by Clare Mulley
39 Charlotte von der Schulenburg, in Dorothee von Meding, Courageous Hearts: Women and the anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Berghahn, 1997), p. 141.
40 Dorothee von Meding, Courageous Hearts: Women and the anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Berghahn, 1997), p. xxii.
41 Alexander von Stauffenberg, ‘Litta’, in the collection Denkmal [Monument] (Stefan George Foundation, 1964).
42 Fey von Hassell, A Mother’s War (Corgi, 1991), p. 291.
43 Ibid.
44 Konstanze von Schulthess, Mulley interview (25.11.2014).
45 Deutsches Museum Archive, PERS/F10228/2, Dortmund newspaper report, ‘Hanna Reitsch, “Alles Schwindel”: Sie soll Hitler nach Argentinien geflogen haben’ [‘Everything vertigo’: you should have flown Hitler to Argentina] (22.03.1950).
46 Ron Laytner, Edit International Articles: A portfolio of some of Ron Laytner’s greatest stories, ‘Hanna Reitsch: Greatest Nazi Test Pilot and World’s First Astronaut’ (2010).
47 Hugh Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler (Macmillan, 1947), p. 164.
48 Deutsches Museum Archive, 101b, Thilo Bode, ‘How History Can Become Falsified: The example of Hanna Reitsch’ (nd), pp. 14–15.
49 Hanna Reitsch, Hohen und Tiefen: 1945 bis in die Gegenwart [Ups and Downs: 1945 to the present day] (F.A. Herbig Verlag, 1978), pp. 178–9.
50 Yvonne Pagniez, foreword to Hanna Reitsch, Aventures en Plein Ciel [Adventures in the Sky] (La Palatine, 1952).
51 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), pp. 259–60.
52 Otto Skorzeny, Skorzeny’s Special Missions: The Memoirs of ‘The Most Dangerous Man in Europe’ (Greenhill, 2006), p. 220.
53 Heidimarie Schade, Mulley interview (01.10.2014).
54 Berthold von Stauffenberg, Lecture for the AV Rheinstein Köln-Lindenthal, ‘A Childhood in the Third Reich – from System Conformist to Traitor’s Child’ (14.04.2008).
55 Gerald Posner, Hitler’s Children: Inside the Families of the Third Reich (Mandarin, 1991), p. 190.
56 US National Archives, D-53525, the Overseas Weekly, ‘Adolf’s Flying Femme Back’ (28.02.1954).
57 Die Zeit, ‘Unrecht an Hanna Reitsch’ [Injustice to Hanna Reitsch] (22.07.1954).
58 Nancy Bird, My God! It’s a Woman: The inspiring story of Australia’s pioneering aviatrix (HarperCollins, 2002), p. 130.
59 Deutsches Museum Archive, 130/136, letter Brazil Sudeten Club/Hanna Reitsch (14.01.1958).
60 The Ian Sayer Archive, Hanna Reitsch correspondence, letter Hanna Reitsch/Herr Petzoldt (08.04.1957).
61 The Ian Sayer Archive, Hanna Reitsch correspondence, letter Hanna Reitsch/Herr Brockmann (11.11.1958).
62 The Ian Sayer Archive, Hanna Reitsch correspondence, letter Hanna Reitsch/Herr Brockmann (June 1962).
63 Berthold von Stauffenberg, Lecture for the AV Rheinstein Köln-Lindenthal, ‘A Childhood in the Third Reich – from System Conformist to Traitor’s Child’ (14.04.2008).
64 Ibid.
65 Der Spiegel, Hamburg newspaper (March 2012), quoted in Heiko Peter Melle, Ernst Probst, Sturzflüge für Deutschland: Kurzbiografie der testpilotin Melitta Schenk Gräfin von Stauffenberg [Nosedives for Germany: a short biography . . . ] (Grin Verlag, 2012).
66 Konstanze von Schulthess, Mulley interview (25.11.2014).
67 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), privately translated, p. 45.
68 German History: The Journal of the German History Society, Bernhard Rieger, ‘The Global Career of a Nazi Celebrity’, vol. 26, no. 3 (Sage Publications, 2008), p. 398.
69 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 263.
70 German History: The Journal of the German History Society, Bernhard Rieger, ‘The Global Career of a Nazi Celebrity’, vol. 26, no. 3 (Sage Publications, 2008), p. 395.
71 Deutsches Museum Archive, 130/18, letter Wernher von Braun/Hanna Reitsch (18.08.1947).
72 Deutsches Museum Archive, PERS/F/10228/2-, Frau mit Herz [Woman with Heart] magazine, ‘The life story of the famous pilot Hanna Reitsch: Only up in the air could I feel free’ (nd).
73 Eric Brown, Wings On My Sleeve: The World’s Greatest Test Pilot Tells His Story (Phoenix, 2007), p. 266.
74 Daily Graphic, Edith Wuver, ‘The Woman Who Dares the Heavens’, quoted in American History Review, Jean Allman, ‘Phantoms of the Archive: Kwame Nkrumah, a Nazi Pilot Named Hanna, and the Contingencies of Post-Colonial History-Writing’ (February 2013), pp. 104–29.
75 German History: The Journal of the German History Society, Bernhard Rieger, ‘The Global Career of a Nazi Celebrity’, vol. 26, no. 3 (Sage Publications, 2008), p. 401.
76 Deutsches Museum archive, PERS/F/10228/2-, Frau mit Herz [Woman with Heart] magazine, ‘The life story of the famous pilot Hanna Reitsch: Only up in the air could I feel free’ (nd).
77 Jean Allman, ‘Phantoms of the Archive: Kwame Nkrumah, a Nazi Pilot Named Hanna, and the Contingencies of Post-Colonial History-Writing’, American History Review (February 2013), p. 111.
78 IWM film archive, Roving Report – Ghana, ITN 111 (October 1964).
79 American History Review, Jean Allman, ‘Phantoms of the Archive: Kwame Nkrumah, a Nazi Pilot Named Hanna, and the Contingencies of Post-Colonial History-Writing’ (February 2013), p. 122.
80 German History: The Journal of the German History Society, Bernhard Rieger, ‘The Global Career of a Nazi Celebrity’, vol. 26, no. 3 (Sage Publications, 2008), p. 401.
81 Ibid.
82 Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 264.
83 Deutsches Museum Archive, PERS/F/10228/1, Hanna Reitsch, ‘Ich Flög für Kwame Nkrumah’ [I Flew for Kwame Nkrumah] (nd, c.1968).
84 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.
85 Alexander von Stauffenberg, Denkmal [Monument] (Stefan George Foundation, 1964).
86 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/110, letter Hanna Reitsch/Herr von Barsewisch (31.08.1971).
87 Eric Brown, Mulley interview (18.03.2013).
88 Ibid.
89 Ibid.
90 Ibid.
91 Ron Laytner, Edit International Articles: A portfolio of some of Ron Laytner’s greatest stories, ‘Hanna Reitsch: Greatest Nazi Test Pilot and World’s First Astronaut’ (2010).
92 Ibid.
93 Deutsches Museum archive, PERS/F/10228/1, Alte Adler club newsletter (Spring 1972).
94 Ibid. p. 7.
95 Ibid. p. 12.
96 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (07.02.1975).
97 Ibid.
98 Ibid
99 Ibid.
100 Ibid.
101 Ibid.
102 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (18.02.1975).
103 Ibid.
104 Ibid.
105 Ibid.
106 Ibid.
107 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Klara Schiller/Hanna Reitsch (13.2.1975).
108 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Klara Schiller/Hanna Reitsch (27.06.1975).
109 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (nd).
110 Gerhard Bracke archive, letter Hanna Reitsch/Klara Schiller (01.04.1977).
111 John Groom, producer, The Secret War, BBC, Mulley interview (24.06.2015).
112 The Ian Sayer Archive, Hanna Reitsch correspondence, letter Hanna Reitsch/Barry Radley (29.06.1978).
113 The Ian Sayer Archive, Hanna Reitsch correspondence, letter Hanna Reitsch/Barry Radley (05.06.1978).
114 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/111, letter Fritz Stüber/Hanna Reitsch (15.06.1978).
115 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/139, l
etter Eleanore Baur/Hanna Reitsch (01.09.1978).
116 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/139, letter Eleanore Baur/Hanna Reitsch (20.11.1978).
117 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/109, letter Hans Baur/Hanna Reitsch (10.02.1976).
118 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/109, letter Hans Baur/Hanna Reitsch (28.11.1978).
119 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/109, letter Hanna Reitsch/Hans Baur (05.12.1978).
120 The Ian Sayer Archive, Hanna Reitsch correspondence, letter Hanna Reitsch/Barry Radley (17.09.1978).
121 The Ian Sayer Archive, Hanna Reitsch correspondence, letter Hanna Reitsch/Barry Radley (23.11.1978).
122 Ibid.
123 Ron Laytner, Edit International Articles: A portfolio of some of Ron Laytner’s greatest stories, ‘Hanna Reitsch: Greatest Nazi Test Pilot and World’s First Astronaut’ (2010).
124 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/109, letter Hanna Reitsch/Hans Baur (05.12.1978).
125 Eric Brown, Mulley interview (18.03.2013); Eric Brown, Wings On My Sleeve: The World’s Greatest Test Pilot Tells His Story (Phoenix, 2007), p. 120.
126 Eric Brown, James Holland interview, www.griffonmerlin.com/WW2
127 Eric Brown, Mulley interview (18.03.2013).
128 Eric Brown, Wings On My Sleeve: The World’s Greatest Test Pilot Tells His Story (Phoenix, 2007), p. 120.
129 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/123, letter Hanna Reitsch/Kurt Reitsch (1946).
EPILOGUE: A TIME OF CONTRADICTIONS
1 Dorothee von Meding, Courageous Hearts: Women and the anti-Hitler Plot of 1944 (Berghahn, 1997), p. xv.
2 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 76; Hanna Reitsch, The Sky My Kingdom: Memoirs of the Famous German World War II Test Pilot (Greenhill, 2009), p. 1.
3 Deutsches Museum archive, PERS/F/10228/2, letter Prof. Walter Birnbaum to Süddeutsche Zeitung recalling train conversation with Hanna Reitsch (15/16.09.1979).
4 Archive Reinhart Rudershausen, Lieselotte Hansen, ‘Memories of Lieselotte Hansen, née Lachman’ (unpublished manuscript, nd).
5 Berthold von Stauffenberg, Mulley interview (5.11.2014).
6 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 159.
7 Melitta Schiller, ‘A Woman in Test Flying’, speech at the German Embassy in Stockholm (06.12.1943), quoted by Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), p. 159.
8 Gerhard Bracke, Melitta Gräfin Stauffenberg: Das Leben einer Fliegerin [The Life of an Aviatrix] (Herbig, 2013), privately translated, p. 168.
9 Peter Hoffmann, German Resistance to Hitler (Harvard, 1988), p. 135.
10 Deutsches Museum archive, PERS/F/10228/2, Evelyn Künneke quoted in Frau mit Herz [Woman with Heart] magazine, ‘The life story of the famous pilot Hanna Reitsch: Only up in the air could I feel free’ (nd), p. 2.
11 Eric Brown, Mulley interview (18.03.2013).
12 Robert Harris, Fatherland (Arrow, 1993), p. 299.
13 Deutsches Museum archive, 130/100, letter Hanna Reitsch/Dr Laternser (17.03.1947).
14 Ibid.
15 Der Spiegel, Susanne von Beyer, ‘Frau im Sturzflug’ [Woman in a Nosedive] (05/03/2012).
16 Joachim Kramarz, Stauffenberg: The Life and Death of an Officer (André Deutsch, 1967), p. 11.
Select Bibliography
INTERVIEWS AND CORRESPONDENCE*
Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, Hon. FRAeS, Royal Navy Officer and Test Pilot (2013, 2014)
Doreen Galvin, WAAF Intelligence Officer, RAF Tempsford (2015)
John Groom, BBC producer, The Secret War (2015)
Flying Officer John Alan Ottewell, DFM, Légion d’Honneur, RAF 115 and 7 Squadrons, Pathfinder (2014)
Flight Sergeant Jack Pragnell, RAF 102 Squadron, Bomber Aimer (2015)
Lieutenant Dietrich Pütter, Luftwaffe reconnaissance pilot (2014)
Wing Commander Len Ratcliffe, RAF 161 Special Duties Squadron (2013)
Lance Corporal Walter Rehling, Luftwaffe Night Fighter Squadron NJG101 (2013)
Professor Dr Bernd Rosemeyer, son of Elly Beinhorn and Bernd Rosemeyer (2014)
Dr Reinhart Rudershausen, son of Jutta Rudershausen, Melitta’s sister (2014)
Dr Heidimarie Schade, niece of Ilse and Otto Schiller, Melitta’s brother (2014)
Konstanze von Schulthess Rechberg, youngest daughter of Claus and Nina von Stauffenberg (2014)
Major General Count Berthold von Stauffenberg, eldest son of Claus and Nina von Stauffenberg (2014)
Flight Lieutenant Russell ‘Rusty’ Waughman DFC, AFC, Légion d’Honneur, RAF 101 Special Duties Squadron (2015)
PUBLIC ARCHIVES AND MUSEUMS
BRITISH PUBLIC ARCHIVES
CHURCHILL ARCHIVES CENTRE, CHURCHILL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
CHUR 4/460A
IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM, LONDON
Film archive
MTE 291, Focke Helicopter: The First Really Successful Helicopter (1938)
ITN 111, Roving Report – Ghana (1964)
GWY 556, Deutsche Luftgeltung 1937 [German Air Effect] (1938)
GWY 213, Die Deutsche Wochenschrau Nr 712 [newsreel] (April 1944) I & V
GWY 223, Die Deutsche Wochenschrau Nr 712 (June 1944) III
Photo archive
Various
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, KEW
Air Ministry
AIR 34/625 ‘Peenemünde’ (1944)
AIR 40/7 ‘Kutonase Balloon Cable Cutters’ (1942)
AIR 40/21 ‘German Troop and Freight Carrying Gliders’ (1941)
AIR 40/36 ‘BZA-1 German Dive Bombsight’ (nd)
AIR 40/115 ‘German Helicopters, the Focke-Achgelis 223’ (1944)
AIR 40/205 ‘Me 323 “Gigant” Aircraft’ (11/42–5/45)
AIR 40/2840 ‘Launching of the German Flying Bomb, V-1’ (1944)
AIR 40/2834 ‘Flying the German Messerschmitt Me 262 jet-propelled aircraft: practical advice from former German test pilot’ (1945)
AIR 41/7 ‘RAF Narrative: Photographic Reconnaissance’, vol. 2 (1941–5)
War Office
WO 208/4168 (SRGG 961c), interrogation reports of German POWs, General von Thoma
WO 328/36 Statement of Alexandra von Stauffenberg (May 1945)
WO 328/37 Statement of Clemens von Stauffenberg, Capri (May 1945)
WO 328/38 Statement of Markwart von Stauffenberg (May 1945)
Foreign Office
FO 371/21737, Nevile Henderson letter (06.09.1938)
FO 954/10 vol. 10/Folio 391 (Ge/44/14/A), Letter Foreign Office/Churchill’s Private Secretary (24.07.1944)
ROYAL AIR FORCE MUSEUM, HENDON
Sound archive
330161: John Searby, Master Bomber, ‘The Great Raids – Peenemünde’ (nd)
GERMAN PUBLIC ARCHIVES
DEUTSCHES MUSEUM ARCHIVE, MUNICH
Melitta Schiller collection
FB89, Melitta Schiller, ‘Windkanaluntersuchungen von Luftschrauben im Sturzflug’ [Wind Tunnel Studies of the Propeller in a Nosedive] (06.04.1934)
FB106, Melitta Schiller, ‘Auswertung experimenteller Untersuchungen über Verstell-Luftschrauben’ [Analysis of Experimental Studies on Adjusting Propellers] (15.09.1934)
FB506, Melitta Schiller, ‘Windkanaluntersuchungen an einem Flügel mit Rollflügel and Vorflü’ [Wind Tunnel Tests on a Wing with Roll-Wings and Slats] (09.01.1936)
Hanna Reitsch collection, NL 130
18. Correspondence:
— Hanna Reitsch/Wernher von Braun (1947–71)
— Hanna Reitsch/Amnesty International (1973)
Wernher von Braun obituary (unknown newspaper, June 1977)
100. Correspondence:
— Hanna Reitsch/Dr Laternser (17.03.1947)
— Hanna Reitsch/Frau Jodl (1948)
— Hanna Reitsch statement (20.05.1948)
&
nbsp; 101. Correspondence:
— Hanna Reitsch/Kurt Reitsch (nd)
— Hanna Reitsch/Otto Skorzeny (1974)
— Horst von Salomon/Kaplan Friedel Volkmar (27.04.1947)
— Friedel Volkmar/Dr Kindermann (July 1948)
— Various hand-drawn Christmas and Easter cards (1947)
Mano Ziegler, ‘Die ersten Raketenjäger der Welt’ [The world’s first rocket hunters] (nd)
Walter Stender, ‘Politische Erklärung’ [Political Statement] (01.07.1947)
Richard Homberger (07.07.1947)
Hanna Reitsch, ‘Eidesstattliche Erklärung’ [Affidavit for Otto Skorzeny] (12.04.1948)
101a. Correspondence:
— Hanna Reitsch/Hugh Trevor-Roper (1948)
— Alfred G. T. Wilheim, Die Epoche/Hanna Reitsch (07.08.1947)
— Hanna Reitsch/Die Welt editor (01.12.1947)
Political reports:
— Anon., report on Hanna Reitsch (nd)
— Hanna Reitsch, An den Kommandanten [Statement to Camp Commanders] (March 1946)
— ‘Abschrift’ [Transcript] (Nuremberg, 08.04.1947)
Die Welt, Hugh Trevor-Roper, ‘Hitlers Letzte Tage’ [Hitler’s Last Days] (14.10.1947)
101b.
Anon., ‘Conversation with Hanna Reitsch’ (nd)
Captain Musmanno, ‘Private Conversation between Captain M. and H. Reitsch’ (01.02.1948)
Thilo Bode, ‘How History Can Become Falsified: The Example of Hanna Reitsch’ (nd)
109. Correspondence:
— Hanna Reitsch/Heini Dittmar (1934–53)
— Hanna Reitsch/Wolf Hirth (1952–77)
— Hanna Reitsch/Peter Riedel (1960–78)
— Hanna Reitsch/Günther Rall (1975)
— Hanna Reitsch/Hans Baur (1976–9)
— Hanna Reitsch/Carl Franke (1977–8)
— Hanna Reitsch/Nicolaus von Below (1978)
