Erich Alfred Hartmann (19 April 1922 – 20 September 1993), nicknamed "
Bubi" by his German comrades and "
The Black Devil" by his Soviet adversaries, was a German fighter pilot during
World War II and is the most successful
fighter ace in the history of
aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He claimed, and was credited with, shooting down 352 Allied aircraft—345
Soviet and 7
American—while serving with the
Luftwaffe. During the course of his career, Hartmann was forced to crash-land his damaged fighter 14 times due to damage received from parts of enemy aircraft he had just shot down or mechanical failure. Hartmann was never shot down or forced to land due to enemy fire.