Hans Grimm

"He's part of the reason I took this job."

- Hans Grimm about his brother

"This is Airman First Class Grimm, callsign Archer. Control tower and all aircraft, I will be joining the Wardog Squadron."

- Hans Grimm

Hans Grimm was a replacement pilot during the beginning of Ace Combat 5, but later joined the Wardog Tactical Fighter Squad. He is recognized for his nervousness and sense of hope. When the Wardog had to split up, he followed Alvin H. Davenport as his wingman.

Personnel File
Circum-Pacific War, and apparently not having finished the replacement pilot training course, Grimm joined the squadron during the First Battle of Sand Island, flying into battle with MIA Capt. Bartlett's spare F-5 Tiger II. Grimm was the youngest and most inexperienced of the team, and seemed reasonably unsure of himself. However he had a strong motivation to help end the war with as few casualties as possible. Over the course of the war, Grimm's piloting skills dramatically improved and "Archer" easily became on par with the rest of the squadron (with the exception of Blaze) and handled his missions without sustaining major damage to his aircraft. He and the rest of Wardog Squadron were betrayed and branded as traitors when the war was almost over. Later, his squadron became the Ghosts of Razgriz and later disappeared without a trace when the war end.

Hans' brother is a member of the Osean ground forces (the 1st Airborne Division), and was involved in the landing on Bastok Peninsula (Operation: Footprint)and one operation in the Jilachi Desert (Operation Desert Blitz or Operation Desert Arrow).

Speculation
In Ace Combat Zero, there is a Belkan pilot named Heinrad Grimm which appears in the 10th ("Mayhem / Operation Battle-Axe") as the named pilot "GrauOrca 2" (number 099 in the Assault Records). It is unknown whether he is related to Hans Grimm or not.

Trivia

 * In his dialogue in mission 27+, Hans mentions that his birthday is coming up "next week". The mission takes place on December 31, 2010, which is a Friday, so Grimm's birthday falls between January 3 and January 9.
 * Hans and his brother are likely to be a reference on the famous real-world Brothers Grimm, a pair of influential German philologists of the 19th century. Grimm's name and appearance also suggest that he is possibly Belkan of origin, with Belka being the Strangereal equivalent of Germany. This theory is further reinforced by the fact that much of the game revolves around a Belkan fairy tale.
 * The Osean Air Defense Force (as portrayed in AC5) is based off of the real-world United States Air Force (USAF), bearing distinctly similar service dress uniforms, flightsuits, aircraft, rank structure, and organizational structure (albeit outdated; the USAF stopped using the Air Division command level in 1992). However it should be noted that in the USAF, Airman First Class (A1C) is an enlisted rank (pay grade E-3) and in the USAF enlisted personnel cannot serve as pilots or undergo flight training. In order to become a pilot in the USAF, an individual must first become a commissioned officer. It is possible for enlisted personnel to transition into becoming a commissioned officer, but is a highly-competitive, low-selectivity process, does not occur frequently and often still requires the educational prerequisites. Enlisted pilots did exist in the US Army Air Corps prior to it becoming the current USAF, however they were rare and the practice ended in 1942 with the Flight Officer Act.