Envy Drove German WWII Pilots To Their Deaths
Envy drove German pilots to their deaths
German fighter pilots were desperate to match the feats of aces such as Hans-Joachim Marseille
In the skies above the Sahara, one aircraft was feared by Allied pilots above all. Squinting into the harsh Libyan sun, they prayed not to see the glint of a yellow “14” behind a Messerschmitt’s cockpit — the cockpit of Hans-Joachim Marseille. They were right to be afraid of the “Star of Africa”, for in one day he brought down ten aircraft.
When that feat was mentioned in German dispatches, it was the turn of his colleagues’ wives to be scared. A study of Luftwaffe fighter pilots in the Second World War has shown that their husbands’ jealousy, and its motivating effects, would have raised their death rate by almost 50 per cent.
Researchers were able to test this because the German military mentioned notable feats in a regular bulletin to inspire the troops and civilians alike.
Under Goering, the Luftwaffe had a strong competitive culture. During the Battle of Britain Werner Mölders, an ace pilot, was ordered to return to Germany for meetings. He would do so only on the condition that his chief rival, Adolf Galland, was grounded.
The study, published by a team from the universities of Chicago, Southern Denmark and Zurich, suggests that this culture may have been counterproductive. After a pilot was mentioned in the bulletin the researchers found that anyone who had flown with him did indeed redouble their efforts.
Their kill rate rose from an average of 0.8 aircraft shot down a month to 1.2. But this came at a cost. In a normal month the death rate was 2.7 per cent. Among pilots whose peers had been singled out for bulletins it was 4 per cent. Most of the deaths were among mediocre pilots, fruitlessly putting themselves in danger in the hope of glory.
This flight crew flew 2,008 sorties and accounted for 112 enemy planes
Most of the extra kills were from the pilots who were already among the best in the Luftwaffe. They added more than a kill a month to their tally.
“While all of them aim to score more, some — the more average pilots — get themselves killed, and the very best pilots mainly react by increasing their scores,” the researchers write.
There was a lesson for modern risk-takers. “High-powered incentives — in the form of public recognition — may backfire precisely because concerns about relative standing can induce too much risk-taking,” they write. “One clear analogy is bonuses in financial institutions, where the desire to be the ‘best’ trader or loan officer can lead to catastrophic losses.”
Even the Star of Africa succumbed to this deadly competition. In September 1942, three months before he was due to be married, his aircraft suffered a mechanical failure and he died. His final tally was 158 kills.
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