by Clare Mulley
81 John Groom, producer, The Secret War, BBC, Mulley interview (24.06.2015).
82 Wolfgang Späte, Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s Me-163 Comet (Independent Books, 1989), pp. 62–3.
83 The Secret War, Episode 4: ‘If . . .’, BBC (1977).
84 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 209.
85 Ibid.
86 Judy Lomax, Hanna Reitsch: Flying for the Fatherland (John Murray, 1988), p. 84.
87 Eric Brown, Chalke Valley History Festival talk (02.06.2013).
88 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 210.
89 Ibid.
90 Wolfgang Späte, Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s Me-163 Comet (Independent Books, 1989), p. 103.
91 Ibid.
92 Ibid.
93 Ibid. p. 104.
94 Georg Pasewaldt, ‘Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse einer Fliegerlaufbahn’ [Experience and Insights from a Flying Career], private papers of Barbara Pasewaldt.
95 Ibid.
96 Ibid.
97 Ibid.
98 Ibid.
99 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Melitta von Stauffenberg, ‘Abschrift’ [Report].
100 Ibid.
101 Ibid.
102 Ibid.
103 Ibid.
104 Ibid.
105 Ibid.
106 Ibid.
107 Hermann Göring’s appointment diary (1943), catalogued by Herrmann Historica International Auctions, 70th auction online catalogue, lot 6140 (03.05.2015).
108 Der Adler [The Luftwaffe magazine], ‘The Iron Cross for a Gallant Woman Pilot’ (06.04.1943).
109 Quoted in Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 117.
110 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).
111 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Jutta Rudershausen, ‘Flugkapitän Melitta Schiller-Stauffenberg’ (nd), p. 66.
112 Ibid.
113 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Peter Riedel/Mrs Hacker (25.08.1980).
114 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (07.02.1975).
115 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (18.02.1975).
116 Ibid.
117 Ibid.
118 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin (Herbig, 2013), p. 129.
9: UNDER ATTACK
1 Friedrich W. von Mellenthin, Panzer Battles (Tempus, 1956), p. 173.
2 Nicolaus von Below, At Hitler’s Side: The Memoirs of Hitler’s Luftwaffe Adjutant 1937–1945 (Frontline, 2010), p. 161.
3 Ibid.
4 Walter Rehling, letter to Mulley (20.06.2013).
5 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (04.03.1943, 02.03.1943).
6 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Jutta Rudershausen, ‘Flugkapitän Melitta Schiller-Stauffenberg’ (nd), p. 66.
7 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 220.
8 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 136.
9 Thomas Medicus, Melitta von Stauffenberg: Ein Deutsches Leben [A German Life] (Rowolt, 2012), p. 211.
10 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (13.05.1943).
11 Ibid.
12 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (20.03.1943, 25.03.43, 26.03.43).
13 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (15.03.43).
14 John Groom, producer, The Secret War, BBC, Mulley interview (24.06.2015).
15 Wolfgang Späte, Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s Me163 Comet (Independent Books, 1989), p. 105.
16 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 212.
17 Ibid. p. 213.
18 Ibid. p. 214.
19 Mano Ziegler, Rocket Fighter: The Story of the Messerschmitt Me163 (Arms and Armour, 1976), p. 27.
20 Ibid.
21 Ibid. p. 39.
22 Ibid. p. 39.
23 Ibid. p. 40.
24 Ibid. p. 40.
25 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. 4.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.
28 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009) p. 220.
29 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. 4.
30 Ibid. p. 3.
31 Ibid. p. 3.
32 Fred Taylor (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries, 1939–1941: The historic journal of a Nazi war leader (Sphere, 1983), p. 197.
33 Louis P. Lochner (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries (Hamish Hamilton, 1948), p. 246 (entry for 09.04.1943).
34 Ibid.
35 Ibid. p. 204 (entry for 03.03.1943).
36 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. 3.
37 Ibid. p. 1.
38 Dirk Bogarde, Cleared for Take-Off (Chivers, 1996), p. 30.
39 Jimmy Taylor, The Secret War, Episode 4: ‘If . . .’, BBC (1977).
40 Constance Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera: the story of photographic intelligence in the Second World War (Sutton, 2004), p. 51.
41 Sarah Churchill, Keep on Dancing: an Autobiography (George Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981), p. 61.
42 The Secret War, Episode 4: ‘If . . .’, BBC (1977).
43 Elisabeth zu Guttenberg, Sheridan Spearman, Holding the Stirrup (Duell, Sloan and Pearce/Little, Brown, 1953), p. 185.
44 Ibid.
45 Nigel Jones, Countdown to Valkyrie: The July Plot to Assassinate Hitler (Frontline, 2008), p. 154.
46 Konstanze von Schulthess, Nina Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg: Ein Porträt [A Portrait] (Piper, 2009), p. 78.
47 Ibid. p. 79.
48 Dorothee von Meding, Courageous Hearts: Women and the anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Berghahn, 1997), p. 202.
49 Louis P. Lochner (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries (Hamish Hamilton, 1948), p. 305 (entry for 21.05.1943).
50 Peter Hoffmann, Stauffenberg: A Family History 1904–1944 (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2008), p. 183.
51 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (09.07.1943).
52 Ibid. (10.07.1943).
53 Ibid. (12.07.1943).
54 Ibid. (13.07.1943).
55 Ibid. (06.08.1943).
56 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 215.
57 Ibid.
58 Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), p. 168.
59 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 216.
60 Ibid.
61 Ibid. p. 217.
62 Ibid. p. 217.
63 Ibid. p. 217.
64 Ibid. p. 217.
65 Ibid. p. 217.
66 Ibid. p. 218.
67 Ibid. p. 218.
68 Richard J. Evans, The Third Reich at War (Allen Lane, 2008), p. 660.
69 Ruth Kraft, Peenemünde mathematician, Flashback Television (2001), quoted in Taylor Downing, Spies in the Sky: The Secret Battle for Aerial Intelligence during WWII (Little, Brown, 2011), p. 278.
> 70 Constance Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera: the story of photographic intelligence in the Second World War (Sutton, 2004), p. 180.
71 Ibid. p. 182.
72 Ibid. p. 215.
73 Albert Speer, Inside the Third Reich (Sphere, 1971), p. 297.
74 Walter Dornberger, V-2 (Hurst & Blackett, 1954), p. 151.
75 Ibid.
76 Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), p. 153.
77 Walter Dornberger, V-2 (Hurst & Blackett, 1954), p. 152.
78 Ibid. p. 153.
79 Ibid. p. 153.
80 Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), p. 155.
81 RAF Museum sound archive, 330161 ‘The Great Raids: Peenemünde’, John Searby, side A.
82 Ibid. side B.
83 Jack Pragnell, 102 Squadron veteran, Mulley interview (29 June 2015).
84 The Lancaster: Britain’s Flying Past, BBC2 (20 July 2014).
85 Jack Pragnell, 102 Squadron veteran, Mulley interview (29 June 2015).
86 RAF Museum sound archive, 330161 ‘The Great Raids: Peenemünde’, John Searby, side B.
87 The Secret War, Episode 4: ‘If . . .’, BBC (1977).
88 Ibid.; Walter Dornberger, V-2 (Hurst & Blackett, 1954), p. 153.
89 Jack Pragnell, 102 Squadron veteran, Mulley interview (29 June 2015).
90 Cajus Becker, The Luftwaffe War Diaries (Macdonald, 1966), p. 315.
91 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.
92 Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, The Secret Army: The Memoirs of General Bor-Komorowski (Frontline, 2011), pp. 151–2.
93 RAF Museum sound archive, 330161 ‘The Great Raids: Peenemünde’, John Searby, side B.
94 Ibid.
95 Colonel, Max Wachtel, V-1 Launching Regiment, Secret War, Episode 3: ‘Terror Weapons’, BBC (1977).
96 Walter Dornberger, V-2 (Hurst & Blackett, 1954), p. 161.
97 The Lancaster: Britain’s Flying Past, BBC2 (20 July 2014).
10: OPERATION SELF-SACRIFICE
1 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 224.
2 Gloucestershire Echo, ‘RAF Bombers Blast New Baltic Target’ (18.08.1943); Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Echoes From Town’ (21.08.1943). These articles paraphrase the Swiss and Moroccan press.
3 Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Echoes From Town’ (21.08.1943).
4 Ibid.
5 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 224.
6 Ibid. p. 225.
7 Ibid. p. 225.
8 Ibid. p. 225.
9 US National Archives and Records Administration, Hanna Reitsch personal file, ‘The Wind of Heaven Goes West’ (October 1946), p. 2.
10 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 225.
11 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s 1943 diary (18.08.1943).
12 Ibid. (03.09.1943).
13 Ibid. (23.09.1943).
14 Ibid. (02.10.1943).
15 Ibid. (01.09.1943).
16 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Paul von Handel, ‘Erinnerungen an Litta’ [Memories of Litta] (nd).
17 Michael J. Neufeld, Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War (Alfred A. Knopf, 2008), pp. 161–2.
18 Walter Rehling, letter to Mulley (20.06.2013).
19 Wolfgang Späte, Top Secret Bird: The Luftwaffe’s Me-163 Comet (Independent Books, 1989), p. 105.
20 Ibid. p. 183.
21 Ibid. p. 183.
22 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 226.
23 Ibid.
24 Fred Taylor (trans., ed.), The Goebbels Diaries, 1939–1941: The historic journal of a Nazi war leader (Sphere, 1983), p. 214.
25 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 227.
26 Ibid.
27 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (25.09.1943).
28 Ibid. (26.09.1943).
29 Ibid. (14.10.1943, 15.10.1943, 18.10.1943).
30 Ibid. (20.09.1943).
31 Ibid. (25.10.1943).
32 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 221.
33 Judy Lomax, Hanna Reitsch: Flying for the Fatherland (John Murray, 1988), p. 91.
34 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 221.
35 Ibid. p. 222.
36 Ibid. p. 222.
37 Ibid. p. 222.
38 Judy Lomax, Hanna Reitsch: Flying for the Fatherland (John Murray, 1988), p. 91.
39 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 223.
40 Judy Lomax, Hanna Reitsch: Flying for the Fatherland (John Murray, 1988), p. 92.
41 Ibid. p. 91.
42 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 223.
43 Hanna Reitsch: Hitlers Fliegerin [Hitler’s Pilot], Interspot Film (dir. Gerhard Jelinek and Fritz Kalteis, 2010).
44 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 132; Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (14.10.1943).
45 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 132.
46 Ibid.
47 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (14.11.1943).
48 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 131.
49 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (05.10.1943).
50 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 133.
51 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s 1943 diary (16.11.1943, 27.11.43).
52 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 132.
53 Ibid. p. 131.
54 Ibid. p. 132.
55 Max Hastings, All Hell Let Loose: The World At War 1939–1945 (Harper Press, 2011), p. 489.
56 Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler Was My Friend: The Memoirs of Hitler’s Photographer (Frontline, 2011), p. 215.
57 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 133.
58 Ibid. pp. 144, 145.
59 Ibid. p. 145.
60 Ibid. p. 144.
61 Berthold von Stauffenberg, Oppenweiler, Mulley interview (05.11.2014).
62 Ibid.
63 Ibid.
64 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 226.
65 Traudl Junge, Until the Final Hour: Hitler’s Last Secretary (Phoenix, 2002), p. 121.
66 Constance Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera: The story of photographic intelligence in the Second World War (Sutton, 2004), p. 194; Elizabeth Hick, photographic interpreter, Operation Crossbow, BBC2 (2013).
67 Constance Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera: The story of photographic intelligence in the Second World War (Sutton, 2004), pp. 199–200.
68 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig Verlag, 2013), privately translated, p. 162.
69 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Melitta von Stauffenberg, ‘Typed up Stockholm trip’ (19.12.43).
&n
bsp; 70 Ibid.
71 Ibid.
72 Ibid.
73 Ibid.
74 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 158.
75 Ibid. p. 157.
76 Ibid. p. 159.
77 Ibid. p. 158.
78 Ibid. p. 157.
79 Ibid. p. 168.
80 Ibid. p. 169.
81 Ibid. p. 169.
82 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Melitta von Stauffenberg, ‘Typed up Stockholm trip’ (19.12.43).
83 Ibid.
84 Ibid.
85 Constance Babington Smith, Evidence in Camera: The story of photographic intelligence in the Second World War (Sutton, 2004), p. 200.
86 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (25.12.1943).
87 Ibid. (26.12.1943).
88 Ibid. (28.12.1943).
89 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Klara Schiller, ‘Memories of Klara Schiller’ (nd).
90 Ibid.
91 Ibid.
92 Ibid.
93 Ibid.
94 Hajo Herrmann, Eagle’s Wings: The Autobiography of a Luftwaffe Pilot (Airlife, 1991), p. 223.
95 Ibid. p. 230.
96 Bob Carruthers, Voices from the Luftwaffe (Pen & Sword, 2012), p. 51.
97 Schlesische Flieger Nachrichten [Silesian Pilot News magazine] (5.1988), p. 5.
98 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (11.01.1944).
99 Ibid. (17.01.1944).
100 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (23.01.1944).
101 Thomas Medicus, Melitta von Stauffenberg: Ein Deutsches Leben [A German Life] (Rowohlt, 2012), p. 259.
102 Gerhard Bracke archive, Melitta’s diary (03.02.1944).
103 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 228.
104 Ibid.
105 Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, In the Bunker with Hitler: The last witness speaks (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), p. 82.
106 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), pp. 228–9.
107 Ibid. p. 229.
108 Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, In the Bunker with Hitler: The last witness speaks (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), p. 83.
109 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 229.
110 Ibid.
111 Bernd Freytag von Loringhoven, In the Bunker with Hitler: The last witness speaks (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), p. 88.