Hans Ulrich Rudel was actually very important in the design stage of the A-10 Thunderbolt 2 ( from this point on known as the Warthog). When Fairchild was designing their entry into the A-X project they consulted heavily with Rudel ( who in addition to his kill total had been shot down quite a few times too). Rudel had basically told Fairchild what was needed he thought for a superior tank buster. He was the one who advocated for the central mounted gun and the titanium bathtub to protect the pilot. Todays A-10 survivability is a direct result of consulting with Rudel. Sure he might have been an unrepentant Nazi but he knew more about ground attack in actual battle then any designer could have ever imagined.
A small addition. Rudel’s autobiography Stuka Pilot was required reading for most, if not all, of the engineering and design team of the A-10. The powers that be really wanted to give those responsible for the design and manufacture of the Warthog the greatest possible idea of what was needed in a CAS aircraft… and who else to teach them than the greatest there ever was? If you are going to design an airplane intended to destroy Soviet armor, what better than to consult with the one who did it the most? 😊
I think the only source of that was Rudel and Pierre Spery, a Fighter Mafia/reformers guy. This probably is fake news as no sane USAF persobnel will give access to sensitive info to an Ex-Nazi with friends possibly in argentina.
I'm a Boomer and when I was a kid I wanted to be a pilot, and I did solo when I was 16 and got my Private Pilot's license when 18. I read every book I could find written by Pilots, and so of course I read "Skuka Pilot " by Rudel. He wasn't a fighter pilot, but I got the sense that this is how a Real Man goes into Combat Flying duty. .
@@Altruist-ambitions Yes, "Stuka". You see the JU-87 Gal Wing Nazi German Dive Bomber had been Name Designated as being called a "Stuka". When I was a Boomer Child growing up, well, the TV Stations, to fill the time, would come up with strange Programming Ideas, and one of them was to show Combat Camera footage from WWII. They would do complete collections of JU-87 Stuka, doing bombing runs and getting shot down. It was all quite compelling, and so it was that I remembered that JU-87s were called Stukas. Also, the plastic model airplane boxes all spelled out STUKA on the front their boxes big and bold. Then there was the book "Stuka Pilot" by Hans Rudel, the most famous JU-87 to survive the War.
One of Hans Rudel's fellow Stuka pilots was also a highly skilled, experienced, and capable Stuka pilot who excelled at destroying Red Army T-34 tanks with standard bombs, just as Rudel started out doing. This captain flew hundreds of successful missions and was also a tank-destroyer ace. Then the Luftwaffe introduced the Stuka G model, armed with two, 37mm Rheinmetall cannons. Hans Rudel grew his tank tally enormously with the Stuka G cannons. As for the captain, the Luftwaffe switched out his standard Stuka D model for one of the new cannon-armed G models. The captain and his rear gunner took off in mid-April 1944 for their first mission using the cannon-armed Stuka G. Both men were never seen or heard from again. That is an example of the sudden twists and turns of fate interwoven with luck, good and bad.
Did people really reach 2k flying missions? According to Google the most combat flights was Erich Alfred Hartmann (19 April 1922 - 20 September 1993) was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions.
Rudel was "the ace's ace"! I read "Stuka Pilot." I enjoyed it immensely. Rudel was consulted by the builders of the A-10 "Warthog" ground attack aircraft. That's how much he was respected.
I first read Rudel's book "Stuka Pilot" in about 1968. Dang! I was impressed. When I was a little kid, my Dad took me to the Chicago "Museum of Science and Industry", where they had an actual Junkers Ju-87 "Stuka" on display. A few other interesting books: "Stuka Pilot-Hans Ulrich Rudel", by Gunther Just "Suka - Ju87", by Alex Vanags-Baginskis "Junkers Ju-87 Stukageschwader of the Russian Front", by John Weal "Memoirs of a Stuka Pilot", by Helmut Mahlke
Rudel's rear gunner and radioman, Erwin Hentshel,drowned in the Dneiper River while they attempted to swim across to avoid captivity after they were shot down. He was the most decorated enlisted man in the luftwaffe as he was with Rudel for over 1400 missions over a span of 2 years
he did not drown in the river; he and another crew were captured by Soviet troops. from their words it became known that when they reached the river, the rudel abandoned them and swam across the river. they couldn't do it because they didn't have that kind of physical training. in Rudel's book it is written that they met Soviet soldiers and were forced to flee, but in fact they did not meet anyone on the road to the river. They stayed on the left bank of the Dniester for a day from 03/20/1944 to 03/21/1944.and this liar also describes how he met Soviet soldiers (mistaking them for Romanians) and one of the soldiers was armed with a PPSh and Rudel managed to escape, considering that they were in close contact (one of the soldiers took a revolver from Rudel and a holster) how much time do you think Do you need to throw a PPSh and make a long line? this will take 1-3 seconds. How far could a rudel run in such a time?
@@FaithnGod1558 I don't think jealousy is the correct counter-'accusation' to level. Be reasonable in your retort, sir. But, we must accept, that this inidividual is far from the only one to harbour some degree of doubt about the veracity of Rudel's accounts, be it in part or in whole and to what degree. It's hardly our place to act butthurt on behalf of a dead Nazi now, is it?
@@glennhansel9411 german top aces would never surrender willingly to the soviets, most had a bounty on their heads placed by Stalin too so they probably knew what fate awaited them. The Dnepr is one of the widest rivers in the world at certain places, it must be very very tough to swim across.
@@showtime112: The Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten) was instituted on 29 December 1944. This medal was the highest level, originally intended for the 12 most distinguished servicemen in the entire German armed forces after the war ended. Six sets of Golden Oak Leaves were manufactured, each consisting of an A-piece, made of 18-carat gold with 58 real diamonds, and a B-piece, made of 14-carat gold with 68 real sapphires. One of these sets was presented to Hans-Ulrich Rudel on 1 January 1945; the remaining five sets were taken to the palace of Schloss Klessheim in Austria, where they were captured by US forces at the end of the war.
Han Ulrich Rudel was advisor on the AT 10 Warthog Aircraft, a staunch Anti USSR Communist Nazi till the end of his life, He was also an Aces with 9 air to air victories, not bad for Ju 87 Stuka anti tank aces.
@@MrSGL21 Probably not the same generation because Rudel lived in Argentina in the late 40s, most probably falkland-era argentinian pilots were trained by israel (Giora Epstein and some others)
Rudel, Galland, Baumbach were some of the most decorated Luftwaffe pilots who emigrated to Argentina in the late'40s and early '50s. When West Germany grew stronger around 1960, most of these war aces returned to their fatherland.
Rudel was a convinced diehard Nazi, even and especially after the war. I wish people would stop gloryfying him. He was a loyal Nazi maybe, but not a loyal German.
Great video! This features two of my favourite WW2 aircraft: First, the Stuka... which, despite its weaknesses, is for me the most sinister-looking, gnarly aircraft. Second, the I-16... which I find to be one of the cutest WW2 aircraft for its stubby body (along with the Brewster Buffalo). Also, this video gives me more information of the exploit of Rudel, one of the most famous German WW2 pilots of which I admitedly know very little. Keep up the good work!
Not many people consider I-16 their favorite 😁 But it is certainly iconic. I should do a video which focuses on this plane someday. Maybe something from the Spanish Civil War.
I also have a soft spot for the I-16. It just looks like the most unlikely fighter, as if it almost shouldn't fly, but in its day it was advanced. Too bad that day was several years before Barbarossa.
The Luftwaffe shipped out a special load of very heavy bombs, 2,000-lbs, to be precise. That is how the Germans managed to sink the Soviet battleship, Marat. The Luftwaffe used a ginormous bomb and employed a Stuka pilot of exceptional talent, skill, and nerves of steel, Hans Rudel.
This is the same weapon they issued to X Fliegerkorps to destroy the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean. The carrier survived this weapon, although badly mauled of course. The battleship? Didn't quite. Except, it did. It survived this bomb and a main magazine explosion? Remarkable. Very remarkable.
Great story. I couldn't help comparing the JU-87 with the SBD. Both super effective. The SBD was smaller but had nearly 3X the range and a bit heavier armament. The siren on the JU-87 had to be terrifying to people on the ground. Heard somewhere that the Stuka crews got tired of the screeching however. Very different dive brakes on the two aircraft. Both worked fine apparently.
The “ trumpets of Jericho “ on the JU-87 ate something like 15 to 30 mph off the aircraft’s top speed. When they started running into fighters like the spitfire and needed better fuel economy they started pulling the wind driving sirens off the plane. On early models you’ll see the attachment point right on the top of the landing gear leg. Later model JU-87s have it completely removed. JU-87s worked best as aerial artillery, operating at airfields close to a front they could get up, get altitude and hit tanks or stubborn points before landing to quickly rearm, refuel and do it again. The SBD Dauntless was a late prewar design for a dive bomber specifically with a navy requirement in mind ( the USAAF did operate a few but quickly stopped when they went to fighter bombers vs dive bombing ). Being built to a navy spec it was assumed the SBD would need to be rugged, simple and have long legs. The radial engine was fuel efficient and simple. The retractable undercarriage helped to clean up the plane and designers added big fuel tanks wherever possible. The SBD was meant for long range over water flying where you might be flying 400 to 800 miles to find your target. The JU-87 was built for short range tactical use on land ( though they did build a Navalized version for operation on the unbuilt German Aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin which ended up reconverted for land operation when the carrier was abandoned after being 3/4 completed)
Thanks! SBD (and Pacific Theater generally) which will probably get some attention from me in the future. The siren sure had a powerful effect early in the war but I guess, it wore off after a while. And I can understand how it annoyed the pilots too 😁
I've heard from former Stuka pilots that many of them removed the jericho sirens from their planes because the screeching noise was too loud and obnoxious for the crew.
@@PaulFurber a man who never rejected the sick nazi ideology and who openly was butthurt for his military defeat to the point not only he was openly defending german warcrimes well into the 1970's but he also called JFK a "manlet" and a "coward" for not been willing to "kill the sub-human slavs" during the cuban missile crysis... yea... quite a nice guy...
I guess as a veteran I hear something else in the story of Rudel here: Rudel is an example of how talent is good, but training under good officers (who identified his weaknesses and did not approve him for frontline duty) and instructors is better. By this story, Rudel had several times more training time and flight experience than most 'new' highly talented CAS pilots, which seems to have paid off.
To be precise, the forward 1/3rd of Marat, from the bow to the forward funnel, was destroyed in the 'A' turret magazine explosion, and the rest of the ship flooded and sank to the bottom of the very shallow harbour. The rear 2/3rds of the sunken battleship was refloated and used as a floating gun battery during WW2, and as a stationary floating training ship after WW2. Marat was renamed Petropavlovsk on 31 May 1943, and again to Volkhov on 28 November 1950. Plans to repair her in 1945-46 using the bow of her decommissioned sister Frunze were rejected. She never left Kronstadt Harbour again after Rudel's dive bombing attack, so his credit for sinking her is well deserved. However, Marat certainly fared better after her forward magazine explosion than her American counterpart, USS Arizona.
Excellent recreation using the Il2, excellent video, at minute 10:26 in the background you can also see Adolf Joseph Ferdinand Galland, another excellent pilot and AS from the second war, what a beautiful photo, great video, greetings from Argentina.
Rudel é uma lenda na aviação de combate. Por toda dedicação a seu país foi o militar mais condecorado da Alemanha. Muito interessante seria um video sobre a versão de stuka que pilotou que possuia 2 canhões pesadíssimos para o avião destinados a destruir tanques. Parece que era bem difícil pilotar esses aviões.
Bound For Glory did a song about him called "Stuka Pilot," the video is surprisingly still here on YT, despite all the censorship these days........ ruclips.net/video/ZtvoHFdkoI4/видео.html
_Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten_ *The Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds* They were not handing them out to little boys sitting in their parent's house, playing on the computer.
U R SOOOO Wrong!!!! I pulled one out of my Weakies breakfast cereal just this morning!!!! Mine is made out of genuine imitation plastic and has glass diamonds and rubies with gold painted swords. I wear it proudly while playing F-19 Stealth Fighter. 😁😜
Ihr Untergang wird gemeinhin dem Stuka-Piloten Oberleutnant Hans-Ulrich Rudel von III./StG 2 zugeschrieben, aber Rudel warf nur eine der beiden Bomben ab de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marat_(Schiff)
Yes, but have you checked the book that Wikipedia quotes as the source? I did and there absolutely no mention in it of another bomb that hit Marat or any other pilot names. Which doesn't mean that it's not true, other bombs might have hit as well. But I didn't mention it as there don't seem to be any details about it.
Might be worth mentioning that the "sunk" battleship didn't quite sink. Marat became a floating battery and continued lobbing 305mm shells at the enemy until summer of '44. When looking at Rudel's unbelievable score, you may ask "how did they count?" and "how does it stack up against Soviet combat logs?". The answers are "rather loosely" and "when an attacked unit can be identified and its Journal of Combat Actions can be checked, Rudel's claims are spectacularly inflated". Dr. Goebels needed his superhuman heroes.
@@showtime112 Yup. Put another way, she lost enough floatation to touch bottom. Damage control managed to keep her on even keel with a number of compartments not flooded, making the subsequent refloating relatively easy.
he also refused to allow american soldiers to grab his medals as he had landed on their base out of his own volition and refused to speak to anyone under a certain rank, which was smart though potentially suicidal
The Marat was severely damaged, but three of the ship's four main gun batteries remained operable. Soviet naval gunfire, including Marat's three surviving batteries, played a key role in the successful Soviet defense of Leningrad.
The Marat never got underway again. The ship remained active as a stationary gun battery during the siege of Leningrad. The depth of the water was too shallow for the ship to sink.
Men in his unit disagreed - he was only one of the airmen that hit the ancient dreadnaught. Even artwork of the attack often shows multiple bomb hits, from other Stukas.
This might as well be true and it is vaguely mentioned in some sources. For example, Wikipedia. But the article quotes a book to support that claim in which there's no mention of it. I checked it. No other bomb, just Rudel's.
Indeed. Standard Stuka doctrine when carrying out anti-shipping strikes - whether against moored targets or those underway - was for a stream of bombers to come in close behind each other and hit with as many bombs in as short a time. Partly this was based on the Mitchell demonstration of the water hammer effect, partly this was to limit the flak exposure for each aircraft and mostly to ensure the target was as badly hit as possible. The attack on HMS Foylebank in 1940 is a classic example of this; sixteen aircraft bombed the primary target, by flights or sections four or five at a time, in less than five minutes.
That's why it bugged his squadronmates - they all knew whose bomb hit first (of three), and for Rudel to stand there and claim he alone did the deed says everything we need to know about him. @@showtime112 BTW, I work at SDASM and we have (a) Showtime 112 on display.
Yes, and that poor guy in the back, imagine what he must have felt. You have no idea if you are going to pull out of a dive and you can't see anything.
The Stuka did have an auto-pullout, since most pilots would black out momentarily at close to 90 degrees. Not a bad tech for the 1930s design. I think the closest diver to the Stuka was the Dauntless, which was a ~70 degree diver and so didn't require an auto-pullout.
Really interesting movie (both plane and the pilot itself). Stuka - a terryfing weapon of Blitzkrieg. Deadly accurate. And probably the best known dive bomber ( I know, I am European)
He was probably very lucky that he missed out on the early war in the West and particularly the Battle of Britain because the RAF fighters took a huge toll on Stukas.
The Russkies have done their best for 80 years to keep hush-hush this story, not only for the sinking of their battleship but because it was another feat of that hated and feared enemy Rudel, for whose head they had put a bounty to be awarded to whoever got him down and out ! Just imagine: this guy alone busted 530 Soviet tanks during that 4 year war !
One hardly knowed battle in Gulf of Finland was Finnish and Germans attack to escaped Russian fleet, were sunken nearly 60 vessels. Naval mines, artillery and stuka`s was weapons.
Dear friend, i knew only the biography of Rudel, but the attack story over Marat...no. I dont know hé was involved in A10 design.✌️ Sûre hé was an "experten" about tank attack and survivability over battlefield. Rudel's advices were certainly well listened.....now we knew all the fate of A10 although Pentagon watts to👎this warthog😢
That's where he first distinguished himself. The A-10 story of his involvement is really interesting. It seems that battle experience doesn't get old even after several decades.
@@aaroncourchene4384 If you try playing the rear gunner in War Thunder, it becomes painfully obvious how limited coverage the rear gun actually provides.
Read his book, he and his unit won against several fighters several times in Stukas - they can fly very tight circles and the later version had cannons.
Another great episode ! You never produced a bad one ! Good Russian pronunciation too ! .....I know , these Russian acrobats from nearby theme park would drop by once a week and get me drunk. You wouldn't know it by looking at them , super fit , but god they LOVE to PARTY.... Ukrainian guy too ..we are all friends and oppose the war.
Oberst (Colonel) Hans Ulrich Rudel was actually more decorated than Germany's other top Ace, Erich Hartmann. Rudel was the only German soldier in history to be awarded the Golden Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds which was roughly equivalent to FIVE medals of honor. The award was presented to Rudel personally by Adolf Hitler. Rudel was one of Hitler's favorite's and he thought of Rudel as the model German citizen. Rudel started as an observer and then pilot and initially was not considered a very good pilot. Once he got some experience in his trusty Junkers JU-87 "Stuka". Rudel survived flying more missions than any pilot in history (over 2,500 combat sorties). He was actually an ACE having nine confirmed air to air kills, but he was known more for his ground attack missions in his Stuka dive bomber, a very slow and clunky flying airplane with relatively little protection for either the pilot or the gunner in the back seat, who sat backwards during the dives. Rudel primarily flew with two gunners for the majority of WWII. The first (Erwin Hentschel who flew over 1,400 missions with Rudel) drowned after they crashed behind Russian lines and attempted an escape. Rudel, his rear gunner and another pilot they had attempted to rescue all ran away from partisans behind enemy lines and Rudel was shot in the shoulder in the attempted escape. Rudel, and the other two had to cross a river which was iced over. Rudel was a well known German athlete before the war and was a contender for the 1936 Olympics. He always worked out and did physical fitness during his down time, and did cross country skiing and mountaineering. He never drank nor smoked and only drank milk which some of his fellow pilots saw as "odd" at that point in history. Rudel's fitness saved his life as the other two men drowned in the crossing attempt. Rudel ran some fifty additional kilometers with a bullet in his shoulder while being pursued relentlessly by the Russians or Russian partisans and eventually was able to make it back across German lines to safety and prompt medical care. This was not the first time Rudel had escaped capture running back behind the German lines or being rescued by fellow pilots either by airplane or vehicle. Rudel was shot down or forced to land on at least 24 different occasions during the war (one of the highest amounts of any airman on both sides of the conflict). Rudel had his lower leg blown off by a shell during a mission and very nearly was killed. If not for his back seater (who was actually the squadron medical doctor who took over (voluntarily) as his backseater after his first backseater drowned in the previous incident mentioned. The doctor (named Gaderman) rode in the backseat of Rudel's Stuka as gunner for over 800 sorties towards the end of the war replacing his first gunner Erwin Hentschel. The doctor talked Rudel down for a landing after his leg was hit and he was losing blood quickly as well as consciousness. The Doctor knew that if Rudel passed out, it was all over for both the men. He kept Rudel awake and alive and by sheer will alone and powerful determination, Rudel was able to safely land and then promptly collapsed and passed out. He was treated, and against Doctor's orders from the facility he was treated at, he was back in his Stuka just six weeks later with a bloody bleeding stump and hastily made fake leg for stability. Rudel returned to his unit and flew combat missions until the very last hours of the war in Europe and eventually surrendered to the Americans crashing his Stuka (on purpose) at the end of the runway. Rudel destroyed or at least put out of commission over 500 Russian tanks, 70 landing craft, sunk the battleship Murat (Russian), another Destroyer, over 150 artillery batteries, over 800 vehicles, and also many troop concentrations and formations. He was the most successful Stuka pilot of the entire war and the most decorated German soldier of the entire conflict. Rudel also was one of the only soldiers of the conflict who had an actual "price on his head" from Josef Stalin because of the amount of death and destruction to Russian troops and equipment Rudel had inflicted on the Russians. Rudel landed his Stuka on at least six occasions behind enemy lines, many times in crater pocked open fields (very dangerous to land an airplane on) in order to rescue fellow downed German pilots. He participated in both the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of Stalingrad and survived both encounters. Rudel was one of the few pilots who would confront Hitler and Hitler told him he was grounded due to being to important a figure in German society as a war hero to be killed in combat. Rudel told Hitler, on more than one occasion, directly to his face that if he did that, he could keep all the awards if that's what it meant for him to keep flying. Hitler eventually agreed with Rudel and let him keep flying as he knew Rudel's experience in combat was also important to Germany. Rudel's determination wasn't for Adolf Hitler (although the two men did get along quite well), he did it for Germany, his homeland. Rudel's awards (including his Golden Knights Cross are on display at the National World War II aviation museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. He was also one of only 27 men to receive the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (Original silver edition). The Golden Knights cross was going to be the most limited award in Germany with only five ever being produced. Rudel was the only one ever awarded as the other four were going to be issued at the conclusion of the conflict to those German soldiers who made the most significant impact. Erich Hartmann, the famous German Ace with over 350 confirmed kills never received the Diamonds addition to his Knights Cross. Rudel had a stroke in the early 70's and later died of another stroke in 1980. It is speculated that his thousands of dive bombing runs in his Stuka, could have contributed to his suffering from strokes later in life as the process of dive bombing often caused pilots to black out in the "pull out" at the end of the run. The Stuka had a very technologically advanced automatic pull out dive recovery system that pulled the aircraft out of a dive, even if the pilot blacked out. When the pilot came back to a few seconds later, he would simply retake control of the aircraft and continue flying away. The problem was that the antiaircraft gunners could estimate the position Stuka's would be in the sky at or during the pull out and would concentrate all their guns on that position. Many Stuka's were lost to anti-aircraft guns as well as other fighters planes which could easily shoot down the Stuka's as they were slow (for the period) and were severely out of date just six to seven years after they were put into production. The Focke Wulf 190 was available to Rudel, which was the most advanced piston powered fighter that the German's had at the time, and many units and squadrons had already retired their Stuka's and upgraded to the FW190 as a ground attack and light bomber. Rudel did fly the FW190 for a short period during the war, but eventually went back into his slower and more cumbersome Stuka because that was the aircraft he felt most comfortable in. It also provided him with a rear gunner and a larger cockpit which allowed him to pick up stranded or shot down German soldiers/pilots, stuffing them inside between him and the gunner, then taking back off, often times under heavy enemy fire. Rudel also tested and flew a specially modified Stuka with special "pods" constructed which housed 37mm cannons under the wings on each side. This was the airplane Rudel used to destroy the majority of the tanks he destroyed throughout the war. He called this plane his "Cannon Bird" and this equipment dramatically increased his "tank kills" as he finally figured out the best way to attack the tank was to place his shots directly in the rear of the tank which often times blew the ammo storage and fuel tanks, completely destroying the tank and occupants inside. Other times, the tanks were put out of commision but those still counted as "kills" due to the fact the tank was put out of commision, similar to when a pilot shoots down another aircraft. Many times after being shot down, the pilot's would simply bail out but the attack still counted as a "kill". Rudel's plane was equipped with camera's to capture his various attack methods. There are several films of Rudel engaged in attacks of ships, troop movements, tanks, etc. They probably should have gave Rudel the newer (and specifically designed as a tank buster aircraft), the Henschel HS129 Anti Tank Aircraft which was deployed by Germany, but not in sufficient enough numbers to make any real difference. The HS129 was much more heavily armoured than his Stuka and he may not have had his leg blown off. It is very doubtful that Rudel's records in combat aviation will ever be broken by any other person as future combat aviation relies much more heavily on "drone" and "unmanned" combat aircraft which can perform many of the attack missions that fighter pilots previously flew. Sadly, there are no flying examples of the Stuka anywhere in the world at this time and only static display's exist. Hopefully someday, maybe they will restore one of the museum display's back to flight worthy condition. It would be amazing to see the Stuka in actual flight, along with it's trademark "wailing siren" (which many pilots disconnected or removed it altogether as they hated it just as much as the people on the ground). Rudel no doubt had a little luck and a whole lot of skill flying his Stuka in order to survive the amount of missions he flew and encounters he had during WWII.
Danke für die geschichtlich akkurate Darstellung und Grüße aus Hamburg/Deutschland! Thanks for the historically accurate presentation and greetings from Hamburg/Germany! Without question, he was a convinced National Socialist until his death, a child of his time. He should still have learned his lessons from the horrific crimes committed by Nazi Germany and acknowledged that he fought for an unjust regime. He didn't do it. As an undoubtedly exceptional pilot and warrior, the reception of his military leadership would have changed for the better. Regarding his military achievements and without wanting to excuse his fanatical attitude even after the war, it is highly advisable to read and know his biography. Like the BF 109 fighter ace Erich Hartmann, for example, he was initially some kind of underdog; for example his request to be transferred back to dive flying was initially rejected. Often it is those people who, despite their qualities, are rejected out of conceit or other reasons, those who want to prove themselves and then often overshadow others with their achievements.
Thank you for the elaborate comment! Rudel was certainly controversial and while certain things about ideologies seem crystal clear to us, they were less so to the men of that generation.
Before there was JDAM, and before there was CCIP... you just had to take the bomb's hand and walk it up to the target... face first... was there any pilot job guttsier than dive bombing during ww2?
[10:23] "...He never truly rejected Nazi ideology..." is a _very_ mild appraisal. There are no question marks regarding the bravery and skills of Rudel, but he is one of the most unapologetic Nazis that ever existed. I read his autobiography ("Stuka Pilot") as a teenager, and although a worthwhile and interesting read, was horrified at how racist it was - only to learn later that I had read a toned-down version of an earlier book "Trozdem" ("In Spite Of Everything"). Quite a fitting title for an unapologetic Nazi...
Hans Ulrich Rudel was actually very important in the design stage of the A-10 Thunderbolt 2 ( from this point on known as the Warthog). When Fairchild was designing their entry into the A-X project they consulted heavily with Rudel ( who in addition to his kill total had been shot down quite a few times too). Rudel had basically told Fairchild what was needed he thought for a superior tank buster. He was the one who advocated for the central mounted gun and the titanium bathtub to protect the pilot. Todays A-10 survivability is a direct result of consulting with Rudel. Sure he might have been an unrepentant Nazi but he knew more about ground attack in actual battle then any designer could have ever imagined.
A man with such an experience was certainly a valuable advisor. Thanks for the comment!
That’s awesome! I had no idea Rudel was involved in the A-10’s design. No wonder the A-10 kicks butt!
A small addition. Rudel’s autobiography Stuka Pilot was required reading for most, if not all, of the engineering and design team of the A-10. The powers that be really wanted to give those responsible for the design and manufacture of the Warthog the greatest possible idea of what was needed in a CAS aircraft… and who else to teach them than the greatest there ever was? If you are going to design an airplane intended to destroy Soviet armor, what better than to consult with the one who did it the most? 😊
I think the only source of that was Rudel and Pierre Spery, a Fighter Mafia/reformers guy. This probably is fake news as no sane USAF persobnel will give access to sensitive info to an Ex-Nazi with friends possibly in argentina.
Cool but he was definitely behind the times a bit. The gun on the A10 has been proved to be effectively pretty useless
A 'thumbs up' for this because, finally, someone on RUclips knows the difference between 'sank' and 'sunk'.
I don't believe I have ever received a thumbs up for grammar alone but I'll take it, thank you! :)
Present tense : to sink....Past: He SANK the ship...Past Participle: The ship was SUNK by a Stuka.
I'm a Boomer and when I was a kid I wanted to be a pilot, and I did solo when I was 16 and got my Private Pilot's license when 18. I read every book I could find written by Pilots, and so of course I read "Skuka Pilot " by Rudel. He wasn't a fighter pilot, but I got the sense that this is how a Real Man goes into Combat Flying duty. .
Thank you for commenting!
You are right, he wasnt a pilot, he was just a subhuman nazi pice of crap
Stuka*
@@Altruist-ambitions Yes, "Stuka". You see the JU-87 Gal Wing Nazi German Dive Bomber had been Name Designated as being called a "Stuka". When I was a Boomer Child growing up, well, the TV Stations, to fill the time, would come up with strange Programming Ideas, and one of them was to show Combat Camera footage from WWII. They would do complete collections of JU-87 Stuka, doing bombing runs and getting shot down. It was all quite compelling, and so it was that I remembered that JU-87s were called Stukas. Also, the plastic model airplane boxes all spelled out STUKA on the front their boxes big and bold. Then there was the book "Stuka Pilot" by Hans Rudel, the most famous JU-87 to survive the War.
Some people flew thousand of missions without being killed, and a lot of others perished during their first fight. Things are really strange.
They are indeed. Although, once you are pass those early missions, your chances of dying are much lower.
Napoleon had 8 horses killed under him. Some are not meant to die in battle.
Kizmet
One of Hans Rudel's fellow Stuka pilots was also a highly skilled, experienced, and capable Stuka pilot who excelled at destroying Red Army T-34 tanks with standard bombs, just as Rudel started out doing. This captain flew hundreds of successful missions and was also a tank-destroyer ace. Then the Luftwaffe introduced the Stuka G model, armed with two, 37mm Rheinmetall cannons.
Hans Rudel grew his tank tally enormously with the Stuka G cannons. As for the captain, the Luftwaffe switched out his standard Stuka D model for one of the new cannon-armed G models.
The captain and his rear gunner took off in mid-April 1944 for their first mission using the cannon-armed Stuka G. Both men were never seen or heard from again.
That is an example of the sudden twists and turns of fate interwoven with luck, good and bad.
Did people really reach 2k flying missions? According to Google the most combat flights was Erich Alfred Hartmann (19 April 1922 - 20 September 1993) was a German fighter pilot during World War II and the most successful fighter ace in the history of aerial warfare. He flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions.
Rudel was "the ace's ace"! I read "Stuka Pilot." I enjoyed it immensely. Rudel was consulted by the builders of the A-10 "Warthog" ground attack aircraft. That's how much he was respected.
he has never been a consultant for USA constructors
I first read Rudel's book "Stuka Pilot" in about 1968. Dang! I was impressed. When I was a little kid, my Dad took me to the Chicago "Museum of Science and Industry", where they had an actual Junkers Ju-87 "Stuka" on display. A few other interesting books:
"Stuka Pilot-Hans Ulrich Rudel", by Gunther Just
"Suka - Ju87", by Alex Vanags-Baginskis
"Junkers Ju-87 Stukageschwader of the Russian Front", by John Weal
"Memoirs of a Stuka Pilot", by Helmut Mahlke
He was also a nazi war criminal
Incidentally, the A-10 Thunderbolt is based on the design plans of the Junkers "Schlachtflugzeug". The similarity of the aircraft is unmistakable.
Rudel was a dirty Nazi! During and after the war! There is nothing to amire!
Rudel's rear gunner and radioman, Erwin Hentshel,drowned in the Dneiper River while they attempted to swim across to avoid captivity after they were shot down. He was the most decorated enlisted man in the luftwaffe as he was with Rudel for over 1400 missions over a span of 2 years
he did not drown in the river; he and another crew were captured by Soviet troops. from their words it became known that when they reached the river, the rudel abandoned them and swam across the river. they couldn't do it because they didn't have that kind of physical training. in Rudel's book it is written that they met Soviet soldiers and were forced to flee, but in fact they did not meet anyone on the road to the river. They stayed on the left bank of the Dniester for a day from 03/20/1944 to 03/21/1944.and this liar also describes how he met Soviet soldiers (mistaking them for Romanians) and one of the soldiers was armed with a PPSh and Rudel managed to escape, considering that they were in close contact (one of the soldiers took a revolver from Rudel and a holster) how much time do you think Do you need to throw a PPSh and make a long line? this will take 1-3 seconds. How far could a rudel run in such a time?
@@jah886jealous much little one? 😂🤣😂🤣
Correct, Hentshel died during his attempt to swim across the river.
@@FaithnGod1558 I don't think jealousy is the correct counter-'accusation' to level. Be reasonable in your retort, sir.
But, we must accept, that this inidividual is far from the only one to harbour some degree of doubt about the veracity of Rudel's accounts, be it in part or in whole and to what degree. It's hardly our place to act butthurt on behalf of a dead Nazi now, is it?
@@glennhansel9411 german top aces would never surrender willingly to the soviets, most had a bounty on their heads placed by Stalin too so they probably knew what fate awaited them. The Dnepr is one of the widest rivers in the world at certain places, it must be very very tough to swim across.
He was awarded the Knights Cross in Gold with oakleaves, swords and diamonds, the only German Officer to ever recieve that award.
It looks like they invented that decoration especially for him.
@@showtime112: The Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten) was instituted on 29 December 1944. This medal was the highest level, originally intended for the 12 most distinguished servicemen in the entire German armed forces after the war ended.
Six sets of Golden Oak Leaves were manufactured, each consisting of an A-piece, made of 18-carat gold with 58 real diamonds, and a B-piece, made of 14-carat gold with 68 real sapphires.
One of these sets was presented to Hans-Ulrich Rudel on 1 January 1945; the remaining five sets were taken to the palace of Schloss Klessheim in Austria, where they were captured by US forces at the end of the war.
And he was a 1st Class Nazi swine.
@@timonsolus Do they know Rudel's is?
Who’s “they”? And do they Rudel’s is what?
Han Ulrich Rudel was advisor on the AT 10 Warthog Aircraft, a staunch Anti USSR Communist Nazi till the end of his life, He was also an Aces with 9 air to air victories, not bad for Ju 87 Stuka anti tank aces.
He mostly got those air to air kills while flying a 190.
I might cover some of those aerial victories in the future. Thanks for another comment!
He was not a Nazi. He was German.
@@brianwilliams3345 Those two things are not mutually exclusive 😁 And yes, he was a Nazi, unfortunately.
@@showtime112If anything, then a National-Socialist.
He instructed my father how to fly air to ground misiones in the Argentinian Air Force
Thanks for sharing!
that might explain the Argentine AFs successes in low level Bombing of British ships during the Falklands war.
@@MrSGL21 Probably not the same generation because Rudel lived in Argentina in the late 40s, most probably falkland-era argentinian pilots were trained by israel (Giora Epstein and some others)
Rudel, Galland, Baumbach were some of the most decorated Luftwaffe pilots who emigrated to Argentina in the late'40s and early '50s. When West Germany grew stronger around 1960, most of these war aces returned to their fatherland.
I had read about Rudel's expertise with the Stuka before but did not know about him sinking the Marat. Thanks !
That's what really distinguished him. Thanks for the comment!
He lost a leg and still flew.
You might want to read about Douglas Bader 😁
@@Parocha
yes and he got a new plastic leg near Baden-Baden, where he was shut down,
Great pilot, brave soldier and a loyal german.
Also devout Nazi
Thank you for commenting!
Rudel was a convinced diehard Nazi, even and especially after the war. I wish people would stop gloryfying him. He was a loyal Nazi maybe, but not a loyal German.
and fanatic nazi even after ww2
and nazi.
Great video! This features two of my favourite WW2 aircraft: First, the Stuka... which, despite its weaknesses, is for me the most sinister-looking, gnarly aircraft. Second, the I-16... which I find to be one of the cutest WW2 aircraft for its stubby body (along with the Brewster Buffalo). Also, this video gives me more information of the exploit of Rudel, one of the most famous German WW2 pilots of which I admitedly know very little. Keep up the good work!
Not many people consider I-16 their favorite 😁 But it is certainly iconic. I should do a video which focuses on this plane someday. Maybe something from the Spanish Civil War.
@@showtime112That would be interesting… air combat in that period is certainly a topic that would benefit from deeper coverage
I also have a soft spot for the I-16. It just looks like the most unlikely fighter, as if it almost shouldn't fly, but in its day it was advanced. Too bad that day was several years before Barbarossa.
@iwansetyawan8678 Rudel was the most decorated German soldier of WW2.
In military history I-16 case is actually a textbook example of "rest on one's laurels" action driven by politics. Sad story ngl.
Outstandig. Not all aerial warfare stories are dogfight related. Great chapter
Thanks! I certainly agree about non-dogfight stories. You know that saying about which pilots make movies and which make history 😁
I’ve always wanted someone to do a video on Rudel & the Marat. Showtime delivers once again!
The Luftwaffe shipped out a special load of very heavy bombs, 2,000-lbs, to be precise. That is how the Germans managed to sink the Soviet battleship, Marat. The Luftwaffe used a ginormous bomb and employed a Stuka pilot of exceptional talent, skill, and nerves of steel, Hans Rudel.
Yes, that bomb was about as big as a Stuka could carry.
@jeffyoung60 The bomb was a 1000 kilograms bomb. That's exactly 2200 pounds, to be precise.
Открою тайну ,там где стоял Марат нельзя утонуть.Там нет больших глубин.Он встал на дно и стрелял по немцам из оставшихся орудий.
This is the same weapon they issued to X Fliegerkorps to destroy the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean. The carrier survived this weapon, although badly mauled of course. The battleship? Didn't quite. Except, it did. It survived this bomb and a main magazine explosion?
Remarkable. Very remarkable.
Speaking of gonormous bombs.it was a 1200lbtallboy which capsizedthe german battleship tirpitz
Great story. I couldn't help comparing the JU-87 with the SBD. Both super effective. The SBD was smaller but had nearly 3X the range and a bit heavier armament. The siren on the JU-87 had to be terrifying to people on the ground. Heard somewhere that the Stuka crews got tired of the screeching however. Very different dive brakes on the two aircraft. Both worked fine apparently.
The “ trumpets of Jericho “ on the JU-87 ate something like 15 to 30 mph off the aircraft’s top speed. When they started running into fighters like the spitfire and needed better fuel economy they started pulling the wind driving sirens off the plane. On early models you’ll see the attachment point right on the top of the landing gear leg. Later model JU-87s have it completely removed. JU-87s worked best as aerial artillery, operating at airfields close to a front they could get up, get altitude and hit tanks or stubborn points before landing to quickly rearm, refuel and do it again. The SBD Dauntless was a late prewar design for a dive bomber specifically with a navy requirement in mind ( the USAAF did operate a few but quickly stopped when they went to fighter bombers vs dive bombing ). Being built to a navy spec it was assumed the SBD would need to be rugged, simple and have long legs. The radial engine was fuel efficient and simple. The retractable undercarriage helped to clean up the plane and designers added big fuel tanks wherever possible. The SBD was meant for long range over water flying where you might be flying 400 to 800 miles to find your target. The JU-87 was built for short range tactical use on land ( though they did build a Navalized version for operation on the unbuilt German Aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin which ended up reconverted for land operation when the carrier was abandoned after being 3/4 completed)
Thanks! SBD (and Pacific Theater generally) which will probably get some attention from me in the future. The siren sure had a powerful effect early in the war but I guess, it wore off after a while. And I can understand how it annoyed the pilots too 😁
Below: "Oh God!"
In plane: "oh Goooood (eyeroll)"
I've heard from former Stuka pilots that many of them removed the jericho sirens from their planes because the screeching noise was too loud and obnoxious for the crew.
All the later model Jericho Sirens could actually be turned On or Off as the pilots deemed necessary!!! 🤠👍
Incredible story! Big thanks to you for this reenactment.
Agreed! Thank you for watching!
Worth Mentioning That He Was The Most Decorated German Pilot Of The War. Thank You.
Thank you for contributing info!
Hans Rudel was a legend. Stuka Pilot is a classic of wartime aviation literature.
ruclips.net/video/ZtvoHFdkoI4/видео.html
Nazi literature
@@FELIPEFODAOBR12 Naah. Just a tale of a man in combat.
@@PaulFurber a man who never rejected the sick nazi ideology and who openly was butthurt for his military defeat to the point not only he was openly defending german warcrimes well into the 1970's but he also called JFK a "manlet" and a "coward" for not been willing to "kill the sub-human slavs" during the cuban missile crysis... yea... quite a nice guy...
PropagandaStaffeln.
Bester und erfolgreichster Soldat aller Zeiten. R.I.P.
Great video. I've read his memoir, "Stuka Pilot."
Thanks! It is a very interesting read for fans of military aviation.
I guess as a veteran I hear something else in the story of Rudel here: Rudel is an example of how talent is good, but training under good officers (who identified his weaknesses and did not approve him for frontline duty) and instructors is better. By this story, Rudel had several times more training time and flight experience than most 'new' highly talented CAS pilots, which seems to have paid off.
That is a very good observation. Talent can only get you so far and Rudel was obviously driven enough to become really good.
A good mythomaniac also.
Marat, a pre-WWI battleship, was only temporarily sunk and served on in the Soviet navy until 1953. Not a bad innings really.
WT recently introduced it and I knew I had to do this story. Thanks for commenting!
To be precise, the forward 1/3rd of Marat, from the bow to the forward funnel, was destroyed in the 'A' turret magazine explosion, and the rest of the ship flooded and sank to the bottom of the very shallow harbour. The rear 2/3rds of the sunken battleship was refloated and used as a floating gun battery during WW2, and as a stationary floating training ship after WW2.
Marat was renamed Petropavlovsk on 31 May 1943, and again to Volkhov on 28 November 1950. Plans to repair her in 1945-46 using the bow of her decommissioned sister Frunze were rejected. She never left Kronstadt Harbour again after Rudel's dive bombing attack, so his credit for sinking her is well deserved.
However, Marat certainly fared better after her forward magazine explosion than her American counterpart, USS Arizona.
Interesting post, thanks.
Excellent recreation using the Il2, excellent video, at minute 10:26 in the background you can also see Adolf Joseph Ferdinand Galland, another excellent pilot and AS from the second war, what a beautiful photo, great video, greetings from Argentina.
Thank you for the positive feedback! Yes, that is Galland on the photo.
Storyboarding on this really brings the event to life. Rudel is legendary. Though an enemy still he's respected.
Thank you for your comment!
Rudel was a nazi till his death. However, he was fearless and bad to the bone. He was probably equal to an armored regiment in destructive ability.
Rudel é uma lenda na aviação de combate. Por toda dedicação a seu país foi o militar mais condecorado da Alemanha. Muito interessante seria um video sobre a versão de stuka que pilotou que possuia 2 canhões pesadíssimos para o avião destinados a destruir tanques. Parece que era bem difícil pilotar esses aviões.
Thank you for the comment!
Another masterpiece! Congratulations Showtime 112. Very excellent quality upload. Expecting more in the coming months.
Thanks Julian! More content is certainly coming.
A ship named for a Swiss-born French Revolutionary, who was stabbed to death in his bath.
Yes, and the ship was originally called Petropavlovsk.
Renamed you mean ,
Awesome video , Thank you !
I appreciate the positive feedback!
His autobiography, Stuka Pilot, is great. I've read it several times.
Yes, it is a must read for any aviation enthusiast.
Bound For Glory did a song about him called "Stuka Pilot," the video is surprisingly still here on YT, despite all the censorship these days........ ruclips.net/video/ZtvoHFdkoI4/видео.html
The Stuka Was The BEST Dive
Bomber Of WW-2...
Certainly the most famous one
_Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten_
*The Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds*
They were not handing them out to little boys sitting in their parent's house, playing on the computer.
U R SOOOO Wrong!!!! I pulled one out of my Weakies breakfast cereal just this morning!!!! Mine is made out of genuine imitation plastic and has glass diamonds and rubies with gold painted swords. I wear it proudly while playing F-19 Stealth Fighter. 😁😜
Thanks!
I appreciate another donation!
GREAT - GREAT - GREAT- Just on target...100 % aviation history. I strongly recomend the book "Stuka Pilot" by Hans Ulrich Rudel. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for your constant support!
9:23 looks like the average war thunder stuka player quantum leaped into Hauptmann Steen
For a really good read, check out Rudel's "Stuka Pilot." It's one of the best WW2 memoirs written.
I loved it. The mans determination affects you. It changes you and gives incredible determination.
Ihr Untergang wird gemeinhin dem Stuka-Piloten Oberleutnant Hans-Ulrich Rudel von III./StG 2 zugeschrieben, aber Rudel warf nur eine der beiden Bomben ab
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marat_(Schiff)
Yes, but have you checked the book that Wikipedia quotes as the source? I did and there absolutely no mention in it of another bomb that hit Marat or any other pilot names. Which doesn't mean that it's not true, other bombs might have hit as well. But I didn't mention it as there don't seem to be any details about it.
I liked your Prokoviev "Firebird" music selection.
That piece was just waiting for a proper video :) Thanks for the feedback!
Excelente vídeo!!! Parabéns 👏👏👏👍🇧🇷
Muito obrigado!
Might be worth mentioning that the "sunk" battleship didn't quite sink. Marat became a floating battery and continued lobbing 305mm shells at the enemy until summer of '44.
When looking at Rudel's unbelievable score, you may ask "how did they count?" and "how does it stack up against Soviet combat logs?". The answers are "rather loosely" and "when an attacked unit can be identified and its Journal of Combat Actions can be checked, Rudel's claims are spectacularly inflated". Dr. Goebels needed his superhuman heroes.
Some sources say it did sink but as the water was very shallow, it was made floating again.
@@showtime112 Yup. Put another way, she lost enough floatation to touch bottom. Damage control managed to keep her on even keel with a number of compartments not flooded, making the subsequent refloating relatively easy.
he also refused to allow american soldiers to grab his medals as he had landed on their base out of his own volition and refused to speak to anyone under a certain rank, which was smart though potentially suicidal
You can say what you want about him but he certainly wasn't fearful.
The Marat was severely damaged, but three of the ship's four main gun batteries remained operable. Soviet naval gunfire, including Marat's three surviving batteries, played a key role in the successful Soviet defense of Leningrad.
True, thank you for contributing!
The Marat was sunk but refloated and used again similar to some of the ships sunk at Pearl Harbor
The Marat never got underway again. The ship remained active as a stationary gun battery during the siege of Leningrad. The depth of the water was too shallow for the ship to sink.
Well done Work!!! Brilliant Details and explanation...............
Thank you very much for your positive comment!
Finde es sehr heftig das wir in deutschland davon nichts erfahren und erst auf englisch sprachige seiten müssen
Men in his unit disagreed - he was only one of the airmen that hit the ancient dreadnaught. Even artwork of the attack often shows multiple bomb hits, from other Stukas.
This might as well be true and it is vaguely mentioned in some sources. For example, Wikipedia. But the article quotes a book to support that claim in which there's no mention of it. I checked it. No other bomb, just Rudel's.
Indeed. Standard Stuka doctrine when carrying out anti-shipping strikes - whether against moored targets or those underway - was for a stream of bombers to come in close behind each other and hit with as many bombs in as short a time.
Partly this was based on the Mitchell demonstration of the water hammer effect, partly this was to limit the flak exposure for each aircraft and mostly to ensure the target was as badly hit as possible. The attack on HMS Foylebank in 1940 is a classic example of this; sixteen aircraft bombed the primary target, by flights or sections four or five at a time, in less than five minutes.
That's why it bugged his squadronmates - they all knew whose bomb hit first (of three), and for Rudel to stand there and claim he alone did the deed says everything we need to know about him. @@showtime112 BTW, I work at SDASM and we have (a) Showtime 112 on display.
Imagine the balls those pilots had to dive vertically towards the ground and pull out at the last minute, the amount of Gs and ground fire.
Yes, and that poor guy in the back, imagine what he must have felt. You have no idea if you are going to pull out of a dive and you can't see anything.
The Stuka did have an auto-pullout, since most pilots would black out momentarily at close to 90 degrees. Not a bad tech for the 1930s design. I think the closest diver to the Stuka was the Dauntless, which was a ~70 degree diver and so didn't require an auto-pullout.
Really interesting movie (both plane and the pilot itself). Stuka - a terryfing weapon of Blitzkrieg. Deadly accurate. And probably the best known dive bomber ( I know, I am European)
Thanks for the positive feedback! Well, it was by far the most famous dive bomber in the European Theater. Probably of the entire war.
Ас ест ас! Рудель был профессионалом!
To think that Rudel always flew the slow Stukas (the dive bomber and the tank buster) and survived the war, it's beyond comprehension!!
Exactly. It must be a combination of skill and luck.
He was probably very lucky that he missed out on the early war in the West and particularly the Battle of Britain because the RAF fighters took a huge toll on Stukas.
You would be interested to read a book by a Luftwaffe "Stuka" Pilot, who flew in the "Battle of Britain".
"Memoirs of a Stuka Pilot", by Helmut Mahlke
@@Thorr-kl6jl I was surprised how good Mahlke's book was.
Rudel is the most successful, greatest & most decorated soldier in human history.
And greatest mythomaniac
@@anatoleondulet4881 He was flying with one leg & that's no myth....
What a crazy and extreme experience to be part of....
It was a pretty intense combat, that's for sure.
Nice video 👍!
Thanks once again!
these guys are a product of their time... even the bad ideologies can produce some fine man to fight for it.
Yes, we sometimes judge people from our point of view but who knows how we would have turned out under such circumstances.
A great pilot who helped nazi criminals. Why did he settle in Argentina after the war instead of helping rebuild Germany?
I read his book Stuka Pilot, and the sinking of the Soviet battleship was one of the most thrilling things I have ever read.
Yes, that's probably the book's highlight.
Me too!!
Не затопление, а повреждение.
Does anybody know where a museum might be located , that has a Stuka? I would like to see one up close.
I believe there are only two complete Stukas in museums. One is in the RAF museum in London, the other is in Chicago in the Museum of Science.
Hey thanks. My daughter lives in Chicago so I go up there three or four times a year. It's on my list now. Thanks again.@@showtime112
His medals were sold 10-15 years ago I’d
Love to know what they sold for
I have never heard about that battle before. Thank you
Thank you for watching!
The Russkies have done their best for 80 years to keep hush-hush this story, not only for the sinking of their battleship but because it was another feat of that hated and feared enemy Rudel, for whose head they had put a bounty to be awarded to whoever got him down and out ! Just imagine: this guy alone busted 530 Soviet tanks during that 4 year war !
Awesome video!
I'm glad you like it!
Hans Ulrich Rudel...
He drinks only spruddel. ..
😁
And after it, he eats strudel ;)
Вічна слава та безмежна повага велекому льотчику та бомбардиру!
Nice recreation, well done. That's got to be one helluva feeling watching the earth rush to ya.
Thank you very much! I'm sure it was a huge adrenalin rush too.
My mom met him in A post office in Roseville, CA while he was working on the A10
How did she know who he was?
He never went in USA! 🤣Did she saw hitler with him ?
I don't think the US govt would have included him in operation Paperclip.
What a legend.
What a mythomaniac !
Das ist sehr interessant.
Thank you for commenting!
A great pilot and a great man.
Thank You again.
Thank you for watching and commenting!
Excellent work!
I'm glad you think so, thank you!
Qué bueno, el vídeo,la música,la ambientación,la documentación. ¡ gracias!
Thank you very much for the positive feedback!
The most destructive pilot ever seen on any war
Muy interesante, no conocia esta historia de la destrucción del Marat y de Ulrich Rudel. 👏👏👏👏👍
Thank you very much for the feedback!
82ND AIRBORNE
5 hours ago I was waiting for this...
As the old Chinese proverb says, he who waits sometimes spends hours waiting 😁😁😁
@@showtime112
82ND AIRBORNE
Thanks for the Promotion!!
Rudel's book is excellent and well worth reading. Sad that it'll never be made into a movie.
The Stuka divebomber is the most iconic and beautiful plane of the war, in my opinion.
It is certainly iconic. Beautiful is perhaps debatable but weapon systems beauty often comes from just looking mean and dangerous :)
Outdated
My german shepherd see's thumbnail- *blank stare as stukalied plays with flashbacks of Jericho sirens blaring 😂
Thanks to your historical vidéos! Great job! Immersive and realist. A book of Rudel also exists: Pilot of Stukas ;)
Thank you for the positive feedback!
apparently he flew a fw-190 D-9 occasionally
He divebombed it, similar to how SBD Dauntlesses sunk the Japanese Carriers at Midway
Yes, that's the same basic idea.
I've tried looking..is he using iL2 sturmovik or war thunder for the video? I've never seen battleships in iL2.
It's War Thunder. Marat was introduced a couple of months ago so it was a chance to cover the topic. IL-2 has nothing larger than a destroyer I think.
One hardly knowed battle in Gulf of Finland was Finnish and Germans attack to escaped Russian fleet, were sunken nearly 60 vessels. Naval mines, artillery and stuka`s was weapons.
Thank you for sharing! I might investigate that and perhaps cover it someday.
Evacuation of Tallinn
Der Tapferste der Tapferen! 🤚🏻
Nice vídeo ! 👍🏻👍🏻
Thank you very much!
Another well done historical video by Showtime112. Can someone tell me WHAT FLIGHT SIM was used in making this video? Thanx. J
Thanks for the feedback! This video was done in War Thunder.
Bravo sehr gute Verfilmung 👍🤗👏
Thank you very much for the positive comment!
Great story thx. I appreciate the knowledge. 👍
Thank you for the positive comment!
After ww2 he was advisor with A Galand of the Argentine Air Forcr e during several years he lived in Argentine
Yes.
And he use to ski in Bariloche, and took part in races of the Club Andino Bariloche.
Thank you for adding info!
Dear friend, i knew only the biography of Rudel, but the attack story over Marat...no.
I dont know hé was involved in A10 design.✌️ Sûre hé was an "experten" about tank attack and survivability over battlefield. Rudel's advices were certainly well listened.....now we knew all the fate of A10 although Pentagon watts to👎this warthog😢
That's where he first distinguished himself. The A-10 story of his involvement is really interesting. It seems that battle experience doesn't get old even after several decades.
@@showtime112 this is to say : ground battle with tanks never change since décades. Just tactics and new weapons improved by lessons of former battles
Great content as usual, but i wonder what was the kd ratio for the stuka in air combat.
Thanks for the comment! You mean how many enemy fighters were downed by their gunners? I can't remember seeing that statistics anywhere.
I read somewhere that the rear gunner was mostly for"moral" 😅!
@@aaroncourchene4384 If you try playing the rear gunner in War Thunder, it becomes painfully obvious how limited coverage the rear gun actually provides.
Read his book, he and his unit won against several fighters several times in Stukas - they can fly very tight circles and the later version had cannons.
Another great episode ! You never produced a bad one ! Good Russian pronunciation too ! .....I know , these Russian acrobats from nearby theme park would drop by once a week and get me drunk. You wouldn't know it by looking at them , super fit , but god they LOVE to PARTY.... Ukrainian guy too ..we are all friends and oppose the war.
Thank you for the positive comment and personal feedback!
Very good historical video.
Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
Great video
Thank you for your positive feedback!
Rudel goat ♥
Oberst (Colonel) Hans Ulrich Rudel was actually more decorated than Germany's other top Ace, Erich Hartmann. Rudel was the only German soldier in history to be awarded the Golden Knights Cross of the Iron Cross, with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds which was roughly equivalent to FIVE medals of honor. The award was presented to Rudel personally by Adolf Hitler. Rudel was one of Hitler's favorite's and he thought of Rudel as the model German citizen. Rudel started as an observer and then pilot and initially was not considered a very good pilot. Once he got some experience in his trusty Junkers JU-87 "Stuka". Rudel survived flying more missions than any pilot in history (over 2,500 combat sorties). He was actually an ACE having nine confirmed air to air kills, but he was known more for his ground attack missions in his Stuka dive bomber, a very slow and clunky flying airplane with relatively little protection for either the pilot or the gunner in the back seat, who sat backwards during the dives. Rudel primarily flew with two gunners for the majority of WWII. The first (Erwin Hentschel who flew over 1,400 missions with Rudel) drowned after they crashed behind Russian lines and attempted an escape. Rudel, his rear gunner and another pilot they had attempted to rescue all ran away from partisans behind enemy lines and Rudel was shot in the shoulder in the attempted escape. Rudel, and the other two had to cross a river which was iced over. Rudel was a well known German athlete before the war and was a contender for the 1936 Olympics. He always worked out and did physical fitness during his down time, and did cross country skiing and mountaineering. He never drank nor smoked and only drank milk which some of his fellow pilots saw as "odd" at that point in history. Rudel's fitness saved his life as the other two men drowned in the crossing attempt. Rudel ran some fifty additional kilometers with a bullet in his shoulder while being pursued relentlessly by the Russians or Russian partisans and eventually was able to make it back across German lines to safety and prompt medical care. This was not the first time Rudel had escaped capture running back behind the German lines or being rescued by fellow pilots either by airplane or vehicle. Rudel was shot down or forced to land on at least 24 different occasions during the war (one of the highest amounts of any airman on both sides of the conflict). Rudel had his lower leg blown off by a shell during a mission and very nearly was killed. If not for his back seater (who was actually the squadron medical doctor who took over (voluntarily) as his backseater after his first backseater drowned in the previous incident mentioned. The doctor (named Gaderman) rode in the backseat of Rudel's Stuka as gunner for over 800 sorties towards the end of the war replacing his first gunner Erwin Hentschel. The doctor talked Rudel down for a landing after his leg was hit and he was losing blood quickly as well as consciousness. The Doctor knew that if Rudel passed out, it was all over for both the men. He kept Rudel awake and alive and by sheer will alone and powerful determination, Rudel was able to safely land and then promptly collapsed and passed out. He was treated, and against Doctor's orders from the facility he was treated at, he was back in his Stuka just six weeks later with a bloody bleeding stump and hastily made fake leg for stability. Rudel returned to his unit and flew combat missions until the very last hours of the war in Europe and eventually surrendered to the Americans crashing his Stuka (on purpose) at the end of the runway. Rudel destroyed or at least put out of commission over 500 Russian tanks, 70 landing craft, sunk the battleship Murat (Russian), another Destroyer, over 150 artillery batteries, over 800 vehicles, and also many troop concentrations and formations. He was the most successful Stuka pilot of the entire war and the most decorated German soldier of the entire conflict. Rudel also was one of the only soldiers of the conflict who had an actual "price on his head" from Josef Stalin because of the amount of death and destruction to Russian troops and equipment Rudel had inflicted on the Russians. Rudel landed his Stuka on at least six occasions behind enemy lines, many times in crater pocked open fields (very dangerous to land an airplane on) in order to rescue fellow downed German pilots. He participated in both the Battle of Kursk and the Battle of Stalingrad and survived both encounters. Rudel was one of the few pilots who would confront Hitler and Hitler told him he was grounded due to being to important a figure in German society as a war hero to be killed in combat. Rudel told Hitler, on more than one occasion, directly to his face that if he did that, he could keep all the awards if that's what it meant for him to keep flying. Hitler eventually agreed with Rudel and let him keep flying as he knew Rudel's experience in combat was also important to Germany. Rudel's determination wasn't for Adolf Hitler (although the two men did get along quite well), he did it for Germany, his homeland. Rudel's awards (including his Golden Knights Cross are on display at the National World War II aviation museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. He was also one of only 27 men to receive the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds (Original silver edition). The Golden Knights cross was going to be the most limited award in Germany with only five ever being produced. Rudel was the only one ever awarded as the other four were going to be issued at the conclusion of the conflict to those German soldiers who made the most significant impact. Erich Hartmann, the famous German Ace with over 350 confirmed kills never received the Diamonds addition to his Knights Cross. Rudel had a stroke in the early 70's and later died of another stroke in 1980. It is speculated that his thousands of dive bombing runs in his Stuka, could have contributed to his suffering from strokes later in life as the process of dive bombing often caused pilots to black out in the "pull out" at the end of the run. The Stuka had a very technologically advanced automatic pull out dive recovery system that pulled the aircraft out of a dive, even if the pilot blacked out. When the pilot came back to a few seconds later, he would simply retake control of the aircraft and continue flying away. The problem was that the antiaircraft gunners could estimate the position Stuka's would be in the sky at or during the pull out and would concentrate all their guns on that position. Many Stuka's were lost to anti-aircraft guns as well as other fighters planes which could easily shoot down the Stuka's as they were slow (for the period) and were severely out of date just six to seven years after they were put into production. The Focke Wulf 190 was available to Rudel, which was the most advanced piston powered fighter that the German's had at the time, and many units and squadrons had already retired their Stuka's and upgraded to the FW190 as a ground attack and light bomber. Rudel did fly the FW190 for a short period during the war, but eventually went back into his slower and more cumbersome Stuka because that was the aircraft he felt most comfortable in. It also provided him with a rear gunner and a larger cockpit which allowed him to pick up stranded or shot down German soldiers/pilots, stuffing them inside between him and the gunner, then taking back off, often times under heavy enemy fire. Rudel also tested and flew a specially modified Stuka with special "pods" constructed which housed 37mm cannons under the wings on each side. This was the airplane Rudel used to destroy the majority of the tanks he destroyed throughout the war. He called this plane his "Cannon Bird" and this equipment dramatically increased his "tank kills" as he finally figured out the best way to attack the tank was to place his shots directly in the rear of the tank which often times blew the ammo storage and fuel tanks, completely destroying the tank and occupants inside. Other times, the tanks were put out of commision but those still counted as "kills" due to the fact the tank was put out of commision, similar to when a pilot shoots down another aircraft. Many times after being shot down, the pilot's would simply bail out but the attack still counted as a "kill". Rudel's plane was equipped with camera's to capture his various attack methods. There are several films of Rudel engaged in attacks of ships, troop movements, tanks, etc. They probably should have gave Rudel the newer (and specifically designed as a tank buster aircraft), the Henschel HS129 Anti Tank Aircraft which was deployed by Germany, but not in sufficient enough numbers to make any real difference. The HS129 was much more heavily armoured than his Stuka and he may not have had his leg blown off. It is very doubtful that Rudel's records in combat aviation will ever be broken by any other person as future combat aviation relies much more heavily on "drone" and "unmanned" combat aircraft which can perform many of the attack missions that fighter pilots previously flew. Sadly, there are no flying examples of the Stuka anywhere in the world at this time and only static display's exist. Hopefully someday, maybe they will restore one of the museum display's back to flight worthy condition. It would be amazing to see the Stuka in actual flight, along with it's trademark "wailing siren" (which many pilots disconnected or removed it altogether as they hated it just as much as the people on the ground). Rudel no doubt had a little luck and a whole lot of skill flying his Stuka in order to survive the amount of missions he flew and encounters he had during WWII.
Danke für die geschichtlich akkurate Darstellung und Grüße aus Hamburg/Deutschland! Thanks for the historically accurate presentation and greetings from Hamburg/Germany! Without question, he was a convinced National Socialist until his death, a child of his time. He should still have learned his lessons from the horrific crimes committed by Nazi Germany and acknowledged that he fought for an unjust regime. He didn't do it. As an undoubtedly exceptional pilot and warrior, the reception of his military leadership would have changed for the better. Regarding his military achievements and without wanting to excuse his fanatical attitude even after the war, it is highly advisable to read and know his biography. Like the BF 109 fighter ace Erich Hartmann, for example, he was initially some kind of underdog; for example his request to be transferred back to dive flying was initially rejected. Often it is those people who, despite their qualities, are rejected out of conceit or other reasons, those who want to prove themselves and then often overshadow others with their achievements.
Thank you for the elaborate comment! Rudel was certainly controversial and while certain things about ideologies seem crystal clear to us, they were less so to the men of that generation.
Before there was JDAM, and before there was CCIP... you just had to take the bomb's hand and walk it up to the target... face first... was there any pilot job guttsier than dive bombing during ww2?
Seems simple :) The only thing that might compare was possibly the German U-boats. Those guys suffered awful casualties.
[10:23] "...He never truly rejected Nazi ideology..." is a _very_ mild appraisal. There are no question marks regarding the bravery and skills of Rudel, but he is one of the most unapologetic Nazis that ever existed. I read his autobiography ("Stuka Pilot") as a teenager, and although a worthwhile and interesting read, was horrified at how racist it was - only to learn later that I had read a toned-down version of an earlier book "Trozdem" ("In Spite Of Everything"). Quite a fitting title for an unapologetic Nazi...
What game is the video on Ju-87 from ?
You mean 'Five Things About Ju-87'? That one was done in IL-2 Great Battles. If you mean this one, it's War Thunder.
@@showtime112 in this video where the Ju-87 drops a bomb on a ship