Luftwaffe in the East . Graf ' s person was being used by the German propaganda to have him interacting with the Spaniards . In this role , under Graf ' s supervision , the 4ta " Escudrilla Azul " ( 4th Blue Squadron ) , one of five Spanish voluntary fighter squadrons , received three weeks of specialized fighter pilot training for the Eastern Front from 18 May to 6 June 1943 . Defence of the Reich . Graf arrived at the Wiesbaden airfield on 11 June 1943 where he began the creation of the high - altitude fighter unit . Organizationally it was based on " Jagdgruppe Süd " . The unit was destined to be equipped with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 G - 5 , a high - altitude variant of the Bf 109 equipped with a pressurized cockpit . Arrival of the aircraft was delayed and Graf focus was on football . Graf invited Sepp Herberger to Wiesbaden who trained Graf ' s team for one day . During this visit Herberger encouraged Graf to further explore his influence to save Germany ' s best football players from frontline duty . Acknowledging the idea , Graf managed to bring to his unit players like Hermann Eppenhoff , Hermann Koch , Alfons Moog , Franz Hanreiter and Walter Bammes . Graf also requested Fritz Walter to be transferred to his unit . Walter later lead the West German World Cup winning team in 1954 . Walter ' s transfer was more difficult to achieve . Graf had to submit his request directly to " Generaloberst " ( Colonel General ) Friedrich Fromm , the commander of the " Ersatzheer " ( Reserve Army ) . Along with playing football , recruiting his pilots and staff , Graf also again had met Jola Jobst . The beginning relationship led to marriage in less than a year . His unit received the first 12 Bf 109 G - 5 in July 1943 . With one of these aircraft he managed to reach an altitude of . Military success came quickly when he achieved the units ' first aerial victory over an intruding Mosquito as well . However aircraft shortage still prevented him to fully declare operational status . In parallel to these events the United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF ) based in England were mounting up their daylight offensive over Europe . Equipped with heavy four - engined Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated B - 24 Liberator bombers they had first appeared over northern Germany on 27 January 1943 in an attack against the port of Wilhelmshaven . The number of heavy bomber s of the USAAF Eighth Air Force surpassed the 800 mark and tight flying combat box formations were striking deep into German airspace by July 1943 . Graf ordered all his available Bf 109s to help intercept the American bombers targeted for Kassel on 28 and 30 July 1943 . He was credited with the destruction of his first B - 17 Flying Fortress during one of these attacks . The unit now consiting of 19 aircraft was declared combat ready on 31 July 1943 . Around the same time Graf ' s football team , the " Rote Jäger " ( Red Hunters ) , was also ready and played their first game on 4 August 1943 with Graf as goalkeeper . This football team followed Graf ' s assignments for the remaining war . On 15 August 1943 Graf ' s unit was renamed to " Jagdgeschwader 50 " ( JG 50 — 50th Fighter Wing ) . It was expected that JG 50 would be equipped with the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter . The Me 163 was being tested by " Major " Wolfgang Späte ' s test unit " Erprobungskommando " 16 at Peenemünde and Rechlin in the summer of 1943 . Following a visit of this test unit , here Graf also learned about the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter , he returned to JG 50 full of optimism . During this assignment Graf shot down three more enemy aircraft , including two B - 17 Flying Fortress bombers . In October the unit was disbanded by Göring and absorbed into I . / JG 301 , and Graf was promoted to " Oberst " and appointed " Geschwaderkommodore " of JG 11 on 11 November . JG 11 was tasked with " Reichsverteidigung " ( Defence of the Reich ) , and despite officially being banned from flying operational missions Graf managed to down 6 more aircraft over the next four months . On 29 March 1944 Graf shot down one P - 51 Mustang and in the confusion of the dog fight collided with another . He managed to bail out , but was injured and had to spend some time in a hospital . While on convalescence leave Graf married the German actress Jola Jobst on 24 June 1944 . The couple was formally divorced after Graf returned as a prisoner of war . Jola Jobst would go on to marry Wolfgang Kieling in 1950 and committed suicide in October 1952 . After recovering he was appointed Kommodore of his old unit JG 52 on 1 October , which was still operating on the Eastern Front . With German forces in retreat by this time Graf did not have opportunity for air combat . He managed to bring his tally to 212 before he surrendered to the Americans on 8 May 1945 . Graf had disobeyed an order from General Hans Seidemann . Seidemann had ordered him and Erich Hartmann to fly to the British sector , to avoid capture by the Russians , with the rest of the wing surrendering to the Soviets . Instead Graf chose to surrender his unit to the 90th US Infantry Division . Prisoner of war . Along with most of the JG 52 personnel , Graf was handed over to the Russians shortly after his surrender . Having become famous via the Nazi propaganda machine and as the Commander of JG 52 , Graf was singled out for attention by the Soviets . He was imprisoned until 29 December 1949 . This relatively early release was by many perceived to be caused by his willingness to co - operate with his Soviet captors , something fellow pilots criticized him for , especially following a 1950s book by fellow fighter ace & Soviet POW Hans " Assi " Hahn entitled " I Tell the Truth " . This led to Graf being largely ostracized from post - war Luftwaffe comrade associations . Later life . After Hermann Graf had returned from Soviet captivity in December 1949 his marriage with Jola Jobst collapsed and they were divorced . Initially Graf had a hard time obtaining work but his relationship in the football community helped him . Sepp Herberger introduced Graf to Roland Endler , an electronics manufacturer ( " Elektro - Schweiss - Industrie GmbH " ) from Neuss who also was president of the FC Bayern Munich football club between 1958 and 1962 . Endler employed Graf as a salesman in his company , and Graf would eventually advance to branch leader in Baden - Württemberg and Chief of Sales . Graf eventually re - married twice . His third marriage from May 1959 with Helga Graf , née Schröck , resulted in the birth of his son , Hermann - Ulrich born in 1959 , and his daughter Birgit born in 1961 . In 1965 Graf was diagnosed with Parkinson ' s disease which had a slow deteriorating effect on his health . Parkinson ' s disease affected many of those who had flown high - altitude missions during the war . Hermann died in his hometown Engen on 4 November 1988 .