Gustav Rödel

Infobox Military Person
name=Gustav Rödel
lived=birth date|1915|10|24|df=y — death date and age|1995|2|6|1915|10|24|df=y


caption=Gustav Rödel
nickname=
placeofbirth=Merseburg
placeofdeath=Bonn-Bad Godesberg
allegiance=flagicon|Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (to 1945)
flagicon|West Germany West Germany
branch=Luftwaffe
serviceyears=1936-1945, 1957-1971
rank=Oberst (Wehrmacht)
Brigadegeneral (Bundeswehr)
commands=JG 27
unit=JG 88, JG 21, JG 27
battles=Spanish Civil War
World War II
*Invasion of Poland
*Battle of France
*Battle of Britain
*Balkans Campaign
*Operation Barbarossa
*North African Campaign
*Defense of the Reich
awards=Spanish Cross in Bronze with Swords
Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves
laterwork= Bundeswehr

Oberst Gustav Rödel (born 24 October, 1915 in Merseburg – died 6 February, 1995 in Bonn-Bad Godesberg) was a German World War II Luftwaffe fighter ace. He scored all but one of his 98 victories against the Western Allies in over 980 combat missions whilst flying the Messerschmitt Bf 109.

Biography

Gustav Rödel was born on 24 October 1915 in Merseburg, Saxony. He joined the Luftwaffe with the rank of Fahnenjunker in 1936 and underwent fighter pilot training. Rödel participated in the Spanish Civil War with the Condor Legion serving with J 88. He was awarded the Spanish Cross in Bronze with Swords for his achievements in Spain.

On 15 July 1939, Rödel transferred to JG 21. Leutnant Rödel was assigned to 2./JG 21. He achieved his first aerial victory on the first day of World War II, September 1, 1939, during the Invasion of Poland. His victim, a Polish PZL P.24 fighter, was shot down near Warsaw. On 7 September he was forced down during a ground-strafing mission. However, he managed to fly back his machine close to the border and avoided detection and returned to his unit the next day.

After transferring to the Geschwaderstab of JG 27 on 24 November 1939, he fought in the Battle of France gaining a further three victories. On May 12, 1940, Rödel flew as wingman of Adolf Galland, who claimed his first aerial victory over a Hawker Hurricane that day. The combat took place west of Liège [Ring, p. 27] . Rödel himself also claimed a Hurricane near Tirlemont that day [Ring, p. 29] . On June 8 he few a solo intercept mission attacking and shooting down a Bristol Blenheim over the English channel [Ring, p. 47] . In July 1940, Rödel was transferred to 4./JG 27 and on September 7 and was appointed Staffelkapitän of 4./JG 27. By the end of September, he had claimed 14 victories, the majority of these in the Battle of Britain. His II./JG 27 Group participated in the invasion of the Balkans. Rödel achieved six more victories in the aerial battles over Greece, including three Greek fighters shot down on 15 April 1941 and three RAF Hawker Hurricane fighters shot down on 20 April.

After the Balkan campaign, Rödel and 4./JG 27 joined in the invasion of Russia. Rödel claimed a Russian SB-3 twin-engine bomber shot down on 25 June 1941 for his 21st victory. Shortly afterwards 4./JG 27 were transferred to North Africa. Here, Rödel claimed his 30th victory on 4 December 1941, when he shot down a South African Curtiss P-40 fighter near Bir-el-Gobi. On 20 May 1942, Rödel was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 27. He claimed his 40th victory on 23 May, when he shot down another P-40 fighter near Ras el Tin. On 21 July, he claimed four Hurricanes shot down to record his 48th through 51st victories. Later he claimed three P-39 fighters shot down in the El Alamein area on 9 October. However, he had mis-identified his victims which were, in all probability, RAF P-40 fighters. Altogether Rödel claimed 15 victories, including three RAF P-40 fighters shot down on 24 October and three fighters shot down on 27 October, in October 1942. On 1 November he claimed his 73rd victory, his last in North Africa.

Rödel was appointed Geschwaderkommodore of JG 27 on 22 April 1943. He saw further combat over Sicily and Greece in May. On 22 May he shot down three enemy aircraft bringing his total to 78. For this Major Rödel was awarded the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves on 20 June 1943 [Fellgiebel] . He recorded his 80th victory on 4 October and his 83rd on 10 October.

Relocated to Germany and Defense of the Reich duties, Rödel raised his victory total to 93, including USAAF four-engine bombers. In June 1944, he led JG 27 over the Invasion front. On 29 June, he claimed three USAAF P-47 Thunderbolt fighters shot down for victories 95 to 97. On 5 July, he claimed his 98th, and last, victory a USAAF P-38 Lightning twin-engine fighter shot down near Angleur. In December 1944, Rödel was involved in the planning of Operation Bodenplatte. From the beginning of January 1945, he was serving on the staff of the 2. Jagd-Division, becoming Kommandeur on 1 February, a position he held until the end of the war. In this role he also attended the meeting with Hermann Göring in what came to be known as the "Fighter Pilots Revolt" or "Fighter Pilots Mutiny".

In 1957 Rödel joined the Bundeswehr. He retired 30 September 1971 holding the rank of Brigadegeneral.

Awards

* Spanish Cross in Bronze with Swords
* Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class
* Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe (14 December 1940)
* German Cross in Gold (16 July 1942)
* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
** Knight's Cross (22 June 1941)
** 255. Oak Leaves (20 June 1943)

Gustav Rödel Bf 109-G2

Aircraft is on display at the Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr in Berlin. Hauptmann Gustav Rödel flew the "yellow 4" in November 1942 as Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 27. At this time Rödel had claimed 56 aerial victories.

The Spaniards donated the H.A. 1112 "Buchon" to the Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr after the making of the movie " Battle of Britain" still bearing the markings of the "Richthofen" Geschwader. Beginning in 1988 work to reconvert the aircraft back to its original Bf 109 G-2 state began.

References

*cite web | title=Aces of the Luftwaffe|work=Gustav Rödel| url=http://www.luftwaffe.cz/rodel.html|accessdate=13 August| accessyear=2007
* Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer. "Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945". Podzun-Pallas, 2000. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
* Patzwall, Klaus D. and Scherzer, Veit. "Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 - 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II". Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall, 2001. ISBN 3-931533-45-X.
* Ring, Hans and Girbig, Werner. "Jagdgeschwader 27 Die Dokumentation über den Einsatz an allen Fronten 1939-1945". Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag, 1994. ISBN 3-87943-215-5.