Melitta von Stauffenberg was a pilot and aeronautical engineer in Nazi Germany
During the war, her job was to perfect the Fuhrer’s Junkers Ju 87 dive bombers
Fellow test pilot Hanna Reitsch deliberately flew a Dornier Do 17 bomber into a heavy steel cable that tethered a barrage balloon to the ground
But as a new book reveals, the women were rivals and poles apart politically
Within the cockpit of the Stuka dive bomber, the pilot reached the top of the climb, rolled the plane sideways and tore down almost vertically towards the earth at 350 mph.
The engines howled, the wings whistled and the fuselage shook so violently that the instruments on the control panel were almost unreadable.
Astonishingly, given that this was macho Nazi Germany in 1941, the pilot was a woman. With her gloved hands, Melitta von Stauffenberg clung to the juddering joystick as the plane plummeted 10,000 ft.
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4676594/Hitler-s-prized-test-pilots-fearless-female.html#ixzz4mQtMGGkw Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Click for Full Text!