The same numbers?

[drumars]

I noticed that the opening menu two Messerschmitt have the same numbers, 14 Is not that a bit unusual?

[uran21]

While ago I asked myself will someone ever notice this. Good observation!

[lordzimoa]

Me two, LOL, of course the famous yellow number 14 Messerschmitt is that of Hans-Joachim Marseille, the star of Afrika. The most talented pilot ever... let us just say it is a small oversight, we knew it, but you are the first to spot it!

[drumars]

Little things that can not disturb the overall perception. Thanks for the information on this air ace.I did not know which belongs to yellow 14

[Chris10]

the famous yellow number 14 Messerschmitt is that of Hans-Joachim Marseille, the star of Afrika. The most talented pilot ever...

eyyy..eyyy...there are some more aspirants for that title such as Erich "Bubi" Hartmann of JG 71 "Richthofen which flew 1404 sorties and in 852 dogfights downed the unbelivable number of 352 enemy planes (348 on the eastern front) which makes him the best fighter pilot ever...
and hey...Hans Ulrich Rudel is the most successful pilot ever even surpassing Hartamann in sorties (2530) destroying
- 3 soviet ships (including the sov. battleship Marat) - 70 landing craft - 519 tanks - over 800 vehicles - over 150 flak and AT positions - 4 armored trains -various bridges and bunkers -
Rudel got shot down 30 ! times by flak and small arms and the russians tried everything to hunt him down knowing that he is Mr.Doom but he always sneaked away, even from behind russian lines ...
...he was and is the all time best pilot...the invincible eastern eagle
just came across a funny article about him using typical crude american slang...funny as hell
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/rudel.html


.......and both Hartman and Rudel survived the war

In fact there are 2 other german pilots with over 300 kills, more than one dozen with more than 200 kills and over 2 dozen with 130-200 kills...
in the alltime list of flying aces the first 100 places are all german pilots

Marseille had 157 kills when his Me-109 crashed...

[drumars]

Here we have an African front aces who flew the skies of Africa.The hope is that I understand post. Are Hartmann and Rudel fly in Africa? I think not.

[lordzimoa]

We know that, but to me, he was the most talented and the reasons why:

- His young age
- The ratio of kills to sorties in such a short time, unsurpassed.
- The number of kills he managed to do per sortie and even stronger per ammunition supply, one shot one kill. If I recall he ones shot down seven fighters in one sortie, that meant one burst per fighter, one kill!
- He was self-thought and invented his own unique manoeuvres and tactics.
- His aerobatics and stunts
- He got all his kills on the Western front, related to my next point:
- The fact he got his kills mainly against British fellow much trained and talented fighters flying equal fighter-planes like the Spitfire, not shooting down squadrons of bombers, air-transports or outdated and relatively untrained fighters or pilots, etc...

He died due to a mechanical failure of his airplane and when leaving to parachute out probably hit the tale of the airplane and plunged unconscious to his death, he was not shot down. To me he was the most amazing, talented, natural fighter, that flew on instinct and talent, invented his own tactics and experimented his own manoeuvres, ruthless and accurate dogfighter-killer against equal trained aces, flying top notch airplanes and material.

He was a gentlemen as well and a playboy, a movie star... for some that was a downside of his character, but again to me just the icing on the cake. I hope they make a movie of his career and life one day, all is there for a block-buster...

Many historians consider Marseille as the best pilot of all time.

Firstly Marseille used, while fighting, a lot of tricks, stunts and tactics and this way of flying has had much influence on other pilots. Also, many strategies devised by him, are still applied by modern air forces.

Secondly, Marseille destroyed most aircraft within one of the shortest period of time: in a career of only 18 months he took a total of 158 enemy planes. That equates to an average of almost 9 aircraft per month.

In Marseille`s best month he brought down 56 planes in one month. In this month was also Marseille`s best day: one day he destroyed 17 aircraft during 3 flights. It was during one of these flights, where he shot down 7 fighter planes in 5 minutes, an all time record. In average Marseille consumed only 15 bullets per shot plane, also a record.

Marseille is not the German pilot with the most victories since there are at least 29 pilots who shot down more. Yet, Marseille may be considered as one of the best pilots, since 154 of the 158 victories were made on single-engined fighters, who were technically equivalent to its own device. This compared to the 29 other pilots who usually fought against multi-engine bombers that were significantly slower and weaker.

Marseille also gained all his victories on British aircraft, while the 29 other German air heroes fought against the Russian Air Force who are less well trained pilots and aircraft were of lesser quality. Marseille also fought over Africa, an area because of drought and heat known as the hardest area to fly and fight.

Just for those interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Joachim_Marseille

[Chris10]

We know that, but to me, he was the most talented and the reasons why:

- His young age
- The ratio of kills to sorties in such a short time, unsurpassed.
- The number of kills he managed to do per sortie and even stronger per ammunition supply, one shot one kill. If I recall he ones shot down seven fighters in one sortie, that meant one burst per fighter, one kill!
- He was self-thought and invented his own unique manoeuvres and tactics.
- His aerobatics and stunts
- He got all his kills on the Western front, related to my next point:
- The fact he got his kills mainly against British fellow much trained and talented fighters flying equal fighter-planes like the Spitfire, not shooting down squadrons of bombers, air-transports or outdated and relatively untrained fighters or pilots, etc...

-Hartmann was only 20 when he was deployed to the eastern front in October 1942..by that time the quality of russian planes and pilots improoved considerably and continuously due the new models and better training...and about numbers we dont have to talk ..so I cant follow your reasoning...
On October 1943 Hartman celebrated his 150 confirmed kill..so in fact he made 150 victorys in only 12 months whereas Marseille had 151 kills in his desert campaign from April 1941 to September 1942 (16 months)...make the math who shot enemys down quicker and the day Marseille shot down 17 british fighters you will not try to tell me that these were all skilled pilots..they most probably were all beginners and greenys..cmon..be a bit reasonable...

Hartmann downed only 1 heavy bomber and a prox 250 fighters and about 90 heavy armored Il-2 so talking about firebursts per kill is a bit hilarious when considering how many bullets you need to penetrate the Il-2s heavy armor, dont you think ?
And additionally soviet high command and/or Stalin put prices on certain german pilots heads so everytime the russians recognized the radio call signs (Hartmanns was "Karaya 1") every single enemy fighter tried to bring em down which made air combat far more dangerous for the aces in the eastern campaign. Compared to that Africa was a walk in the park..
Marseille was an awesome fighter pilot, highly intelligent and with superior skills but he wasnt our best.

Probably more a thing of personal preference than about numbers though...
All semantics anyway ...

[lordzimoa]

No doubt Hartmann was also one of the greatest aces of WW2, with Rudel, Galland, Nowotny, Priller, Barkhorn, Kittel, Bär, Rall, Schnaufer... endless list.

It is indeed a personnel preference, anyway we tried to honour Marseille in our art piece, especially in the "Afrika Korps" spirit, and I believe we succeeded.

[Kerensky]

No doubt Hartmann was also one of the greatest aces of WW2, with Rudel, Galland, Nowotny, Priller, Barkhorn, Kittel, Bär, Rall, Schnaufer... endless list.

It is indeed a personnel preference, anyway we tried to honour Marseille in our art piece, especially in the "Afrika Korps" spirit, and I believe we succeeded.

I think you actually went too far, honoring him twice over.
Obviously the one getting shot down is the fake though!