Public domain World War II pictures

"degrade himself to soldier...". Further comments would be unnecessary.

Whilst Flame is quite able to defend himself I would like to point out that Rudel was a member of the Wehrmacht. JG you are making the common mistake that the Wehrmacht is the German Army, it is not. Roughly translated Wehrmacht means "defence force"...

Whilst Flame is quite able to defend himself I would like to point out that Rudel was a member of the Wehrmacht. JG you are making the common mistake that the Wehrmacht is the German Army, it is not. Roughly translated Wehrmacht means "defence force" and it consisted of the Heer (army), Luftwaffe (air force) and Kreigsmarine (navy). Rudel was a member of the Wehrmacht. Bearing in mind the situation at the end I am also sure some German pilots took up weapons to defend the Reich, certainly Luftwaffe ground crew were transferred into the Infantry (even 1st SS received 000's of ground crew as Infantry).I know Ludwig Havighorst served in the Infantry, retrained and served as a bombadier in HE111's (400 odd missions) and whilst not a pilot he was designated as plane commander. After injuries sustained in an accident he transferred to the Fallscirmjager and fought as a company commander.

And BTW, Richard Bong was indeed a member of the US Army since the Air Force was part of the US Army as well from 1941-1947. Hence the denomination USAAF (United States Army Air Forces).

A dive bomber pilot is not a soldier? The Luftwaffe was not part of the Wehrmacht? You should seriously double-check your sources.

An airforce of one!

thats one thing that the germans and americans have in common, they push their people to do brave things, and to strive for some kind of personal glory, and honor them for doing it.im so glad i didnt have to grow up some communist slave, with no hope...

thats one thing that the germans and americans have in common, they push their people to do brave things, and to strive for some kind of personal glory, and honor them for doing it.im so glad i didnt have to grow up some communist slave, with no hope but "do it for the communist party"with all respect to the poor folks who had to.thank god,they wont have to anymore

he had to be one heck of a man.he's got 3 pounds of medals :-) sounds like he never slowed down after the war,either, just freed him up to conquer other frontiers

There's a lot to tell about Rudel, certainly one of the bravest soldiers of the german Wehrmacht. He was non-smoker and teetotaler, he only drank mineral water and milk. He lost one shank when a flak grenade hit his Stuka. In spite of that after the war...

There's a lot to tell about Rudel, certainly one of the bravest soldiers of the german Wehrmacht. He was non-smoker and teetotaler, he only drank mineral water and milk. He lost one shank when a flak grenade hit his Stuka. In spite of that after the war he was a distinguished skier, tennis crack and alpinist. So he and two friends were the first people to climb the south american vulcano Llullaillaco with a height of about 22000 feet! True to his motto: Lost are only those who abandon themselves. On the other hand it should be mentioned that he was an avowed national-socialist all his live.

i can agree to that. rudel was to bombers as hartmann was to fighters.personally my heroes are my family members who served, AND JOHN WAYNE.LOL but i would rather have my kids idolizing any soldier rather than some pimp rapper or especially MJ, a pedophile

It is the kind of Heros golden legends are made of; Instead of that, younger generations are brought up to admire Michael Jackson.