German Air Force

Hanna Reitsch.

?Bundesarchiv/Hoffmann

Studio portrait photo of Hanna Reitsch, German test pilot extrodinaire, probably made following her decoration with the Iron Cross, Second Class. She is also wearing a female version (possibly unique) of the Luftwaffe Pilot and Observer's Badge. Reitsch's achievements as a test pilot - and indeed an operational pilot - were considerable. Included among them was the piloting of the "manned" version of the V-1 flying bomb (and surviving) and flying Goering's successor as commander of the Luftwaffe, Robert, Ritter von Greim, into and out of Berlin for a consultation with Hitler, using a length of boulevard as an airstrip, with Soviet artillery zipping around. Hanna survived the war, and never renounced her Nazi beliefs. Best regards, JR.