Description
The Ballantine Books edition of Stuka Pilot, signed by Hans Ulrich Rudel.
Twelvemo, 239pp, [1]. Illustrated paperback wrappers, publisher’s code F459K on cover and spine. Notable wear to covers, shelf wear. Translated from the German memoir “Trotzdem,” Stuka Pilot is Rudel’s first-person account of his service as a Luftwaffe dive-bomber pilot during World War II.
Signed on the front free endpaper: “Hans Ulrich Rudel / 20.4.78.”
Hans-Ulrich Rudel (1916-1982) was a member of the German Luftwaffe and Stuka dive-bomber pilot during World War II, serving almost entirely on the Eastern Front. He was the most decorated German pilot of the war and the only recipient of the Knight’s Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds. Rudel flew more than 2,500 combat missions, primarily in the Junkers Ju 87, and was credited by German records with the destruction of hundreds of Soviet tanks and the damaging of the battleship Marat. Severely wounded in 1945 and losing part of his right leg, he returned briefly to combat before surrendering to American forces at the end of the war.
