Hans Rudel
 

Just finished reading his book (Stuka pilot)

Highly recommend it, most decorated german of WW2, air, ground and sea. Flew 2600 sorties on the Eastern Front.

And the book has some very cool idear for WW2 scenario. (Pilot behind ennemy line with one leg jam to simulate injury!).

+1. Oberst Hans Ulrich Rudel was arguably the best military pilot of all time. He is reported to have sunk the russian battleship Marat in 1941 during the siege of Lenningrad by landing a bomb on the ship's ammunition store. He is also credited for destroying no less than 519 Tanks, 800 vehicules and 150 artillery pieces.

Hypothetically if we were to organise such a scenario. Would you be willing to play as the pilot.

Limping on one leg with a luger lol :) he actually use a revolver (german made???)

Did you read his book?

Ya I did

If only Werner Mölders didn't die in an accident in 1941...

Anyways, Rudel was one of those "old generation" people. I still have that book by Mr. Just (if my memory serves me right) somewhere.

A true warrior!! The most highly decorated man in the service to Germany. New levels were added to the Knight's Cross to accommodate his incredible achievements.

higher than Diamonds or was the Diamaonds added because of him ?

Golden oak leaves. Higher then diamonds. Only soldier to receive it. Goering had more "decoration", but it Goering...

Amazing thing: he flew in a Ju 87 until the end of the war (bit of fw 190 too).

Imagine flying 2600 missions in a plane that was obsolete during the battle of Britain and never get shot down by an ennemy fighter from 41 to 45!!! And still fly combat mission after loosing a leg.

Kind of cool that:

Rudel died in Rosenheim in 1982, and was buried in Dornhausen on 22 December 1982. During Rudel’s burial ceremony, two Bundeswehr Phantoms appeared to make a low altitude flypast over his grave, although Dornhausen was situated in the middle of a flightpath regularly flown by military aircraft; Bundeswehr officers denied deliberately flying aircraft over the funeral.

For a profanity laden synopsis of his incredible achievements......

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/index...d=116680329270

:)

WW2 Rudel STUKA JU87 (D-3) G-1 BEST RARE GUNCAM FOOTAGE - YouTube

As a Stuka fan (note the avatar) he's my favourite pilot, but things must be taken with a grain of salt. He was a propaganda hero, so a lot of his achievements were exaggerated to suit his persona. There were several hits on the Marat, and it is very difficult to say for certain whose bomb actually struck the magazine.

German records of battle tallies were quite accurate at the time, often confirmed (later through research by historians) by the opposing parties battle reports.

But I agree on the Marat. Didn't something like 60-70 Stukas launched
an attack on Kronstadt tha morning, and most going for the Marat?