<Archive Obituary> General Ernst Udet (November 17th 1941)
Bill Schenley
Berlin Says Only That He Was Killed 'While Experimenting
With a New Weapon'
State Funeral Ordered
Leading German Aviator Shot Down 62 Planes in World War
Built Hitler's Force
Photo:
http://www.psywar.org/psywar/images/udet.jpg
FROM: The new York Times (November 19th 1941) ~
By Telephone
BERLIN, Nov. 18
Col. Gen. Ernst Udet, noted flier in the World War and
the leading creator of the present German air force, died
yesterday in an accident "while experimenting with a new
weapon," it was announced today.
[A few months ago reports were circulated abroad that
General Udet had committed suicide after having been
arrested by the Gestapo, according to The United Press.
General Udet and his chief, Reich Marshal Hermann
Goering, were reported disgraced because they opposed
Germany's war against Russia. The Columbia
Broadcasting System in New York yesterday heard the
Berlin radio broadcast that General Udet was "the victim
of an airplane accident."] [1]
The body was taken to the Air Ministry today, where it
will lie in state until the funeral ordered by Adolf Hitler
tomorrow or Thursday.
As silent crowds bared their heads the body was borne on
a flag-draped artillery caisson past detachments of a
Luftwaffe guard of honor lining the streets in the center of
Berlin to the Air Ministry.
Three Generals Killed Recently
General Udet's death was the third of German Generals
announced here within the last eight days.
Lieut. Gen. Erich Bernecker, artillery commander, was
reported killed in action on the eastern front Oct. 28 by
today's issue of the Heeres Verordnungsblatt. On
Nov. 10 the Marine Verordnungsblatt carried the notice that
Major Gen. Felix Vara had been killed during an enemy air
attack on the ship on which he was making a service voyage
"in the west."
The best known of these three was 45-year-old General
Udet, whose memory Herr Hitler further honored by
ordering that his name be given to the Third Pursuit
Squadron.
General Udet's fame spread to many countries, including
France and the United States, where he was popular as he
was in Germany. he came out of the World War with the
credit of having shot down sixty-two enemy planes. he had
the highest German decorations for bravery.
Since he gave up acrobatic flying, which was his hobby
and which had earned him friends and admirers in many
countries, General Udet gave the Luftwaffe all his time,
and he was considered the most important member of
Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering's "Brain Trust" on aviation.
In the promotions in July, 1940, Herr Hitler gave the general
sole credit for having imparted to the Luftwaffe the efficiency
"which has made it the best air arm in the world."
Other casualties among the bearers of the Knight's Cross of
the Iron Cross, announced in today's issue of the Heeres
Verordnungsblatt, which appears every ten days, were seven
officers from the grade of first lieutenant to major, a top
sergeant and a corporal, all killed in action between Sept. 9
and Oct. 16.
One of Greatest Stunt Flyers
Col. Gen. Ernst Udet, chief of the Luftwaffe's technical
division, was the leading German ace to survive the World
War, in which he was officially credited with shooting
down sixty-two Allied planes. In the years between the two
wars he was acclaimed as one of the greatest stunt fliers [2].
On two visits to this country he thrilled great crowds by his
daring.
He was born on April 26, 1896, the son of Albert Udet, an
engineer. As a boy he was fascinated by flying, and he
made model airplanes and gliders. He joined the German Air
Force not long after the outbreak of the war in 1914, and
fought with the Richthofen Squadron on the Western Front
from 1915 to 1918. He won the highest German war
decorations.
After the war Udet became a stunt flier, displaying his
acrobatic skill at aviation gatherings throughout Europe.
He accompanied German motion-picture expeditions to
Central Africa and to Greenland. While photographing
African big game from the air in March, 1931, he made a
forced landing in the desert, where he was rescued by
Captain Campbell Black of the British Royal Air Force.
A year later he almost lost his life in Greenland.
At the National Air Races at Cleveland in 1931 and at the
National Air Races in Los Angeles in 1933 he astonished
huge crowds by his stunts, one of which was to pick up a
handkerchief from the ground with a wing tip.
A chubby, jolly little man who never lost his smile, he was
popular in those days with American, British and French
fliers, including some against whom he had fought during the
first war. He and Captain Rene Fonck, French war ace, were
close friends. On one of his visits to this country he was
entertained by Walter B. Wanamaker of Akron, Ohio, whom
he had shot down in 1918.
Began Work for Hitler
Soon after the accession of Adolf Hitler to power, Goering
chose Udet, an old companion at arms, to be chief of the
technical division of the new Air Force he had been
commissioned to create. Udet jumped from the rank of
lieutenant to colonel in 1935, and two year later he was a major
general.
Even while he held this high administrative post he
continued his own adventurous career in the air. In 1937
he successfully landed a Focke-Wulf plane on the
super-structure of the Zeppelin Hindenburg while it was in
flight, and the following year he made a world speed record
for 100 kilometers, when he piloted a Heinkel single-seater
plane over that distance at a speed of 393.34 miles an hour.
At the outbreak of the present war Udet was a lieutenant
general and on April 19, 1940, was appointed General of
Aviation by Hitler. He was credited with many of the
important technical advances of the Luftwaffe, including the
use of parachute troops and gliders, and on July 19, 1940,
was made a colonel general.
Last July, when it was reported abroad that he had fallen
into disfavor with the Nazis and had committed suicide, he
received American correspondents in his office and
considered the story "a great joke."
Meanwhile he had risen to the rank of Quartermaster General
of the Nazi Air Force and for his accomplishments as chief
of the Luftwaffe's technical section was rewarded with the
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
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Photos: http://www.uh.edu/engines/udetalbatros.jpg
http://www.s9.com/images/portraits/30788_Udet-Ernst.jpg
http://eur.i1.yimg.com/eur.yimg.com/ng/mo/emv/20060213/09/3587992077.jpg
Ernst Udet in art:
http://www.flyandrive.com/images/guyem.JPG
http://www.acepilots.com/wwi/hfascan0037.jpg
http://www.aspeterpan.com/book1/images/dr1_art.jpg
[1] Udet shot himself in the head while speaking to his girlfriend, Inge
Bleyle. He cited his broken relationship with Hermann Goering and the Nazi
party. Goering unfairly blamed Udet for Germany's defeat in the Battle of
Britain.
[2] The movie "The Great Waldo Pepper" was loosely based on Ernst Udet.