Heinrich Ehrler  Heinrich Ehrler (14 September 1917 – 4 April 1945) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator and wing commander during World War II. As a fighter ace, he is credited with 208 enemy aircraft shot down in over 400 combat missions. The majority of his victories were claimed over the Eastern Front, with nine claims over the Western Front which included eight in the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter. Born in Oberbalbach, Ehrler grew up in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany as one of 12 children in his family. He joined the military service in the Wehrmacht in 1935, initially service with the artillery and anti-aircraft artillery. He participated in the Spanish Civil War and following the outbreak of World War II transferred to the "Jagdwaffe" (fighter force). Following flight training, he was posted to the 4. "Staffel" of "Jagdgeschwader" 77 (JG 77–77th Fighter Wing), and later reassigned to 4. "Staffel" of "Jagdgeschwader" 5 (JG 5–5th Fighter Wing). Scapegoated for the loss of the German battleship "Tirpitz", Ehrler was court-martialled, stripped of his command and sentenced to three years and two months "" (honorable imprisonment). Ehrler's sentence was later commuted and his loss of rank rescinded, and in February 1945 he was transferred to "Jagdgeschwader" 7 (JG 7–7th Fighter Wing). According to his fellow pilots, Ehrler thereafter flew in the increasingly desperate air battles without the purpose and dedication that had made him one of the Luftwaffes most successful aces. On 4 April 1945, he claimed his last three victories by shooting down two Allied bombers and destroying a third by ramming with his damaged aircraft after having run out of ammunition. Ehrler was born on 14 September 1917 in Oberbalbach, today part of Lauda-Königshofen, in the district of Tauberbischofsheim of the Grand Duchy of Baden. He was one of eight children of a laborer. When his mother died, his father married again. The second marriage added four more children to the family. Following a vocational education as a butcher, Ehrler joined the military service of the Wehrmacht on 29 October 1935.