Rudolf Opitz WWII Luftwaffe Pilot Signed Letters Aviation Historical

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Rudolf Opitz WWII Luftwaffe Pilot Signed Letters Aviation Historical :
$75.00

Rudolf Opitz WWII Luftwaffe Pilot Signed Letters with COA Aviation HistoricalTwo Hand Signed DocumentsSize Approx. 4 X 6 Each
Certificate of AuthenticityNOT A COPY OR REPRINT

Rudolf Opitz

German glider and test pilot of WWII

He was one of the three original glider instructors to teachthe first German military glider pilots how to fly at the DFS in 1936-38.

Born in Landeshut, Germany in 1910, Rudolf Opitz joined aflying club in 1929 and began flying gliders. In 1934 he became an instructorat Germanys famous glider school at Wasserkuppe in the Rhoen Mountains. Laterhe joined the German Research Institute as a flight instructor for cargogliders and airplanes. From 1936 to 1939 Rudy was involved as the test pilotfor a research team working on flying wing designs. In 1939 he was drafted intothe Luftwaffe, and in 1940 he flew his first combat mission as an assault gliderpilot on a mission to capture and secure three strategic bridges over theAlbert Canal. In 1941 Opitz was assigned to the German Rocket Research Centerat Peenemuende. He was assigned as a test pilot to the Me-163A Komet. In 1942Rudy would make the worlds first flight in a rocket powered fighter aircraft,the Me-163B. In 1944 he was assigned as Commander of the IIJG/400 RocketFighter Group. Rudy met Herman Goering once at an exclusive airshow for highranking military and government officials. All the latest designs weredisplayed, and Goering stopped by each aircraft to personally speak with theirpilots and crews. Rudy, as the Chief Test Pilot for the 163 program was a bitsurprised when Goering asked him, Were you drafted to serve in the rocket fightersquadron or did you volunteer to fly this aircraft? On Rudys last flight in the163, the fire warning light came on immediately after take off. Rudy began tojettison fuel, but the cockpit filled with burning fuel vapors. Rudy jettisonedthe canopy and somehow managed to bring the 163 down in a meadow near theairfield. Despite being injured Rudy managed to get out of the burning aircraftbefore it exploded. During his recovery Rudy met a nurse, Hanna, who wouldbecome his wife after the war. Opitz moved to the U.S. following the War.

Hecontinued his career as a test pilot for the Aeronautical Research andDevelopment Center at Wright Patterson AF13 in Ohio. He also worked with thegas turbine division of Avco Lycoming. For more than three decades Opitz servedas a FAA pilot examiner for private commercial and flight- instructorcertificates. In 1984 he was elected and certified as an Honorary Fellow of theSociety of Experimental Test Pilots. In 1994 he was elected into the UnitedStates Soaring Hall of Fame. Although 86-years young at the time of thiswriting, Rudy continues his life long enthusiasm for flight, and still workswith aspiring young pilots at his local soaring club in Connecticut. Thetremendous technological breakthroughs embodied in the Me-262 and Me-163development programs accelerated the development of modem rocket and jetpowered aircraft by compressing decades of normal development time into a fewintense wartime years. Rudy Opitz and his fellow test pilots, many who gavetheir lives in the process, were critical to the successful development ofthese programs. Rudolf Opitz passed away in May 2010.

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