Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 26, 2013

Heinrich Bär (1913–57) was a German Luftwaffe flying ace in World War II. He flew more than 1,000 combat missions, and fought in all major German theatres of the war, including the Western, Eastern and Mediterranean fronts. He was shot down on 18 occasions and was credited with 220 aerial victories, around 16 of which were in the Messerschmitt Me 262, an early jet fighter. Bär joined the Reichswehr in 1934 and transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1935. Serving first as a mechanic, then as a pilot on transport aircraft, he was informally trained as a fighter pilot. He claimed his first aerial victory in September 1939 on the French border. By the end of the Battle of Britain, his tally of victories was 17. Transferred to the Eastern front to participate in Operation Barbarossa, he quickly accumulated further kills, earning the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords for 90 aerial victories in February 1942. Hermann Göring's personal dislike of Bär, coupled with Bär's insubordinate character and lack of military discipline, deprived him of higher awards. After the war, Bär continued as an aviator, and was killed in a flying accident near Braunschweig. (Full article...)

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