Luftwaffe Aces: Zahlen, Daten, Fakten
Concluding the series of articles Luft Hansa – Luft Hansa – Wings of the Third Reich, Luftwaffe: Phoenix from the Ashes of Versailles и Third Reich Flying Schools: How the Luftwaffe Eagle Grew Its Wings and ClawsLet us once again evaluate the quality of training of German pilots who completed their training according to the scheme of the second half of the 1930s – early 1940s.
As a clear example, let's look at the combat biographies of several Luftwaffe pilots who are still considered among the most professionally trained and successful military pilots of their time.
Werner Mölders
One of the most talented fighter commanders aviation Luftwaffe. The first German pilot to surpass 100 confirmed aerial victories.
Werner Mölders (1913–1941)
During his service, he carried out about 330 combat sorties and achieved 115 aerial victories.
In 1931, even before the Luftwaffe was created, Mölders entered the Reichswehr General Officer School as an Offizieranwärter (officer candidate). At the time, this was the official title for future officers, not cadets.
In 1935, he was transferred to the newly created Air Force and completed the full course of military pilot training. He graduated from the Luftkriegsschule (military aviation school), then specialized fighter pilot training, where he mastered the Arado Ar.68 and later the then-new Messerschmitt Bf.109.
In 1937, he volunteered to join the Condor Legion in Spain, where he gained his first combat experience and won 14 aerial victories.
After returning from Spain, during the French campaign, he was first appointed commander of the I Group of the 53rd Fighter Squadron (I./JG 53), and at the end of September 1939 he was tasked with forming and leading the III Group of this squadron (III./JG 53).
At the end of July 1940 he took command of the 51st Fighter Squadron (JG 51).
Captain Werner Mölders commanded up to 40 aircraft and approximately 500 personnel. He himself continued to actively participate in combat operations and, from May to June 1940, scored another 16 aerial victories.
Photograph from 1940, immediately after another combat mission.
However, on June 5, 1940, his Bf.109 was shot down by a French Dewoitine D.520 fighter. Mölders parachuted out, was captured, and remained in French captivity until the French surrender at the end of June.
From July to November 1941, already on the Eastern Front, he shot down another 85 Soviet aircraft and became the first German pilot to surpass 100 confirmed aerial victories.
The fin of Mölders' Messerschmitt, bearing 101 personal victory markings. Photographed in the autumn of 1941.
Werner Mölders died on November 22, 1941, but not in aerial combat. While returning as a passenger on a Heinkel He.111 bomber from the Eastern Front (Crimea) to Berlin for the funeral of General Ernst Udet, the plane crashed while landing in Breslau.
At the time of his death, Mölders held the rank of colonel (Oberst) and held the general position of inspector of fighter aircraft of the Luftwaffe (Inspekteur der Jagdflieger).
However, in history Mölders was remembered not only as one of the most successful fighter pilots of his time. He is also credited with the development and widespread adoption of the "four-finger formation" (Vierfingerschwarm, literally "four-finger formation")—a dispersed combat formation of four aircraft that provided excellent situational awareness, a wide field of view, effective mutual support, and significantly better protection than the traditional three-aircraft formation.
Although the foundations of this tactic began to take shape during the Spanish Civil War and were developed by several German pilots, it was Mölders who played a key role in its refinement, practical testing, and widespread adoption by Luftwaffe fighter units. Subsequently, the Vierfingerschwarm formation was adopted by virtually all leading air forces worldwide and remains in use in various variations to this day.
Adolph Galland
Werner Mölders's main rival and close friend. One of the most famous German aces, he claimed 104 aerial victories. After Mölders's death, Galland succeeded him as general in November 1941.
Adolf Galland (1912–1996)
After graduating from high school in 1932, Galland applied to the German Commercial Pilots' School (DVS). The competition was colossal: out of 4000 applicants, only about 100 passed the rigorous ten-day testing, and only 18–20 students, including Galland, were allowed to fly. By the end of 1932, he had logged 150 hours of flight time and received his B1 and B2 pilot certificates.
In mid-1933, Galland and his comrades were summoned for a meeting at the Central Civilian Pilots' School (ZVS). Gentlemen in civilian clothes, with a steely glint in their eyes, confidentially explained the nature of the training: they would become the backbone of Germany's future military aviation.
Then there was an internship (military training) at the flight school in Grottaglie (Italy).
In the fall of 1933, Galland returned to Germany. Formally, he was listed as a civil aviation pilot for Lufthansa, but in reality, he was already a professional fighter pilot.
In February 1934, Galland joined the Reichswehr, where he underwent accelerated basic military training and education at the Military School (Kriegsschule) as an officer candidate (Fahnenjunker).
On October 1, 1934, he was promoted to lieutenant (Leutnant), and in January 1935 he was transferred to the officially created Luftwaffe.
In 1935, during a training flight, Galland suffered a serious accident. He suffered multiple skull fractures and severely damaged his left eye. Doctors declared him unable to fly again, but Galland memorized the visual acuity chart, successfully passed the ophthalmological examination, and returned to the skies.
From 1937 to 1938, he fought in Spain. He flew about 300 sorties in the Heinkel He.51, mostly ground-attack missions.
Heinkel He.51 Condor Legion
From 1939 to 1940, he participated in the Polish and French campaigns. In Poland, he continued to fly Henschel Hs.123 attack aircraft.
Henschel Hs.123
In April 1940, he secured a transfer to fighter aviation and shot down 14 aircraft in France.
During the Battle of Britain, he was appointed commander of the 26th Fighter Squadron (Schlageter). During six months of fighting over the English Channel and Great Britain, he shot down another 44 British aircraft, bringing his total to 58 victories.
On the fuselage of the Bf.109 E-4 was Galland's personal emblem - Mickey Mouse with a cigar and a hatchet.
In eleven months of 1941, Galland shot down another 38 British aircraft, increasing his tally to 96 aerial victories.
Avid cigar lover Adolf Galland in the cockpit of his Messerschmitt Bf.109 E-4/N (W.Nr. 5819). The aircraft was the only one in the Luftwaffe equipped with a special cigar holder and an electric cigarette lighter.
At the age of 29, in November 1941, following the death of Werner Mölders, Galland, with the rank of lieutenant colonel, was appointed general inspector of fighter aviation in the Luftwaffe, and by the end of 1942, he had become Germany's youngest lieutenant general. After this, he was banned from regularly flying combat missions, although he continued to fly on occasion.
At the end of the war, on Hitler's personal orders, Galland was tasked with forming a special fighter unit, JV 44 (Jagdverband 44), armed with the latest Messerschmitt Me.262 jet fighters.
It was joked about this squadron that the Knight's Cross was a mandatory part of its pilots' uniform. It boasted such legendary aces as Gerhard Barkhorn (301 victories), Heinz Baer (220 victories), and Walter Krupinski (197 victories).
Galland himself returned to combat missions and, flying the Me.262, scored eight more aerial victories before the end of the war.
Adolf Galland ended the war in battle.
On April 26, 1945, at approximately 11:30 a.m., he launched a group of twelve Messerschmitt Me.262s. Their target was American Martin B-26 Marauder bombers.
For reasons that remain unclear, Galland was unable to use unguided missiles against the bombers as planned. missiles R4M Orkan, therefore, attacked them with cannon fire, shooting down one B-26 Marauder and seriously damaging the second.
However, soon his Me.262, already damaged by bomber gunners, was shot down by an escorting P-47 Thunderbolt fighter. Galland was wounded in the right knee and face. Nevertheless, he managed to reach Munich on one failing engine and land the fighter on its belly.
In total, Adolf Galland flew 705 combat sorties and achieved 104 aerial victories, including eight victories in the Me.262.
After the war, he spent several years in captivity: on May 8, 1945, he surrendered to the Americans, but was then held by the British. He later went to Argentina, where he participated in the creation of the Air Force. Returning to Germany, he became a successful aviation consultant. Galland retained his pilot's license until old age and continued to fly light sport aircraft.
He died in 1996 at the age of 83.
Erich Hartmann and Gerhard Barkhorn
For true aviation history buffs and connoisseurs who read these lines, it would be enough to just name these names and write nothing more.
The most successful fighter pilots in the history of world aviation. Both completed virtually every level of training established by the Luftwaffe and became among the best testaments to the effectiveness of the German military pilot training system.
Erich Hartmann
Erich Hartmann (1922–1993)
In 1936, fourteen-year-old Erich began training at the Glider Club in Weil im Schönbuch, founded and led by his mother, Elisabeth Hartmann, one of Germany's first female pilots. The club enjoyed state support and was financed as part of a program to mass train young people for aviation service through the Flieger-Hitlerjugend (Aviation Hitler Youth). An active member of this organization, Hartmann became a glider instructor while still a teenager.
Between 1937 and 1939, he earned his motorized pilot's license under the auspices of the Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (NSFK)—the National Socialist Air Corps, which trained the Luftwaffe's reserves. He was called up for military service in the Luftwaffe on October 1, 1940.
In 1940–1941, Hartmann completed his initial military and flight training at Flieger-Ausbildungs-Regiment 10 (Neukuhren), after which he studied at the Second Air Force School (Luftkriegsschule 2) in Gatow near Berlin.
In late 1941 and early 1942, he continued his studies at the Jagdfliegervorschule 2, a preliminary training school for fighter pilots, where he mastered the basics of aerial combat and aerial gunnery.
During training, Hartmann demonstrated superb piloting skills and remarkable accuracy with his onboard weapons. During his first practice runs, he scored twenty-four hits out of fifty rounds fired at a towed cone—a result considered excellent.
From spring to late summer 1942, he continued his training at the Jagdfliegerschule 2 fighter school (Zerbst), where he literally perfected his skills in flying the Messerschmitt Bf.109 aircraft.
In August 1942, he completed advanced aerial shooting training in Gleiwitz.
In October 1942, with the rank of lieutenant (Leutnant), he completed the full fighter pilot training course and was sent to the 7th Squadron of the 52nd Fighter Squadron (7./JG 52), operating in the Caucasus direction of the Eastern Front.
For the first few months, he flew as a wingman for experienced aces Alfred Grislawski and Walter Krupinski. By the end of the war, Walter Krupinski had 197 kills to his credit, ranking 16th in the world. Alfred Grislawski had 133 official victories, ranking 36th in the world for kills.
Hartmann achieved his first aerial victory—an Il-2—on November 5, 1942, during his nineteenth combat mission. Over the next three months, he managed to shoot down one more aircraft.
However, by the summer of 1943, his performance had increased dramatically. In July, he shot down seven Soviet aircraft in a single day, and by August, his total had increased to 49 victories. In September 1943 alone, Hartmann claimed another 24 aerial victories.
Hartmann's tactic, perfected to the point of automatism, was the ambush strike. According to his own account, about 80% of the Soviet pilots he shot down never realized they were under attack.
“If you see an enemy plane, you do not have to immediately rush at it and attack. Wait and use all your benefits. Evaluate what order and tactics the enemy is using. Evaluate if the adversary has a lost or inexperienced pilot. Such a pilot is always visible in the air. Shoot it down. It’s much more useful to set fire to only one thing than to get involved in an 20 minute carousel without achieving anything. ”
Hartmann typically attacked vertically from below, out of the enemy's blind spot, or from above in a steep dive. He opened fire at extremely close range, 50-80 meters, and then immediately broke away from any pursuers.
In general, it is no coincidence that some Russian researchers of the history of the Great Patriotic War even dubbed Hartmann the “Cowardly Knight of the Reich.”
Hartmann avoided protracted maneuvering battles, considering them an unjustified loss of time and advantages.
He defined his tactics extremely succinctly: “Saw - decided - attacked - broke away».
It is written that throughout the war, Erich Hartmann was never shot down by an enemy fighter or by airborne gunners. However, he was forced to make emergency landings sixteen times due to damage caused by debris from downed aircraft, anti-aircraft fire, or technical malfunctions.
By the end of September 1943, Erich Hartmann already had more than 70 victories.
Hartmann and his Messerschmitt Bf.109G, callsign "Karaya 1." A heart pierced by an arrow, drops of blood, and the inscription "Ursci"—a romantic dedication to his beloved and future wife, Ursula Paetsch.
On August 19, 1943, during an attack on a group of Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft, covered by Yak-9 and La-5 fighters, his Messerschmitt Bf.109G was damaged by debris from one of the Il-2s it had struck. Hartmann was forced to make an emergency landing behind enemy lines, where he was captured.
Taking advantage of the favorable moment and displaying literally fox-like agility, he soon managed to escape and, having crossed the front line, returned to the location of his unit.
In 1944, Hartmann had to conduct air battles not only with Soviet aircraft, but also with the American Air Force, recording eight P-51 Mustang fighters to his credit.
By the end of the war, Hartmann had flown over 1400 combat sorties, fought in approximately 825 air battles, and officially claimed 352 aerial victories, 344 of which were claimed on the Soviet-German front. However, these figures should hardly be taken at face value. Hartmann's second flight log, which contained records of a significant number of his "victories," disappeared without a trace, a fact that still raises questions among historians.
Hartmann himself has repeatedly said that he considers his most precious achievement not the number of victories, but the fact that he did not lose a single wingman during the entire war.
After Germany's capitulation, Hartmann was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Soviet court, but spent ten and a half years in captivity and was released in 1955.
In 1956 he returned to the Federal Republic of Germany and became the first commander of the fighter squadron JG 71 "Richthofen" of the new Luftwaffe.
In 1970, Erich Hartmann retired with the rank of colonel (Oberst). He later worked as a flight instructor and briefly performed in an aerobatic team with Adolf Galland.
Hartmann died in 1993 at the age of 71.
Gerhard Barkhorn
Gerhard Barkhorn was one of the most distinguished graduates of the German fighter pilot training system. He completed the full Luftwaffe training program and became the world's second-highest-scoring ace after Erich Hartmann. During the war, Barkhorn flew 1104 combat sorties and claimed 301 confirmed aerial victories, all but seven of which were achieved on the Eastern Front.
Gerhard Barkhorn (1919–1983)
On November 1, 1937, he volunteered for service in the Luftwaffe as an officer candidate (Offizieranwärter).
He completed basic military training, after which he studied at one of the Luftkriegsschulen (Luftwaffe air force schools). Prior to this, he had no prior flight training of any kind.
He completed his pilot training on 27 August 1939 and immediately, from 1 September 1939, continued his fighter pilot training at the Schleißheim Pilot School (Jagdfliegerschule Schleißheim), and from 1 December of the same year to 7 January 1940 he underwent further training at the Merseburg Fighter Replenishment Group (Jagdergänzungsgruppe Merseburg).
During the training in fighter air science, the best instructors of the Luftwaffe worked with Barkhorn, but it turned out like in the song: “The teachers wasted their time with me..." - they assessed his abilities as "terrible».
One way or another, he completed his training and, with the rank of lieutenant (Leutnant), was sent to the 2nd Group of the 52nd Fighter Squadron (II./JG 52) on January 10, 1940.
As part of this unit, he participated in operations against Great Britain. Without achieving a single victory, he was shot down twice by the British.
Just over a year after beginning his combat service, having completed approximately 120 combat sorties, Barkhorn scored his first aerial victory on July 2, 1941, already on the Eastern Front. His example clearly demonstrates that even graduates of the German system, which provided an excellent foundation and had undergone special training, became true masters and aces in combat units, primarily thanks to their accumulated combat experience.
In fact, Barkhorn was somewhat fortunate. Despite the fact that, according to various sources, he parachuted or made emergency landings from damaged aircraft at least nine times, sustaining numerous injuries in the process, he returned to duty each time after treatment.
Gerhard Barkhorn inscribed "Christl", his wife's name, on the fuselage of his Messerschmitt Bf.109G fighter.
Barkhorn suffered his most serious and final injury on January 5, 1945, in Hungary, when his Bf.109G was hit in aerial combat. Barkhorn managed to land the plane, but suffered serious injuries and never saw combat again.
He ended the war with the rank of major and was captured by the Americans, but, unlike Hartmann, he was released a year later, in September 1946.
For about ten years he led a quiet civilian life, removed from aviation and the army.
In 1956, after the creation of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundeswehr), he returned to military service in the Luftwaffe and completed a conversion course for modern jet aircraft in Great Britain.
From 1958 to 1962, Barkhorn commanded the famous German fighter-bomber squadron JaBoG 31 Boelcke, which was the first in Germany to receive into service (to its misfortune) the then-new American F-104 Starfighter fighters.
In the mid-1960s, while testing the British experimental vertical takeoff and landing aircraft Kestrel (the prototype for the legendary Harrier), Barkhorn crash-landed and destroyed the aircraft. As the wounded pilot was being pulled from the cockpit, he muttered ironically, "302!"—a reference to the fact that he had officially shot down 301 enemy aircraft during the war.
He later held high staff positions in NATO structures and retired in 1976 with the rank of either major general or lieutenant general.
On January 6, 1983, Gerhard Barkhorn and his wife, Christl, were involved in a serious car accident. His wife died instantly, and the 63-year-old Barkhorn died from his injuries two days later, on January 8, 1983.
If we compare the beginning of the combat careers of Barkhorn and Hartmann, we can immediately come to the conclusion that the impeccable training system itself did not turn all flight school graduates into aces.
While Hartmann achieved his first victory just a few weeks after arriving at the front, it took Barkhorn over a year and around 120 combat sorties before he opened his account. But this German system provided an excellent foundation for even new pilots to become true masters, immersed in the realities of everyday frontline military life and gaining their first combat experience.
To conclude this story of the Third Reich's outstanding fighter pilots, I'd simply like to present the top ten most successful fighter pilots in the world, which includes exclusively German Luftwaffe pilots who fought primarily on the Eastern Front:
Thus, the Luftwaffe's elite fighter force consisted of approximately 470–480 pilots with at least 50 confirmed aerial victories. Of these, 102 pilots surpassed 100 victories, 13 surpassed 200 victories, and two surpassed 300 aircraft shot down.
Chronicle of a Dive Attack Plane
We will talk about the most successful pilot of the Luftwaffe bomber-attack aviation, who completed more than 2530 combat sorties.
Probably, Yulian Semyonov wrote about similar types: “A true Aryan, an excellent athlete, a strong Nordic character, impeccably fulfills his official duty, merciless to the enemies of the Reich»
Hans-Ulrich Rudel
Hans-Ulrich Rudel (1916–1982)
At the age of seventeen, Rudel joined the Hitler Youth. In the summer of 1936, he applied for officer service in the Luftwaffe and successfully passed the entrance exams. He then completed six months of compulsory labor service in the Reichsarbeitsdienst (RAD).
Imperial law required young men to participate in this program before military service:
"All young Germans of both sexes are obliged to serve their people in the Reich Labor Service».
On December 4, 1936, Rudel enlisted as a cadet (Fahnenjunker) at the 3rd Luftwaffe Air Force School in Wildpark-Werder near Berlin. In June 1938, he was promoted to Oberfähnrich—akin to senior warrant officer—and transferred to Graz-Thalerhof in Austria to train as a dive bomber pilot.
He then continued his training as an observer pilot at the air reconnaissance school in Hildesheim and graduated in January 1939 with the rank of lieutenant.
On June 1, 1939, Rudel began serving as an observer pilot in the 121st Long-Range Reconnaissance Squadron and, with this unit, participated in the Polish Campaign. Following this, in the summer of 1940, he secured a transfer to a Junkers Ju.87 dive bomber unit.
With the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, Rudel fought on the Eastern Front with the rank of senior lieutenant, where he quickly acquired a reputation as an exceptionally daring and highly professional pilot.
Rudel is credited with inflicting a devastating blow on the battleship Marat at Kronstadt. A bomb dropped from his Ju.87 struck the forward main gun turret and detonated the ammunition. The battleship grounded in shallow water, although its stern remained above water for a long time.
An aerial photograph of the damaged battleship Marat.
In subsequent raids, Rudel was credited with damaging a cruiser and a destroyer.
Historians have different opinions on these episodes, but the fact of Rudel’s participation in these operations is beyond doubt.
From January to August 1942, he took virtually no part in combat sorties, being busy training and commissioning new crews.
On August 15, 1942, Rudel returned to the front again at the head of the 2nd Squadron of Sturzkampfgeschwader 2, fighting in the Caucasus and over the Black Sea.
On February 10, 1943, he became the first pilot in the world to complete his 1000th combat sortie.
Rudel's Junkers. Photograph taken in 1943.
On April 1, 1943, Rudel was promoted to captain for “special courage in the face of the enemy».
In the spring of 1943, during the battle for the Malaya Zemlya bridgehead, Rudel, flying a pre-production Junkers Ju.87D-3, equipped with two underwing 37-mm BK 3,7 cannons (based on the Flak 18 anti-aircraft gun) with six-round magazines per gun, destroyed a total of 70 Soviet amphibious landing craft. His aircraft was equipped with a special movie camera. This film was later shown for propaganda purposes in the German newsreel "Die Deutsche Wochenschau," in which even rafts, longboats, and motorboats were transformed into "Soviet landing craft", and even single shell hits were interpreted as "destruction».
In July 1943, he began flying the serial anti-tank modification of the Junkers Ju.87G, armed with the same 37mm cannons. According to German reports, Rudel set twelve Soviet tanks on fire in his very first combat mission. tanks T-34.
Today, there is serious doubt that this was indeed the case, but by that time Rudel had already become one of the main symbols of the Third Reich's war propaganda, and the Germans' faith in his "superhuman" abilities was unshakable.
Hans-Ulrich Rudel's Junkers Ju.87G "Stuka" dive bomber, equipped with underwing 37mm anti-tank cannons when the engine was started by a hand crank (crank).
On October 30, 1943, his official tally of destroyed tanks reached 100.
On January 11, 1944, after the destruction of his 150th tank, Rudel's Ju.87G was shot down.
On February 22, 1944, Rudel was appointed commander of the III group of Sturzkampfgeschwader 2, and on March 1 he was awarded the rank of major.
On March 25, 1944, he flew his 1800th combat mission. His name was mentioned personally in the Wehrmacht High Command reports on March 27 and 28 after, according to German data, he destroyed 26 Soviet tanks and several other armored vehicles in two days.
On August 6, 1944, Rudel's name appears again in a Wehrmacht report in connection with the fact that he "hit 11 tanks and thus raised the number of those hit by the onboard weapons tanks up to 300».
Rudel explains how to more effectively destroy the T-34
On August 19, 1944, Rudel's Junkers was again hit by anti-aircraft fire approximately 100 kilometers east of Riga, but he managed to land the plane practically on the front line - fortunately for him, on the German side.
On 1 September 1944, Rudel was promoted to lieutenant colonel (Oberstleutnant) and took command of the 2nd Assault Squadron Schlachtgeschwader 2 (SG 2) "Immelmann".
Despite receiving a severe bullet wound to the thigh on November 17, 1944, Rudel, after interrupting treatment, soon resumed flying ground-attack missions. By December 22, 1944, he had flown 2400 combat sorties and officially destroyed 463 tanks.
One important detail is worth noting here. The Germans meticulously recorded the destruction of targets, including tanks. However, in the German accounting system stricken the tank was often counted as destroyed, although in fact some of these vehicles were subsequently evacuated and returned to service.
On February 9, 1945, Rudel's Ju.87G was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft guns. artillery near Frankfurt (Oder). Rudel himself suffered a serious injury to his right leg, but managed to land the burning plane again.
As a result of the injury, the lower part of the leg had to be amputated.
On March 25, 1945, Rudel returned to his squadron, and on April 4, despite the unhealed stump from the amputation, he began flying combat missions again.
On the right is Rudel, without the lower part of his leg, on crutches.
Over the next twenty days of April, according to German data, he destroyed another 26 Soviet tanks.
On May 8, 1945, Colonel Rudel and the remnants of his squadron flew from Bohemia to Kitzingen, Bavaria, where he surrendered to American forces.
A still from a short film shot on May 8th while already in American captivity. Rudel is pleased...
To summarize the literally horrific combat career of Rudel the Stormtrooper, it's enough to cite just a few figures. He was officially credited with destroying 519 tanks in 2530 combat sorties. In addition, he destroyed over 800 vehicles, over 150 artillery and anti-aircraft positions, four armored trains, numerous bunkers, bridges, and logistics hubs. Furthermore, Rudel claimed nine confirmed aerial victories. Or rather, those were his air gunners.
For most of the war he flew the Junkers Ju.87G Kanonenvogel, although in the last months of the war he also flew combat sorties in the anti-tank modification of the Focke-Wulf Fw.190.
During the war, Rudel was shot down thirty times by Soviet anti-aircraft artillery. He was wounded five times, but somehow survived each time.
In Buenos Aires, he created the Kameradenwerk organization, which provided comprehensive assistance to hiding Nazis, including war criminals.
This activity wasn't limited to material support. Its ideological component was equally important: Rudel regularly published articles in the National Socialist journal Der Weg ("The Path").
Rudel's activities were extraordinarily extensive. He served as a military advisor to several Latin American dictatorships, traded arms, worked at the Argentine Aeronautical Institute, and lobbied for import licenses and government contracts. He maintained close contacts with the cocaine barons of Bolivia, the regime of Augusto Pinochet in Chile, and the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay.
In the Federal Republic of Germany, Rudel supported various right-wing radical organizations and parties. Moreover, in 1953, he ran for the Bundestag as the leading candidate of the right-wing German Reich Party (DRP).
Until the last days of his life, he actively contributed to the dissemination and preservation of Nazi ideology in the international arena.
At the same time, his "roof" was almost perfect. In South America, Rudel was "foreign representative" several German companies, including Siemens. Furthermore, he had influential Vatican officials behind him. Bishop Alois Hudal, one of the most notorious organizers of Nazi flight from Europe after the war, actively assisted him.
But fortunately, his time of service to the cause of National Socialism, to which he had dedicated his entire adult life, was short-lived. On December 18, 1982, Rudel died of a stroke at the age of 66.
He was buried in Germany, but the “denazified” Germans still distinguished themselves.
A scandal erupted at his funeral on December 22, 1982, when several Phantoms and one F-104 Starfighter of the German Luftwaffe flew over his grave in a tribute to Adolf Hitler's greatest attack pilot.
The Ministry of Defence's investigation report claimed that at the time, "routine training flights"that the military aircraft did not deviate from the predetermined course and flew"at some distance from this named territory».
That is, the people who claimed that planes flew over the funeral site, «succumbed to an optical illusion"...
The result without illusions
I remember when I was just a kid, my uncle Vasily Ivanovich Petrov, who fought throughout the war, was wounded many times, and was captured by the Germans, saying that Hitler's Wehrmacht was some kind of fantastic military machine, composed of superbly trained soldiers and the most advanced technology of the time. That this was also firmly woven into the fabric of the inhuman Nazi ideology, I realized much later.
While collecting material for the published series of articles, I tried once again to understand how our fathers and grandfathers were able to dismantle this murder machine literally screw by screw.
I absolutely do not want to compare the aces of the Luftwaffe with the heroic pilots of the Red and, later, Soviet Air Forces. I do not want to compare the performance characteristics of the aircraft of both sides or the methods for counting aerial victories.
Then, in 1945, through some superhuman effort, our Motherland achieved victory. Our Soviet people, at the front and in the rear, shattered that seemingly all-conquering and invincible military machine of Germany, and in essence, of a united Europe. They shattered it both in the air and on the ground.
Today, no one is trying to hide the fact that the world has launched the process of creating a new military machine for the 21st century, fueled by the wild ideas and ambitions of the past.
And I really want to hope and believe that my beloved Motherland will never again experience the horror that it had to endure in 1941.
Information