Black Tulip: The Life and Myth of Erich Hartmann, the World's Top Fighter Ace

Erik Schmidt

Feb 2020 · Casemate

About this ebook

This myth-busting military biography reveals the true story of the legendary WWII German flying ace—and how his story was manipulated during the Cold War.

Over the course of 1,404 wartime missions, Luftwaffe fighter pilot Erich Hartmann claimed a staggering 352 airborne kills. His storied career contains all the dramas you would expect: frostbitten fighter sweeps over the Eastern Front, drunken forays to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest, a decade of imprisonment in the wretched Soviet POW camps, and further military service during the Cold War.

Then, just as Hartmann’s career was faltering, he was adopted by a network of writers and commentators deeply invested in his reputation. These men, mostly Americans, published celebratory stories about Hartmann and his elite fraternity of Luftwaffe pilots. With each dogfight tale put into print, Hartmann’s legacy became loftier and more secure, and his complicated service in support of Nazism faded away. Black Tulip digs beneath this one-dimensional account of Hartmann’s life, revealing a man who was neither a full-blown Nazi nor an impeccable knight.

Ratings and reviews

I have read this book from tip to toe and I have found this book can be quite misleading. If you are a military or history enthusiast, who wants to explore the intriguing stories of the top WW2 pilot, I can assure you, you will be disappointed. Despite its title, Black Tulip is not a piece of comprehensive research about the life and death of Erich Hartmann, instead, it spent numerous pages about emerging revisionism and the war crimes that had been committed by the Third Reich. When you are r

About the author

Erik Schmidt has made a career of researching complicated topics. A former magazine editor and senior marketing writer, he has an MFA in creative nonfiction and a lifelong love of history and aviation. He is a freelance writer living in Denver, Colorado with his family.