Pulled from the wreckage of his Messerschmitt,
Günther Rall was paralyzed, his back broken
in three places. Nevertheless, he returned to the air.

Interview by Colin Heaton

From the time the Luftwaffe went to war on September 1, 1939, its fighter pilots immediately began to make their presence known. Slashing through the skies and inflicting enormous casualties, they amassed previously unimaginable scores of aerial victories. Very few of the great pilots survived the war, yet the fact that Germany’s three leading aces did is testimony to their skill, determination and luck.

Günther Rall served on the Eastern and Western fronts, rising to the rank of major and commanding fighter groups and entire squadrons. He finished World War II as the third-highest-scoring fighter ace of all time with 275 aerial victories. His final assignment was in the defense of the Reich itself, and his capture by the Americans was the beginning of a second career for him.

Continuing to rise in the Bundesluftwaffe (the new Luftwaffe), he trained in the United States and later commanded German jet fighter units in the 1960s. He is still good friends with many of his old Luftwaffe comrades, and he was reunited with many for the 80th birthday celebration for General Johannes Steinhoff on September 15, 1993, shortly before Steinhoff’s death.

After retiring from the new German Air Force, General Rall began working in an advisory capacity for several well-known companies. Today he enjoys retirement, his family and his many grandchildren, and enjoys corresponding with historians.

World War II: General, please tell us about your background.

Rall: I was born on March 10, 1918, in Gaggenau, which is a small village in the Black Forest. My father was a merchant, and when I was born he was on operations during World War I. He first saw me when he came back.

WWII: Do you have any brothers and sisters?

Rall: I have a sister who is still alive and lives in Stuttgart, which I consider my hometown. My family moved there when I was 3 years old, and I was brought up and educated in Stuttgart. I was in elementary school and high school, which we called Gymnasium, where I was educated for nine years in Latin and five years in the old Greek, with the education focused more on literature and such, not so much on science or mathematics. I took the final exam, which we call the Abitur. I graduated at the age of 18 and became a cadet in an infantry regiment.

WWII: Didn’t you originally join the infantry and then decide that running in the mud wasn’t for you?

Rall: Yes. And later I decided to become an air force officer.

WWII: When did you begin flying in the Luftwaffe?

Rall: I started flying as a senior cadet in the air force, and I went through to the final exam for promotion to Leutnant. In those days the air force did not have the capacity to train all of its own cadets. And we took cadets from the navy and the army. I went to the air force and started flying in 1938 in Neubiberg, which is a suburb of Munich.

WWII: When was your first taste of combat?

Rall: This was at the age of 21. In 1939 I finally graduated training as a fighter pilot on a base east of Berlin and was transferred to Jagdgeschwader (fighter wing) JG-52. At the beginning of the war I was with this wing, and my first contact with the enemy was in May 1940. This was over France.

WWII: After the French capitulated, you served on the Channel Front, did you not?

Rall: Yes, we modified our airplanes for flying over sea–you know, with our dinghies in our planes. I was located near Calais. There we opposed the Royal Air Force on the other side and flew missions over the English Channel to the southern part of the British island. We were attacking convoys and things like that. Flights were short because of fuel; we could not fly any farther.

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