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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 |
  Adolf Borchers (deceased) *Signature Value : £50 (clipped) | Adolf Borchers was born on 10th February 1913 in Wendhausen near Lunesburg. In the autumn of 1938 he was in the Legion Condor. He was transferred to JG51 where he flew in the Polish and Western campaign and in the Battle of Britain, during which he scored five victories. By the end of 1941 his score stood at 23. In October 1942 he was promoted to Officer and named squadron leader of 11./JG51. By the end of 1942 his score stood at 38. On 7th May 1943 he scored his 44th to 49th victories. A short time later he was awarded the Knights Cross for 78 victories. He was then neamd Commander of 1./JG52 on 11th June 1944 and on 24th July that year he scored his 110th victory. His 118th victory came on 2nd September, the same time the 10,000th victory of JG52 was recorded. Erci hHartmann took over 1./JG52 on 1st February 1945 and Borchers was appointed Commander of iii./JG52. He was bitterly disappointed at being replaced by this youngster and carried that resentment to the grave. Borchers flew approximately 800 missions and had 132 victories, including 5 in the west. He was the 53rd ranking ace in Germany. Adolf Borchers died 9th February 1996. |
 Flt Lt Bertie Boulter DFC (deceased) *Signature Value : £45 | Joining the RAF in July 1941, Bertie completed pilot training in the USA before returning to the UK in 1942, joining Coastal Command flying Ansons and Blackburn Bothas, and instructing on the use of radar. Converting to Blenheims he joined 1655 Squadron at Warboys, and began training on Mosquitos. In early 1944 he was selected for the Pathfinders, joining 128 Squadron flying Mosquitos from Wyton, then becoming part of the Light Night Strike Force with 163 Squadron, completing almost 50 operations. In his book, Mosquito to Berlin, Bertie recalls how they copied the other aircrew as they walked round their planes before the flights. 'We pulled and pushed a few things, kicked the tyres, nodded to each other and clambered aboard.' So with less than 30 hours of solo night flying they roared off down the runway, went to Wiesbaden, dropped their load and returned. 'It must have gone totally to plan because I remember so little of it,' he says. 'We were shot at and I remember a shell burst very close. I went into a hard dive to port before recovering height and heading.' Mission followed mission, with Bertie now a fully-fledged member of the squadron, until one flight over Nuremberg when they were on a diversionary raid designed to fool the Luftwaffe as to the evening's main targets and were carrying huge amounts of aluminium strip to confuse the German radar. They also had a 4,000lb bomb to deliver but things started to go wrong on the return trip to Wyton. The starboard engine was running too hot, so he shut that down and continued on the other engine. Then that began to overheat, so he shut it down and restarted the starboard engine which, by then, had cooled. For around 400 miles after leaving Nuremberg they tried flying on alternate engines and made it as far as Dunkirk, by which time both were heating up too quickly and Bertie and Jim agreed it was time to bail out. Unfortunately, as he was leaving the plane, Jim accidentally pulled the D-ring which activated the parachute, leaving him jammed in the hatch. Bertie delivered a sharp kick on his navigator's shoulder and he promptly popped out of the blazing plane. Bertie followed and a short time later landed with a squelch in a French field. He wasn't certain on which side of the frontline he had landed and thought he heard foreign voices. Eventually he found a farmhouse where the farmer told him the location of the nearest British troops. By the time he had found an old mill where they were stationed it was first light. Bertie wandered in to find them making their first brew of the day and was soon sitting by a fire with a steaming mug of tea. His navigator had been taken in by a Czech sentry and treated to superb hospitality, so that when Bertie caught up with him he was slightly the worse for wear. Bertie had to again bail out of his Mosquito a second time after a mission to Berlin. They found themselves at 25,000ft in a jet stream and overshot Berlin, their intended target. They returned and dropped their bomb but on returning to England the weather had closed in and they were running short of fuel. They made two attempts to land at Wyton, never saw the runway and by this time their fuel tanks were virtually empty. One plane had already crashed because of this. Then the voice of their commanding officer barked over the airways 'This is not a request, this is an order. Climb to a safe height and bail out. Acknowledge.' Bertie and his navigator promptly did so and landed in a muddy field somewhere in Cambridgeshire. In early 1945 he was posted to Canada to ferry back Mosquitos but the war ended. Sadly Flt Lt Bertie Boulter died in April 2010 aged 86. |
  Oberst Erich Hartmann (deceased) *Signature Value : £95 (clipped) | 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. |
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