1.
Who was Rudolf Hess?
In World War I, Hess volunteered
for service in the German army, serving
first as an infantry officer and later as
a pilot. Hess was among the first to join
the Nazi party, in 1920. He took part in
the abortive November 1923 putsch, when
Hitler tried to overthrow the Bavarian
government, and was imprisoned in the
Landsberg prison with Hitler, whom he
helped to compose Mein Kampf. When the
two were released in 1925, Hess became
Hitler's personal aide and private
secretary, a position he held until the
Nazi rise to power, in January 1933. In
April of that year, Hitler appointed Hess
deputy leader of the Nazi party, and in
December he was also named minister
without portfolio; henceforth all the
laws issued by the Nazi regime bore
Hess's signature. A member of Hitler's
inner circle, Hess was entrusted in 1938
with important missions relating to
Germany's takeover of Austria and the
Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia. On the
eve of World War II, Hess was a member of
the Geheime Kabinetsrat (Secret Cabinet
Council) and the Ministerrat fur die
Reichsverteidigung (Reich Ministerial
Defense Council). |
2. What was the
background of Hess's flight?
During
the first year of the war, Hess believed he was
being pushed into the background away from
Hitler. Knowing of Hitler's plans for invasion of
the Soviet Union, he decided to regain his
patron's attention by a magnificient act of
sacrifice. It was a tragedt, he believed, for
Germans and Bristish, "Aryan blood
brothers," to fight one another. He would
fly alone to the Bristish Isles, be received as
an important man in the Nazi hierarchy, and win
Bristish assistance in the coming war with the
Bolshevik menace.
3. Short description of
Hess flight time
On
May 10, 1941, 17.45 Middle European Time (MET)
Hess took off from Augsburg, Bavaria in an
unarmed Messerschmitt 110. Dressed as a Luftwaffe
pilot, he carried map on which he had pencilled
his course. But Hess was briliant pilot so he had
no need even to look at his map.
One great problem for Hess was of course the air
defences' radar and interceptors. But Hess was
lucky; no one seemed to detect him. As he
approached the Scottish coast he was detected by
two patrooling Supermarine Spitfire HF
interceptors. Hess dived at full throttle from a
height of a few thousands metres towards the
coast. This caused the Me 110 to gain so much
speed that the two Spitfires were apparently
unable to keep up.
Shortly after 22.00 MET, at the breathtaking
speed of 750 km/h, Hess crosed the coast at Farne
Island. Shortly before 23.00 MET he was gliding
over Dungavel House, the country seat of the Duke
of Hamilton. It was precisely 23.09 MET when
Deputy Fuhrer and Reich Minister Rudolf Hess
crash-landed by parachute on Bristish soil. The
first man Hess met in Britain was farmer David
McLean. Hess introduced himself as Captain Alfred
Horn. Later two Home Guard members arrested Hess
and drove him to the Home Guard Headquarters at
Giffnock.
4. What
were technical characteristics of Hess' plane?
Hess took off on heavy fighter-bomber
Messerschmitt 110 E-1/N, serial number 3869. The
plane was equiped with two extra fuel tanks. It
had a operational range of 4200 km or 10 flying
hours. Its two Daimler-Benz engines totalling
1400 HP gave the Me 110 a cruising speed of 420
km/h. Wing span 53'5", wing lenght
40'0", operational ceiling 34 000 feet.
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