The Flying Ace Driven To Despair: The Life of Ernst Udet

In this video, we talk about the life of Ernst Udet, a WW1 pilot and German flying ace second only to the infamous "Red Baron". We discuss his military career, his inter-war life of fame and leisure, and his chaotic life as a chief of the Luftwaffe in Nazi Germany. We also discuss things like his role in the development of the Ju 87 Stuka, his affinity for partying and leisure, and how his mental state rapidly deteriorated between 1933 and 1941.

[@roberttierney9284]

A biographical history of Ernst Udet. I found this very interesting.

[@rogerrendzak8055]

Ernst was, a spectacular pilot!!! Always caught my attention, with his acrobatics. He detested, the Nazi party also, which made him good, in my book.

[@susannebuchholz72]

Yes,I have never seen such a fantastic pilot who mastered the most daring flying maneuvers! An extraordinary talent with such a fine feeling for flying who dominated the boldest flight maneuvers! His film partner and friend Leni Riefenstahl later said:" He was like a bird.I flight with him very often but I always felt safe!"(They they played together in the movie "SOS Eisberg"which was filmed in the arctic landscape of Greenland").

[@susannebuchholz72]

I am very sad that this flying ace died so young! R.I.P Ernst Udet

[@neillh]

Thank you for sharing another great video 👍

[@metrikmechanik]

There is a very cool video of Udet picking up a towel with his wingtip (from the groun), and doing deadstick landings. Great aviator but troubled person.

[@alanpennie]

Indeed. He really shouldn't have been given such a job. He was another victim of The Nazis, just in an unusual way.

[@sblack48]

Not sure why you say dive bombing made no sense. The stuka was an extremely effective close support aircraft provided that it had fighter escort or otherwise air superiority. It was used to great effect in the battle of Poland, the battle of France and on the Eastern Front. It was also an effective tank buster. It is the clear ancestor of the A10 warthog. It’s weakness was its vulnerability to fighters, but this was not an issue where the germans had control of the air.

[@keithstudly6071]

Udet had written procurement rules that required ALL bombers to be capable of conducting dive bombing attacks. The He 177 was supposed to be a heavy bomber but was very compromised in order to meet this requirement. If memory serves me many prototypes were lost trying to demonstrate dive bombing attacks. The dive bombing requirement was one of the reasons the Luftwaffe didn't have a 4 engine bomber.

[@sblack48]

@@keithstudly6071 well cheers to Udet then! But I recall reading Hitler insisted on the Luftwaffe favouring close air support over strategic bombing and to be honest in the first 3 yrs of the war that decision served the Germans very well. They walked over every army in Europe. Hitler even wanted the me262 to be able to bomb, which drove the fighter officers out of their minds. So it might not have been Udet himself that drove that requirement.

[@KapiteinKrentebol]

2:27 Shown here: Udet's early fascination with divebombing.

[@grantovenden2646]

Keep up the awesome work, stumbled across your YT channel today and loving it!

[@keithstudly6071]

You missed an interesting detail. Something I only learned by reading material that was not directly about Udet. Udet was involved in an affair with the daughter of an US diplomat and that woman was acting as an informant for the Soviet Union. This was exposed just before his suicide. It appears that the "betrayal" of Goring may have been Goring using this against him.

[@darthbigred22]

@12:34 I think Wings of the Luftwaffe covered the whole Heinkel thing at one point.

[@darthbigred22]

@9:15 I always find that these "gotcha" moments by us always seem to undermine our narrative

[@บัวสีโรเจอร์-ศ9ฝ]

The 1942 printing of Udet's book Mein Fliegerleben contained a glowing if somewhat falsified obituary by Goering. Did he have a twinge of guilt? He awarded the honour name of Udet to Jagdgeschwader 3. Or was he just trying to cover the fact he had treated his WW1 colleague so badly? Guess we'll never know.

[@chitlika]

Udet was one of the best pilots who ever lived according to Eric Winkle Brown I'm glad he never was in the dock at Nurenberg Where Milch and others would have put as much of the blame on him as they could

[@antoinemozart243]

Udet was without a doubt a great pilot but a catastrophic leader. Like Goering and many others he should have stayed pilot and not given responsibilities.

[@antoinemozart243]

Mulch who was a great in his high post was 100 % right. Udet was not only incompetent but lazy and out of place in a position where he endangered the lives of many men. Like Goering.

[@keithstudly6071]

Eric Winkle Brown was in Germany before WW2 and made friends with Udet. Udet encouraged him to fly. Brown actually had to flee Germany at the wars start and he drove a MG (I think) and autos were not being allowed out but Eric got his out because the Germans decided it would be useless because they could never be able to get parts for it!

[@davefenton102]

There are many people from history who I wonder about. I wonder if they would be diagnosed as being on the spectrum for Adhd or Autism by our current understanding of non-neurotypical people. There are a number of things about Udet that stand out to me as being possible indicators of someone who was neurodivergent. I would love know if this was in fact the case.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Great video. Poor Udet, a great flyer but not an administrator. He should have allowed Milch to take his position and retired .

[@alanpennie]

Even among Nazis Milch seems to have been exceptionally shitty.

[@alanpennie]

A sad story.

[@rogueplastic]

All he wanted is to fly. They should've kept him just as a test pilot, an educator of young pilots and a bit of propaganda figure.

[@mssmith3604]

I agree with your admission that you enjoy mispronouncing words.

[@LarsAgerbk]

17:49 given the number of flying aces produced by the third reich they must have been doing something right.

[@lancerevell5979]

Narrator still cannot, for his life, properly pronounce "Luftwaffe". 🙄

[@floycewhite6991]

Uncle-niece relations are actually very common among that certain group, though they usually pair with first cousins. Among gentiles, they take an apparently (?) unrelated spouse for show, but maintain their real lifelong incest. Yeah. Not quite Westernized.

[@Villy-dv5yn]

Noice

[@markusk6609]

"Loftwaffe"

[@antoinemozart243]

Udet was a joke , a failure. Not fit for the job. A complete incompetent.

[@jeffpostman9928]

Yeah, overall probably, it does seem like he was something of a visionary when it came to dive bombers though.

[@antoinemozart243]

@@jeffpostman9928 Udet was an idiot. He was a pilot and many pilots gave info to the fighters manufacturers, not only Udet. Udet was responsible of the huge mess he put in the Luftwaffe. Milch said : everything in the hands of Udet turn to dust. No further comment.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Sorry, but can you dig yourself out of a pit?

[@dougstubbs9637]

Not without NSRIs. He suffered a life of PTSD struggles, a fact latched onto by Goring and his bully boy crowd. He posessed zilch political abilities, something rather necessary in Nazi times.

[@davefenton102]

Yeah... you've just got to dig up...

[@puppetguy8726]

Please learn how to pronounce Göring. You don't even have to pronounce it correctly, just don't pronounce an Ö as an O

[@jesper8836]

Gore-ing

[@puppetguy8726]

@@jesper8836 kzbin.info/www/bejne/enSYpmuBabGVatk

[@adamrodaway1074]

Nah, keep mispronouncing it as a sign of lack of respect!

[@captnsharkhorse]

@@adamrodaway1074 respect level aside, it kinda funny, so do it for the funny!