Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - Rudolf Hess : a technical analysis

INDEPENDENT REVIEW

The story of Germany’s Deputy Führer, Rudolf Hess, and his wild solo flight to Scotland at a crucial time during the 1939-45 War has been told many times. The facts have been crawled over, the personalities of the individuals analysed and conclusions drawn – sometimes coloured by the authors’ own prejudices.
This book is described as focusing on the details of the flight itself. In fact it goes much wider than that with section 1 devoted to the war situation, beliefs of the Germans about British intent and the circuitous methods they employed to confirm their beliefs. Erroneously as it turned out because British intelligence was on to them early on. Section 2 provides a detailed mechanical and electrical examination of the Me110 aircraft that Hess flew. Section3 tracks the flight to a degree of detail probably not attempted before and shows how it ended in disaster because Hess got lost. Section 4 presents a comprehensive analysis of why the flight has been mired in doubt and controversy, both then and subsequently.
The British wanted to delay the conduct of the war in order to build up their capability. Having been unable to beat the British, the Germans now wanted a peace (albeit a peace of convenience) so they could attack Russia. The Russians would have cried ‘collusion’ if they suspected Hess was part of peace negotiations. The Americans would have stopped supporting the British, if they perceived the same thing. The Germans could never admit they had been outwitted.
These different claims were irreconcilable. So everyone went along with the fiction that Hess acted alone and was nuts.
This book uses forensic research techniques, exploring many lines of enquiry some that seem a bit superfluous. Yet in doing so they unearthed unexpected facts: flight duration was not limited by available fuel but by engine oil; Hess’s flight plan showed the target destination was an RAF station; using a 76-year old retired lady as an innocent conduit from London who the Germans thought lived in Lisbon.
Some of the research is described in schoolboyish terms. There is a quite a bit of repetition and switching between metric and imperial measurements is irritating. In some cases, the technical stuff can be a bit turgid. But the key conclusions appear to me to be sound and to fit the known facts quite well.
If the Hess story rocks your boat, you ought to read this book.