I Was Hitler's Pilot: The Memoirs Of Hans Baur

Description

A decorated First World War pilot, Hans Baur was one of the leading commercial aviators of the 1920s before being pitched into the thick of it as personal pilot to a certain 'Herr Hitler'. Hitler, who loathed flying, felt safe with Baur and would allow no one else to pilot him. As a result, an intimate relationship developed between the two men and it is this which gives these memoirs special significance. Hitler relaxed in Baur's company and talked freely of his plans and of his real opinions about his friends and allies. Baur was also present during some of the most salient moments of the Third Reich; the Rohm Putsch, the advent of Eva Braun, Ribbentrop's journey to Moscow, the Burgerbraukeller attempt on Hitler's life; and when war came, he flew Hitler from front to front. He remained in Hitler's service right up to the final days in the Fuhrerbunker. In a powerful account of Hitler's last hours, Baur describes his final discussions with Hitler before his suicide; and his last meeting with Magda Goebbels in the tortuous moments before she killed her three children. Remarkably throughout it all Baur's loyalty to the Fuhrer never wavered.
His memoirs capture these events in all their fascinating and disturbing detail.

Author description

HANS BAUR joined the German Air Force during WWI. After the war he flew commercial airlines before becoming Hitler's personal pilot. Hitler's last order to Baur was to fly Martin Bormann out of Berlin, but during their escape attempt Baur was captured by the Russians. For ten years the Russians questioned him, suspecting that he had flown Hitler to safety before the fall of Berlin. After his release in 1955 Baur returned to Germany.