Stuka Pilot

STUKA PILOT is the autobiography and Second World War adventures of Hans Ulrich Rudel. Rudel, one of the most highly decorated officers in the German Third Reich, was Hitler's favorite soldier. His unbridled passion was to be a pilot and keep flying. Wounded severely several times, he continued flying combat missions until the end of the war. Often incorrectly stereotyped as an "Unrepentant Nazi," STUKA PILOT's emphasis is on Rudel's experiences as a Luftwaffe pilot and commander. Born to humble circumstances, Rudel struggled to gain acceptance into a Luftwaffe officer candidate program. Though an exceptional athlete -- and often a dare-devil -- Rudel chose a dive bombers as his piloting career field. The book follows Rudel through his early frustrations in missing out on early campaigns and being grounded by unforgiving squadron staff officers. The invasion of the Soviet Union offered Rudel the opportunity to hone dive bombing operations to a fine art. Rapid promotion followed. At the end of the war we find Rudel commanding anti-tank dive bombing units as just about the only force remaining to stem the Red Army. STUKA PILOT provides excellent military history reading along with lessons in leadership. Though highly recommended, the book does harbor shortcomings. Rudel's printed story is too closely translated from German and the verbiage is sometimes confusing. Rudel's narrative also sometimes strays from a chronological recounting of events. As noted in other reviews, most versions of this book lack maps of any sort and so it is difficult to appreciate the extensive geography involved in this story. Rudel's story also abruptly ends with the end of the war. It is too bad that he did not append later version with his post war activities. Do not expect to find much about Rudel's personal life in this volume. This book is devoted to Rudel's wartime exploits. Consider STUKA PILOT a military classic. If you enjoy military aviation books about World War Two, this book should find its way into your collection.

When I was 11 years old, back in 1984 or so, my Dad bought me this book in of one of those overpriced airport bookstores, probably to shut me up. Now it is 2004, and that same book, beat to all hell, sits on a bookshelf in my apartment. In the intervening 20 years I have probably read it once every year, faithfully, and it never disappoints. It was written in a different age, an extinct age, when it was possible for men to be great, and believe absolutely in their causes, and if it seems dated, that is probably a harsher judgement against us than it is against the author. It is not a political book, it has no "world view" and its only philosophy is the maxim of its author: you surrender when you die.Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the only son of a Silesian minister. An awkward boy, frightened of thunderstorms, addicted to athletics, a bit of a misfit, he was hardly the Aryan ideal. Pictures of him show a guy who looks more like Mandy Patinkin than Robert Shaw. As a young man he eschewed girls and beer in favor of sport, was considered a "queer fish" and found himself to be such a slow learner at flying that he spent the first two years of World War II gathering dust, deemed unfit for combat. On top of all of that, he found himself stuck flying the antiquated, ugly-duckling dive bomber known to history as the "Stuka" rather than the sleek fighter plane he had envisoned himself in as a kid, jumping out of his parent's second-floor window holding an umbrella. Not an auspicious beginning.Rudel was a classic example of a man making up for lost time. When he finally flew his first combat missions, in the fall of 1941, he took out all the frustration of being viewed as "unfit" on the Soviet army, who over the next four years learned to fear and hate the very sight of him, the very mention of his name. He was as much a boogeyman to the USSR as von Richtoften (the Red Baron) had been to the French and English twenty years previously. He was the man they could not kill, the man who came screaming out of the sky again and again from Leningrad to Stalingrad, hurling bombs and cannon shells and machine-gun fire down on them from an outdated old machine, killing without mercy and without pause, immune to fear, immune to pain, immune to wounds, fatigue, despair and the odds.How much of a bad-arse was Rudel? Well, let's put this in perspective. At the height of the air-war over Germany in 1943, it was considered a statistical improbability that a bomber pilot could survive 25 missions. Chuck Yeager, one hell of a fine combat pilot and tough, gutsy, ornery human being, shot down 12 German planes and flew about fifty-odd missions as a fighter jock. Tommy McGuire and Dick Bong, America's top aces of WWII, shot down 78 (confirmed) Japanese planes between them. Rudel, on the other hand, flew over 2,000 combat missions, blew up 519 Soviet tanks, sank the Soviet battleship "Marat" and a cruiser of 10,000 tons displacement, bagged numerous enemy fighters, and won so many medals

I can only reiterate what the other reviewers have stated about this outstanding work. It is well worth the effort to track down a copy if you are interested in the eastern front, Luftwaffe pilots, or just fine combat stories, read this one!Mr. Rudel missed The Battle of Britain, was not even considered a great pilot during training. Regardless, he entered combat when Germany invaded Russia in'41 and survived 4 brutal years of warfare. By '43 he was flying a Stuka that mounted 2 37mm cannons under it's wings and began gaining his great reputation as supreme "Tankbuster". The Stuka, already dangerously slow was even more so with these guns attached. I think he got credit for around 500 tanks destroyed, about the equivelent of one entire Red Tank Army's inventory.Rudel was one of Hitler's personal favorites, and when he decorated Rudel with a high award he ussually forbade him any further combat. Of course Rudel always found a way around that. In fact, his final award, the Knight's Cross with gold oakleaves, crossed swords and diamonds was pretty much invented for Rudel, as Hitler had run out of awards to give him.Apart from straight up combat flying the book has numerous survival stories. Rudel several times landed behind lines to pick up fellow pilots (a habit Hitler eventually strictly forbade of him). On one of those occasions his plane got mired in the muck and a incredible evasion and escape adventure begins. In the final weeks Rudel is flying FW-190s, one legged. Rudel was, perhaps understandably a sore loser and shows this at the end, when he flew to an allied field to surrender. At his command, he and his fellow pilots locked the brakes and collapsed their landing gear to render their planes useless to the allies. A futile gesture that still demonstrated his defiance to what was a bitter end for his Luftwaffe career. I can't recomend this great book enough.

Every so often you come across a book that literally makes you sad when you must put it down for the last time. Consider this one a nominee to head the list. Hans Ulrich Rudel was a remarkable individual. Though considered little more than a nuisance to his commanders upon completion of his training, Rudel went on to become Germany's most highly decorated aviator--"the foremost combat pilot in the world." A survivor of gunshot wounds, plane crashes, and a leg amputation (he returned to flight status within days after even *that*), to call him incredible would be a drastic understatement. Physically fit, mentally astute, possessed with an incredible force of will, and amazingly confident, Rudel was a truly dynamic figure. His maxim, "Only he is lost who gives himself up for lost," though deceivingly simple, is perhaps the finest ever translated into the English language. "Ridiculous," you say. Pick up Rudel's tome, flip through a few pages, and soon you will agree that these words--this man's tremendous accomplishments aside--are an inspiration unto themselves. Readers will quote that line often, with conviction, as the events portrayed in this work flash before their eyes. Although the translation is somewhat rough at times (in a couple of spots I found sentences that simply made no sense) and the punctuation takes some getting used to, it is easy to become lost in the story. Rudel's narrative strikes a brilliant balance between the daily life of an attack pilot and an overall view of the war in Europe, and many of his revelations about the war on the Eastern Front are startling. Rudel also manages to paint Adolf Hitler less as a demagogue and more as a human, something I thought completely impossible. (Rudel didn't quite convince me, but he certainly showed a side of Hitler, evil as he was in so many ways, I'd never seen before.) Thought the Stuka was slow, old, and incapable? Thought a rear gunner was anachronistic and ineffective? Thought the Soviets steamrollered the German Army with impunity after Operation Barbarosa ground to a standstill? Thought stubbing your toe on the floor was the definition of "bad day?" To give details would spoil this fine work. Pick up a copy. There's many a surprise here! (Note to those unfamiliar with Europe and Asia: find a good map and have it close at hand as you read "Stuka Pilot" as there are no maps in most versions of this book.) Some will insist Rudel's commentary is self-aggrandizing, that his recollections are tainted and innaccurate. Though this may very well be true, one must consider that history is not written by those defeated in battle. In this light, one must also concede that winning does not exempt the victors from being biased themselves, and we would serve ourselves well to read tales written by those on the short end of the proverbial stick from time to time. I cannot think of a work better suited to th

I am an attack pilot for the US Marine Corps. I found Rudel's story so motivating that I had to pass the book on to others in my squadon. All my peers give it rave reviews as well. So many have read it now that it is starting to fall apart and I will probably have to order more copies soon. Although times and tactics have changed, the warrior spirit and leadership that Rudel showed is still an inspiration for attack pilots today