It was officially announced that Ernst Udet crashed while testing an aircraft. The Nazis buried him with honors. However, few people know that the ace pilot shot himself a bullet in the forehead. Who brought the best Luftwaffe pilot to suicide?
Childhood and youth of the future ace
Ernst Udet, whose birth date is April 26, 1896, was born in Frankfurt am Main, in the largest industrial center of the state of Hesse in Germany. In 1890, the family moved to Munich, where Ernst's father founded a factory for the production of sanitary equipment. Since childhood, Ernst Udet was a cheerful and cheerful boy, whom the rich father did not refuse anything. The planes struck his imagination as he looked through the fence at Gustav Otto's aircraft factory. Ernst Udet saw how people from tarpaulin and wood created man-made birds. He dreamed of flying, of the freedom that they gave. This dream will later become his tragedy.
The dream of military service
In August 1914, the war began with enthusiasm. Every German wanted to join the army, including eighteen-year-old Ernst Udet, who decided to sign up as a volunteer. However, the medical commission did not support the volunteer zeal of the young man. He was healthy, but with a height of 160 cm he was unsuitable for the front.
However, Ernst Udet did not despair, he had a special ticket to the front - a motorcycle, a gift from a rich father. A German volunteer club was looking for motorcyclists to contact the army. Ernst Udet (photo above) persistently continued to strive to be on the front line in the trenches. The realities of the war were cruel and bloody, but in the first year it was still seen in a patriotic light. War was an adventure for guys who wanted to be heroes. The letters that E. Udet sent to his parents were full of boastful phrases, which was very characteristic of that time. Rather, it was the bravado of a schoolboy seeking to forget about fear.
However, he had the opportunity to "fly away" from this.
Dream come true
The knowledge of aircraft engines helped E. Udet fulfill his long-held dream and become a fighter pilot. At that time, air pilots were a new object of worship - knights of the sky. They flew on fragile structures made of tarpaulin and plywood. In the air, everything resembled a game, but it was a deadly battle.
The German military pilot, Udet Ernst, wrote: “It’s impossible to think that every pilot you shot down has a mother who will mourn him.” He always turned a blind eye to this, being a member of the famous squadron of Baron Manfred von Richthofen. The Red Baron - such a nickname the best ace of the First World War received after he repainted the fuselage of his plane in bright red. He was a role model for young pilots. However, another pilot, Hermann Goering, changed the life of Ernst Udet. Cold-blooded, ambitious and power-hungry person. Later it was he who would lead the Luftwaffe. The young Ernst Udet was completely different, the pilot's life was full of enthusiasm and love affairs, he was a daredevil whom women loved.
At the end of the war in Germany, a coup occurred, as a result of which the Weimar Republic was formed . The Allies confiscated everything that could fly. I had to postpone the dream of aviation.
Ernst Udet is comfortably located in Munich. Next to his spacious apartment lived another soldier, former junior corporal Adolf Hitler. He has just become the leader of a small party. So far, the two have not met.
Own aircraft production
E. Udet had only one passion - flying. With the money of a wealthy American pilot ace Udet Ernst founded a small airline and since then began to call himself a manufacturer. The first prototypes of aircraft were secretly created at the poultry farm, as the Treaty of Versailles prohibited the production of aircraft. Later, most of the money began to come from the army, which began rearmament during an alarming lull. Udet began to fly again.
Ernst Udet: the life of a pilot in a movie
He risked his life before huge audiences, both in Germany and in America, doing dangerous stunts in the air. The U-turns became circus tricks. In the sky, he was a genius, a pilot and an artist. Thanks to this, Ernst was invited to the cinema. With crazy courage, pilot Ernst Udet flew under the Isar River bridges in Munich. He played a movie of a pilot who was shot down over the savannah in African Swaziland. Another time, he flew between the walls of the Greenland glacier for one film, in which his girlfriend Leni Riefenstahl also starred. In 1933, Ernst Udet played himself in the movie SOS! Iceberg!"
Joining the Nazi Party
Everyone who knew the German pilot said that he was a cheerful and friendly person, the soul of the company. He seemed to be out of politics. However, this was not so. Ernst Udet, whose biography is the topic of our article, according to archival data from the federal bureau in Berlin, joined the National Socialist Party on May 1, 1933, as soon as she came to power. What made the indifferent to the politics of the pilot and playboy to join the Nazis? It was a temptation against which he could not resist.
Soul to the devil
When Adolf Hitler paved his way to power, E. Udet went to America, where he made a deal with the devil, although so far he had no idea.
American newspapers wrote that E. Udet, a German ace, Adolf Hitler was very impressed. Ernst got involved in politics because of the Withers, an airplane with a powerful engine that was capable of performing the most daring stunts. G. Goering agreed to buy two such fighters for E. Udet from the Americans, if he joins the party. Ernst Udet was happy as a child who was presented with a new toy. The plane of American aircraft manufacturers was the embodiment of his dreams. Vertical take-off, vertical descent ... He called it a flying motor. The aluminum miracle of 700 horsepower, due to which Ernst Udet sold his soul ... Bold ups and downs prompted the German pilot more and more new ideas for deadly stunts.
Addiction to alcohol
Ernst Udet - a brave pilot with a medal "For Military Merit". In the midst of all the splendor and special attention to his person, he remained a lonely person. Trying not to think about the emerging political issues of his party, he was increasingly looking for a way out in alcohol. Wine, beer, cognac became the daily companions of the German pilot. He ordered the carpenter a portable bar, which he took with him on all flights. The glasses were neatly packed to withstand any trick.
E. Udet always drank during flights. At that time, drinking alcohol was considered an occupation for real men. He seemed to drink to tame his fears, as he felt that he could not cope with the duties assigned to him. On February 10, 1936, on the recommendation of G. Goering, Ernst Udet led the inspection of the Luftwaffe bomber and fighter aircraft. Later, from June 9, 1936, E. Udet became the curator of the technical department of the Ministry of Aviation, and soon the inspector general of the Luftwaffe.
Living icon of the Third Reich
“Young people should not give up in the face of difficulties,” said G. Goering, and he needed a living symbol of the honor of courage and courage. It was such a symbol for the younger generation that E. Udet should have become. The weekly videos showed the life of a German pilot who, by his own example, should inspire the youth of Nazi Germany with new exploits. Udet did not resist and played this role. However, he was bursting with feelings of contradiction.
Ministry as a prison
“In the German forest it smelled of carrion,” - E. Udet described the situation in the country at that time, leaving a note in his diary. The Reich Air Ministry has become a gigantic bureaucratic apparatus. At that time, Ernst Udet, Colonel General of Aviation, already had a high rank, he was also the chief inspector of the German Air Force . These illusory titles flattered, but at the same time required enormous paperwork. The Ministry of Aviation becomes its prison. The number of employees of the military department has grown to 3,000 people. Mr. Goering wanted to turn aviation into the main force of the German army. Udet, on the other hand, was nostalgic for those times when he cut through the heavens on his plane. He was a dreamer and fled from difficulties. And constantly drove away thoughts of pressing bureaucratic problems. However, they tirelessly followed on his heels.
Preparation for war
At that time, E. Udet approved the plan for the rearmament of the country preparing for war. In less than two years, the number of aircraft increased from 4,300 to 24,000 military units, i.e. almost 6 times. In Rechlin, a hundred kilometers north of Berlin, these aircraft were first tested. On July 3, 1939, Adolf Hitler, who wanted to personally look at the rearmament of the German Air Force, was sent to Rechlin with a general inspection. He longed to see confirmation of his belief that no one and nothing could defeat his aircraft, that war could begin. G. Goering and E. Udet - heroes, experienced fighter pilots of the First World War - reverently demonstrated the strength and power of German aviation in front of the younger corporal. Ernst Udet personally showed his skills in the air in front of A. Hitler. The Führer was impressed, German craftsmanship at the service of his insane desire to unleash a world war inspired.
Ernst Udet: interesting facts from life
There is a lot of evidence of the high skill of the aerobatic skills of a German pilot. The German Ministry of Aviation disapproved of the air tricks of the ace pilot, fearing for his life. However, at your own peril and risk, the German pilot still performed them. Yes, he was a master of aerobatics Ernst Udet. Interesting facts on this subject are given below:
- He owns such a figure as a "dive bomber." A roaring aircraft hits ground targets with high accuracy, being as close to the ground as possible.
- No one except him dared to leave the loop so skillfully , being close to the ground.
- No one could lift a handkerchief off the ground with an airplane wing.
- One of the most exciting tricks that no one could repeat: with the engine stopped and the propeller fixed, E. Udet made another loop, then slowly descended to the landing strip and landed the plane on the ground.
Witnesses of these unique tricks said it was like a bird flying.
Suicide of the best pilot of Nazi Germany
“Perhaps they won’t have to fight with the Russians. Perhaps no one will notice that many planes need to be built. The country is sorely lacking aluminum for military vehicles, ”said E. Udet at the New Year's reception at the Soviet Embassy in honor of the signing of a non-aggression pact of Germany on the Soviet Union in 1940. However, the leadership of the Third Reich thought differently. After the enslavement of most of Europe, Hitler dreamed of a lightning attack on the USSR and the rapid seizure of its territories, right up to the Urals. But it will be later, and now the main target is Great Britain. The Führer ordered the bombing of England, since the path through the English Channel was open. The battle for Britain began.
E. Udet knew that the German air force could not win, since the distance between England and Germany was too great. Heavy and slow bombers will become an easy target for the Royal Air Defense of Great Britain. The bombs falling on England only strengthened the British desire to resist. As a result, the air blitzkrieg against England failed. G. Goering blames Ernst Udet for all failures.
He is sharply limited in power and excommunicated from the further design of a 4-engine strategic long-range bomber, which was an ace pilot's dream. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, E. Udet felt his inability to manage the air fleet on two fronts, between the USSR and Great Britain.
On November 14, 1941, in his mansion on the outskirts of Berlin, Ernst Udet killed himself with a pistol shot. The German Luftwaffe pilot was buried in the Berlin cemetery for the military.