Bf109 Ace Günther Rall Interview

From Jane's WWII Fighters

Günther Rall was born on March 10, 1918, in Gaggenau, a small village in the Black Forest. In 1939 he finished training as a fighter pilot on a base east of Berlin and was transferred to Jagdgeschwader 52 (JG 52). He had his first contact with the enemy in May 1940 over France.

Rall flew Messerschmitt Bf 109s during the Battle of Britain, during which he was made a squadron commander at the age of 22. His squadron was then moved to defend the Romanian oil fields and then on to the battle for Crete. With his score in the mid-thirties, he was shot down by Russian fighters, during which his back was broken in three places. His flying career was considered over as a result of the accident; however, sheer determination saw him back with his old unit after a nine month rehabilitation process in August 1942. A month later he was awarded the Knights Cross with his victory total at 65. He shot down his 100th victim in October 1942. His 200th victory came in August 1943, with his 250th following just three months later. In May 1944 he was shot down by a Thunderbolt and lost a thumb. He ended the war flying Me 262 jets in defense of the Reich.

He finished World War II as the third-highest-scoring fighter ace of all time with 275 aerial victories and held the Knights Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. His capture by the Americans was the beginning of a second career for him as a pilot. After retiring from the new German Air Force, General Rall began working in an advisory capacity for several well-known companies.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ww2
• wwii
• aces
• ace
• fighter
• pilot
• me109
• bf109
• 109
• second
• world
• war
• european
• theater

[blakey66]

rip gunther rall a true knight of the air

[Kiwigrunt]

@sobus24

and the russians didnt do the same????to german civilians??? Get to know history before you speak .

[TheMuffdivr]

Quite frankly there Menuez, you need to pull your head out of your ass because all you're doing is talking shit. Fighter pilots didn't have a fucking thing to do with killing Jews, shit for brains, and the fact that you're trying to imply it leads me to believe you are one. And why would Günther Rall want to meet an asswipe like you? He'd need to strap you in front of that 20mm and pull the trigger.

[syntaxerror9]

Interesting explanation about the very high score for german aces compared to american or english ones!

[panhead55]

Much respect for these aces of the sky. Hans Ulrich Rudel flew with one leg towards the end of the war! Quite impressive, as many grown men today can't even roll out of bed without crushing the Sega Genesis...

[existentialvoid]

@Kiwigrunt the russians were brutal when they marched to Berlin. Mass rape, mass killing - it was revenge. Hartmann, another German ace who surrendered to the Russians, and he retells a story where a mother and daughter were raped throughout the night, and mother was shot in front of the daughter while being raped. the daughter killed herself that night with her father. This happened a lot.

point is, all sides did terrible things - and any economy of scale is doomed to justification.

[blakey66]

cuttlefisch i totally agree with you

[cuttlefisch]

@blakey66 A true legend.

[GermanOperaSinger]

Gunther Rall was widely considered the greatest marksman in the Luftwaffe alongside Marseille.

If you add up the victories of the top scoring German aces of each unit you'd get a pretty accurate record of the enemy's losses. The system only allowed the most experienced fighters to score all the kills while the rest just looked on and provided air cover. This was why when a single pilot was killed in action an entire squadron or even wing could be put out of operation (ie. when Marseille died).

[AfricanSouthernCross]

I am not a German but this man "Gunter Rall" comes across as a very honest and decent sort of person and I have NO hesitation of calling him a good person and I am sure he was a hero to many Germans...R.I.P........with deepest RESPECT....it is such a pity that we don' t have the sort of gentleman in our daily lives today that the war produced in the 1930's and 1940's.

[Brian79camino]

@jamiemenuez alot of the German soldiers and pilots didn't even think that way, believe me there were alot that were Nazis but there were also alot that weren't...these men were just fighting for their country ...i have alot of respect for this man, he was the third highest scoring ace of all time, a very talented jagdflieger... really wish i had the chance to meet him before he died in 2009...there are murderers and then there are soldiers, they both involve killing, but there is a difference