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HomeMy WebLinkAboutGunther Rall, Nazi-Era Pilot DiesI Gunther Rall. 1918-2009 -Era Pilot Helped Lead Nazio Germany's Postwar Military BY STEPHEN MILLER One of Nazi Germany's most formidable fighter pilots, Gunther Rall survived the war to become a leader of his country's rehabilitated military during the postwar period. Mr. Rall, who died Oct. 4 at the age of 91, was credited with shooting down 275 planes dur- ing World War II, making him one of the most lethal fighter pi- lots in history. A decade after tine war, he re- turned to the military, where he helped establish and then lead the West German Air Force. He also developed strong military ties to the U.S., undergoing train- ing on U.S. fighter jets during the Cold War and eventually serving as a top official in the North At- lantic Treaty Organization. A squadron commander for most of the war, Mr. Rall flew more than 800 missions over France, England, Crete and the Eastern Front, where he and the fliers he commanded downed less-ad- vanced Russian planes in large numbers. He was shot down sev- eral times but evaded capture by Allied forces until shortly before the end of the war. "He was one of the most out- standing fighter pilots of the 20th century, an extraordinary marks- man" says Von Hardesty, a cura- tor in the aerospace division of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Raised in a small village in southwestern Germany, Mr. Rall joined the German Army in 1936 at the age of 18, but after studying at the War College in Dresden he decided to switch to the Luft- waffe, the German air force. He qualified as a fighter pilot in 1938 and shot down his first plane France in the spring of 1940. After France fell to the Ger- mans, Mr. Rall took part briefly in the Battle of Britain, during which he was made a commander. His squadron was next ordered to Romania and then to Crete. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Mr. Rall's unit returned to Romania to pro- tect oil refineries under attack by Russian bombers. Shortly after he had shot down his 36th plane, in 1941, his own plane was hit by a Soviet fighter. Crash landing behind German lines, his back was broken in three places and he was told he might never walk again. But he was fly- ing within a year. During his con- valescence, he fell in love with his doctor, Hertha Sch6n, and the two later married. His new wife was of Jewish descent, but her family was pro- tected because of her-husband's status as a decorated war hero, according to Colin Heaton, a pro- fessor of history and military studies at the American Military University, an online college based in Charles Town, W. Va. By his own account, Mr. Rall met Hitler three times during the war. The Nazi leader conferred on Mr. Rall one of Germany's high- est military accolades in 1942. At each meeting, the German dicta- tor seemed more unhinged, Mr. Rall later said. "It was clear to me that this man was a little out of his mind" when they met for the last time, in 1944, Mr. Rall told Mr. Heaton in a 1996 interview published in World War II magazine. Mr. Rall contended that he was personally opposed to Hit- ler and Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering during the war. He once said, like many of his contempo- raries, that he had heard reports of death camps but didn't be- lieve them. Mr. Rall was shot down eight times during the war and sus- tained serious injuries. The last time was in 1944, when he had his left thumb shot off and his plane shot down during a dog- fight with U.S. forces over Ger- many. He parachuted to safety, landing in a field near Berlin. It was Mr. Rall's last combat flight, although he remained in the air- force as a commander. As the war wound down in 1945 and his unit's fighting capa- bility was diminished, Mr. Rall decided to walk home from a base near Salzburg. He was cap- tured by American forces and held in Britain with other Ger- man prisoners of war. ness, rvu•. Rau red oulea me mrutary in 1956 to help build a new air force. West Germany had just been invited into NATO, and the U.S. began training Mr. Rall and other Luftwaffe veterans as part of a plan to create a bulwark against the Soviet Union. He was appointed head of the German Air Force in 1970, a position he held un- til 1974, when he began a two-year term as military liaison to NATO. In recent decades, he was a popular presence at gatherings of World War H fighter pilots in the U.S., the U.K. and Russia. He be- came friends with the American pilot Col. Hubert Zemke, whose wingman had shot off Mr. Rall's thumb. According to Mr. Heaton, who attended several such meet- ings with Mr. Rall, "To fighter pi- lots, politics didn't matter. They just got together and got drunk." Email remembrances@ivsj.com World War 11 pilot Gunther Ralf, a leader in Germany's postwar military, developed strong ties to the U.S. Above, on a test flight in St. Louis in 1971.