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| Signatures on this item | |
| *The value given for each signature has been calculated by us based on the historical significance and rarity of the signature. Values of many pilot signatures have risen in recent years and will likely continue to rise as they become more and more rare. | |
| Name | Info |
  Feldwebel Oscar Boesch (deceased) *Signature Value : £45 | Already a pilot of gliders, he joined the Luftwaffe in 1943 and after training was eventually posted to JG3. He volunteered for the Sturmstaffel 1 unit, a specialist anti-bomber unit flying modified Fw190s with better armour. After just a few days, his unit was merged into a unit of JG3. He scored his first victory on 29th April 1944 claiming a Flying Fortress, immediately followed by another of the bombers targetting Berlin. By November he had claimed another five bombers. The rest of his 18 victories were scored against Russian aircraft, except for an RAF Spitfire on 1st January 1945. In the final days of the war he survived a mid-air collision with a Russian fighter. He died in May 2004. |
  General Gunther Rall (deceased) *Signature Value : £75 | A young pilot with III/JG52 at the outbreak of war. He quickly demonstrated his natural ability and leadership qualities, scoring his first air victory early in the Battle of Britain, and by July 1940 was leading 8/JG52. After transfer to the Eastern Front his air victories mounted at an astonishing rate. A crash hospitalised him but within nine months he was back in the cockpit, and, when commanding III/JG52, gained the Wings 500th victory. Gunther fought throughout the war to become the 3rd highest Ace in history with 275 victories. He was awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. Gunther Rall was born on March 10, 1918 in the small Bavarian town of Gaggenau, Baden. Immersing himself in Boy Scout activities during the difficult economic times in Germany following WW 1, Rall finished school in 1936 and joined the German Army. Influenced by a friend, who was a young officer in the Luftwaffe, Rall entered pilots school in 1938. His initial posting was with JG52. He attained his first aerial victory during the Battle of France in May of 1940. During the Battle of Britain JG52 absorbed many casualties, and Rall was promoted to Squadron Commander at the young age of 22. With his fair-hair and smooth complexion the young officer looked even younger than his years. But behind this pleasant exterior was a fierce competitor with the heart of a tiger. Later, Ralls squadron would support the attack on Crete, followed by deployment to the Southern Sector on the Eastern Front. Ralls victory totals began to mount. Following his 37 th victory, GiInther was himself shot down. He was lucky to survive the crash, but with a badly broken back he would spend most of the next year in various hospitals. In Vienna at the University Hospital he would meet his future wife, Hertha. Miraculously, Rall recovered and returned to the Luftwaffe in August of 1942. By November his score exceeded 100 and he was awarded the Oak Leaves to accompany the Knights Cross he was awarded only weeks earlier. As the War progressed against Russia, Rall began to encounter ever more experienced Soviet pilots flying better performing aircraft. Despite this fact, and being shot down several more times himself, Ralls victory tally kept rising. By March of 1944 the ace had attained 273 aerial victories. With the War now going badly for Germany, Rall was transferred to the Western Front. He was able to attain only two more victories against the swarms of Allied bombers and fighter escorts which now pounded Germany every day and night. In May of 1944 Rall was shot down by a P-47. Losing his thumb in the battle he remained out of combat until later in 1944. Ralls final assignments included flying 190Ds as Kornmodore of JG300, and flying the Me-262 jet. Ralls 275 aerial victories (attained on less than 700 combat sorties) make him the third highest scoring ace of all time. If not for the down time suffered as a result of his broken back, Rall might have actually equaled or exceeded Erich Hartmanns alltime record of 352 aerial victories. Rall was not much for socializing during the War. He was a fierce competitor with a businessmans attitude about flying. He was an excellent marksman, and possibly the best deflection shot expert of the War. He continued to fly with the Bundeslufwaffe following the War, serving as its Commander-In Chief in 1970-74. Sadly Gunther Rall died on 4th October 2009. |
 Generalmajor Josef Haibock *Signature Value : £35 (matted) | Flew Me109s & Fw190s in the West & East with JG26, JG52 & JG3 scoring 77 victories. |
  Hauptmann Karl-Fritz Schlossstein (deceased) *Signature Value : £35 | Karl-Fritz Schlossstein initially flew Me110 heavy destroyers with JG5, when th Group first arrived in Norway in 1942 to provide air cover for the convoys supplying the rapidly increasing German garrison in that country. He commanded 13(Z)/JG5 from the summer of 1942 to June 1943, and then converted to fly Me109s. Later in Norway he flew the Me410 Hornet with ZG76, but finished the war with JG54 Greenhearts flying Fw190s in the Defence of the Reich. He died on 18th July 2017. |
  Leutnant Hugo Broch *Signature Value : £60 | Vital to all fighter units are the pilots who make such superb wingmen that their leaders are loath to part with them. Hugo Broch was one such wingman. Having joined VI./JG54 in January he flew first with Horst Adameit (166 victories), and later with Bazi Sterr (130 victories), but soon demonstrated his own skill in combat. By the end of 1944 he had lifted his personal score to 71 victories. One of JG54s great Fw190 Aces, Hugo Broch saw combat on the Eastern and Baltic Fronts, and completed the war having flown 324 combat missions, and claiming 81 victories. He was awarded the Knights Cross. |
 Major Fritz Losigkeit (deceased) *Signature Value : £40 (matted) | Losigkeit volunteered for service in the Condor Legion. during the Spanish Civil War On 25 March 1938, he was assigned to 3. Staffel (3rd squadron) of Jagdgruppe 88. On 31 May 1938, during the second mission of the day Losigkeit was shot down by 20 mm anti-aircraft guns and taken prisoner of war. He spent eight months in captivity in Valencia and Barcelona before returning to Germany in February 1939 For his actions in Spain, he was awarded the Spanish Cross in Silver with Swords. When World war To began and German forces invaded Poland. Losigkeit on 23rd September 1939, was appointed Staffelkapitan (squadron leader) of 2. Staffel of JG 26, He claimed his first victory on 28 May 1940 during the Battle of Dunkirk, as part of the Battle of France, over a Royal Air Force (RAF) Supermarine Spitfire between Dover and Ostend On 1 June, the fighting over the beachhead at Dunkirk continued. In combat with RAF fighters from No. 19 Squadron, No. 222 Squadron and No. 616 Squadron, Losigkeit shot down a Spitfire near Dunkirk, his last during the Battle of France. During the battle of Britain he achieved four more victories to become an ace in September 1940. For the next 8 months, Losigkeit commanded 2nd Staffel of JG 26 and flew more than 100 combat missions. In May 1941, he was assigned as a diplomatic courier to Japan. During this time and until January 1942, he practiced German air combat tactics with Japanese pilots flying the Mitsubishi 96 and the Me-109. Wanting to rejoin the European war, he made the treacherous voyage back to Germany via the German blockade-runner MSS Elsa Essberger. Travelling 23,300 nautical miles, Losigkeit arrived in time to form up Special Command Losigkeit at the orders of General Adolf Galland. Command Losigkeit conducted fighter operations in Norway to support the Navy and the heavy battle cruiser Scharnhorst. He took command of IV./JG 1 at Berlin-Werneuchen, which later became I./JG 1. Deployed to bases in the West, his unit flew missions against de Havilland Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft and USAAF heavy bomber formations attacking targets in Germany. In June 1943 Major Losigkeit commanded III./JG 51 "Molders" flying the Bf-109 in the Orel area of the Eastern Front. Taking part in the arial war over the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, his unit then covered the retreat of the German Army. On 1 April 1944 he became Geschwaderkommodore of JG 51 and continued to fight against the Russians advanced. awarded the Knight's Cross in April 1945, He took command of JG 77 at Beneschau, present-day Benesov, in the Czech Republic. With the arrival of Losigkeit, Freytag resumed command of II. Gruppe of JG 77. Command of JG 51 was passed on to Major Heinz Lange. Losigkeit was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes) on 28 April 1945. The Geschwaderstab and II. Gruppe were based at Skutsch (Skutec) on 8 May. Losigkeit ordered the destruction of all remaining aircraft before boarding a Junkers Ju 52 transport aircraft, filled up with fuel from salvaged aircraft, heading west to avoid capture by the Red Army As a fighter ace, he is credited with 68 aerial victories in approximately 750 combat missions. This figure includes 13 aerial victories over the Western Allies, the remaining victories were claimed over the Eastern Front. He Died on the 14th of January, 1994. |
  Oberfeldwebel Heinz Marquardt (deceased) *Signature Value : £65 | In late 1941 Heinz Marquardt was with a training squadron south of Paris. In August 1943 he was posted to join IV./JG51 in Russia, achieving his first victory two months later. Shot down eight times, he once achieved twelve victories in a single day. Awarded the Knight's Cross in November 1944, he flew a total of 320 missions, and scored 121 victories. Sadly, Heinz Marquardt died 19th December 2003, aged 80. |
  Oberst Erich Hartmann (deceased) *Signature Value : £95 (matted) | Erich Hartmann started his career as Paule Rossmans wingman, and it was obvious that here was a very special pilot. Promoted Staffelkapitan of 7/JG52 in July 1943, he was shot down and taken prisoner for four hours before escaping. In September he took over 9/JG52. In March 1944 he reached the 200 victory mark. He later le 4/JG52, then briefly I/JG52, and lastly Gruppenkommandeur of I/JG52. Hartmann scored a total of 352 victories, more than any other pilot in history, and was awarded the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Erich Hartmann is the top-scoring fighter pilot in history. During WWII he shot down the equivalent of almost 15 Allied squadrons in aerial combat. In some 850 aerial combats he shot down 352 Allied planes and was shot down himself 16 times. He was never wounded. Hartmanns mother taught him to fly at age 14 and in 1942 at age 20 he was flying Me109s on the Eastern front. His first combat mission was disastrous. He spoiled his leaders attack by going for the kill himself, then mistook his leaders Me109 for a Russian fighter and fled in panic. Were it not for super ace Walter Krupinski believing in Hartmanns abilities he might well have had his flying career ended. Krupinskis tutoring coupled with the fact that Hartmann was a crack shot, turned him around. He scored his first victory on November 5th 1942 and by September 1943 he had completed 300 missions with 95 victories to his credit. In August 1944 Hartmann was awarded the Diamonds to his Knights Cross - Germanys highest decoration and one that was awarded to only 27 German militar ypersonnel. Hitler made the award personally. Before the award ceremony he was demanded to hand over his sidearm before meeting with Hitler. Hartmann told the generals that if Hitler could not trust his front line officers, he could stuff his Diamonds. After a brief confusion he was allowed to carry his pistol. Hartmanns success resulted from the lessons he learned from Krupinski - do not fire until your enemys plane fills your windscreen. That resulted in a sure kill with a minimum amount of ammunition expended. Almost every kill Hartmann made was a near collision. After the war Hartmann surrendered to the Americans, who turned him over to the Russians. He was singled out for especially brutal treatment and was illegally held by the Russians until 1955 when Chansellor Adenaur personally visited Moscow and arranged for his release. The Russians had used every persuasive device known to convert Hartmann to Communism and get him to join the DDR airforce. Upon his return to Germany, his friend and fellow ace, Walter Krupinski, urged him to join the new German Air Force with other old friends such as Barkhorn and Hrabak. Since he felt he was too old to begin a new career, he did. He was given refresher training in the United States and was selected to command the Richthofen Wing in the new German Air Force, the first fighter wing to be rebuilt since the war. He filled that and other jobs in the new Luftwaffe with great distinction until his retirement. He died 20th September 1993. |
 Stabsgefreiter Hubert-Ludwig Pflaum *Signature Value : £25 | After joining the Luftwaffe and completing his flight training, he originally flew Heinkel 111 bombers with IV./KG 27 Boelcke. Towards the end of the war, however, he transferred to train as a fighter pilot, and after qualifying joined II./JG53 PikAs where he flew Bf109s with 6 Staffel in the Defence of the Reich. |
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