A. Manfred von Richthofen - the first mythical pilot
in late 1917, in an attempt to raise civil morale, significant propaganda film collections also began to appear in Germany. One of them was the 10-minute production called "Pilots on the Western Front." In its first part, the film showed filming of enemy trenches, attacking observation balloons, and dropping small bombs. The second part focused on the air heroes, Imelman, Bolka, and even Herman Goering. The main theme was Richthofen. He is seen in several poses. With his dog, laughs and jokes with other pilots, and hosts a captured British pilot. Everyone looks relaxed and happy. The film ends in an air battle that ends in a British plane being shot down. The message is clear. This is quality propaganda for the elite corps, the young and safe eagles of the Second Reich. Substantial footage of the band remained, and it is scattered among documentaries about them, such as: The Red Baron: Master Of The Air.
In his best-selling autobiography, Richthofen portrays a social, friendly, idyllic and ideal, authentic, charming figure, especially suited to young people before enlistment. He defines himself primarily as an athlete: a rider and a hunter. The autobiography is a key document in the design of the icon. His aura was so great that after he was finally overthrown, in April 1918, even the Allied news diaries devoted extensive coverage to him. His early and undecipherable death made him a myth. Generations of experts have tried to solve the question of how he was overthrown. However, the legend began when, since the beginning of 1918, the High Command systematically portrayed him as the example.
The young and brilliant lieutenant was to serve as a symbol of German militancy and the desire to succeed, at a time when it was also difficult to persuade young people to become pilots. He was supposed to remain the invincible hero forever. The elite felt insecure, and received compensation in a military culture where hunting and warfare skills were highly valued. Richthofen's death, like his life, embodied many changes in the European aristocracy that had taken place. It is no coincidence that the men who fought in the colors of the Knights of the Flying Circus were descendants of the men who fought in bright colors, as the warrior elite of the Middle Ages. They grew up to see themselves as socially and militarily superior to ordinary people.
After World War I, at a time when the United States, Germany, Britain, and France made only limited reference to the subject of air warfare, it was inevitable that Germany's most important war movie of the period would be: ''Richthofen, The Red Knight of the Air'' [1927]. It was an interesting mix of reconstructed footage from his career, combined with newsreels material. This film ends with the state funeral procession held for him in Berlin in 1925, which was the largest in the history of Berlin. German Air Force Day is set for the date of his death.
B. Ernest Udet - the second mythical pilot
Richthofen added Ernest Udet to his ranks when he was already a squadron commander, and shot down more than 20 planes, making him a star in his own right. The chance to fly with Richthofen was unstoppable for him. After Richthofen's death, Udet became the temporary commander, with the highest number of scores. But an instruction came from above that the regular commander would be Goering, who came from another squadron, and was also a much less good pilot, and not so well-liked. Competitive Udet may have been personally hurt by this.
Young Ernest Udet, born April 24, 1896, with the Medal of Heroism "Pour Le Merit" at the age of 22, also received his own autobiographical book during the war, published in August 1918, a few months after Richthofen's death. The content also appears in his late and extended 1935 autobiography: ''Mein Fliegerleben'', which sold 600,000 copies in its first year.
The debut book is called: ''Kreuz Wider Kokarde: Jagdflüge Des Leutnants Ernst Udet'', and the chapters mostly describe his air battles. The name of the author on the cover is his. Inside the book are many beautiful paintings of the flight experiences in the war. It is likely that they were painted in colors originally, but due to printing limitations they were printed in black and white. The technique is combined: photography, painting and drawing. It is clear that the painter is Udet himself, although there is no signature on the paintings. This can be discerned by the subjects of the paintings, and by the wavy drawing line, which has become the central feature of his cartoons style.
The name of the book, which in translation is: "The Cross Against the Lily", is important. The "cross" was the symbol on the wings of German planes. The "lily" was the symbol of the color circles on the wings of French planes. Both are archetypal symbols of wholeness. But here the cross is, also, the sight of the machine gun, and the lily is the target board mark. When the cross is placed above the circle, an optical illusion of a spinning propeller, or swastika, is created.
Between 1919 and 1929, before becoming a movie star in "Mountain Movies", Ernest Udet was mainly a stunt pilot, who made a lot of money and became an international celebrity, thanks to many airshows he held in front of a large audience across Europe and later USA. He was of great value to Nazi propaganda, and Goering recruited him and made him a senior general and in charge of the fighter airplanes industry.
C. Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema
Memory of the First World War was built through the myth of the war experience, which gave it legitimacy by changing the true picture of reality. The image engraved in the collective memory, of the romantic fighter pilot, disguised also the terrifying reality of a World War II pilot, capable of destroying entire cities. Private and collective memory is built and is not copied. This construction is done not alone, but out of social, cultural and political discourse. That’s why aviation filmmakers, most of whom were air crews during the war, shaped their memories in less frightening terms. They sought to make their experiences less painful. But the roots of the stereotype lie in the war propaganda. These films had a great impact on the way the public thought about aerial warfare, and the way new aviation films were created. They have created a model for future generations, and an iconography that exists to this day.
The golden age of aviation, from the early 20th century to the 1950th, coincided with the golden age of cinema. Cinema developed just as quickly and dramatically as flight, and both quickly established themselves as the most exciting and popular form of leisure and activity, while becoming an incredibly effective channel for disseminating ideas, attitudes and qualities that society deserves to preserve. Very quickly the first films reflected the Gospel of the Wings, according to which air transport would bring with it a golden age of progress, and the pilot is a romantic and chivalrous figure.
In the interwar period, folk cinema still paradoxically promoted these familiar themes, but also took advantage of fears of an aerial bombardment in the next great war. At the same time, cinema during this period used photographs of the pilot and the aircraft for nationalist propaganda, which showed achievements in this subject as the spearhead of the national technological initiative.
Aerial propaganda films were more important in countries where national pride suffered a blow as a result of the war, and they were defeated or angry. In Germany, one way to achieve this was technological progress, which was seen as proof of recovery and superiority. For example, the "Missile Madness," which began in 1923 and peaked in 1929. During the 1920s, rapid airplanes development gradually began to offer more practical insights for nation-building. The heroic status of the air crew, the rapid spread of gliding and flight sports clubs, the growth of commercial aviation, the success of the national company Lufthansa, and the almost fanatical interest in the flights of the new zeppelins, all testified to the popularity and public support.
After 1918, German cinema quickly re-established itself as a serious enterprise, and within five years its output was lower only than that of the United States. The aviation films, however, reflected little of Weimar's democratic spirit. Most of the films were propaganda works. Under a spectacular cover they attacked the enemies of the nation and praising national achievements. The aviation films were a clear channel of self-praise. The struggle of the airplanes against the forces of nature depended not only on the technological superiority, but on the moral qualities of man in the cockpit, the "new man" who symbolized the best in the nation.
The first aviation film after the end of the war was: ''Ikarus, Der Fliegende Mensch'' [1918]. The film was created as a patriotic film before the end of the First World War, but was re-edited and distributed after it, as a film with universal messages. The protagonist of the film is a young German inventor of a revolutionary engine, which the French covet, and enlist a beautiful countess to seduce him. The young man becomes an outstanding fighter pilot in the war, falls captive to the beloved Countess, but is rescued and at the end of the film he also reconciles with her. This impressive film is a romantic and light-hearted aviation-cinematic spectacle. The title of the work, the plot, and the timing, express the Gordian knot between aviation, cinema and myth.
Another film is: "Flight to Death" [1921], which deals with a flight contest. A major attempt to glorify the new man was Richthofen's biography from 1927. The film was distributed in the United States with a soundtrack. Even more successful were Ernest Udet's appearances in Arnold Punk's popular mountain films.
The Nazis did not enforce full control of the film industry until 1942, but the remaining filmmakers in Germany regularly reflected on Nazi ideology. Through UFA, the German huge nationalized film industry, there was a continuity of productions from the 1920th to the 1940th. Aviation films, in particular, had the continuity and clear development of patriotic themes, from productions in the Weimar period to those created after 1933. Example is Carl Ritter, who was an influential Nazi producer and director, beside being a veteran fighter pilot. He made several important aviation films during the period of 1920th-1940th.
D. Aviation, Fascism and Mythical Modernity
A clear symbol of mythical totalitarian modernism in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy was the airplane. The linguistic symbols and metaphors associated with aviation discourse, its perception and interpretation, are many, and the sources that can be relied on in this context are very numerous. They include important cultural events, artwork, books, magazines, propaganda products, and more. Gabriel D'Anoncio and Futurism are of great significance as a distinct model, thanks to the respectable place they occupied in the overall cultural discourse. It was not the aviation itself, but its connections, not the pilot himself, but the concepts involved, that were the focus of attention. They served as a means of revolutionary liberation from the burden of the past. The social agenda, which has been the focus of attention in fascist regimes, is clarified through the narrative of aviation heroes, and through the vision of the new man that fascism has tried to make a reality through an anthropological revolution. The protagonists were models and prototypes that citizens were required to use in order to shape their lives. The norms and values that the media published as embodied in those heroes permeated the social reality, and the world was understood according to their register. The plane and the pilot were totems, in the fullest sense of the word, of icons with archetypal characteristics, of modernity in fascist regimes. Indirectly, they reflected the desire for order. Directly, they were the embodiment of modernity. The spiritual reciprocity between fascism and aviation was unequivocal. It has created mythical modernity, as opposed to liberal modernity.
Aircraft aroused admiration, enveloping those who flew them in an immediate aura of daring, vitality and youth. The flight was more than a forward movement in the air. The plane was more than a means to an end. The flight experience was seen as the ultimate empowerment of life. Aviation has become the form of the new era, on which it has made its mark. The pilot was a new kind of person. The German pilot was not just a new German man. The model deserved to have a formative impact on the entire world. There is no machine that requires so much concentration and willpower as the airplane, and the pilot knows what it means to control. Every pilot is an innate fascist. In this way the necessary spiritual connection is created between aviation and fascism. The cultivation of the new man was one side of the fascist regime and the elimination of the others was the other side.
Hitler and Mussolini had a passion for speed, and powerful planes and cars where tools for their call for action. Moreover, the airplanes provided a powerful symbol of military force. They described the German character. Accordingly, the Nazis worked to make the Third Reich air-conscious, and thus one capable of fully dealing with the challenges of the 20th century. When Goering declared "We must be a pilot nation", he declared the Nazi commitment not only to training the reserves of military pilots, but also to assimilate and cultivate the moral values of aviation, which were courage combined with self-sacrifice and service to the national community. Through a special ministry, they reorganized the aviation clubs as the "German Aviation Association", took full control of all activities on the subject, and began planning the establishment of the Luftwaffe - the new air force. Hitler created a dramatic dynamic image of himself through the personal use of air transportation.
Nazi air propaganda began seriously in a film about the Nazi Party Conference in Nuremberg: ''Tag Der Freiheit - Unsere Wehrmacht'' [1935]. Lenny Riefenstahl made this film, which celebrated the Nazi armament program, announced in March 1935. The film deals with the political conference and military demonstration that took place at the assembly, which introduced the new mechanized army, and the concept of the ''Blitzkrieg''. The Air Force and Air Defense are given central screen time, and the film ends with a flight in a swastika formation.
Propaganda was strengthened in the cinematic news diaries of the period. One newsreels from 1936 revealed the new types of aircraft in the army. The most interesting scenes deal with bombers. The background music is threatening, and you see bombers loaded with bombs. Bombers performs maneuvers and they all hit their targets on the first try. The film ends in a mass flight, when the announcer announces: "The German Air Force is strong and proud, ready to maintain German peace and protect the land of the ancestors."
The accumulated imagery was strong enough to arouse widespread fear in other countries, allowing Hitler to use the Luftwaffe threat as a political weapon in his foreign policy during the late 1930s. Air operations during the Spanish Civil War, and in particular the attack on Guernica, which was widely covered in film diaries, confirmed the power of the Luftwaffe and the threat it posed.
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