RAF Air Vice-Marshal ‘Johnnie’ Johnson who died in January 2001 was no doubt an exceptional gallant and skilful fighter pilot having been credited with shooting down 38 enemy fighters.

But as the Sunday Telegraph’s Kevin Myers pointed out, ‘the simple infuriating truth is that he would never have made it to the Luftwaffe’s list of top fighter aces’. The Luftwaffe’s record show more than 100 of their pilots each shot down more than an incredible 100 allied aircraft.

The top-scoring Luftwaffe pilot was Major Erich Hartmann who downed more than 352 allied aircraft that were attacking Germany. This Luftwaffe fighter ace’s score added up to the combined total of the Royal Air Force’s eleven top fighter pilots.

Between them the Luftwaffe’s top 104 plots downed more than 15,000 allied aircraft.

Hans Joachim Marseille shot down 158 RAF fighters in just two years, a greater tally of enemy aircraft than achieved by the top four RAF aces combined. Of these four RAF aces, only one in fact was British. One was Irish and the other two were South African.

NOTE: The Franz is Franz von Werra… in Heroes of the Reich.