[Ruy Horta]

I'll throw some oil on the fire.

First I find the original question pointless without a proper context.

Indeed just looking at Jagdflieger is part of the Luftwaffe's problem, certainly in its offensive phase it was the (dive) bomber who carried the offensive, or the reconnaissance or transport pilot who went unnoticed.

Second

Our "boys vs their boys" and the Nazi movement.

With hind sight or some "popular" contamination with Communists and Al Quaida (etc, "the tag"), it is easy to see a Nazi as something different to us decent people. He is part of that monstrous machine that burned books, gassed millions of Jews and slaughtered more millions in its war of aggression.

By using the word Nazi, we de-humanize or demonise the enemy, who apart from his possible political believes was a GERMAN. But saying/writing that you killed a German soldier, airman or civilian doesn't sounds as great as saying/writing that you killed a Nazi.

Why should a pilot with a Nazi upbringing be less of a human? One might say that one who believed and fought for the Nuremberg racial laws was evil, yet can you honestly claim that those fine southern boys in the US AAF didn't (at least in part) believe in their segregation laws? Yes, there is a BIG difference between the two in practice, but is there in theory?

Moelders the Gentleman of the Jagdwaffe, often praised for his unpolitical and religious stance, was if we read Kurt Braatz, a staunch believer in Hitler as the Fuehrer and savior of Germany. Does that mean that we must brand Moelders a Nazi fanatic?

Having finished the Moelders biography I had the chance of purchasing a relatively cheap copy of Theo Osterkamp's Durch Hohen und Tiefen jagt ein Herz, another example of a Gentleman in the Luftwaffe, yet he simply admits that he believed in Hitler as the answer for Germany. Again, does that make him a Nazi fanatic?

Were those young men (boys) from the 12th SS Panzerdivision "Hitlerjugend" who to all accounts fought a tough battle in Normandy which earned the respect of most of those who engaged them, simply Nazi fanatics and therefor lesser men?

Third

What Stigler did was perhaps a grand gesture, it was also stupid. I wonder if he ever thought about the consequences of letting an experienced bomber crew have another go at bombing?! Being a gentleman in war doesn't always mean that you are doing the right thing.

If Stigler wanted be a gentleman, he would have been better off if he selected a fellow fighter pilot from the other side of the hill to escort home.

Not judging the man, for I have not earned the right to do so, just the deed.

Last, in answer to the original query.

Want to hear my most representative Luftwaffe pilot: unnamed.