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rjw

Ace of the Black Cross - The memoirs of Ernst Udet

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Hi Folks;

I just discovered that the BookDepository has "Ace of the Black Cross - The memoirs of Ernst Udet" back in stock.

I thought I would post the link in case anyone is interested.

 

http://www.bookdepository.com/Ace-Black-Cross-Ernst-Udet/9781848327085?utm_source=SV-Body&utm_medium=email-Service&utm_term=Ace-of-the-Black-Cross_image&utm_content=main-book&utm_campaign=EMWBIS-In-Stock

 

Best Regards;

 

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That is another book I must read again soon - one of the "must-have" WW1 pilots' books.

It has a good humour too.

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He lead an interesting life, that is for sure. Saw a bio on tv a few years back...can't recall the name or channel. It seemed to focus more on his Stuka development. Did he actually do shots while inverted in the air? Damm....I like him.

 

OK googled a bit and yes, he had a mini suitcase bar for flying

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OK googled a bit and yes, he had a mini suitcase bar for flying

 

Yep, he liked the drinking too much in the end, I'm afraid. But at last he couldn't drink away

the evil anymore which had caught the war heroe in a deadly embrace of it's iron arms.

Here is a picture of him in front of his Siemens-Schuckert - and the famous mini bar.

 

Jasta4_UdetsSSWpart5.jpg  Udet_Board_Bar.JPG

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Olham;

 

That mini suit case bar looks far to big to fit into the cockpit of a WW1 aircraft don't you think?

 

Is it not something he would have kept at his base and taken on journeys by car or passenger aircraft?

 

Best Regards

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Olham;

 

That mini suit case bar looks far to big to fit into the cockpit of a WW1 aircraft don't you think?

 

Is it not something he would have kept at his base and taken on journeys by car or passenger aircraft?

 

Best Regards

 

I didn't say he took it with him in his fighters - even Udet wouldn't have been allowed to do that.

My personal guess is that this "travel bar" was built after WW1, in the 20s or in the 30s. when

Udet became a high ranking officer in the new Luftwaffe.

 

In the English WIKIPEDIA site about Udet, the mini-bar is shown. It seems it was transported in

Udet's Siebel aircraft - that must have been in the "Third Reich" I think.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Udet

Edited by Olham

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I didn't say he took it with him in his fighters - even Udet wouldn't have been allowed to do that.

My personal guess is that this "travel bar" was built after WW1, in the 20s or in the 30s. when

Udet became a high ranking officer in the new Luftwaffe.

 

Olham;

 

I guess I botched up my post! I thought I had put a :biggrin:  at the end but obviously I failed to do that :blink: . Stupid me 

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I knew you were only kidding, Robert! :cool: (The CA Smileys are simply the best!)

Edited by Olham

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Yep, he liked the drinking too much in the end, I'm afraid. But at last he couldn't drink away

the evil anymore which had caught the war hero in a deadly embrace of it's iron arms.

A classical example of "be careful what you wish for". As the Wiki article says, he campaigned for the job, and got it. But he was 'way out of his depth from the beginning. He was a fighter pilot and Squadron commander, not an 'industrial-level' businessman. And it was downhill from there.

 

I knew the story of how he was invited to fly the Curtiss Hawk II in America, and was greatly impressed by its dive-bombing abilities, and how he prevailed upon the Luftwaffe to buy two for evaluation. What I didn't know was the price Goering extracted: membership in the party. (pic. of the remaining Curtiss below. Polish Museum)

.

Curtis_export_Hawk_II.jpg

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Oh, wow - it still exists?

Yeah, a German actress once said about her friend Udet: "Ah, Ernst - he made a contract with the devil,

if he could only fly. He is such a daredevil - he should have been dead a dozen times or more..."

When you make contracts with the devil, the outcome is always sombre."

Edited by Olham

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As Olham mentioned above, I was under the impression that he took the mini bar with him in a twin engine VIP personal transport plane used by the Nazi party , the Siebel Fh-104 .

 

I didn't know he used a parachute in WWI.....

 

Udet was one of the early fliers to be saved by parachuting from a disabled aircraft. On 29 June 1918, he jumped after a clash with a French Breguet. His harness caught on the rudder and he had to break off the rudder tip to escape.[2] His parachute did not open until he was 250 ft (76 m) from the ground, causing him to sprain his ankle.

 

His suicide was tragic, as all are. I wonder if he saw the "writing on the wall"  with Hitler's war with Stalin.

 

240px-ErnstUdet-coloured-photo.jpg

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His suicide was tragic, as all are. I wonder if he saw the "writing on the wall"  with Hitler's war with Stalin.

 

His suicide was tragic, as all are. I wonder if he saw the "writing on the wall"  with Hitler's war with Stalin.

 

He sure did.

When he saw Germany would be fighting a two-front war (again) he said something

like "We cannot win this war - it is all lost."

 

Each time I see that coloured photograph of him I tink "Nobody can be as good a guy as he looks here."

Like a commercial for a health supply or such. Mmuahahahahaaa!!!

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Yeah, it's "colorized" and probably touched up too.

He does have that look about him...

 

I tend to think he was a very compilicated man who served his country very well

 

History is written by the winners. His side lost x2, yet he was regarded highly by all.

 

I read some where where Herman took advantage of his drinking in later years, (hunting Nazi camp and general parties), and actually drugged him so that Ernst could not tell Hitler about his evaual of Soviet aviation, which would reccomend not invading them.

 

I would have loved to have been a passenger in a two seat biplane with Ernst at the controls

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I would have loved to have been a passenger in a two seat biplane with Ernst at the controls

 

Like René Fonck?

No joke - Fonck visited Udet in Berlin, and Ernst took him up in his two-seat plane.

That was 10 years after the Great War ended.

Here are two photos:

Fonck Udet Berlin 1928.jpg

Fonck.jpg

Edited by Olham

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Olham & Mudwasp;

 

Thanks for your last posts with photos.

 

I never knew about the Fonk/Udet meeting. I would love to have been there with them to listen to their reminiscence and conversation in general. I bet it would have been very interesting.

 

I agree with your observations on the colorized photo of Udet with respect to how he projects an heir of impressiveness!

 

Best Regards;

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Thank you for starting the thread, rjw !

 

Olham, I'd heard of that but never saw any photos.... Thanks!

 

One of many things I like about these guys is that the way they lived would be frowned on now. 

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