It is believed that over 2,500 Luftwaffe fighter pilots became Aces during World War II, each credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat. Only two men scored more than three hundred - Erich Hartmann, the top scoring pilot in history with 352 victories, andGerhard Barkhorn with 301. The third on the list of highest scorers with 275 victories is Günther Rall who, but for injury, might have surpassed them all.
All three men flew the majority of their missions with the Luftwaffe’s most successful wing - JG52 – the unit chosen by artist Robert Taylor to represent all of the Luftwaffe’s fighter Aces in his master drawing titled Camaraderie.

Portraying Günther Rall, the great Ace is discussing tactics with his men before leading them out on an early morning patrol from one of many temporary airstrips in central Ukraine. It’s October 1943, during the period from July 1943 to April 1944 that Rall was Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG52, leading them in the great air battles with the Soviet Air force over the rapidly contracting German frontline.