Rybin, Y. Luftwaffe ace Walter Schuck researched / Christer Bergstrom, Yuriy Rybin. - Sweden : [s. l.], 2019. - 190 p. : ill.

WALTER SCHUCK Walter Schuck (secondfrom the right) at theflight training school. Walter Schuck during his basic military service. stories. Sometimes he got so attached to a certain story that he let Schuck take over the wheel, although the young guard had no driver’s license. But Walter Schuck, who always had had a technical sense, quickly learned how to man the truck - albeit with some assistance from smacks in his head with a rolled up detective magazine. Meanwhile, Adolf Hitler’s ambitions pushed the world closer to the abyss of a new world war. In March 1938, he managed to swallow Austria into his Third Reich without any strong objections from the victors in the Great War. However, when he shortly afterward demanded to have the area of Czechoslovakia where German nationals were in the majority, the so-called Sudeten region, the Western powers pulled the brake. Hitler, on his side, refused to bow. In the summer of 1938, war seemed to be looming. A last-effort meeting in Munich in late September 1938 resulted in the infamous Munich agreement. The great powers of France, Great Britain, and Italy agreed to allow Hitler to incorporate the Sudeten region with Germany. The new Luftwaffe played an important role in Hitler’s charade at Munich. By inflating the by-then fairly limited power of his Air Force, Hitler succeeded in scaring the Czech leadership into fearing that Prague would be wiped out by a terrible Luftwaffe bombing of they failed to abide with the German demands. Walter Schuck’s personal role in the Luftwaffe’s Munich build-up was miniscule, but nevertheless had an important impact on his own future career. On 25 September 1938, IV./KG 254 was shifted to Neudorf in Upper Silesia, north of Czechoslovakia. During the long road trip from Glitersloh to Neudorf, Schuck’s driver got tired and again handed the wheel over to Schuck. However, he had barely done that before the truck was overtaken by the motorcycle with the Company C.O., Hauptmann Schneidenberger. At the next stop, Schneidenberger came over to Schuck’s truck. “Here comes trouble”, Schuck thought and felt his heart sink. Hauptmann Schneidenberger went straight up to the driver, smacked him on his shoul­ der and exclaimed loudly so that all the other drivers could hear: “Here we have at least one who understands to teach his successor!” Schuck’s willingness to learn to drive impressed so much on Schneidenberger that he immediately after the Sudeten incident arranged a transfer for Schuck to the sailplane school at Schiiren. At last Walter Schuck would be able to fly! The sailplane training area at Schiiren was used since the 1920s for sailplane activities, and the large air­ field was constructed in 1934. Due to its excellent wind conditions, Schiiren was - and still is - one of Germany’s best sailplane fields. Here Walter Schuck swung himself into the air, enjoying the freedom of getting relieved from his bonds to earth, and learned the dynamics of T