Publisher's Synopsis
In the nightmare world of Nazi Germany, Hanna Reitsch was well known as an aviatrix and glider pilot. In this highly exciting book, which has been a best seller in Germany, she tells her life story. She will be remembered as the woman who flew into Berlin as the Third Reich crumbled with General von Greim, visited Hitler in the Bunker only four days before his fiery death in the ruins. They spent three nights there, during which Hitler made von Greim a Field Marshall and gave him traitor Göring's job. Hanna told bedtime stories to the six little Goebbles children to reassure them while Russian shells dropped on the bunker, and then flew out again in a small Arado Ar 96, miraculously, only to be captured and imprisoned by the advancing Americans.
Although this exploit was Hanna's most celebrated, she has a long list of adventures to her credit. She was probably the most famous and successful woman glider pilot in the world and has toured North and South America giving exhibitions. She also acted as test pilot for the first German jet planes at a date when the English and Americans had not even perfected a jet engine. She flew (unbelievable as it might seem) a V-1 bomb during many tests and was one of the first successful helicopter pilots.
A large part of the book is devoted to her early life, education, vocation for flying and her associates in aviation. She knew Udet, Messerschmitt, Kobis, Georgii and other pioneers as well and later, as a celebrity, Göring and Himmler, and was decorated several times by the Führer himself. In the war she flew many special missions and showed herself the equal of a man in courage. Her romantic friendship with von Greim and her experiences after the war provide a fitting climax for a fascinating story. Whatever the lady's political principles may have been, she had courage.
