Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2nd July 1916 – 18th December 1982)
was a German ground-attack pilot during World War II.
During the war, Rudel was credited with the destruction
of 519 tanks (world record), as well as a number of ships
including Russian battle ship “Marat”. He claimed 9 aerial
victories including the second best Russian ace Lev
Lvovits Sestakov and the destruction of more than 800
armored vehicles. He flew 2530 ground attack missions
(world record) on the Eastern Front flying the Junkers
Ju87G "Stuka", and 430 missions flying Fw190 fighter
aircraft. He went down 32 times because of anti-aircraft
or engine failure but never by enemy aircraft. He was
wounded five times and saved six German Stuka-crews
behind enemy lines. Rudel was the most decorated
German serviceman of World War II receiving the Knight's
Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords
and Diamonds in January 1945; the decoration was
created specifically for him. On 8th February 1945,
Rudel was badly wounded by anti-aircraft, and crash
landed inside German lines. Rudel's right leg was
amputated below the knee. He returned flying on 25th
March 1945 and destroyed 26 more tanks with one leg.
Rudel surrendered to US forces on 8th May 1945 and
continued his career by consulting NATO air forces.
He had a big role designing A-10 Thunderbolt ground
attack plane during sixties.
Video is made using historical document films,
animations and three different scale models of Stuka.
![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aYqRmBXh_Ys/mqdefault.jpg)