X-Nico

6 unusual facts about Hanna Reitsch


Ann Welch

She started gliding in 1937 and attended an Anglo-German Fellowship Camp at the London Gliding Club meeting Wolf Hirth and Hanna Reitsch followed by a return visit to Germany in 1938.

Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg

Otto Skorzeny, who had been investigating the possibility of using manned torpedoes against Allied shipping, was briefed by Hitler to revive the project, and he contacted famous test pilot Hanna Reitsch.

A second flight the next day also ended in a crash, and subsequent test flights were carried out by test pilots Heinz Kensche and Hanna Reitsch.

Messerschmitt Me 328

Test pilot Hanna Reitsch carried out a test programme on the two prototypes of the glider version, releasing from its carrier aircraft at altitudes of 3,000-6,000 m (9,800-19,700 ft).

Platt-LePage XR-1

In its design, the XR-1 bore a strong resemblance to the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, a helicopter developed by Henrich Focke in Germany that, flown by Hanna Reitsch, had impressed Platt-LePage co-founder Wynn LePage during a tour of Europe.

Teichfuss Sparviero

Hanna Reitsch was also there and for a while the two pilots exchanged aircraft.



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