He also volunteered to fly to ruins of Berlin to save Hitler. In 1945 his right leg was amputated below the knee, but he continued flying, and when he flew Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the Luftwaffe mechanics made him a customized plane by changing the feet-operated brakes into hand-operated breaks.īy the end of the war when the defeat was obvious, Rudel volunteered on suicide missions which were denied. Rudel was never shot down by an enemy plane, but he was shot down 32 times by counter-air defence. Rare for dive bomber pilot, he also won nine aerial victories. On his flights he is credited for destroying 519 tanks, 70 amphibious warfare ships, more than 800 motorized vehicles, Battleship Marat, a cruiser, a destroyer, four armored trains, bridges, and over 150 artillery locations. His flying career turned out to be exceptional. During the war, He flew 2,530 ground-attack missions exclusively on the Eastern Front. After graduating with Abitur in 1936, he participated in the compulsory Reich Labour Service (RAD).įollowing the labor service, Rudel joined the Luftwaffe in the same year, 1936, and began his military career as an air reconnaissance pilot. Rudel was born as a son of a priest in Konradswaldau, Prussia, Germany (modern day Kondratów in Poland). Post-war, he was a neo-Nazi activist in Latin America and West Germany. Hans-Ulrich Rudel was the most famous Stuka pilot in Luftwaffe, and is considered to be one of the most prominent fighter pilots of WW II, during which he flew a world record number of flights, 2,530.
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