AUNT-JU

The order to carry out an execution is refused by Phil Haydal
(24) the first lieutenant and instructor at the German
instrument flying school.
He demotes himself and awaits punishment for his
insubordination. Meanwhile, he recapitulates his WW2
experiences of the last years in Norway, Rotterdam, Crete,
Russia and North Africa.
After basic training as a recruit, he is called up to take the
flight physicals and ordered to flight school. Phil and his
comrade Roman are physically challenged as students during
their first test flight. As pilots, they demonstratively play
with their planes under the sky in the Rhine Valley.
Both experience the November pogrom of 1938 in a residential
area of Mannheim.
Two ME-109s are handed over to the flying school. Phil
familiarizes himself with the specific technology of this
aircraft. On the first landing, an accident is narrowly
avoided.
During a turbulent JU-52 training flight in formation in the
Alpine region, the only passenger is lost.
Cement bombs from an HE-111 deliberately miss their target on
a military training ground, as a reaction to which Phil
becomes a flight instructor.
With a JU-W34, Phil and his student pilot experience a crash
landing in the winter forest due to a lack of fuel through no
fault of their own.
The New Year's Eve party in 1939 of the twelve flight officers
in a noble Viennese hotel turns into a spectacle.
The sharp fragmentation bombs do not want to fall out of the
bomb bay of an HE-111 and the crew wants to jump out of the
aircraft immediately.
At the graduation ceremony of the IFR school in a harbour pub,
a quarrel breaks out between the private and the pilots. A
sailor crew shows up and the private have to flee.
A JU-52 squadron over the North Sea is on its way to Norway in
stormy weather. The transport planes loaded with army soldiers
land under artillery fire. On the return flight, the planes
lose fuel and have to make an emergency landing.
During the attack on Rotterdam, Phil and his crew come under
fire, are the only ones to escape and have to land a second
time.
Two aircrews visit the officers' mess. SS/NS officers at the
regulars' table flaunt assaults in the Jewish quarter. There
is a shootout between SS/NS officers and the airmen.
Phil and a student pilot clear a runway covered in powdery
snow with the JU-52 to load Christmas geese from the winter
forest.
During a supply flight with staff officers from Berlin and
hundreds of eggs on board, the JU-52 crashes in turbulence at
3000 m altitude.
Phil lands in Greece as leader of an advancing squadron.
There, the escaped Englishmen left behind, among other things,
the still warm teapot.
A dusty field near Athens is converted into an airfield for
the paratroopers landing on Crete. British naval anti-aircraft
fire off Crete forces the squadron to change course during the
operation before dropping paratroopers. Phil frees himself
from the captivity of a New Zealand elite soldier.
Aircraft fuel is transported from Sicily to the Libyan desert,
where three ME-109 are stranded. The JU-52 cannot take off
after landing. With the help of an Italian captain in distress
in the desert, they all manage to escape. As thanks for saving
the captain, Phil and his crew receive an invitation to Naples
from the Italian King. At the luxury hotel, Phil and his crew
are pampered in every way by the hotel director and staff.
The sand eats up the engines, leading to a planned emergency
landing in Venice/Lido with a stopover. Vera and Phil seemingly
become bride and groom, enjoying the lagoon with all the
trimmings.
Transport missions in the frosty winter until shortly before
Moscow and the encounter with a Russian RATA I-16 on the
return flight with casualties.
Phil is informed of the air force judge's decision and must
resume his flying duties.
The prisoner sentenced to death asks Phil to visit his prison
cell.
Phil talks in front of flight students about his survival strategy in aviation.