World War I Shortly after the beginning of
World War I, Udet attempted to enlist in the
Imperial German Army on 2 August 1914, but at only tall he did not then qualify for enlistment. Later that month, when the
Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club appealed for volunteers with
motorcycles, Udet applied and was accepted. Udet's father had given him a motorcycle when he had passed his first year examination, and along with four friends, Udet was posted to the
26. Württembergischen Reserve Division as a "messenger rider." After injuring his shoulder when his motorcycle hit a crater from an
artillery shell explosion, he was sent to a
military hospital, and his motorcycle was sent for repairs. When Udet tried to track down the 26th Division, he was unable to find it and decided to serve in the vehicle depot in
Namur. During this time, he met officers from the
Chauny flying sector, who advised him to transfer as an
aerial observer. Before he received his orders, the army dispensed with the volunteer motorcyclists, and Udet was sent back to the recruiting officials. On his way out of the guardhouse, he was asked to fly
Lieutenant Hartmann to observe a bombing raid on
Belfort. A bomb thrown by hand by the
leutnant became stuck in the landing gear, but Udet performed aerobatics and managed to shake it loose. Udet pulled away, leaving the flaming bomber trailing smoke, only to see the observer fall from the rear seat of the stricken craft. He later described the incident: "The fuselage of the Farman dives down past me like a giant torch... A man, his arms and legs spread out like a frog's, falls past--the observer. At the moment, I don't think of them as human beings. I feel only one thing--victory, triumph, victory." The victory won Udet the
Iron Cross First Class. That year, FFA 68 was renamed
Kampfeinsitzer Kommando Habsheim before becoming
Jagdstaffel 15 on 28 September 1916. Udet claimed five more victories, before transferring to
Jasta 37 in June 1917. In the first of his victories on 12 October 1916, Udet forced a French
Breguet to land safely in German territory, then landed nearby to prevent its destruction by its crew. The bullet-punctured tires on Udet's Fokker flipped the plane forward onto its top wings and fuselage. Udet and the French pilot eventually shook hands next to the Frenchman's aircraft. In January 1917, Udet was commissioned as a
Leutnant der Reserve (lieutenant of reserves). The same month,
Jasta 15 re-equipped with the
Albatros D.III, a new fighter with twin synchronized
Maschinengewehr 08 machine guns. Udet scored 20 victories in August 1918 alone, mainly against British aircraft and became a national hero with 62 confirmed victories to his credit. On 29 June 1918, Udet was one of the early fliers to be saved by
parachuting from a disabled aircraft, when he jumped after a clash with a French
Breguet. His harness caught on the rudder and he had to break off the rudder tip to escape. In the Berlin
1936 Summer Olympics Udet entered the
arts competition literature category with his autobiography,
Mein Fliegerleben (My Flying Life) (published 1935). These efforts were good publicity for Udet. An American, William Pohl of
Milwaukee, telephoned him with an offer to back an aircraft manufacturing company.
Udet Flugzeugbau was born in a shed in
Milbertshofen. Its intent was to build small aircraft that the general public could fly. It soon ran into trouble with the Entente Commission and transferred its operations to a beehive and chicken coop factory. The first aeroplane that Udet's company produced was the
U2. Udet took the second model, the U4, to the Wilbur Cup race in
Buenos Aires at the expense of Aero Club Aleman. It was outclassed, and the club wanted him to do cigarette commercials to reimburse them for the expense, but he refused. He was rescued by the Chief of the Argentinian Railways, a man of Swedish descent named Tornquist, who settled the debt. In 1924, Udet left Udet Flugzeugbau when they decided to build a four-engine aircraft, the
U11 Kondor which was larger and not for the general population. He and another friend from the war, Angermund, started an exhibition flying enterprise in Germany, which was also successful, but Udet remarked, "In time this too begins to get tiresome. ... We stand in the present, fighting for a living. It isn't always easy. ... But the thoughts wander back to the times when it was worthwhile to fight for your life." Udet and another wartime comrade—Suchocky—became pilots to an African filming expedition. The cameraman was another veteran, Schneeberger, whom Udet called "Flea," and the guide was Siedentopf, a former East African estate owner. Udet described one incident in Africa in which lions jumped up to claw at the low-flying aircraft, one of them removing a strip of Suchocky's wing surface. Udet engaged in hunting while in Africa.
World War II Building the Luftwaffe Hawk Export (D-IRIK) as on display in the
Polish Aviation Museum in
Kraków. Though not interested in politics, Udet joined the
Nazi party in 1933 when
Hermann Göring promised to buy him two new U.S.-built
Curtiss Hawk II biplanes (export designation of the F11C-2
Goshawk Helldiver). The planes were used for evaluation purposes and thus indirectly influenced the German idea of dive bombing aeroplanes, such as the
Junkers Ju 87 (
Stuka) dive bombers. They were also used for aerobatic shows held during the 1936 Summer Olympics. On 1 February 1939 Udet became
Luftwaffe Generalluftzeugmeister (Chief of Procurement and Supply), responsible for all aircraft production, armament and supply. This was a massive organization supervising over 26 departments and, again, requiring organizational qualities for which Udet was not best equipped. When
World War II began, his internal conflicts grew more intense as aircraft production requirements were much more than the German industry could supply, given limited access to raw materials such as
aluminium. Göring responded to this problem by simply lying about it to
Adolf Hitler, and after the
Luftwaffes defeat in the
Battle of Britain, Göring tried to deflect Hitler's ire by blaming Udet. On 22 June 1941, the launch of
Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, drove Udet further into despair. In April and May 1941, Udet had led a German delegation inspecting the Soviet aviation industry in accordance with the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Udet informed Göring that the Soviet air force and aviation industry were very strong and technically advanced. Göring decided not to report this to Hitler, hoping that a surprise attack would quickly destroy the Soviet Union. Udet realized that the upcoming war on the Soviet Union might destroy Germany. He tried to explain this to Hitler but, torn between truth and loyalty, suffered a psychological breakdown. Göring kept Udet under control by giving him drugs at drinking parties and hunting trips. Udet's drinking and psychological condition became a problem, and Göring used Udet's dependency to manipulate him. == Death ==