Günther Rall passed away in october

[Jaxon]

I just read it:
With 275 victories the third most successful fighter ace in history, Günther Rall died already on October 4th.

Learn more about the very interesting life here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCnther_Rall

[miamieagle]

May he rest in peace inspite of flying for a evil Empire!

A very good fighter pilot.:engel016:

[TARPSBird]

Rather than start a new thread I'll throw in a belated obituary for USN Rear Adm. Martin "Red" Carmody, SBD driver at Guadalcanal and former CO of USS Kitty Hawk (CV-67). I had the privilege of meeting Red a few years ago at the deactivation ceremony for my old squadron, he was a super guy to talk to and at 89 probably sharper than some people 1/3rd his age.
This link has an interesting story on Red from the local Virginian-Pilot newspaper and also his bio:
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/mdcarmody.htm
And a good first-person account of Red and his rear gunner being assisted by natives after ditching their plane:
http://www.collectair.com/World_War_II.html

[egypt23spitfire]

RIP:engel016:............the GUNTHER RALL story has a lot of DOUG BADER'esque similarities
being a broken back in 3 places(paralysed on the right side)
"you wont fly again" sentiment
but after a rigorous excercise and recuperative time back in the cockpit in a year.
marries his jewish doctor ( the whole family were sanctified as "safe jews" because of his "hero of the fatherland" status

after rigorous examination after ww2 by various groups uk plus us and vvs was found NOT to be an active NAZI and actually voiced his opinions about hitler and goering quite a few dangerous times (but because of his ROLE MODEL status for young people) was ignored

ironically the reason he was taken of active service was because of P47 attack resulting in the loss of his "firing button thumb"

he was known as a deadly accurate shot
much to the lament of many soviet, lumbering "easy preys" (which a large number of his kills were made).

in his own words "i was quite happy to leave EASTERN front command after the introduction of the LA7"

quickly taken to england after ww2 to help US to fly captured ME 262 and other jet based machines
was found to show his love of flying transcended any politics

we have definitely seen the passing of an extraordinary aviator

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/air-force-obituaries/6299837/Generalleutnant-Gnther-Rall.html
------------------------------------------------------
RIP
:engel016:USN Rear Adm. Martin "Red" Carmody, SBD driver at Guadalcanal and former CO of USS Kitty Hawk (CV-67):engel016:

[kelticheart]

RIP:engel016:............the GUNTHER RALL story has a lot of DOUG BADER'esque similarities
being a broken back in 3 places(paralysed on the right side)
"you wont fly again" sentiment
but after a rigorous excercise and recuperative time back in the cockpit in a year.
marries his jewish doctor ( the whole family were sanctified as "safe jews" because of his "hero of the fatherland" status

after rigorous examination after ww2 by various groups uk plus us and vvs was found NOT to be an active NAZI and actually voiced his opinions about hitler and goering quite a few dangerous times (but because of his ROLE MODEL status for young people) was ignored

ironically the reason he was taken of active service was because of P47 attack resulting in the loss of his "firing button thumb"

he was known as a deadly accurate shot
much to the lament of many soviet, lumbering "easy preys" (which a large number of his kills were made).

in his own words "i was quite happy to leave EASTERN front command after the introduction of the LA7"

quickly taken to england after ww2 to help US to fly captured ME 262 and other jet based machines
was found to show his love of flying transcended any politics

we have definitely seen the passing of an extraordinary aviator

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/air-force-obituaries/6299837/Generalleutnant-Gnther-Rall.html
------------------------------------------------------
RIP
:engel016:USN Rear Adm. Martin "Red" Carmody, SBD driver at Guadalcanal and former CO of USS Kitty Hawk (CV-67):engel016:

May he rest in peace.

Gunther Rall was an aviator first and foremost, more or less like Adolf Galland he did not agree with the Nazi rule.

I remember the description he gave during an interview done by Discovery Channel "Wings" of what people endured during WWII. The train his young pregnant wife was travelling on was attacked by Mosquitoes and she lost the child she was carrying.

I was moved by the quiet yet painful way Rall described the episode. No hatred or negative comment about the attackers ever surfaced from his voice or body language. He finished his story with the following words: "It was nobody's fault, it was the war that did it."

I hope other SOH members had the opportunity to see this Rall interview, I think it's the best way to appreciate the kind of person he was.

Since I think he was a great aviator, I asked a while ago if ChrisN, specialised in Luftwaffe repaints, could paint a Gunther Rall Bf109 livery for me. He repainted Akemi's Bf109G-6 and you can find it here at SOH among his other beautiful repaints.

Cheers!
KH :ernae:

[Hals und Bein Bruch]

Met him at NASM, class act all the way, so long Herr Generalloberst, like all of us; he will not be replaceable...:medals:

[egypt23spitfire]

.here is an interesting rave about the LUFTWAFFE's decision to buy and use F104/G's in February 1959
.......and how eric hartmann's decision was ignored

.........just scroll down to Kekkonen (http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/member.php?u=6662) 's entry

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=66152

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-104_Starfighter