Günther Rall in Finland, again

[Raimo Malkamäki]

Hi,

and sorry for the delay, I was away for the weekend.

When Rall was here in 2003, somebody asked him about the last months of the war and JG 300. He was clearly not very eager to talk about it.
Here is what he answered (the whole lecture at our museum can be read at the above mentioned website www.virtualpilots.fi)

"What was important was the German Air Force had a formation of captured aircraft restored. They came for training to my fighter leader school. Certainly, I only flew the P-51, P-47, P-38 as a target for my students. So I learned these planes and I learned the advantages and disadvantages compared with the Focke-Wulf 190 and the 109. And I still consider that altogether with all these factors that the P-51 was most likely one of the best fighter planes. This was maneuverable. When I got in, the first thing, I got in the cockpit and I saw electric starting system. I remember wank, wank in Russia (refers to the manual starter by mechanics). Her (P-51) press button, prrrd, then we go (electrical starter, easy engine starter). Fantastic. Beautiful sight (visibility). We never had this sight to the back.. Very stable undercarriage. Very good weapons set. So I think this was a very good airplane. I flew it a few times, then I flew the P-47, then I discovered the speed difference, down, perfect. P-38. And I flew the Spitfire. The Spitfire was a fantastic airplane, but with a limited endurance like all the continental aircraft. So this was a good lecture for me. After that I became a wing commander of the Wing 300 (JG300). This was at the end of the war in February 1945. It was chaos. I don't talk about that anymore."

Not very happy times, I guess.

Best regards,

Raimo

[Jean-Yves Lorant]

Bonsoir Olivier

Günther Rall n'a jamais effectué de missions de guerre au Stab./JG 300 - ses ailiers Werner Bohnenkamp et Günther Ritzka l'ont confirmé. Prétendre le contraire ferait de nous des auteurs aussi peu sérieux que le néanmoins distrayant Bobo...
The painting by Robert Taylor you quoted is a pure artist impression, nothing more.
cheers

Jean-Yves