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Foreword: * 26. 04.1896 in Frankfurt am Main † 17. 11.1941 in Berlin Ernst Udet was a fighter pilot during the First World War in the Fliegertruppe of the German Army. After Manfred von Richthofen he achieved the highest number of shootings among the German hunting pilots. During the National Socialist era, Udet was responsible for the technical equipment of the Luftwaffe in the Reich Air Ministry and from 1939 held the office of General Aircraft Master of the Wehrmacht, the last rank being that of General Superior. Ernst Udet's parents were the engineer Adolf Udet and his wife Paula, née Krüger. He grew up in Munich and attended the Stielerstraße elementary school there and from 1906 the Theresien-Gymnasium Munich. Udet became enthusiastic about the still young aviation at an early age. In 1909 he became a member of a model aircraft club, in 1910 he attempted gliding flights. In addition, he worked in his father's boiler workshop and in 1913 acquired the one-year certificate. Thanks to his flying skills he was the star at all air shows of his time. Apart from him, nobody could pick up a handkerchief from the ground with the wing of his machine. Udet has also promoted the career of the German record pilot Elly Beinhorn. After his rather average grades at school, he voluntarily joined the military at the beginning of the First World War. After a short phase as a motorcycle detector in the 26th Württemberg Reservation Division on the western front, he financed his pilot training at the flying school of Gustav Otto Flugmaschinenwerke in Munich. In April 1915, he acquired a civil pilot's license, which led to his being transferred to the army air force. From June 1915 he served in the ground company of the Griesheim air replacement department. In a two-seater he flew after the field pilot test until 1916 observation flights over the western front. After several risky flight manoeuvres and a crash he suffered a nervous breakdown. In March 1916 he was transferred to the Artillery Flight Department 206 stationed near Colmar, which was equipped with Fokker E.III fighters. After his third air victory on 24 December 1916, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class. In 1917 he received the command of the hunting squadron 37 (Jasta 37), which he led until March 1918. In March he was requested by Manfred von Richthofen to lead the Jagdstaffel 11. In April 1918 he was awarded the Pour le Mérite. After Richthofen had fallen, Udet took over the leadership of Jasta 4. In August 1918 he succeeded in shooting down 20 enemy aircraft. He scored his last two air victories a month later. Ernst Udet survived the war as first lieutenant and second most successful German fighter pilot; he was able to record a total of 62 shootings. After the First World War, Udet earned his living with shoplifts. In the summer of 1921, despite the restrictions of the Versailles Peace Treaty, he founded Udet Flugzeugbau GmbH with funds from the American donor William Pohl, which he left in 1925. He then devoted himself increasingly to art and show flights, in which he often performed spectacular flight manoeuvres. 1925 he founded the Udet-Werbeflug GmbH, 1927 the Udet Schleppschrift-GmbH. In 1929 Udet took part as a mountain pilot in the silent movies of the mountain film director Arnold Fanck Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü and in 1930 in Stürme über dem Mont Blanc. From 1930 to 1932, he was also involved in other feature films in Fliehende Schatten, 1932/1933 in SOS Eisberg and 1935 in Wunder des Fliegens. He always played the saviour in need, who frees other people from dramatic situations through his flying skills. Udet was able to attend the demonstration of the Curtiss Hawk II in the United States in the early 1930s and was able to have the Luftwaffe finance the purchase of two aircraft for private use on the condition that they could be thoroughly studied after delivery. He was so impressed by the effectiveness of the concept of the dive bomber that he later postponed all bomber projects that were not suitable for dive bombing. Nazi dictatorship In April 1933 he was appointed vice-flight commander of the German Air Sports Association and on May 1, 1933 Udet, persuaded by Hermann Göring, joined the NSDAP. At the instigation of Göring, Udet joined the newly founded Luftwaffe on 1 June 1935 in the rank of colonel. On September 1, 1935, he became inspector of the fighter and dive fighters. As successor to General Wimmer, he became head of the Technical Office of the Reich Aviation Ministry. Furthermore he organized show flights, among other things in the context of the Olympic Games 1936. On April 1, 1937 Ernst Udet was appointed Major General and on November 1, 1938 he was promoted to Lieutenant General. Udet is considered jointly responsible for the misdirected German air armament during the first years of the war, which suffered above all from its enormous inefficiency and the fact that the political objectives and the actual course of the war were completely contrary. On February 1, 1939, Göring assigned him the new office of General Aircraft Master. In this function Udet was subordinated to the State Secretary of the Reich Aviation Ministry and Inspector General of the Air Force Erhard Milch. This expanded the competence of the Technical Office now headed by Udet, which was now not only responsible for the entire aircraft development and production, but also for procurement, replenishment and supply. If it was already a mistake to let Udet lead this office, this was all the more true now, since Udet had already had trouble filling the post before. From then on he was in charge of 26 departments with 4000 officers, civil servants and engineers, who were responsible for everything, but not for anything themselves.[3] The office of the General Aircraft Master meant a further competence cut for Erhard Milch, who resignedly stated: "In Udet's hands everything becomes dust. Udet, art and air shovel trailer, filmmaker and propaganda figure of the NS state, had excellent flying experience, but no technical or organizational abilities. Although he admitted these weaknesses himself, Göring prevailed and promised him all the necessary personnel assistance for the office. Udet's real task was to persuade the aircraft manufacturers to join forces, create synergies and avoid redundancies in development in order to optimize the air armament. Instead, he became the plaything of the particular interests of Messerschmitt, Heinkel and Junkers, who time and again succeeded in getting him enthusiastic about their projects regardless of the actual benefits and costs, so that Udet did not do his job well enough. On 19 July 1940, after being awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, he was promoted to Colonel General. In the last years of his life Udet consumed more and more excessive amounts of stimulants and intoxicants such as tobacco, alcohol and pervitine. With caustic mockery he drew numerous caricatures of his employers and himself. Among other things, he caricatured himself as an airman chained to his desk in the Reich Aviation Ministry. After the failures in the air battle for England and the ensuing hostilities by Göring and some other NS greats, Udet shot himself in his apartment in Berlin on 17 November 1941. On the front wall of his bed he had previously written the accusation directed at Göring: "Iron man, you have left me". Hitler ordered a state funeral. The suicide was kept secret. NS propaganda informed the public via the press that he had lost his life trying out a new weapon on a serious injury sustained in the process. For propaganda purposes, the newly established air force training and testing ground in the Warthenau district in occupied Poland was named after him Udetfeld.[5] Udet was buried at the Invalidenfriedhof in Berlin. Werner Mölders died in a plane crash at Breslau airfield on 22 November 1941 on his way to the State Act. He then also found his final resting place in the Invalidenfriedhof, opposite Udet's grave. Shortly thereafter the Jagdgeschwader 3 was given the traditional name "Udet". Awards Iron Cross (1914) II. and I. Class Prussian Military Pilot Badge Cup of Honor for the winner of the air battle Württemberg Wilhelmskreuz with Swords Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords Hanseatic Cross of the Hanseatic Cities Lübeck and Hamburg Wounded Badge (1918) in Silver Pour le Mérite 9. April 1918 Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. Klasse Brache zum Eisernen Kreuz II. und I. Klasse Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes am 4. Juli 1940 Pilot and Observer Badge in Gold with Diamonds Bulgarian Military Order of Merit, Grand Officer's Cross with Swords Own Publications Neck and Leg Fracture. Funny cartoons, with verses by C. K. Roellinghoff. Traditional publishing house Rolf