US/German Pilot Gathering, Santa Monica Air Museum, 5 Nov 1999, Front Row (L-R) Ray Toliver, Walter Schuck, David Price, Hans-Ekkehard Bob, Günther Rall, Bud Anderson, Oscar Boesch, Back Row Kurt Schulze, Ernst Scheutele, 357th FG Ace Pete Peterson, Rudolph Gloeckner and Lute Eldridge
(David Price Owner Me-109E)
Bud Anderson on reconciling with German Pilots
I really did not care to meet a German pilot after the war. I met the first one while I was still in the Air Force on active duty. He was Johannes Steinhoff, who was visiting Edwards AFB regarding the Modern Luftwaffe F-104 program. He did not want talk about WWII. He was badly disfigured from a plane crash and I gave him lots of points for pressing on with an aviation career. Later, after I retired, I met several pilots in symposiums in the US and one memorable one during a German Fighter Pilots reunion in Germany. It was a lively, intimidating affair with many shouts of, “Horrido, Horrido,” over the PA. My US sponsor said that we were going on stage to present General Adolf Galland with an autographed copy of my book. I said no way was I going up in front of this crowd and do anything. So, it was decided that when things calmed down, we would do it discreetly beside an ME-109 in the corner of the auditorium. We could not have been more conspicuous, everyone with a camera came over to take a picture and all the rest came to see what was going on. Later on, Astronaut Joe Engle and I were scheduled to lay a wreath on an unknown pilot’s grave. While we were waiting for General Galland and his beautiful wife to arrive, I told Joe that I felt like I was smack in the middle of the movie The Blue Max. Much later, General Galland kindly mailed an autographed copy of his book to me.
I do not know when I first meet General Günther Rall, history’s third ranking Ace with 275 victories. We met several times at symposiums and a visit to his home in Bavaria, and once while we were the guests of a local business man after a program at Maxwell AFB, AL. The place was very large with a grass runway and a large lake. Günther and I spent the afternoon fishing, and after that I felt that we knew each other very well. He was a warrior fighting for his country, just like I was. Günther told me about the two times he had met Hitler. It was common practice for German military personnel, who have been awarded the higher orders of the Knight’s Cross, to have an audience with the Fuhrer. After the first visit, he came home and told his wife; what a charismatic person he was. He had a grasp of the war, of what was going on and his plan to win. He told his wife; we have nothing to worry about. The second time he met Hitler was much different! He was withdrawn, reticent, confused and seemed to have no idea what was going on or what to do about anything. He told his wife, “We have lost the war.” One of Günther’s best stories is the one he tells when someone asks “Why did the German pilots have so many victories?” He speaks very good English, as he was once the Head of the modern Luftwaffe in NATO; but for this story he uses a German accent. He says, “You know before WWII, our Luftwaffe went to Spain to help Franco in their civil war and upon return we had to fight on two fronts. When we took off we were always in a target rich environment. Zee German pilot had a choice, he either got an Iron Cross or a Vooden cross!” When his memoir, My Log Book in German language was finished, his editor, Kurt Braatz said, “We need to get an English or American pilot to write a foreword for the English version of the book.” Braatz told me Günther immediately said, “Bud Anderson”. So it happened, I did write the foreword and then his editor published my book in the German language with a foreword by Günther Rall.
Günther and Bud at Oshkosh in Aug 2009. Sadly, Günther passed away in Oct 2009.
One time at the week-long air show in Oshkosh, Günther, Kurt and I were given a house to stay in on the airfield. No matter how tired we were at the end of each day, Günther would pull out a bottle of German fire water and we would solve all the problems of the world until the bottle was empty. You really get to know each other after a week of that kind of nonsense. Günther told me a story about the Battle of Britain. He said they would take off and head over the English Channel. Up ahead, they could see many contrails of the British fighters circling. Suddenly over the radio a few of his fellow pilots would transmit that they had a rough running engine or other problem and were turning back. Günther asked, “Did you have those kinds of guys in your unit too? “Another remarkable story Gunther told me, was about his close call with the Gestapo. He said the Chief of the Luftwaffe, Field Marshal Herman Goering, told him in private that the Gestapo had discovered that his wife had been helping Jews get out of Germany. Günther’s wife was a nurse in a large hospital and many of the doctors were Jews. By that time, Gunther was one of Hitler’s national heroes. So, what could they do, court martial a national hero or let a few Jews escape. In any event Goring told him in private that the little problem we had, has gone away!
Bud Anderson
FOREWORD By General Günther Rall in Bud’s Book, To Fly and Fight, Memoirs of a Triple Ace
He is one of the true Greats—as a pilot, as a character, and a friend. Lucky for both of us, Bud Anderson and I only met after the end of World War II. I don’t recall exactly when that was, but this much is certain: had we met earlier in the skies over Germany it would have had fatal consequences for at least one of us. And today we have been close friends for so long that we even share the same mistress. Not one with a woman’s name but—how could it be any different—an airplane’s. It is the Lockheed F-104 ‘Starfighter’. When I first came close to this aircraft, which would accompany my military career as only the Me 109 had before, Bud had already been flying it for some time. He had been responsible for flight test operations at Edwards Air Force Base, the Mecca of military aviation in the Western Hemisphere. Everything that could be made to fly and was considered to have some use for the US Air Force would sooner or later touch down on the huge dry lake in the Mojave Desert, to be tested there to its limits. And not only that: in those days at Edwards the foundation for manned space flight was laid. It was here on October 14, 1947, that Chuck Yeager became the first man to break the sound barrier; record after record was broken here with the famous X-types up to the yet unmatched altitude and speed achievements of the X-15; it was here that an entire line-up of future Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Space Shuttle astronauts earned their spurs in their daily handling of test and experimental aircraft. In this golden age Bud didn’t just fly his desk, but approximately 200 different airplane types, which constituted just about everything of note in military aviation on this side of the Iron Curtain between 1945 and 1980. It is self-explanatory that the majority of these types were anything but mature, and they only became operational through his knowledge and abilities. More than once he risked his neck and saved others from great danger with his well-founded opinions—as in the context with the hair-raising fighter-to-bomber coupling tests during the fifties. And if he just wanted to have fun, he flew the F-104. You need an incredible amount of self-confidence and an even bigger amount of self-criticism to run through and survive an aviation career like his. When having been posted to England with the 357th FG to protect the 8th USAAF’s Fortresses from a Luftwaffe still strong and aggressive, he was merely 20 and a Flight Leader. He could have taken the easy way out after 300 hours over enemy territory and gone home. But his understanding of responsibility and obligation was stronger, and made him fly a second combat tour in the world’s toughest air war theater. It always unsettles me when I realize how closely the lives, passions, attitudes, thinking and actions of fighter pilots of WWII resemble each other. Bud Anderson’s reminiscences bear witness to that. We were still children when the course was set for this war. Then, under arms, we quickly became adults, and had to pay an immeasurable price for the mistakes of our parents’ generation. That bloodshed has put its mark on us like nothing else. All the evil a man can experience, but also the most touching examples of bravery, dedication and comradeship have been compressed into these five-and-a half years. What a blessing that we, the survivors, were afterwards able to reach out, shake hands and serve peace side by side. Bud has every reason to be proud of his achievements in war and peace, but he doesn’t make a fuss about them. In this respect, his memoir is authentic as well: matter-of-fact, built around proper judgments and conclusions, and, when things get dicey, of an ironic self-distance that won’t necessarily make you an adored movie star, but helps you master your life cheerfully and open-minded. His story isn’t over yet. Bud is still flying the P-51 Mustang. And as long as he does, you’d better check your Six. General Günther Rall
Günther Rall achieved 275 aerial victories in World War II. He was inspector General of the Luftwaffe and ended his military career with the rank of Lieutenant General and as the Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany in NATO’s Military Committee. Günther passed away 4 Oct, 2009 at age of 91.
357th FG Ace Pete Peterson, Günther Rall, Walter Schuck and Bud
Günther and Bud Photo Scott and Kyle Guyette
Günther and Bud Photo Scott and Kyle Guyette
Günther flies in a T-6 with NASCAR Great Jack Roush
Wolfgang Czaia, Günther Rall, Bud and Kurt Braatz at Oshkosh 2009
Photo Kurt Braatz
Two old warriors walking in the country. Photo Gail Bowen
Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum – Günther Rall
OSHKOSH 2009 – KURT BRAATZ
