Gunther Rall dies

Generalleutnant Gunther Rall, the third highest scoring fighter pilot of all time with 275 victories, died at the age of 91 on October 4, two days after suffering a heart attack at his home in Germany. Rall had been been a guest at many aviation events over the past couple of decades, and had appeared at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture show in August.
Born in the small town of Gaggenau in the Black Forest in March 1918, Rall joined the German Army in 1936, but after transfer to the Luftwaffe qualified as a pilot in 1938. Posted to JG52 as a Leutnant flying the Messerschmitt 109E, his first victory came on May 12 1940 when he shot down a French Air Force Curtiss Hawk 75A, another Hawk 75 falling to his guns six days later.

During the Battle of Britain JG52 flew from Calais, where Rall became Staffelkapitän of 8./JG 52 on July 25, being promoted to Oberleutnant on August 1. In the spring of 1941 Rall flew in the Balkans campaign, and in June participated in the airborne invasion of Crete. JG 52 then moved to Romania to help defend the oil fields against Soviet air attacks. During operation Barbarossa Rall began to seriously amass victories, getting his third, fourth and fifth kills during three days during June of 1941.

On November 28 1941, just after scoring his 37th victory, Rall was himself shot down by a Polikarpov I-16 pilot. During the crash landing behind German lines his back was broken in three places. Doctors told Rall his flying career was over, and in December 1941 he was transferred to a hospital in Vienna. During his treatment there he met a nurse, Hertha, whom he later married. Against the odds, Rall returned to aerial combat in August 1942, and the following month was awarded the Knight's Cross.

In early November Rall reached the 100 victory milestone. The following July he was became Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 52 and on August 7 shot down his 150th victim. His most destructive month was October 1943, when Rall shot down a total of 40 aircraft, and the following month he became only the second pilot to achieve 150 kills (the first had been Walter Nowotny).

On April 19 1944 Rall became Gruppenkommandeur of III./JG 52 on Defence of the Reich duties. During a dogfight on May 12, Rall, now a Major, was shot down by USAAF 56th Fighter Group ace Captain Joseph Powers, losing a thumb and being hospitalized for many months. He then became an instructor, having flown a total of 621 combat missions, and survived being shot down no less than eight times.

After the war Rall ran a small woodcutting business. In 1956 he rejoined the Luftwaffe, and was closely involved with the introduction of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter into German service. He retired in October 1975 after spending the last 18 months of his career as a military attache with NATO.

Rall's memoirs, Mein Flugbuch (My Flightbook) were published in 2004.