Heinrich Ehrler

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Heinrich Ehrler (14 September 1917 – 4 April 1945) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and wing commander during World War II. As a fighter ace, he is credited with 208 enemy aircraft shot down in over 400 combat missions. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Eastern Front, with nine claims over the Western Front which included eight in the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. Born in Oberbalbach, Ehrler grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany as one of 12 children in his family. He joined the military service in the Wehrmacht in 1935, initially serving with the artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. He participated in the Spanish Civil War and following the outbreak of World War II transferred to the Jagdwaffe (fighter force). Following flight training, he was posted to the 4. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77–77th Fighter Wing), and later reassigned to 4. Staffel of Jagdgeschwader 5 (JG 5–5th Fighter Wing). Scapegoated for the loss of the German battleship Tirpitz, Ehrler was court-martialled, stripped of his command and sentenced to three years and two months Festungshaft (honorable imprisonment). Ehrler's sentence was later commuted and his loss of rank rescinded, and in February 1945 he was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 7 (JG 7–7th Fighter Wing). According to his fellow pilots, Ehrler thereafter flew in the increasingly desperate air battles without the purpose and dedication that had made him one of the Luftwaffe's most successful aces. On 4 April 1945, he claimed his last three victories by shooting down two Allied bombers and ramming and destroying a third with his damaged aircraft having run out of ammunition.