Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Feared Nazi pilot flies in Spitfire over Britain
It showed me beauty of flying, he says
ONE of Germany’s most highly decorated Second World War pilots was shown how the Battle of Britain was won – by flying in a Spitfire. Hugo Broch, 95, is thought to be the first Luftwaffe pilot to fly in the iconic British fighter. After achieving his ambition to fly in a Spitfire, the ex-nazi airman said: “It is a great machine, wonderful. “And I have again experienced what flying is and how beautiful flying is. Wonderful, wonderful.” Herr Broch – who flew Messerschmitt 109s against the Russians on the eastern front – took off from Biggin Hill in Kent as a passenger while filming for a TV documentary. He added: “The Spitfire was greatly respected. With these machines you have a feeling of being free and being able to do what you want.” Broch, who was born on January 6, 1922, became known as one of the aces of Hitler’s Luftwaffe, being awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. He shot down his first aircraft in March 1943. By August that year he had increased that number to 20. His final score included twelve double victories and three triple victories. Hugo last flew in 1960. His Spitfire flight was filmed for Dan Snow’s recently launched videoon-demand service Historyhit.tv and will be aired in October. Snow described the experience as “an unprecedented, once-in-a-lifetime event”. The flight in a TR9 MJ627 Spitfire on Tuesday took Broch into the skies of south-eastern England where RAF pilots defeated the 1940 onslaught of the Nazi air force, which was determined to break Britain. After the victory, wartime leader Winston Churchill said: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” The Nazis had turned their attention to the eastern front by the time Broch started his missions. Paul Campbell, of flyaspitfire.com, said: “You wouldn’t have known Hugo was in his 90s, he was very calm and unflappable. “He told us it was a fantastic flight – but said the Messerschmitt was the better plane.”