Stukapilot interview 36: Encounter with Rudel

This interview was done at Dr Migeod's house on 29 May 2010 in Somerset West South Africa. Dr Migeod is 92 years old and was a Luftwaffe stuka pilot who saw service in France, BOB, Balkans, Crete and Africa.
Web site www.heinzmigeod.com/
Rudel joined their group but their leader found Rudel unfit for operational flying.

[@theodorebennett7938]

Rudel had the biggest balls of any aviator that I know of. Getting shot down numerous times, but still had the guts to get into the cockpit and fly combat again.

[@billflower8637]

all politics aside,you look at the combat record of this guy and it;s truly amazing,he not only survived the entire war after 2,500 missions but he destroyed over 500 russian tanks,numerous vehicles, personnel ect. and single handidly sank a soviet battleship in harbor. he was a remarkable one man army!...

[@kalikaputra]

+Bill Flower not any russian ship, their PRIZED battleship

[@dsquaredmen9129]

The Germans had evolved the übermensch in them for real. They weren't like many think and did share their secret with other Muslims and Asians that had respect for their ideology.

[@jbonemastaflash6852]

Bill Flower he was a one man airforce

[@listentome1986]

500 hundred tanks, i am not surely about, May be German propaganda for young generation to be mobilized and move to Eastern front without any doubts , because German since the end of 1942 heavily loses manpower and vehicle resources on Soviet territory ..... German as Soviets used to use propaganda to mobilize human resources into army by showing only victories and war romantic into its chronicals....

[@listentome1986]

@Dave in USSR used to promote story of "28 panfilovcy" that embushed dozens of German tanks Tigers..... just 28people) so you as a big patriot are right)) that soviet story total truth as well I Believe)) Kim Chung In helped them both

[@literallyshaking8019]

Not only was Rudel arguably the most decorated ace in all of WW2 (regardless of which armed forces), but he provided input on the development of the most badass American CAS aircraft ever; The A10 Warthog. It doesn’t get more badass than that.

[@derpythespy]

Sauce? i want to read about this too plox

[@brada2354]

It is an honour of mine to have this mans signature a great man unequalled.

[@duuurs]

There's nothing like an old world german accent. With the advent of telecom and the internet accents are dying. This is a treat to hear the dialect and mannerisms

[@jwvgoethe77]

These true knights of Europe deserve respect.

[@makemoroccogreatagain8628]

Right !

[@tomarkadi6612]

Amen

[@JG-tt4sz]

The whole planet was saved from a Bolshevik nightmare. An ungrateful world.

[@hogiesanKenobi]

Rudels book "Stuka Pilot" makes for fascinating reading. When training everybody wrote him off. He went on to create a record that cannot be equalled. He also stated that it was not necessary to be shot down in a Stuka as the aircraft was strong and capable of all normal aerobatic manoeuvres..He also idolised Hitler.

[@antonijestanisa8565]

I have the book and its in my que to read next

[@SpectrumVans]

He was not a Nazi, he was a Nationalist and Patriot 🇩🇪

[@hogiesanKenobi]

@Old Corps Marine Yes a lot of guts and determination..

[@moustafaabdel-wahab4299]

I had the honor of having lunch with Oberst Rudel in 1959 at the Eder See in Germany.

[@hairydogstail]

I would have loved to have met him and discussed the war and his experiences...A true legend...

[@BB-vq2zv]

In memoriam Eric Hartman, Joachim Marseille

[@seanosborn3272]

Erich cartman, respect my authoraty

[@rjwintl]

he never drank alcohol but preferred a glass of milk ... keeping mental focus during the hard G-forces of a dive bomber gave him the edge over the other pilots that drank quite heavily ... according to his book ...

[@MatthieuArmengau]

Robert Walters I don’t think it gave him the edge necessarily since it was during his early years. However I find interesting that he was a slow learner. He took time to learn everything giving himself attention to every detail.

[@tarasivashchuk1973]

A Lego Creation he also did pervitin aka meth

[@norbertsiewert3917]

People who are exposed to the hardships and horrors of war tend to become drunkards. Drinking was the only relief they could enjoy.

[@longtimepittsowner5589]

Drinking and flying are for the young; it does effect your ability especially with G.

[@HALEdigitalARTS]

Only he is lost who gives himself up for lost. Applies to careers too, I suppose. Thanks for posting.

[@caranchox]

I met Rudel at his house in Kufstein am Stimmersee and spent the whole day talking with him about the war. Yes, he was a convinced national socialist and also, did not get along with other Luftwaffe officers, such as Galland. He was also a gentleman in every respect,

[@XXL3G1TC4NXX]

Might I ask when you spoke to him?

[@caranchox]

+XXL3G1TC4NXX European summer 1979. By the way, contrary to other comments, he never told me that it was good that jews were massacred or anything to that effect. He mentioned that many of the photos showing dead jews were actually german casualties victims of allied bombing such as in Dresden.

[@semsemeini7905]

LOL a gentleman? Anyone who supported Hitler was a thug. Tell that to the victims.

[@UrielX1212]

LOL, you watch too many TV shows. Not everyone who supported Hitler was a thug. Jez

[@scattatle]

nearly 70 million thugs definitely makes sense

[@richardobrien7854]

read about all German aces,staggering.the greatest soldiers in history.rudels story is remarkable.the stuka was his plane of choice.

[@norbertsiewert3917]

Maybe so. But I thought that Rudel was assigned to Stukas because the FW 190s and the ME 109s were entrusted to pilots who demonstrated better flying skills than did Rudel.

[@skdKitsune]

@@norbertsiewert3917 Rudel was a bomber pilot, thats why he flew the Stuka. He also shot down 6 fighters in his Stuka and another five in his personal FW190 in the last month of the war. His flying skills were obviously superb.

[@drlobomalo]

He was consulted by the US in the development of the A10.

[@PhsykoOmen]

these interviews are amazing

[@mathewalden9277]

Interesting account of arguably the greatest warrior of all time.

[@tkelly411]

a detail about marseille,,he dispensed with wearing pilot shades,sunglasses,training his eyesight to get used to the mediterranean and desert sun by drinking a lot of milk

[@ArianiMauve999]

Long Live the Valiant Heroes of the Dark Empire who gave it All against the Red russian Federation. Eternal Respect to You all Honorable Men.🇩🇪🇺🇸

[@petertravere5080]

RIP Warrior

[@IronCypher]

Great book stuka pilot.

[@fredrictengstrom5646]

Such an extrodinary man and pilot. Just like Mozart. Art ful.

[@MatthieuArmengau]

Fredric Tengström did you know adolf hitler made paintings, they are for the most part stunning. I saw them on google images if you are wandering. One of them was sold in recent years for over a million.

[@djizzah]

he found a mentor who saw something in him that the other hierarchy did not..he went on to become probably the finest fighter pilot ace in history in a slow cumbersome aircraft..let that be a lesson in never giving up perhaps

[@Jebu911]

Yeah that dude never gave up on anything, not even his misguided beliefs.

[@barryolaith]

Fascinating interview. Thanks for posting.

[@ME262MKI]

Rudel was born to be on a Stuka and the Stuka was designed to be flown by Rudel

[@boiledliddo]

Great man.

[@slippery396]

Great video !!! Thanks for posting !

[@56wenzel]

What was funny,after the war sometimes he visited the new Luftwaffe air bases.The pilots and the other soldiers were strongly greeting him.The following times many of them were sacked because of that...

[@toast2610]

He was "difficult" because he would not submit like others did

[@spurdosparde430]

true warrior until end

[@ikeike2]

A member of the greatest generation.

[@deeznuts-mh9zc]

EpicMLKGamers it's a term used to describe ww2 vets

[@pdog109]

Allied ww2 vets, not nazis or japanese that murdered and tortured people. Get out.

[@LifeStyle-uh1ns]

PDog. German vets are still vets. If the US lost the war, many US servicemen would have been executed as warcriminals by the Japanese and Germans (Quotation from MacNameras documentary Fog of War)

[@timhancock6626]

@@LifeStyle-uh1ns Some German units shot prisoners as a matter of policy. Ask what happened to a Canadian unit that surrendered in Normandy. They were put into a church, machine gunned and the church set on fire. What about the escape from Stalag Luft Three where 47 British prisoner of war airmen who were recaptured were executed. You didn't have to be a war criminal to be murdered by the Nazis. They murdered pretty well anybody they didn't like on the slightest pretext. Lovely people eh ! Good Army, Good Air force. Its a shame the cause they fought for was utterly rotten.

[@stedmanwheless5372]

@@timhancock6626 Not trying to get involved in the overall discussion, however, to be fair... I think you are mixing a few different events up. I believe that wasn't a group of surrendered Canadian soldiers that were put into a French church and burned, those were French civilians at the town of Oradour-sur-Glane in 1944 by the "2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich". There were other Waffen SS war crimes specifically committed in France against groups of allied soldiers however, such as the massacre at La Paradis by the "Division SS Totenkopf" where POWs were machine gunned after allegedly (according to the SS) catching the British soldiers using ammunition forbidden by the Geneva Convention. There was also the Wormhoudt massacre committed by the "1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler" in 1940 where 80 POWs were herded into a shed and grenades were thrown inside. As far as allied POW massacres in France after the invasion of Normandy, there are also loads. However, none of them involve herding POWs into churches and burning them.

[@WelshWilliams123]

Wow... That was interesting. Wouldn't of thought that of him at all.

[@hanifitasova519]

Why a difficult person? He seems to be very kind person te me.

[@roymuller3097]

Off thread a bit, but behind the chaps right shoulder in the bookshelf is a copy of T. V Bulpins "Discovering Southern Africa", a book I have on my shelf.

[@saltynutsman1]

I agree, great video!

[@Manintoga]

Good chaps rarely are all that amiable. Some just play along bit better than others.

[@lanselithgow5865]

Some of the greatest fighter pilots were almost 'washed out' during training. But for a perceptive instructor, thete would have been no Robert Stanford Tuck- battle of britain ace , n later wing leader. Eric Hartman also was flying frontline for a while , before it all 'clicked' n became the greatest

[@takeru2702]

I always pray to God that the souls of the dead German soldiers will be saved. I always pray to God that the dead Germans soul is saved. After the war, the German city was destroyed and many Germans were killed. That is why we Japanese are very sad. Germany's misery is too big. I always pray to God for the eternal happiness and peace of Germany. We Japanese sent 9,000 cherry blossom trees to Germany in 1990. It is said that the money of this cherry blossom trees is gathered by the donation of the Japanese and bought a cherry blossom trees . Almost all Japanese people participated in donations. The Japanese always cooperate with Germany.This cherry blossom tree is still in Berlin.We Japanese love Germany and Germans very much. This is a story that Japanese people helped Germans in japanese Okinawa Miyakojima, Japan. In 1873, the German Merchant shipRobertoson was hit by a typhoon.The ship was aground off Miyakojima Miyakokuni. At that time, the islander rescues the crew.They gave some food to the Germans.They gave Germans a place to sleep. The days were 34 days.And the islanders put a lot of food and water on the ship and sent the Germans to Germany safely.There are still monuments sent from Germany in Okinawa.Japan will always help Germans from now on.Japan's national anthem Kimigayo was made by Hayashi Hiromori and German Franz Eckert.Japan made the constitution, medicine, the army in reference to Germany during the Meiji era. Japan succeeded in modernizing thanks to Germany.

[@Number-py1bs]

Wow, as a german, this makes me proud.

[@23sunderland]

Well you were on the same side

[@23sunderland]

Norway sends us a Christmas tree for liberating them from the Nazis

[@barryolaith]

@@23sunderland We party every day because we liberated ourselves from the British.

[@23sunderland]

@@barryolaith fair play if your Irish . But I put that down to royals which I am not a supporter of

[@amgism]

A true hero

[@ijnfleetadmiral]

Agreed...a shame there are no video interviews of him. (That I know of, anyway.)

[@haroldmclean3755]

Trust No One , Good Stuff Herr Rudel 👍

[@000000AEA000000]

fascinating.

[@alexz_puma]

rudel is my great uncle

[@lriper4702]

The airport at Peloponnesus was Molai airport.

[@theoriginalbadbob]

OUR Rudel?

[@MatthieuArmengau]

theoriginalbadbob YOUR Rudel ?!?!

[@norbertsiewert3917]

I read about some of the German flying greats. Some did start as lousy pilots, but became aces. Somewhere I read that it took Von Richthoven 12 hours of dual instruction before he could solo. I also read that some German flyers were not particularly friendly; they were not sociable.

[@incomitatus]

..Same thing with Erich Hartmann. He crashed his plane on his first combat flight & it took months before he gained a Russian kill.

[@tomarkadi6612]

Ehrenmann

[@paulfoy4252]

1:25, 4:14 - funny, difficult - some men are difficult to understand, they have many drivers in their minds and should not be judged on trivia or the irrelevant. They are judged if their main judgements and directions of energy are good. And for your country (even for ours) even that can be difficult to judge or reconcile.

[@pommeswerfer571]

Ich finde seine Bücher sehr interessant, die im Schrank stehen

[@Ween745]

Rudel is my hero.

[@JudasPriestSUCKS]

Interesting and thanks for doing this interview. It will be used in the future when we are all gone.

[@marceletiennou5182]

Lire pilote de stuka

[@tootired76]

I understand Rudel did not drink and did not smoke and other guys just did not like him!

[@rainbowseeker5930]

Man, even Jesus Christ couldn't have everybody to like him ! It's impossible...no matter how good, nice and kind you may be, there's always a couple of dummies here and there who will dislike you.

[@marceletiennou5182]

En français please

[@dgareea31swtg]

Ha! Love the Königgrätzer Marsch in the background. Reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Anyway, thanks for posting these. What an interesting gentleman. He's literally 'been there, done that!' Did you personally interview him?

[@TinusleRouxRSA]

yes!

[@CoIdHeat]

The best text I ever read about Rudel: www.badassoftheweek.com/rudel.html

[@heimatschutz]

Hauptmann Migeods militärische Erinnerungen sind in Deutschland unter dem Titel "Der Kommandeur" erschienen. Das Buch kostet nur 7,99 € und kann u.a. hier amazon.de/Kommandeur-Heinz-Georg-Wilhelm-Migeod/dp/3839110912 bestellt werden!

[@peterjacolsen7237]

He was just a soldier, who was good doing his job - so forget all about whose side he was on. Unfortunately it was'nt ours...

[@Hundert1]

God bless Germany past present and future. Мы были неправы, чтобы сражаться с немцами. Путин должен объединиться с Германией, чтобы вернуть себе всю потерянную территорию.

[@raybans4980]

Pravy'

[@hansdampf640]

Rudel and flying insufficiency... let that Sink in :D

[@dealermando]

the best ace pilot was actually african from congo, his name was chibanga one two chibidibamboo !

[@davidbaker1069]

Interesting. Hans Ulrich Rudel was a hard core Nazi, and remained one even after the war. He idolized Hitler, and in his post war writings gave glowing accounts of his many meetings with the dictator. When the war was ending, Rudel flew his remaining planes to a US airbase and deliberately risked his crews lives by ordering them to land in a way the landing gear would collapse and the planes be destroyed so the Americans could not have them. He remained an ardent anti-Semite and always maintained that the world would have been a better place if Hitler had been able to accomplish what he had started out to do. Never saw an interview with someone who had actually met the man.

[@jamesmackenzie3111]

cause and effect. If you or anyone else was born in Germany there is a good chance you would be a nazi. Maybe if the Versailles Treaty didnt stomp Germany into the ground and the Jewish population were probably exploiting the situation - talk about kick someone when they are already down and then rub their noses in it. The fact remains he was the most highly decorated pilot in the whole of the World War.

[@GriefTourist]

@Old Iron 'antisemite' anyone who refuses to keep quiet about Zionist warmongering and ethnocentrism.

[@Cornpops_Revenge]

Look at Europe now…. Rudel was right

[@gracielafarfalla7500]

Q pena q hablan en ingles......tienen q estar orgullosos d su idioma....

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

Rudel ist so eine nationalsozialistische Kreuzung zwischen einem Stachanow und einem Münchhausen.

[@JohnJones-ct9pr]

Rudel was a very talented arsehole. If he did not have such a big ego he would have transferred to a training squadron and developed 100's of Rudels. That may have won the war for Germany. He also had a penchant for woman called Ursula. All of his three wives were called Ursula .

[@ryszardkowalik9911]

Very interesting testimonies from the Luftwaffe murderers Greetings to all enthusiasts

[@LifeStyle-uh1ns]

If you get all pilots, allied and axis, together in a room you get a scene where one says: There are nothing but murderers in this room.

[@trevortesluk123]

Ryszard Kowalik frikking stupid comment jackass

[@Sven1612]

Ryszard Kowalik Luftwaffe murderes lol should have read some books.. the nonstop allied firebombing on Hamburg and dresden was way worse and i hope they rot in hell for that

[@ISAACASIMOV30]

500 kill absulate rubbish