Goering refused membership?

PFFF · 3 November 2005, 04:51 AM

Was

Hermann Goering refused membership in a German WWI Figthers association on the
grounds of claiming more EA than he actually shot down or was this WW 2
Allied "Black" propaganda?

MattyBoy · 5 November 2005, 09:22 AM

Hi,

I believe this is mentioned in Len Deighton's book 'Fighter'.

I no longer have the book, but I think it was Udet who turned him down because he knew that Goering had made false victory claims in WW1 and could prove it.

5 November 2005, 01:54 PM

Hello,
It's known that many of Goering's victories "fell" behind german lines and couldn't be often confirmed. But I don't agree that Udet turned him down.
How could he knew it? They met only in JG1. And Goering made only one and correct claim during this period. Another thing is that they were good friend until WW2. Udet's last message to him was "Iron man (Goering's nickname) why did you leave me ?". This was written on the wall of the room where Udet commited suicide.
Honza.

RED BARON RETURNS · 5 November 2005, 02:05 PM

Let History Speak For Itself They Knew Back In 1918 Göring Was Not Up To Par With A Lot Of Things That Went On And Look Again At World War II He Was Not Much Better Then Either, He Just Got Worse & Crazy As Time Went On.
LATER DAYS
JEP
RED BARON

De Petrowski Alexander · 6 November 2005, 03:26 PM

I've heard that the German Army always kept to the practice of appointing regular Officers to the command posts, this meant that Officers who where more experienced or better suited such as Lothar von Richthoven (Reserve Officer) were ignored, this became a real problem in 1918 when all too many of the regular Officers were gone,
it seems Goering was a regular Officer.

mikec · 6 November 2005, 04:55 PM

I also don't believe his close personal relationship to the Kaiser did him any harm.

Soderbaum · 7 November 2005, 03:40 AM

Hi

Already when the War started there were several dR officers who soon became commanders within the German Air Force....

While the War continued it become obvious "also" for the German high commands that Reserve officers "sometimes" were even better leaders and more suitable for leading aviation units..

By late 1916 you will probably had the first Lt dRs who become commanders of aviation units..!?
I have a copy of the original regulations for a Jasta from 1916, where it clearly stands that the commander should be a Hauptleute or senior Oblt....however what happened in reality was another thing....

In mid 1918 when Göring was chosen as commander of Jage 1 there were over 400 suitable regular Hauptleute and over 100 Hauptleute dR who could have been chosen as leader for such unit....the problem was more, that nearly all of them lacked the perfomance as successful one seater pilot...

I have always thought that the discussions about nominating Göring as commander of Jage 1 has been a storm in glass of water...
The German Air command could easily have chosen a competent senior Lt dR for this job...
The German bureaucreaty really liked specific rules, but a true bureaucrat loves exceptions....

Gunnar

rammjaeger · 7 November 2005, 05:22 AM

... and the bureaucrats made an exception already in August 1914 -
if they did make Major der Reserve Georg Mardersteig to the commander of Etappen-Flugzeug-Park 3!

Executioner128 · 7 November 2005, 04:29 PM

Göring was always a nasty fellow, some claim that luck was the reason he came out of the war unharmed, rather than skill. So I wouldn't be surprised...

It is alleged that Germany's Air battle over Britain in WW II failed , ALSO because of Göring's "talent"

There is this one photograph taken from the side, where he is sitting in his plane and looking to the camera. In a sense, his eyes seem to be made of glass, that guy gives me the creeps

not exactly nice company, I think...

mikec · 8 November 2005, 03:33 AM

I remember my mum telling me that Beckhardt had told her Goering had had someone murdered in order to get himself promotion. She told me that Goering had put pressure on the mechanic who serviced the plane, [either blackmail or bribery - I can’t remember if she told me which], which subsequently mysteriously crashed killing it‘s occupant.

Assuming Beckhardt wasn’t actually there at the time, (and I‘ve no idea if he was or not), then this obviously at least reflects highly unflattering pilot gossip that was doing the rounds in the squadrons at that time. So has anyone else heard of this story?

It goes without saying that it would have been very unwise for any former pilot to put the story into print, in particularly the 1930s!

Mike.