Luftwaffe chivalry

[wifesaysno]

An amazing story of the chivalry that many fighter pilots in WW2 showed on a daily basis.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/w ... f5YKPGzO/3

[ozzy72]

There were many such acts throughout the war and indeed all wars. A moving tale, thanks for sharing

[Strategic Retreat]

Brings to mind another story narrated in Dogfights, a documentary of I think it was History Channel (not sure) that aided narration itself with computer animation, of a pilot of a P-47 in more or less the same jam.

The German ace that flanked him in his visibly damaged plane shot him, but at 6 'o clock, where the P-47 had the thickest armor, and from a distance until he emptied its ammunition reserve, after which saluted and pulled away. When, had he chosen for a lateral deflected shot or a from above strafe, maybe aiming for the pilot and in a closer position, the P-47 and its pilot would have been well and done in a single burst, and I always found it more than simply strange that the Luftwaffe pilot, an ace with more than a hundred confirmed kills, wouldn't know it, where I that never took a real plane yoke in my hand did.

I always asked myself why the German pilot did not go for the easiest kill... I reckon now it was something out of a honor code. Had the P-47 fallen by the traditional attack position, perhaps the German would have felt little to no stain on his honor. The P-47 didn't fall to what I now believe was a half-hearted attack borne maybe out of a compromise between honor and duty. It made it home back in England with more than 200 hits received and the pilot shaken, obviously, but safe and ready to take flight again and become an ace himself later in the war.

[wifesaysno]

Have you folks ever heard of Adolf Galland bringing lunch (complete with wine) to a British pilot he shot down after the Brit was captured?

At Oshkosh they took an F-4E and a Mig-21, parked them together (both in Vietnam War colors). Then they brought out Steve Richie (F-4 ace), a Vietnamese Mig-21 ace, one of the pilots the '21 pilot shot down, and the helo pilot that rescued him. All sat together, all talked together, all laughed together. The '21 pilot sought out the F-4 pilot he shot down hoping he survived but prepared to write a letter to his family if he had died. They were reunited before the gathering at Oshkosh and decided to come together.
Needless to say, there were a lot of extremely interested people standing around them listening, some kids and dads crawled under the F-4 to get a better view of even the backsides of these guys!

'Warbirds in Review: F-4E and Mig21' in Warbird Alley EAA Airventure (BOTH flew in )
Before the pilots mentioned above came out. They were rambling on about the flight gear a F-4 and Mig-21 pilot would wear.




These pictures were taken as they started, I had limited time so I could stick around to long. A couple hours later I came back through 'Warbird Alley' it was jam packed with a ton of people underneath the big Phantom...no one can fit under the puny Mig-21

[ozzy72]

It wasn't just the flyboys, an unlikely act of gallantry was committed by none other than the Desert Fox himself. Rommel was visiting a hospital and found two British SAS men who'd been patched up. He knew that in the morning they'd be given to the Gestapo so he sat with them and had a chat pointing out which direction the allied lines were, how far they were and how things like water bottles could be found in a cupboard. Then he walked away. They made it back to allied lines.
Soldiers tend to be more honourable, especially combat types. REMFs on the other hand tend to commit the atrocities.