caption serviceyears commands death_place death_date birth_place unit image_size battles birth_date placeofburial image article_title name
ernst udet 1914 -- 1919 , 1934 -- 1941 world '' jasta '' 4 war i : '' jasta '' 37 , berlin 17 november 1941 frankfurt am main world a -rrb- 206 , kek habsheim , '' jastas '' war 4 , 11 , 15 , 37 i : fa 68 , fa -lrb- 250 world war i 26 april 1896 invalidenfriedhof in berlin bundesarchiv bild 146-1984-112-13 , ernst udet.jpg ernst udet
 ernst udet
ernst udet

colonel general ernst udet -lrb- 26 april 1896 -- 17 november 1941 -rrb- was the second-highest scoring german flying ace of world war i .
he was one of the youngest aces and was the highest scoring german ace to survive the war -lrb- at the age of 22 -rrb- .
his 62 confirmed victories were second only to manfred von richthofen , his commander in the flying circus .
udet rose to become a squadron commander under richthofen , and later under hermann göring .
following germany 's defeat , udet spent the 1920s and early 1930s as a stunt pilot , international barnstormer , light aircraft manufacturer , and playboy .
in 1933 , he joined the now ruling nazi party and became involved in the early development of the luftwaffe .
he used his networking skills to get himself appointed director of research and development for the burgeoning air force .
he was especially influential in the adoption of dive bombing techniques as well as the stuka dive bomber .
by 1939 , udet had risen to the post of director-general of equipment for the luftwaffe .
however , the stress of the position and his distaste for administrative duties led to an increasing dependence on alcohol .
when world war ii began , the luftwaffe 's needs for equipment outstripped germany 's production capacity .
udet 's former comrade hermann göring first lied to adolf hitler about these material shortcomings when the luftwaffe lost the battle of britain , then deflected the führer 's wrath onto udet .
operation barbarossa , when germany attacked the soviet union to open a second front in the war , appears to have been the final straw for udet .
on 17 november 1941 , he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head .
