"Krztalizer" wrote in message
...

After surviving nearly 750 missions (?!!) in combat who the hell
*wouldn't* be section eight material?

Rudel had over 2,000 combat missions. The reason he didn't go nuts is
because
he started out nuts, a true "war lover".

Having read his book, I'd have to agree. Good pilot, good Nazi and
slightly loopy.
It was all a big adventure to him and he was sorry it was over....

Rather like a particular officer depicted in movie of "Battle of the
Bulge", who was told
by a subordinate that 'he would do anything just to keep wearing that
uniform'...
All sides have them in varying quantities I guess.

Gunther Rall, onetime LW fighter ace and third highest scoring pilot
of all
time, had a similar number of wartime sorties. In direct contrast to
Rudel,
Rall kept his humanity intact and further served as NATO's commanding
general
for some period. He remains a warm gentleman of integrity with wit
and all of
his faculties in place. It just shows that some people indeed can
'hack it'
for years in combat without losing their minds, but Rall is
undoubtably an
exception in this regard.

The Luftwaffe certainly had examples of both kinds of man. Galland was
somewhere
between the two I think.....

The CO