Hitler's Favourite Pilot: Hanna Reitsch

The German Hanna Reitsch was one of the best test-pilots ever. She attended the 1936 Berlin Olympics and participated in the Air Sports discipline; she broke multiple endurance and altitude records and has flown nearly every German aircraft during her career. She flew bombers, fighters, and even the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet-rocket plane. She was one of the first test pilots to fly the Focke-Achgelis Fa 61, world’s first operable helicopter. There was a dark side to Hanna, though. She was a fanatical Nazi, loyal to Hitler and very involved in Luftwaffe operations. In fact, she stood at the forefront of the notorious German V-1 human-glider bomb project. This was a last-ditch attempt by the Germans to turn the tide of the war, by utilising suicide pilots against Allied troops. She survived the war and wrote several books about her life, giving us a very candid look at the life of the woman Hitler referred to as his favourite pilot.