Gunther Rall passes...

[jcjordan]

I met him once a few years ago at EAA Airventure & was a really nice man to talk to.

http://www.warbirds-eaa.org/news/2009%2 ... 0Away.html

[Hard Sarge]

I always respected him, he was one of the good ones (even if he was on the wrong side)

[Steamfish]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

I always respected him, he was one of the good ones (even if he was on the wrong side)

Roger that. He was a gentleman.

I have a copy of Jill Amadio's biography of Rall autographed by the General, and it's a good read. Recommended.

[wernerpruckner]

RIP

[joey]

A real gentleman.

[Nikademus]

pretty much every comment i've read agrees with you.

RIP

[BigDuke66]

Slowly I wonder how many of those great pilots are left at all.
RIP

[Hard Sarge]

one of the forums I go to, they been posting all of them passing, this year has been a bad one,last year too, so they are going fast

you got to remember, Sept 39 is 70 years ago, so any of them around at the start, got to be over 90, and all of the stresses most of them went though, besides the not nice areas, got to take a toll, it is remarkable that any of them are still around

(God willing)

[BigDuke66]

What forum is that?

[Speedysteve]

RIP

[lolz]

RIP

[tblersch]

Damn. Serious bummer.

Good man. I had the pleasure of meeting him and hearing him in a panel talk (with Harry Crosby - also a good man) at the Air & Space Museum in Washington DC several years ago. It was great to hear, first-hand, the story of how he accidentally rammed a La-5 during Zitadelle. Also remember him talking about how the Luftwaffe bench-tested a captured Packard-Merlin and were amazed that it looked almost-new after a thousand hours, where a DB 600-series would look like it was bathed in oil after ten.

Got to shake the man's hand, and he willingly signed a print of him and Erich Hartmann (and two others - don't remember who off the top of my head) with JG52 in southern Russia in '42. I have to echo what HS and Steamfish said...he may have been on the wrong side, but he was a good man.