The Haunting Final Words of a Famous German Fighter Ace

in the brutal air War over Europe in World War II the death toll was high on all sides sometimes however this loss of life could hurt slightly less if these Airmen went out in a memorable way in this video we will cover one of these stories where a famous German Ace would die a bold and Unforgettable death after uttering some absolutely iconic final words thank you many of you often ask me how do I get the in-depth historical research for my videos well one of my favorite places to recommend is actually this video's sponsor wandrium wandrium is the Premier educational Super Center for curious minds in addition to their massive collection of historical documentaries they have recently come together with the Great Courses plus to offer even more in-depth learning experiences the past couple of weeks I have actually been binge watching their new course series World War II Battlefield Europe which has helped to give me some great insight for videos just like this one that cover the fascinating stories of Germany's war on the Allies one of the most mind-blowing facts that I've learned from this series was that the Allied bombings in World War II cost an estimated 500 000 German lives mind blown so if you want to expand your wandering mind and get access to a library of outstanding content that is constantly evolving with new series and courses check out wondering today use the link in the description below to get a free trial and support tj3 history at the same time thanks again to wandrium and without further Ado enjoy this is German Ace Heinrich aylor the man who went out in the most memorable way possible but before we get to that part of the story we need to First understand his combat history and how he came to be such a famous Ace When The War Began in 1939 the young ailer was actually serving in the anti-aircraft artillery for Germany but shortly after the opening salvos of the war he would join the luftwaffe and would be assigned to the Messerschmitt bf-109 in jg7 and then in jg5 these units would see him fighting on the arctic front in Norway and then in Northern Russia here Ayler and the rest of his Squadron would primarily fight against the Soviets like many of the Great German Aces he would see a great deal of success against the Eastern adversaries during this time the German luftwaffe was far superior to the Soviet Air Forces in aircraft training and strategy so for nearly all of 1942 Heinrich aylor would dominate as he racked up a total of 40 kills by the conclusion of that summer then as his victories continued he would surpass 60 by the end of September and by the following summer in May of 1942 3 aylor would tally his 100th kill becoming the 40th German Ace to surpass the century mark this earned him the knights Cross of the iron cross with oak leaves which was presented in person by Adolf Hitler he would thereafter go on to Showcase his excellence in the air and by the end of 1944 would eventually claim more than 200 kills but it should be noted that there is some debate as to his kill count according to many historians the claims for his unit and especially for Ayler in particular have likely been inflated this conclusion can be seen when comparing his claims to that of the Soviet records for aircraft lost for example on March 27 of 1943 we can see that Ayler and his unit ran into a Soviet force of around 30 Fighters in this Mission his unit would claim 14 Enemy aircraft destroyed with Ayler shooting down five himself when we compare that to the Soviet documentation however there were only six aircraft reported as lost again on May 25th of the following year Ayler and his group were scrambled to intercept a large force of Soviet aircraft attacking a German Convoy during this encounter the Germans would tally 33 total kills against Lynn Lee's Allied aircraft including 20 twin-engine bombers and eight p-40s Soviet records however only report five total losses on the following day of 1944 the same conflicting reports would occur aylor and his unit would intercept a very large force of Soviet aircraft in this sortie the participating aircraft from jg5 would claim a total of 40 enemy planes destroyed while actual records from the Soviets list far less than that as I will show you here thanks to the aid of some German history experts in a Messerschmitt history group I was able to get a look at what one of these loss reports might look like but since I'm assuming that like me most of you cannot read Russian I have instead translated the data from their findings in one of these loss reports from this mission on May 26th you can see that although on this day jg5 and Ayler claimed 33 kills the Soviet loss report indicates that only 14 planes were written off and even still five of those were listed as is being taken down by Flack not air combat so even if we do include the Flack hits there were only six total twin engine bombers reported as lost which pales in comparison to the 20 that jg5 claimed during this sortie obviously based on this information it is clear that Heinrich aylor and his unit likely overclaimed by a substantial number but even with these records accounted for it is still clear that he was a very skilled pilot in Ace historians estimate that after Soviet records are taken into consideration a more accurate kill count for ehler is likely around 150 instead of the 208 that he claimed at the end of the war which in all respects is still an extraordinary number but as Heinrich had showed that he could handle the Soviets with ease in the Skies over the Eastern Front from 1942 to 1944 in early 1945 that would change as he was sent to the West for the defense of the Reich here he would find that his enemy was not quite so easily killed and it would be here that he would utter his famous and Unforgettable last words but before this happened there was a strange event that took place involving the young ailer one that likely played a key role in his death this would be the sinking of the legendary German battleship turpids on this occasion November 12th of 1944 a lot of things went wrong for the Germans that contributed to This Disaster but in summary miscommunication and malfunctioning equipment led to ehler and his unit going the wrong direction and missing an opportunity to intercept the incoming raid by RAF Lancaster bombers the famed ship would be sunk and over 1 000 German Sailors were killed upon Landing he and his unit were berated for not defending the battleship despite the fact that they were probably not really at fault as their Commander Ayler would be put on trial and found guilty of failing to complete his duty as the German commanders likely needed a scapegoat thus Heinrich aylor was sentenced to prison and demoted a few months later he would be pardoned by Hitler after the truth came to light but by this time he had been mentally and emotionally exhausted by facing such intense scrutiny and dishonorable accusations the war would carry on nonetheless and the tired ailer was needed in the battle for the air as the calendar turned to 1945 the Americans were increasing the intensity of their heavy bombing campaign and were wreaking Devastation all over Germany and many of the other top Aces from the East were sent to defend against the b-17s and b-24s that filled the Skies over the Reich here with jg7 he would be assigned to the newly operational jet fighter the Messerschmitt me 262 with Incredible speed and a lethal Armament of cannons in the nose Germany was hopeful that this new fighter would be a formidable bomber killer and that it may save them from the heavy American Air Force over the next month Ayler would fly the 262 with some success claiming three b-17s two b-24s and a P-51 Mustang on a handful of missions but after his brief stay in prison following the terpits incident and the loss of rank that came with it it was clear that he had lost his ambition and the flame that had made him one of the most skilled pilots in the luftwaffe at this time however Ayler and jg7 were in many respects the Last Hope for Germany so they would have to do everything they could to Halt the Allied Forces nonetheless and on April 4th of 1945 Heinrich aylor would do just that on this date the famed German Ace would be scrambled to intercept a massive force of American bombers little did Ayler know that this would be his final mission after taking off and climbing to an adequate altitude to set up his intercept aylor and his flight dove in unloading their cannons on the formation of American b-17s according to combat records he shot down two flying fortresses to bring his final claim to 208 aerial victories but then as he pulled the trigger to try and destroy a third his Cannon ceased firing he had exhausted all of his ammunition it was at this moment that Heinrich aylor realized that his fight was over and that he was not turning back to base with enemy bombers still in the air he was tired and according to his wingman had reportedly lost the fire in his heart and knew what fade likely awaited his beloved Germany what happened next would be an act of hatred anger and Vengeance Vengeance against more than just the enemy likely against life itself in a final eerie and haunting radio transmission that was heard by his wingman as well as the commanders in the operations room Heinrich aylor called out I'm going to ram him see you in Valhalla there is little documented evidence of the events that followed as no German Airmen reported seeing it occur but what we do know is that ehler never returned from this Mission and made no additional Transmissions following those famous last words thus the obvious conclusion is that the German Ace pointed his jet fighter directly at an enemy bomber and flew right into his enemy killing himself and the American Crew as well in a final Act of devotion and resentment it would be a tragic ending for one of Germany's most esteemed Aces Heinrich aylor's body would be found the following day near Berlin he would finish as one of the highest scoring aces in the luftwaffe and was buried in a small grave in Germany the young Airmen was 27 years old

Channel: TJ3 History

Views: 434,505

Keywords: IL-2 Sturmovik, IL2, Flight Sim, World War II Flight Sim, IL2 Game, Combat Flight Sim, War Thunder, Realistic, History Channel Dogfights, Historic, Documentary, Mark Felton, Yarnhub, TJ3 Gaming, Dark Skies, WW2 Air Combat, Luftwaffe, Messerschmitt, Heinrich Ehrler, Bf-109, Me-262, 109 War Thunder, 262 War Thunder, German Ace Final Words, Luftwaffe Ace, German Fighter Ace, Me-109, Messerschmitt Bf-109, Bf-109 Documentary, Luftwaffe Documentary

Id: QAy3sBLmv1M

Length: 11min 55sec (715 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 18 2022