"Guns before butter. Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat."
- Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, Head of the German Luftwaffe
During the early to mid-stages of the Second World War, the Stuka (short for "sturzkampfflugzeug" or dive-bomber) struck terror in the hearts and minds of soldiers and civilians alike. The Stuka was a rugged machine, designed to swoop down and destroy its target using 500-lb bombs or tear into them using 37mm flak guns mounted underneath the wings.
Pictured here is a German Junkers Ju 87G Stuka dive-bomber that was flown by Oberstleutnant Hans-Ulrich Rudel, III Gruppe Kommander of SG 2, operating on the Eastern Front during 1944-45. One piece left in stock!
Dimensions:
Wingspan: 7.5 inches
Release Date: April 2007
Historical Account: "Shadows in the Night" - The most highly decorated German of WWII was the Luftwaffe pilot, Hauptmann Hans-Ulrich Rudel (1916-1982). Rudel was admitted to dive-bomber training in May 1940 and was subsequently assigned to a Stuka wing in France. His first combat missions coincided with the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. By the time Rudel was promoted to commander of III/StG 2 in March 1944, he had already completed 1,800 sorties and destroyed 202 tanks. |
