Re: Who flew von Greim and Reitsch out of Berlin?
 

"I do not think the Secretary of State or the FBI were in error"

Yup, you can always trust a politician. And didn't J. Edgar Hoover spend years denying the existence of the Mafia?

Re: Who flew von Greim and Reitsch out of Berlin?
 

Nick,


I am a bit surprised to see you use the tactic of diversion. From fbi.gov:

"By the early 1930s, cities like St. Paul, Minnesota, had become virtual training grounds for young crooks, while Hot Springs, Arkansas, had turned into a safe haven and even a vacation spot for the criminal underworld. Al Capone was locked away for good in 1931 (thanks in part to the Bureau), but his Chicago Outfit carried on fine without him and would actually experience a resurgence in the coming decades. The “Five Families” of the New York Mafia were also emerging during this period, with “Lucky” Luciano setting up the “Commission” to unite the mob and “Murder, Inc.” to carry out its hits. Prohibition was ultimately repealed in 1933, but by then, the Great Depression was in full force, and with honest jobs harder to come by than ever, the dishonest ones sometimes seemed more attractive than standing in soup lines."


Ed

Re: Who flew von Greim and Reitsch out of Berlin?
 

In no sense a diversion, Ed, simply a recognition that sources should be treated with due scepticism in the light of their track record. We're going dangerously off-topic here but what the post-Hoover FBI says in the light of hindsight and what Hoover was saying in an earlier era may be two different things. For example (heading back topic-wards) I have seen details in pilots' postwar memoirs that they neglected to mention in sortie reports.