Kilduff Peter - Hermann Göring - fighter ace: the World War I carrer of Germanys most infamous airman

Author's note: To view Hermann Grings air combat triumphs within an organisational context, the following list of aerial victories scored by him and his comrades when he was assigned to his four air units (prior to assuming overall command of Jagdgeschwader I) was compiled from the official Nachrichtenblatt der deutschen Luftstreitkrfte weekly news and intelligence summary, various Kommandeur der Flieger bi-monthly, weekly and other reports, resources from the former Reichsarchiv and research material provided by the late Dr. Gustav Bock. Comparable British and French reports provided potentially corresponding casualty and other information. Dates are stated in the German numerical style (day, month) and times are expressed in military time, with chronological subheadings to clarify whether the local time was an hour ahead of British/French time, or matched it. Airfields used by the air units to which Gring was assigned at the time of the victories are also noted, to indicate their proximity to the air combat sites noted. In cases of two-seater casualties, pilots are listed first, observers second. Fates of the airmen are indicated by the abbreviations: DoW = Died of Wounds; KiA = Killed in Action; PoW = Prisoner of War; WiA = Wounded in Action. Otherwise, it is assumed the airman was uninjured and returned to his own unit. Aerial victories claimed, but not confirmed are indicated by n/c, and aircraft Forced to Land (which may have been credited as victories) are identified by FtL. During most of Grings time with Jasta 27, the overall Staffel victory numbers were recorded and listed after individual numbers at times even when some victories were not confirmed officially.

What was Hermann Grings Final Tally?

Officially, Hermann Gring was credited with shooting or forcing down twenty-two enemy aircraft. But, as pointed out in this book, some of his victory claims were questionable. Further, accounts by his contemporaries, Bruno Loerzer and Rudolf Nebel as cited in this book, challenge the overall veracity of German fighter claims. Together, these factors add weight to the question: How many aircraft did Gring truly shoot or force down?

A case by case examination shows that, given the method of awarding credit at the times of Grings twenty-two victories, at best he accounted for eighteen or nineteen enemy aircraft between 16 November 1915 and 18 July 1918. Based on the research used in this book, the author contends that Grings claims can be rated as follows:

In view of the evidence currently at hand, Grings first, tenth and sixteenth victory claims seem least likely to have been graced by success and his nineteenth was tenuous at best.

A number of German fighter pilots with higher and more credible victory scores such as Oberleutnant Harald Auffarth (twenty-nine), Leutnant Gustav Drr (thirty-five), Leutnant Hermann Frommherz (thirty-two) and Leutnant Georg von Hantelmann (twenty-five) did not attain the Orden Pour le Mrite or Grings level of command success. But perhaps they also lacked the burning and amoral ambition, helpful personal contacts and just plain luck that marked Hermann Grings early pathway through life.