Luftwaffe little "large" lady

[Stijn David]

Hello,

The title of this thread may seem confusing but it does cover completely what the main issue is here, namely : Flugkapit?n Hanna Reitsch

This excellent pilot (both glider and non glider related) had multiple wordl records on here name and she was passionated by flying above all.

I received a set of 4 pictures from a close friend in the mail today, they alle do show Frau Reitsch when on a visit on a German airfield (not exactly dated), i am however pretty sure that we can place a date on these pictures simply by the awards worn by this litle "large " lady

She is seen wearing :

* pilots badge

* Ribbon for the iron cross 2 nd. class.

Now lets shoot those answers and get a date

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Here we do see miss Reitsch in a chat with the Hauptmann, now outside the plane.

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

ANd now we are getting naughty => we do go a little lower with our focus !!

The awards offcoarse

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Here she is again (same picture serie) now sitting in here plane.

Cordial greetings,

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Here is another close up from here pilots badge.

Cordial greetings,

ps: anyone does care to make a guess on what producer this badge was made from?, without ever being sure i would think to be it a B & N L badge.

[J Temple-West]

Many thanks for posting your pictures, Stijn....An interesting thread about an interesting woman.

You may well be right about the badge, although B&NL & Assmann are very similar. The only way to tell them apart, in period photo's, is to look at the swastika

The frontal shot looks like the large swas' of an Assmann.... the side shot, B&NL.

Here's a comparison (Left to right...B&NL, Assmann) having the pictures, perhaps this will help to determine which it is.

[MattGibbs]

She's not wearing her Diamonds version then..?

Regards

Matt Gibbs

[Guest Darrell]

i am however pretty sure that we can place a date on these pictures simply by the awards worn by this litle "large " lady Now lets shoot those answers and get a date

Cordial greetings,

Well according to Previtera in the "Iron Time" she was awarded the EK2 in March 1942 and the EK1 in November 1942 .... so that would narrow it down to those 9 months sometime as she isnt shown wearing the EK1 ... unless it was too "pokey" to wear

[Stijn David]

Hello,

Thank you for the reply's, well Privetera was rather correct with his dates, she did earn :

28.03.1941 : Iron Cross 2 nd. class

05.11.1942 : Iron Cross 1 th. class

I guess with these photos we will know for sure wich type of pilots badge she is wearing but is fun to be able to at least name 2 types of pilots badges who do come close towards the one pictured.

Anyone any other pictures from Frau Reitsch in his collection with this combination of awards?

Cordial greetings,