*Hans-Ulrich Rudel* wrote a fascinating book in 1952 titled *"Stuka Pilot: Tank-Hunter on the Eastern Front."* Although it's been many years since I've read it, it is one of those books you just can't put down!
yeah remember reading that in the `80s hard to put down once you start. Got into a huge argument with some fella on Quora he felt all Rudel's numbers where nothing but German propaganda and how the Stuka was considered obsolescent by `42. He just wouldn't or couldn't get it thru his head that they did have top cover from time to time.
@@ClovisPointон военный преступник,а не легенда.Настоящие герои советские лётчики А.Покрышкин,Кожедуб.Это они выйграли войну,причем сбив и хваленого Ганса😂
@@АндрейКривцов-й3щ Hans didn't get killed by any of them. Russians only won because you threw so many bodies at the Germans, just as you're trying in Ukraine, but thankfully modern war makes it not work
He was the stuff of legends! He habit of landing his plane on the battlefield to collect shot down aircrews was extra ordinary. There would be an international outcry of the Germans were to make a war movie about his military exploits ..... similarly about Galland .... von Strachwitz .... Heinrici.... inter alia
@@alexisjigalin1006 Maybe Russia should have offered that Germany was allowed to kill Vassilly Zaitsev as a trade? Seeing as both killed during a war, in ways that were acceptable at the time? Yes, Vassilly was defending his country, but YOU dear Tovaritsj, are regretting murder not commited. Now go say NJET and dance in the woods of Katyn.
One thing I remember from reading the book Stuka Pilot was this story. He was being attacked from behind by a Soviet fighter, and his tail gunner played a trick on the fighter, the rear machine was almost of ammunition and the gunner threw out some ammo drums, the Soviet fighter came in closer to attack, but the rear gunner always had a machine pistol with him for emergency use, he pulled it out and shot down the fighter with it. Kind of a Clint Eastwood move.
Thats not true, he was a Propagandahero not more. His Score Myth most of its Tank Kills was only minor Dmg and they were not destroyed. The nearli 2500 Mission he will be Make from june 41 to may 45 are not possible.
@@hostilefrag1344 Almost 4 years, that would be around 1400 days. When targets are plentifull, he can empty his bomb rack quick and return for a new load, without the need to even refuel. Depending on how far away from the frontline his airfield was, he could do several runs in on day. A bombing run from Brittain to Berlin took many hours to get there, so more then one per day was not doable, but his targets were right in the frontline, so he never had to fly far. His kills inflated? Maybe, but he still was better then you and me together. Him surviving the war while flying in a crate as slow and vulnerable as the Stuka? There are few who could do better then him. You can respect your enemies skills while still hating the side he fought on.....
I always thought this man and his exploits very fascinating. I read his book "Stuka Pilot" when I was a teenager. No matter his political beliefs, an incredible pilot.
More like the greatest german mythomanic of the war. According to himself he did for instance sink 200% of all soviet cruisers sunk by german air power during the war, and this by droping his bombs over the Baltic Sea, that hit and sunk the same soviet cruiser twice, 1000km away in the Black Sea. Furthermore he singlehandedly destroyed 300% of all soviet tanks lost to german aircrafts at Kursk.
@@oloflarsson7629 Yes, the more I hear about his tank kill rate, the more Im sceptical about the verification rate as well. Successful though he might have been, shooting at a tank in the heat of battle from the air, and destroying it, are not necessarily one and the same thing. The level of hero worship amongst the comments is extraordinary, and for a self confessed Nazi, it makes me think most are 14 year olds from broken families seeking a perfect father figure to look up to, but with no more sophistication than the naive sensibility of a comic...........
@@artrandy The bigger the lie the more these gullible fools want to believe it. The guy didn't love his country he loved the bullies and psychopaths of his tribe along with the vile system they created. It's playing out again as we speak.
I've read Rudel's book three times. As for sinking the Marat, a real battleship, his squadron waited for special delivery of 2,000 pound bombs before attacking. Later in the war he attacked Russian tanks with twin high-velocity 37 mm cannon with special ammunition, by flying 30 yards high, and he came up behind them, aiming for the engine exhaust at the rear of the tank. If he was hit by ground fire, he only had to coast straight ahead to reach German lines. He crashed 17 times. Flew the FW-190 at the end of the war. Pioneered anti-tank flights. Landed and rescued seven different stuka crews. Finally tried once too often, got stuck in the mud and couldn't take off with four guys on the plane, so spent a week without food, running from the Russians without shoes. His crewman Henshel drowned swimming across a big icy river, but Rudel and the other two made it. The three guys were captured by three Russian soldiers in a big field, but Rudel took off running, and was shot through the shoulder. After a week he made it to German lines. There was a price on his head by the Russians, but he survived the war minus one leg blown off by an 40 mm shell. Finally flew west and surrendered to the Americans. Had his medals and flight log stolen during his first night in captivity. There is nobody who can exceed his war record. I met an old German solider living in Florida, he met Rudel in a POW camp in England. He said Rudel was quite the athlete, didn't drink or smoke, and thought the war was all very sporting.
Well written. But Rudel's escaping adventure on Mar 20, 1944 at Dnisteter only took one day, instead of 1 week. His Stuka landed and trapped about early afternoon. After swimming across the Dniester into Moldova, he and other two airmen got captured by Russians around 4 pm. He escaped.alone from Russians' chase by hiding in a ploughed field and waited till it got dark. With the guidance of the stars, he tumbled in the darkness with bare feet, hunger, coldness, and shoulder injury on the plains and ridges of Moldova. Walking 30 miles over night (with a break taken in a local farmer house), Rudel arrived at a German base at Floresti next morning.and servived the brutal experience. Marvelous.
@@slaughterhouse5585 After completing bombing a bridge at the Dniester, one Stuka was hit by the Russian flaks and landed miles into the Russian area. Rudel found it and landed there too to pick the comrades up. But his Stuka got trapped in the mud and could not take off. All of them had to abandon the plane and ran toward the river with Russians chasing behind. They swam across the 600 ft Dniester with only shirts and pants on, which was freezing on that March day. Across the river was Romania (Moldova now). Walking miles barefoot, they mistook the Russian patrol as Romanian ally and got captured. Rudel was the only one that decided to flee and got shot on the shoulder at short distance. The whole action is really breathtaking….
...and Decades later he was invited by the US Government and got asked about his Opinion how a Close Air Support Aircraft should look like, which Qualities it should have.....Out of that the A-10 Warthog was born by Fairchild! BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!! Goes back to Rudel then.....;-)
It was likely that Rudel played a role in the creation of the A-10 Warthog. He was asked many questions by it's creators and the answers given went into the planes creation.
When shown the effect off the depleted uraniun ammo for the A10 he told them they had reinvented the wheel as he had shells with U238 cores.They looked into it and found a round for the MK103 gun that was close to being interchangable. The A10 round had depleted uranium and a nylon driving band.The Nazi one had U238 and a copper driving band.
What a joke, it is confirmed that he lied about his achievements, for instance he claimed destroying single-handedly over 300% of all tanks destroyed by german aircraft in Batlle if Kursk.
"Stuka Pilot", Rudel's book, was made mandatory reading for the Fairchild-Republic Thunderbolt 2 development team in the early '70's. Rudel was even brought in as a consultant on the A-10 program, knowing as he did the ways of low-level air support and Soviet armor disposal.
i was actually watching this thinking its the A-10 tankbuster of its day.... brave lads on BOTH sides of the orchestrated chaos funded by banking cartels
That is a myth, every bit as much as Rudels achivements during the war is a myth. Rudel had nothing to do with the A-X-program, and the story about Rudels book being mandatory reading at Fairchild, that was something that the mythomaniac Pierre Sprey started to claim decades later, despite never having worked for any of the six competing companies, and it is also something that no engineer from those six companies has ever corroborated.
@@oloflarsson7629 Interesting. It's certainly a very popular myth if so. My knowledge of the inner workings of the "Fighter Mafia" is sketchy at best, but such a tale would never have gained traction if their two babies; the A-10 and F-16, hadn't turned out to be such outstanding aircraft.
Great work. I had read the book Stuka Pilot years ago and thrilling to see how he destroyed that battle ship, 500 tanks, his military decorations and his final landing at the US base. excellent work.
Rudel was a complete athlete and accomplished skier on only one leg. After the war, about 1947, he came to Argentina along with many other Luftwaffe pilots, as Adolf Galand, Peter Behrend, Hans Bot, and also many engineers and technicians as Kurt Tank, the Fokker FW-190 fighter, one of the best 2nd World War fighters along with the US F-51 Mustang. Astonishingly for a one-legged man, he escalated a peak in the Andes, the Ojos del Salado, a volcano 6,893 meters high. I am now 83 years old. I lived (and still live) near the Argentinean big aircraft factory where he flew the Pulqui II, the first jet fighter in the American continent, and at the age of 10 years old I met all those pilots and technicians and, of course, I met Rudel many times at Kurt Tank's home in the nearby city of Carlos Paz. That was because I was a good friend of Wolfram Tank, Kurt's son as we were cadets in the same grade in the Liceo Militar Gral. Paz, a military lyceum in the fashion of the American ROTC program where we graduated as 2nd lieutenant of the reserve. They are still existing. I still keep Rudel's original book first published in Argentina, "Trotzdem!", and the Spanish translation too, a 500 pages monster.
And everything in that record was made up. He was simply put the greatest german mythomanic of the war. According to himself he did for instance sink 200% of all soviet cruisers sunk by german air power during the war, and this by droping his bombs over the Baltic Sea, that hit and sunk the same soviet cruiser twice, 1000km away in the Black Sea. Furthermore he singlehandedly destroyed 300% of all soviet tanks lost to german aircrafts at Kursk.
This most likely saved his behind as a POW. The Americans obviously didn't want to surrender him to the Soviets, fearing they might learn from him how to become more effective.
@@robertdipaola3447 What was Rudels source? The answer is none. As for his claims he for instance claims to have sunk two soviet cruisers. The USSR lost one cruiser to aircrafts during the war, the "Chervona Ukraina". She was sunk in the Black Sea, while Rudel was operating around Leningrad. He further claimed to have destroyed 300 tanks during the Kursk battle, but according to the Red Armys records, they only lost ~100 tanks to all aircrafts during the battle, so even if Rudel war the only axis pilot to destroy tanks during the battle, that is a overclaim of 200%. Most pilots during the war (irrespective of nation) overclaimed their achivements vs. tanks with a factor 10 to 100, with Rudel most likely being at the upper end of that scale. Because if he didn't do that, that means that all other german tankbusting pilots where totaly useless and martially impotent.
I believe he was a consultant for the development of the A10. Also Herman Goering ask what he thought about shooting a man in a parachute. He replied that would be murder and something he would not do. Goering replied that’s exactly what I would expect you to say.
1st half is true. But the part about shooting someone in a parachute was said by the far more honourable Adolf Galland. This bastard seems more like the kind of person who'd shoot down someone in a parachute in a heartbeat "I should regard it as murder, Herr Reichsmarschall. I should do everything in my power to disobey such an order." - A. Galland
Rudel said he always wanted to attack Russian tanks from their behind. He said the T-34 was weakest at the rear and It also had the benefit of his craft heading towards friendly German lines in case of damage
I do the same in War Thunder. lol I can see why it is tempting to just shoot when you got a tank in your sights. But you would just be wasting ammo. All tanks are the strongest at the front. The rear is the weakest indeed.
and - contrary to most other countries tanks - the rear of the T-34 was sloped too, which made an attack from above the perfect angle. The Panther for example had an reverse slope which made such an attack pointless ( unless you really came from above ).
I read his book Stuka Pilot 50 odd years ago now when I was still at school, a great read and still remember reading it today, well done job of making a video out of this, thank you!!!!!!
A really good overview of Hans-Ulrich Rudel, war time exploits.i really enjoyed that story, not forgetting his design influence on the A-10 Thunderbolt
Well he flee against the most evil empire...the soviet union...so he was on the right side...unlike FDR and Churchill which will burn in hell forever with Stalin and SHitler
I wouldn’t call him a hero. He was a fiercely loyal nazi for all his life, until his death. Incredibly skilled pilot, incredible luck as well in surviving everything he faced, but surely not a hero.
@@TommasoCarta2804 and every soviet pilot was a convicted commie....your point? Rudely was a hero but not a role model. He destroyed 500+ tanks and saved ten thousands of civilians (including children) from being killed and raped. His political conviction was wrong but I yet have too see how it influenced his actions until the end of ww2. Some of the post ww2 stuff he did was highly questionable...he was supporting a pro nazi party (SRP) and had some connections to shady people in South America. But during the war he was a hero with more balls than any of us will ever have.
More like a true mythomanic. According to himself he did for instance sink 200% of all soviet cruisers sunk by german air power during the war, and this by droping his bombs over the Baltic Sea, that hit and sunk the same soviet cruiser twice, 1000km away in the Black Sea. Furthermore he singlehandedly destroyed 300% of all soviet tanks lost to german aircrafts at Kursk.
Congratulations on your 100th birthday, Mr. Hugo Broch! 06.01.22 . He is the best fighter Pilot alive with 81 victorys. All the best and health! Or as we aviators say „Hals und Beinbruch " ! As far as I know, you are the last living fighter pilot with a knight's cross.
In his book Rudel said that during flight school there was a rumor that all of the students of his class were going to bombers. When they asked for volunteers for Stukas, he volunteered. He wanted to be a fighter pilot, but definitely did not want to go to bombers. All of his class that didn't go to Stukas went to fighters. I have read the book several times, but not in the last 30 years.
This description of the hit of the Marat IS NOT the way his autobiography describes it. Steen instructed him to stick to his tail, no matter what. As they dove Steen suddenly applied his dive brakes and Rudel shoved his stick forward and undershot Steen's aircraft to keep from colliding. He later recalled how he was able to see the horrified expression on Steen's rear gunner's face. When he pulled out of his dive he was so low that his prop enveloped his Stuks in a cloud of spray. Just after the ship was hit a Rata attacked Rudel's Stuka from the rear. Rudel admonished his gunner for not firing at the Rata saying "are you mad, I shall have you put on report. The gunner then calmly informed him a 109 was attacking the Rata and then took out the Rata. Rudel said, "It will be a pleasure to confirm our fellow airman's kill. . Steen later took on Rudel's Stuka and attacked the Kirov when he was hit by flak and killed along with his rear gunner.
I'm sure that in his Book he said he dropped the Bomb down the Funnel which put it inside the Boilers when it Exploded! This would have put it closer to the Magazine as well! Mind you its been over Twenty Years since I read the Book so I may be Wrong!
@@texasrockshillcountry6574 He could turn the Stuka in such tight circles with low speed that the russian fighter was in danger to stall and fall down. This was in at least one time the case. Furthermore, during the last monzths he flew a FW-190 F8
Let me say this also, I am well aware that he was an unrepentant Nazi, which is certainly worthy of condemnation. But it is absolutely okay to study and admire his skills as a pilot while still condemning his personal beliefs. The same can be true of many other German and Japanese pilots and servicemen in my opinion. Thanks for watching everyone!
@@TJ3 Yarnhub did a great one on him you should too. The German Regime of the early 1900s is by a mile the darkest blot in humanity's history. That just makes what Franz did that much more exceptional. A true sword of Integrity and Honor. Him and Schindler are both 2 great men who despite being dictated by evil choose to do good.
@Last chance Cowboy Schindler was real you Holocaust denier. And btw I wasn't even trying to talk about the Holocaust, was just naming him as another good moraled German. And what did the Kaiser do? Oh idk, tried to take over France. Why do you think WW1 was being fought? Germans wanted France. They occupied parts of it the almost entirity of the conflict. But yeah google Oscar Schindler you fucking liberal
@Last chance Cowboy you would never be allowed to teach in school because you do know history. Most people don't have a clue what nazi means. Majority were good people. To have an honest conversation the truth needs to be accepted. Hollywood propaganda is for the fairies. Knowledge is not what is safe for you in North America.
One thing must be added: Hitler used him as a propaganda puppet and it seems that he never realized, or admit this. At the end of the war, Hitler told him that some new kind of explosive soon 'll be used to compensate the V1 and V2' s inaccuracy. Nuclear charges, concluded Rudel. Actually, the Germans had abandoned the idea. Hitler played the same trick on Mussolini.
Large thx for a free documentary. 😁 Same role slow aircraft with a large Gun is still in place in both US with Fairchild A-10 (Warthog) and Russia with Suchoj SU-25 (Frogfoot).
Engineer Pierre Sprey, a former Pentagon procurement official who helped design the A-10, confirmed that none other than legendary Luftwaffe Colonel Hans-Ulrich Rudel was consulted to develop the Warthog .
@Simply the TRUTH! The A 10 was designed during the Cold War era against Soviet Armor , The Soviets had the same concept - Suchoi Su-25 " Frogfoot" , It was used in Afghanistan against "Tribesmen" too , and is still in use in Chenchnya & Syria !
@Simply the TRUTH! Actually i'm amazed, that you IQ is even lower than i expected. Just because your parents are twins, doesn't mean you must troll on other videos.
That is a myth, every bit as much as Rudels achivements during the war is a myth. Rudel had nothing to do with the A-X-program, and the story about Rudels book being mandatory reading at Fairchild, that was something that the mythomaniac Pierre Sprey started to claim decades later, despite never having worked for any of the six competing companies, and it is also something that no engineer from those six companies has ever corroborated.
Well, he was at least the greatest german mythomanic of the war. According to himself he did for instance sink 200% of all soviet cruisers sunk by german air power during the war, and this by droping his bombs over the Baltic Sea, that hit and sunk the same soviet cruiser twice, 1000km away in the Black Sea. Furthermore he singlehandedly destroyed 300% of all soviet tanks lost to german aircrafts at Kursk.
@@lbjlbj1 being a Nazi verbally defending a dictatorship that started WWII in Europe and killed millions of Europeans makes Rudel a ‚loyal German‘? Jesus, if I ever read a retarded comment. Von Stauffenberg was a loyal German. Not that weirdo Stuka pilot.
@@OhJohnDoe I don't give a shit about how many men or woman one kills/tortures. What matters to me is the skillset that man posseses. And there's a reason why Rudel is considered as the best air to ground pilot TO EVER EXIST!!!
When they were planning the A10 they interviewed Rudel on how to destroy tanks as he had helped turn the Stuka into a tank killer . He had noticed that the 20mm rounds the APHEI worked very well against tank tops and engine covers (the Germans had the best 20mm ammo) there are other reasons that they didn’t use the 20mm auto cannon . WIKI the German 20mm ammo . Towards the end he flew the FW190 ground attack and he took out more tanks with that
A perusal of Campbell’s “The WARTHOG and the Close Air Support Debate” mentions Rudel only in passing (highlighting how his Ju-37G’s guns had required suicidal close-range attacks, overflying enemy defenses) The A-X Proposal, 19 April 1967, Wright-Patterson AFB makes no mention of Rudel, nor in the AFSC Historical Publication: “The A-X Specialized Close Air Support Aircraft: Origins and Concept Phase, 1961-1970” (Edward C. Mishler, Office of History, Headquarters, Air Force Systems Command, United States Air Force, 15 Jun 1977). He is not mentioned in AFSC Historical Publication: “The A-10 Close Air Support Aircraft: From Development to Production 1970-1976” (George M. Watson, Office of History, Headquarters, Air Force Systems Command, United States Air Force. Rudel's involvement, if any, was in passing and his claims are doubtful such as the claim to have taken out "20 Ivan tanks" in a single sortie, did he use a single cannon round per tank? Real life is not a videogame, once or twice is possible, but 20 times? laughable. The T-34s and KV-1s were immune to all cannon fire up to 37mm and 50mm guns had to be within 100 meters to have a chance at penetration. It took specially made tungsten rounds for the 37mm PAK's to penetrate the T-34 and even then it was unreliable. 20mm rounds had no chance of penetration whatsoever, and the 37mm rounds (of which there were 12 per gun) were very inaccurate and did not necessarily penetrate even if they hit. The Germans themselves made these assessments.
@@charliegareginyan9584 a burst of he 20mm wouldn't blow up a tank, but it would take it out of the battle. Destroyed tracks, gun barrels are all it takes to stop a tank.
@@pouletbidule9831 Stopping a tank (temporarily, because the Soviets changed damaged track's in-battle often enough) is not the same as taking it out; as long as the gun is functional and the turret turns, it's a threat. Also it is nearly impossible even on a piston-engine aircraft to land such a hit; you're flying so fast (and you have to or get hit by AAA) that you line up your sights at a distance, fire a burst and pull away or fly by. The tracks are not easy to hit, it's a small part of the tank. Even hitting =/= busting it because the armor piercing rounds are more likely to punch a hole in them than outright break them.
Excellent video reenactment on historical WW2 combatants and events. It's very interesting and enlightening to see combat tactics that associate with real battlefield conflicts. Keep up the good work.
Good video!! He flied his last year in combat with FW - 190 and even his last flight to americans..He was honored by Great Knight Cross with oak leaves,swords and brilliants in Gold...Only one of this sort...Americans were trying to steal it ,but he didn´t let it away...
@@iceaxeminiatures7694 that's your opinion. For millions in the military he is Leading Ace tank killer. Great Man and Hero God bless him .Legend 🇩🇪⚛🎥🌍🎆🎇✨➕🇺🇸🤔
@@alexnunezramos1720 No, it's not just my opinion, it's a well-established fact that he was an unrepentant nazi after the war, through the '70s, and right up to his death. Now, my opinion is that nazis are bad, but I think that's an opinion that is, or at least should be, pretty much universal. He may have been a good pilot but he was a terrible man.
@@iceaxeminiatures7694 Ok. I served in the military yes people that we fought must HATE us for killing there family members. It's WAR I love U.S.A I will gladly defend our Country against anyone. He was pilot and good what he did. No WAR is good just evil killing anybody who is in the way.🇺🇸🕉☠⚛🕎 RIP my Brothers and Sisters who die defending our Nation . See you when I crossed over. USMC WAR VETERAN.
Legendary flier & was just doing what he was trained to do .He went after military targets & assets not civilians .Take your liberal high horse holier than thou opinions & go tweet & comment for trans athletes or something Icewhatever
@@timpassmore7455 Rudel only ever did his job as a soldier during the war. It was only after that he began to deny the Holocaust I think he genuinely believed it not to be true.
@@irongeneral7861 He joined the Hitler Youth in 1933, well before the war. Dude wasn't just an apolitical soldier doing his job (which, if you're fighting for Nazi Germany, is bad enough), he was a nazi fanatic before and after the war.
@@iceaxeminiatures7694 I was saying that, during the war, he did his job and shouldn't be brought up on war crimes charges. Whenever I see that a German WW2 veteran is wanted for "war crimes" it's either because they didn't commit treason against Germany or they didn't have doubts about it and actually did very well in combat. It's like punishing them for being formidable combatants which was their OBLIGATION, regardless of personal beliefs. As far as I know, Rudel never targeted civilians or participated in the Holocaust (which happened, but he apparently didn't believe it). His pre and post war activities may deserve criticism, but during the war he was simply a dedicated soldier who believed in his higherups, simple as that. No need to wrote any more paragraphs like this one.
These visuals are breathtaking. And the history of what all these men endured is incredible. I can’t get over how great this computer generated work is. Thank you for all the hard work.
My father met Hans Rudel in Mendoza, Argentina. And I have a book called "Stukas Pilot" signed by the author. And it is not an apology for Nazism but a simple anecdote. Mi padre conoció a Hans Rudel en Mendoza, Argentina. Y tengo un libro llamado "Piloto de Stukas" firmado por el autor. Y no es apología del nazismo sino una simple anécdota.
Rudel was an unrelenting nazi more so than many other luftwaffe pilots who were just as patriotic if not more. I think he hated communists more than anything. I admire his courage, spirit and determination as pilot, individual and athlete but I don’t abide with his politics when one refers him in relation to patriotism. Patriotism should be free of political agendas
I remember from his book that he did not use the dive brakes on the first attack on the Marat. He passed the whole squadron by and almost hit the water
@@irongeneral7861 Exactly. More of them at the right time might have stopped Hitler from coming to power, or might have prevented the war, or might have at least saved more people from death camps. Germany winning the war would have been a bad thing for everyone.
I took out a couple of Battleships in IL-2 too, I found it easy to take out tanks with 250kg bombs, a lot easier than using those 37mm cannons. Oh when Rudel surrendered his and the other aircraft of his squadron came into the Yank base as some what a surprise to the Yanks. All the planes carried extra passengers, basically they took everyone they could cram into the planes. The Yanks were having an inspection at the time and everyone was in formation ranks awaiting inspection from their CO when Rudel's planes flew in and surprised them all.
Great idea - only..... this man had the wrong nationality...Hollywood won't do it. I have some more suggestions: Erich Hartmann, Kurt Knispel.... BTW do you know this one about Hans-Joachim Marseille ? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-c2wnNNbY35Q.html That was a politically correct movie in the late 50s in Germany !
@@theoderich1168 Thx 4 this info! Might give it a try some day! Rudel is IMO too controversial - such a movie would probably be a great risk for the producers.
@@TJ3 Rudel was not flying in the mission where Steen and his own partner-wingman died. He was told about how they died (from his autobiography). Steen's plane was damaged so he flew this last time in Rudel's plane, with Scharnovsky in the back.
First rate work. I look forward to seeing you use your software skills to bring to life adventures of some of the other WW II pilots. The pilot's-eye view during those dives caused me to make socially problematic exclamations out loud, and showed what amazing nerve it must have taken to pull off those terrifying stunts. The margin of error was zero.
This is one the few people which if you tried to shoot a faithful biographical movie of, you’d end up with something way more unbelievable than 80’s action movies!
I was born in Rotterdam 1934 and am the proud recipient of the first Stuka attack in history, Truth be known the siren was the worst part. I can never forget that infernal sound.
There weren't many Stuka over Rotterdam. The Stukas were in short supply and a request for their supply was denied, the Luftwaffe was still in Battle with the French Army and Royal Navy. This is one reason why the besieged city burned. The Germany army had no time to wait and needed to get to the coast. It also had and no stomach for killing its soldiers in street fighting or marching them into Dutch machine guns. An ultimatum was issued to the city, the Dutch officer milked as much time as he could but tragically due to daylight savings confusion the German bombers (heinkels and dorniers) were launched. The Dutch surrender in Rotterdam came but the the bombers were on the way. Abort flares were fired and radio recalls were sent but only half the bombers aborted. Oil tanks on the riverside were hit and caught fire and the fire spread destroying the city. It couldn't be controlled because the fire hydrant fittings were all different in each district. Same problems as occurred in the UK.
@@williamzk9083 One more thing. Most buildings in R. have no basement because of high groundwater. No place to hide, just sit there and wait. That's what we did. You may die or live.
He NEVER imbibed in alcohol like so many others (he drank milk instead) ... he kept a clear head ... which he knew would affect his eye-hand coordination without suffering a blackout from the severe G's induced by dive bombing ... Yes , he was smarter than the average pilot and had the self-discipline and focus that the hard-drinkers did not have !!! ... my admiration , Hauptmann Rudel !!!
The story of how Rudel became a stuka pilot is not as simple as stated. He started out very poorly and only became a stuka pilot when someone he knew gave him a last chance.
Surviving more than 2400 fighting sorties was incredible big number for any pilot, even by today's standard. I red a few books from English pilots who didn't fly nearly as much despite being highly decorated. Even then most were killed pretty soon because flying those planes was very hard job for body and more so mind. Both sides had great, brave people doing it so it is worth reading a book or two.
I've read his book. He saw many interesting things as a recon pilot in the weeks running up to Barbarossa like Soviet engineers carving out runways in the dirt and prepping the land for hard fortifications, concrete buildings and pillboxes and other preparations for military structures and airbases along the border with occupied Poland. The soviets were preparing for something but they didn't seem as focused or committed for an offensive in the near future. Interesting book,. I found it really interesting that we sought his help in designing the A-10
