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Bär, Heinz
(May 25, 1913–April 28, 1957)
German Fighter Pilot
W
ith 220 confirmed kills, Heinz “Pritzel”
Bär was the fifth-ranking German ace
of World War II. He downed 15 of his
victims while flying a Messerschmitt Me 262
jet, becoming the leading scorer for that type
of aircraft. This peerless aerial tactician sur-
vived more than 1,000 combat sorties, only to
die in a tragic accident.
Heinrich (or Heinz) Bär was born in Som-
merfeld, Germany, on May 25, 1913, the son of
a farmer. Like many youths of his generation,
he was intensely drawn to the burgeoning
field of aviation and took glider lessons at an
early age. This inspired him to be a pilot for
Lufthansa, the national airline. However, Ger-
many imposed very strict qualifications on
commercial pilots, and no less than three li-
censes were required. The hardships of the
Depression era precluded any chance of Bär
acquiring such experience, so in 1937 he de-
cided to join the newly formed Luftwaffe. His
intention was to obtain all necessary pilot cer-
tificates in the military, then retire from ser-
vice and join Lufthansa. He proved himself a
natural in the cockpit and by 1938 was serving
as a noncommissioned pilot officer. Tragically
for Bär, and millions of other young Germans,
Adolf Hitlerwas about to embark on a war
of aggression against neighboring countries.
Bär’s desired military discharge became im-
possible by that juncture.
Shortly after World War II commenced,
Bär, now flying sleek Messerschmitt Me 109
fighters, scored his first kill on September 25,
1939, when he downed an American-built Cur-
tiss P-36 flown by the French air force. By the
summer of 1940 France itself had been over-
run, and the Luftwaffe under Marshal Her-
mann Göringconcentrated its efforts against
the British Isles. Flying with Jagdgruppe
(fighter group) JG 51, Bär emerged with 17
kills, making him the highest-scoring ser-
geant-pilot of the campaign. This was done
the hard way, for Bär, like many German pi-
lots, had yet to appreciate the danger of
matching turns with nimble Supermarine
Spitfiresin combat. Consequently, on at least
six occasions, Bär had to nurse his badly shot-
up Me109 back to base. Once while he was
limping home with an overheated engine, a
lone Spitfireshot him down over the English
Channel. Swimming several hours before
being rescued, a rather dejected Bär was
hauled before Marshal Göring, then touring
the aerodrome. When Göring inquired what
he could have possibly been thinking while
swimming, Bär replied, “Your speech, Herr
Reichsmarschall,that England is no longer