by Clare Mulley
63 Judy Lomax, Women of the Air (Ivy, 1987), p. 167.
64 Ibid. p. 168.
65 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig Verlag, 2013), privately translated, p. 72.
66 Ibid.
67 Ibid. p. 73.
68 Dundee Courier, ‘“Overdue” Air Girl Lands’ (24.09.1938).
69 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig Verlag, 2013), privately translated, p. 74.
70 Ibid.
71 Nancy Bird, My God! It’s a Woman: The inspiring story of Australia’s pioneering aviatrix (HarperCollins, 2002), p. 124.
72 TNA, FO 371/21737, letter from Nevile Henderson (06.09.1938).
73 Aeroplane magazine, ‘Women’s Day at Chigwell’ (28.09.1938).
74 Ibid.
75 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig Verlag, 2013) privately translated, p. 75.
76 Ibid. p. 76.
6: DESCENT
1 Judy Lomax, Hanna Reitsch: Flying for the Fatherland (John Murray, 1988), p. 60.
2 Ibid.
3 Deutsches Museum Archive, 130/101, Walter Stender, ‘Political Statement’ (01.07.1947).
4 Judy Lomax, Hanna Reitsch: Flying for the Fatherland (John Murray, 1988), p. 61.
5 Deutsches Museum Archive, 130/101, Walter Stender, ‘Politische Erklärung’ [Political Statement] (01.07.1947).
6 Peter Gay, My German Question: Growing Up in Nazi Berlin (Yale, 1998), p. 111.
7 Bernt Engelmann, In Hitler’s Germany: Everyday Life in the Third Reich (Schocken, 1986), p. 145.
8 Simon Reiss, ‘Remembering Kristallnacht, 9 November 1938–1998’, speech at Westminster Central Hall (09.11.1998).
9 Karl Christ, Der Andere Stauffenberg: Der Historiker und Dichter Alexander von Stauffenberg [The Other Stauffenberg: Historian and Poet Alexander von Stauffenberg] (C. H. Beck, 2008), p. 161.
10 Dorothee von Meding, Courageous Hearts: Women and the anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Berghahn, 1997), p. 200.
11 Fey von Hassell, A Mother’s War (Corgi, 1991), p. 58.
12 Konstanze von Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Ein Porträt [A Portrait] (Piper, 2009), p. 71.
13 Louis P. Lochner (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries (Hamish Hamilton, 1948), pp. xxxvi, xxv.
14 Sir Nevile Henderson, Failure of a Mission: Berlin 1937–1939 (Hodder & Stoughton, 1940), p. 172.
15 Martin Simons, German Air Attaché: The Thrilling Wartime Story of the German Ace Pilot and Wartime Diplomat Peter Riedel (Airlife, 1997), p. 45.
16 Ulrich von Hassell, The Von Hassell Diaries: The Story of the Forces Against Hitler Inside Germany, 1938–1944 (Westview Press, 1994), p. 14.
17 Fey von Hassell, A Mother’s War (Corgi, 1991), p. 59.
18 Stiftung Neue Synagogue [New Foundation Synagogue], Berlin, exhibition: ‘From the Outside to the Inside: the 1938 November Pogroms in Diplomatic Reports from Germany’ (May 2014).
19 Winston Churchill, Step by Step: 1936–1939 (Odhams, 1949), p. 264.
20 Nevile Henderson, Failure of a Mission: Berlin 1937–1939 (Hodder & Stoughton, 1940), p. 85.
21 Jeffrey Watson, Sidney Cotton: The Last Plane Out of Berlin (Hodder, 2003), pp. 70, 71.
22 Constance Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera: The story of photographic intelligence in the Second World War (Sutton, 2004), p. 7.
23 Jeffrey Watson, Sidney Cotton: The Last Plane Out of Berlin (Hodder, 2003), p. 104.
24 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Jutta Rudershausen, ‘Flugkapitän Melitta Schiller-Stauffenberg’ (nd), p. 58.
25 Berthold von Stauffenberg, Mulley interview (05.11.2014); Berthold von Stauffenberg quoted in Der Spiegel, Susanne von Beyer, ‘Frau im Sturzflug’ [Woman in a Nosedive] (05.03.2012).
26 ZDF-History, ‘Himmelsstürmerinnen, Deutsche Fliegerinnen’ [Sky-Strikers, German Aviators] (2011).
27 Konstanze von Schulthess, Mulley interview (25.11.2014).
28 Richard Perlia, Mal oben – Mal unten [Sometimes Up – Sometimes Down] (Schiff & Flugzeug-Verlagsbuchhandlung, 2011), p. 194.
29 Nancy Bird, My God! It’s a Woman: The inspiring story of Australia’s pioneering aviatrix (HarperCollins, 2002), p. 129.
30 Deutsches Museum archive, 101a, Report on Hanna Reitsch (anon., nd).
31 Jeffrey Watson, Sidney Cotton: The Last Plane Out of Berlin (Hodder, 2003), p. 91.
32 Ibid. p. 99.
33 Constance Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera: The story of photographic intelligence in the Second World War (Sutton, 2004), p. 9.
34 Karl Christ, Der Andere Stauffenberg: Der Historiker und Dichter Alexander von Stauffenberg [The Other Stauffenberg: Historian and Poet Alexander von Stauffenberg] (C. H. Beck, 2008), p. 167.
35 Nevile Henderson, Failure of a Mission: Berlin 1937–1939 (Hodder & Stoughton, 1940), p. 287.
36 Eric Brown, Wings On My Sleeve: The World’s Greatest Test Pilot Tells His Story (Phoenix, 2007), p. 6.
37 Ibid.
38 James Holland interview with Eric Brown, www.griffonmerlin.com (2012).
39 Eric Brown, Wings On My Sleeve: The World’s Greatest Test Pilot Tells His Story (Phoenix, 2007), p. 6.
7: WOMEN AT WAR
1 Melitta von Stauffenberg quoted in Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig Verlag, 2013), privately translated, p. 164.
2 Konstanze von Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Ein Porträt [A Portrait] (Piper, 2009), p. 88.
3 Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich (Sphere, 1971), p. 261.
4 TNA, AIR 40/36, A.I.2(g), Report (un-numbered) BZA-1 Dive Bombsight - German (translated).
5 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig Verlag, 2013), privately translated, p. 163.
6 Ibid. p. 91.
7 Ibid. p. 167.
8 Ibid. p. 165.
9 Ibid. p. 167.
10 C. G. Sweeting, Hitler’s Squadron: The Führer’s Personal Aircraft and Transport Unit, 1933–45 (Brassey’s, 2001), p. 45.
11 Fred Taylor (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries 1939–1941: The historic journal of a Nazi war leader (Sphere, 1983) (entry from 20.12.1939), p. 70.
12 Roger Moorhouse, ‘A Good German? Von Stauffenberg and the July plot’ in History Today, vol. 59, issue 1 (2009).
13 William Shirer, Berlin Diary, November 1939, quoted in Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War (Allen Lane, 2008), p. 57.
14 Peter Hoffmann, German Resistance to Hitler (Harvard, 1988), p. 131.
15 Fey von Hassell, A Mother’s War (Corgi, 1991), p. 72.
16 Konstanze von Schulthess, Nina Schenck Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Ein Porträt [A Portrait] (Piper, 2009), p. 72.
17 Ibid. p. 73.
18 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/101, statement of Prof. Richard Homberger (07.07.1947).
19 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 183.
20 Cajus Becker, The Luftwaffe Diaries (Macdonald, 1966), p. 97.
21 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 184.
22 Ibid.
23 Judy Lomax, Hanna Reitsch: Flying for the Fatherland (John Murray, 1988), p. 66.
24 Hanna Reitsch quoted in Oscar Gonzalez, Thomas Steinke, Ian Tannahill, The Silent Attack: The Taking of the Bridges at Veldwezelt, Vroenhoven and Kanne in Belgium by German Paratroopers, 10 May 1940 (Pen & Sword, 2015).
25 ZDF-History, ‘Himmelsstürmerinnen, Deutsche Fliegerinnen’ [Sky-Strikers, German Aviators] (2011); Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 190.
26 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 191.
27 Karl Christ, Der Andere Stauffenberg: Der Historiker und Dichter Alexander von Stauffenberg [The Other Stauffenberg: Historian and Poet Alexander von Stauffenberg] (C. H. Beck, 2008), p. 52.
28 Thomas Medicus, Melitta von Stauffenberg: Ein Deutsches Leben [A German Life] (Rowohlt, 2012), p. 176.
29 Ibid. p. 179.
30 Ibid. p. 179.
31 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig Verlag, 2013), privately translated, p. 92.
32 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (07.02.1975).
33 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (18.02.1975).
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid.
36 Ibid.
37 Ibid.
38 Bob Carruthers, Voices from the Luftwaffe (Pen & Sword, 2012), p. 33.
39 Isolde Baur, A Pilot’s Pilot: Karl Baur, Chief Messerschmitt Pilot (Schiffer, 1999), p. 125.
40 Ibid. p. 126.
41 Ibid. p. 126.
42 Hanna Reitsch in The Secret War, Episode 4: ‘If . . .’, BBC (1977).
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid.
45 Sophie Jackson, Hitler’s Heroine: Hanna Reitsch (The History Press, 2014), p. 80.
46 Hilde Marchant, ‘A Journalist’s Impression of the Blitz’ in Jenny Hartley, Hearts Undefeated: Women’s Writing of the Second World War (Virago, 1999), p. 100.
47 John Alan Ottewell, DFM, Mulley interview (09.10.2014).
48 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Jutta Rudershausen, ‘Peerless Pilot’ (nd).
49 Ibid.
50 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Georg Wollé, ‘Memories of a Colleague of Melitta Schiller in the Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt [Institute of Aviation] (DVL)’ (11.02.1974).
51 Thomas Medicus, Melitta von Stauffenberg: Ein Deutsches Leben [A German Life] (Rowolt, 2012), p. 170.
52 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 192.
53 Hanna Reitsch in The Secret War, BBC (1977).
54 Gill Mulley, Harpenden, Mulley interview (20.05.2013).
55 Hajo Herrmann, James Holland interview, www.griffonmerlin.com (04.06.2008).
56 Fred Taylor (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries, 1939–1941: The historic journal of a Nazi war leader (Sphere, 1983) (entry from 11.10.1939), p. 17.
57 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 195.
58 Ibid. p. 190.
59 Ibid. p. 196.
60 Ibid. p. 199.
61 Ibid. p. 201.
62 Christa Schroeder, He Was My Chief (Frontline, 2009), p. 48.
63 Ibid.
64 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 202.
65 Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler Was My Friend: The Memoirs of Hitler’s Photographer (Frontline, 2011), p. 188.
66 Christa Schroeder, He Was My Chief (Frontline, 2009), p. 51.
67 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 202.
68 Aberdeen Journal, ‘A German airwoman receives the Iron Cross’ (24.04.1941).
69 Gerhard Bracke archive, Hanna Reitsch letter to Klara Schiller (09.07.1975).
70 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 203.
71 Ibid. p. 204.
72 Ibid. p. 204.
73 Ibid. p. 204.
74 Deutsches Museum archive 130/101, statement of Richard Homberger (07.07.1947).
75 Fred Taylor (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries 1939–1941: The historic journal of a Nazi war leader (Sphere, 1983) (entry from 8.3.1941), p. 272.
76 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig Verlag, 2013), privately translated, p. 90.
77 Konstanze von Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Ein Porträt [A Portrait] (Piper, 2009), p. 88.
78 Thomas Medicus, Melitta von Stauffenberg: Ein Deutsches Leben [A German Life] (Rowohlt, 2012), p. 180.
79 Ibid. p. 342.
80 Dietrich Pütter, Margaret Nelson/Mulley conversations (19.04.2014, 24.06.2014).
81 Dietrich Pütter, Margaret Nelson/Mulley private interview (29.07.2014).
82 Dietrich Pütter, Margaret Nelson/Mulley conversation (19.04.2014).
83 Ibid.
84 Ibid.
85 Clementine Churchill, ‘My Visit To Russia’ in Jenny Hartley, Hearts Undefeated: Women’s Writing of the Second World War (Virago, 1999), pp.164–5.
86 Heinz Linge, With Hitler to the End: The Memoirs of Adolf Hitler’s Valet (Frontline, 2009), p. 77.
87 Cajus Becker, The Luftwaffe Diaries (Macdonald, 1966), p. 232.
88 Ibid.
89 Fred Taylor (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries 1939–1941: The historic journal of a Nazi war leader (Sphere, 1983) (entry from 22.5.1943), p. 309.
90 US National Archives and Records Administration, Hanna Reitsch Personal File, RG319, 270, 84, 13, 7, box 633 (7362164, XE053525), US Forces report, Hanna Reitsch interrogation, ‘Condemnation of Göring by Hanna Reitsch’ (16.11.1945), p. 5.
91 Martin Simons, German Air Attaché: The Thrilling Wartime Story of the German Ace Pilot and Wartime Diplomat Peter Riedel (Airlife, 1997), p. 128.
8: DEFYING GRAVITY
1 Georg Pasewaldt, ‘Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse einer Fliegerlaufbahn’ [Experience and Insights from a Flying Career], private papers of Barbara Pasewaldt.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Jutta Rudershausen, ‘Flugkapitän Melitta Schiller-Stauffenberg’ (nd).
10 Gerhard Bracke archive, Jutta Rudershausen in Die Zeit, ‘Fifteen nosedives a day: forty years ago Flugkapitän Melitta Schiller-Stauffenberg was a pioneer of flight’ (05.01.1973).
11 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 94.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Carole Seymour-Jones, She Landed by Moonlight, The Story of Secret Agent Pearl Witherington: the real ‘Charlotte Gray’ (Transworld, 2013), p. 74.
15 Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich (Sphere, 1971), p. 409.
16 Ibid.
17 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), p. 164.
18 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Paul von Handel, ‘Erinnerungen an Litta’ [Memories of Litta] (nd).
19 Interview with Heidimarie Schade, Berlin (01.10.2014).
20 Max Escher, Kulturwarte magazine (1970s), quoted in Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), p. 96.
21 Ibid. p. 95.
22 Ibid. p. 96.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Ibid. p. 97.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid. p. 96.
28 Ibid. p. 97.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid. p. 98.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid. p. 99.
33 Ibid.
34 Ibid.
35 Berthold von Stauffenberg, Mulley interview (05.11.2014).
36 Ibid.
37 Peter Hoffmann, German Resistance to Hitler (Harvard University Press, 1988).
38 Berthold von Stauffenberg, Mulley interview (05.11.2014).
39 Wolfgang Späte, Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s Me-163 Comet (Independent Books, 1989), p. 79.
40 Ibid. p. 82
41 Ibid. p. 86.
42 Ibid. pp. 62–3.
43 Eric Brown, Mulley interview (18.03.2013).
44 Wolfgang Späte, Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s
Me-163 Comet (Independent Books, 1989), p. 82.
45 Ibid. p. 81.
46 John Martin Bradley, ‘Combat Pilots of WWII’ collection, interview with Hein K. Gering (27.06.2009).
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid.
49 Ibid.
50 Ibid.
51 Gerhard Bracke archive, Peter Riedel, Gerhard Bracke interview (late 1980s).
52 Ibid.
53 Ibid.
54 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Peter Riedel/Mrs Hacker (25.08.1980).
55 Gerhard Bracke archive, Peter Riedel, Gerhard Bracke interview (late 1980s).
56 Ibid.
57 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Peter Riedel/Mrs Hacker (25.08.1980).
58 Martin Simons, German Air Attaché: The Thrilling Wartime Story of the German Ace Pilot and Wartime Diplomat Peter Riedel (Airlife, 1997), p. 128.
59 Ibid. p. 128.
60 Gerhard Bracke archive, Peter Riedel, Gerhard Bracke interview (late 1980s).
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid.
63 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Peter Riedel/Mrs Hacker (25.08.1980).
64 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (07.02.1975); Gerhard Bracke archive, Peter Riedel, Gerhard Bracke interview (late 1980s).
65 Gerhard Bracke archive, Peter Riedel, Gerhard Bracke interview (late 1980s).
66 Sönke Neitzel, Tapping Hitler’s Generals: Transcripts of Secret Conversations, 1942–1945 (Frontline, 2007), p. 237.
67 Ibid. pp. 262–3.
68 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, letter Michael Schiller/Hermann Göring (26.10.1942).
69 Ibid.
70 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Margarete Schiller/Hermann Göring (11.12.1942).
71 Ibid.
72 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, letter Michael Schiller/Hermann Göring (04.09.1943).
73 Mano Ziegler, Rocket Fighter: The Story of the Messerschmitt Me163 (Arms & Armour, 1976), p. 22.
74 Eric Brown, Chalke Valley History Festival talk (02.06.2013).
75 Wolfgang Späte, Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s Me-163 Comet (Independent Books, 1989), p. 194.
76 The Secret War, Episode 4: ‘If . . .’, BBC (1977).
77 Wolfgang Späte, Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s Me-163 Comet (Independent Books, 1989), p. 86.
78 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 205.
79 Mano Ziegler, Rocket Fighter: The Story of the Messerschmitt Me163 (Arms & Armour, 1976), p. 1.
80 The Secret War, Episode 4: ‘If . . .’, BBC (1977).