Erich Rudorffer Major Erich Rudorffer ( born 1 November 1917 ) is a German former Luftwaffe fighter ace , one of a handful who served with the Luftwaffe through the whole of World War II . He is the 7th most successful fighter pilot in the history of air warfare , and currently both the oldest jet fighter ace , and the most successful ace still living . Rudorffer claimed a total of 222 victories , fighting in all the major German theaters of war , including the European and Mediterranean Theatre of Operations and the Eastern Front . During the war he flew more than 1000 combat missions , was engaged in aerial combat over 300 times , was shot down by flak and enemy fighters 16 times and had to take to his parachute 9 times . His 222 aerial victories include 58 heavily armoured Il - 2 Sturmovik ground attack aircraft . He was also responsible for sinking a British submarine . Early life . Rudorffer was born in Zwochau , Sachsen . He flew for Deutsche Lufthansa until two months after the beginning of World War II , when all pilots were transferred to the Luftwaffe . In early 1940 Rudorffer was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 2 " Richthofen " . World War II . Rudorffer got his first victory over a Curtiss Hawk 75 , on 14 May 1940 . He scored eight more times before the capitulation of France . He flew throughout the Battle of Britain , and legend has him being pursued down Croydon High Street below rooftop level by a Hurricane . He achieved his nineteenth victory on 1 May 1941 ; he was then awarded the " Ritterkreuz of the Iron Cross " and appointed " Staffelkapitän " of 6 . / Jagdgeschwader 2 ( JG 2 ) " Richthofen " the following month . By the end of December 1941 he had claimed 40 kills . In 1942 Rudorffer participated in Operation Cerberus ( Channel Dash ) and flew over the Allied landings at Dieppe in August 1942 . After 45 victories in November 1942 his unit was transferred south to Sicily and later Tunisia . On 9 February 1943 Rudorffer claimed to have defeated 8 British pilots during a 32 - minute aerial battle , and collected his first multiple victories . Again on 15 February he was victorious over 7 allied aircraft . Among his victories over North Africa are 10 Allied bombers . In July 1943 " Hauptmann " Rudorffer was appointed to command II . / Jagdgeschwader 54 ( JG 54 ) on the Eastern Front . He claimed his first victory in that theater on 7 August . Due to the experience gained by fighting the RAF he achieved incredible success . During his first sortie on 24 August 1943 , 5 Soviet aircraft were downed in 4 minutes . On 11 October 1943 Erich Rudorffer wrote history when during 17 minutes he claimed 13 kills . Erich Rudorffer earned his nickname " Fighter of Libau " on 28 October 1944 near the Latvian city of Libau . While preparing to land he spotted a Soviet task force of about 60 close air support aircraft on its way to attack Libau airfields . He broke off the landing and engaged the enemy without any backup . He drove off the attackers , shooting down nine enemy aircraft within 10 minutes . In the winter of 1944 , Major Rudorffer was trained on the Messerschmitt Me 262 Jet fighter . In February 1945 he was recalled to command I . / Jagdgeschwader 7 ( JG 7 ) . Between December 1944 and beginning of April 1945 the I . / JG 7 operated from the then newly built " Luftwaffe " Airbase in Kaltenkirchen north of Hamburg . So he seems to have been Group Commander more or less for the one month of March 1945 . Rudorffer claimed 12 victories with the Me 262 , to bring his total to 222 . His tally included 136 on the Eastern Front , 26 in North Africa and 60 on the Western Front including 10 heavy bombers . After the war . Erich Rudorffer started out flying DC - 2 s and DC - 3 s in Australia . Later on he worked for PAN AM . Pilots and flying students remember him as a hired PPL instructor in Lübeck , Germany , at a local flying school in the late 60s for some time , and other people recollect he later ran an auto gas station in nearby Mölln , well into the 70s . His returning to active aviation later than 1980 seems highly unlikely . Rudorffer was one of the characters in the 2007 Finnish war movie Tali - Ihantala 1944 . A Fw 190 participated , painted in the same markings as Rudorffer ' s aircraft in 1944 .