"Stuka Pilot" Review

[dpwilliams]

First in a series of aviation book reviews in this new section of PFC.

Attachments:

[Don Gieseke]

The Stuka was an ugly machine. But, like the A-10 it was designed perfectly for it's mission!

As a kid, I flew two control line models of the Stuka. It was a great airplane for the event I flew, precision aerobatics.

Attachments:

[Don Gieseke]

Hey, Denny!

I just got a Kindle and one of the books I ordered to fill my library was "Stuka Pilot." Looking forward to it!!!

Don

[Don Gieseke]

I just finished this book. It was very interesting on a number of different fronts.

The first interesting area was on the subject of leadership. As a young aviator, Rudel was tagged as an inferior pilot due to the fact that he was a slow learner. But he was also a determined individual and honed his skills to a high level. His first commander refused to fly him. Instead of getting angry, he bided his time and eventually became the unit's highest performer, moving up through the ranks to the highest level. Also, near the end of the war he was the only leader willing to tell Hitler the truth about what was really happening in the field!

Also, of interest, was the mentality of a soldier when he is actually fighting on his home soil for his own people. Perspectives change and determination grows.

The Stuka was slow and pretty much obsolete but it was used so effectively. And Rudel even shot down some allied fighters with the old gal. A modification made to the Stuka was to mount cannon on the airplane to make it a tank killer. An effective mod!

Rudel was a true warrior. Shot down a number of times and injured severely many more, he continued to fly with disabilities tht would have grounded anyone else.

Rudel explains that he never knew what was happening in the concentration camps. And that was most likely true as most of his war was in Russia until the end when he was defending the Fatherland.

All in all, a most interesting book. Thanks, Denny, for sharing it with us!!