|
 A Look Through the Lens of Ira Latour Under the Influence Slamming the Word Protecting a Piece of the Planet |
|
   |
|
NATO Generalleutnant Günther Rall, with 275 victories in 621 combat sorties, is the world's third ranking and top living fighter ace. Considered the Luftwaffe's greatest "angle-off" gunner, Rall himself was shot down eight times—once, downed by a Soviet fighter, breaking his back in two places. While recuperating in a hospital in Vienna, he married his doctor. Later, Rall was shot down again over Berlin by an American P-47. Bailing out with blood spurting from the stump of a severed thumb, he was almost killed by a farmer armed with a pitchfork who thought him the enemy because he was wearing a captured American flight jacket. After the war, Rall became project officer for the new German Air Force's F-104 at Glendale, California. Eventually, he became the commanding general of the new German Air Force and commanding general of the combined NATO Air Forces (1970–1975). Rall is a member of the Old Bold Pilots in Oceanside, California, where this portrait was taken. |
||
|
|
||
|
|
 |
