SIGNED LUFTWAFFE ACES HANS RUDEL KARL KENNEL CARD

Framed hand signed First Day Cover dated 1970 for the RAF 25th Anniversary of the Royal Air Force Escaping Society dated April 25th 1970 and issued by the British Forces 1111 Postal Service. The card is hand signed by Nazi Luftwaffe Aces OBERST HANS RUDEL and MAJOR KARL KENNEL along with three framed photos of the two men. The frame measures 13 1/4 X 15 inches. Excellent. Hans-Ulrich Rudel (2 July 1916 – 18 December 1982) was a German ground-attack pilot during World War II and a post-war neo-Nazi activist. The most decorated German pilot of the war and the only recipient of the Knight's Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds, Rudel was credited with the destruction of 519 tanks, one battleship, one cruiser, 70 landing craft and 150 artillery emplacements. He claimed nine aerial victories and the destruction of more than 800 vehicles. He flew 2,530 ground-attack missions exclusively on the Eastern Front, usually flying the Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber. Rudel surrendered to US forces in 1945 and emigrated to Argentina. An unrepentant Nazi, he helped fugitives escape to Latin America and the Middle East, and sheltered Josef Mengele, the former SS doctor at Auschwitz. He worked as an arms dealer to several right-wing regimes in South America, for which he was placed under observation by the US Central Intelligence Agency. In the West German federal election of 1953, Rudel was the top candidate for the far-right German Reich Party but was not elected. Following the fall of Perón, Rudel moved to Paraguay, where he acted as a foreign representative for several German companies. In 1976, Rudel attended a conference in the United States with various members of the United States military and defense industry as part of the development of the A-10 Thunderbolt II; Rudel's status as a highly decorated attack aircraft pilot and particularly his experience at destroying Soviet tanks from the air was considered relevant to a potential conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Karl Kennel (7 January 1914 – 1 July 1999) was a German World War II Luftwaffe ground attack pilot and flying ace. He flew 957 combat missions and is credited with 34 victories, including 3 on the Western front. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves (German language: Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Eichenlaub). The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and its higher grade Oak Leaves was awarded to recognise extreme battlefield bravery or successful military leadership.