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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Mr. Christopher Kappert

After World War II, the German air force was officially disbanded in August 1946. When West Germany joined NATO in 1955, it was re-established and equipped mostly with U.S.-designed aircraft. Ludwig Kappert joined the Bundesluftwaffe in 1957 and was trained as a fighter pilot, first in Canada on Chipmunk, Harvard and T33 Aircraft, and as of 1959 in the US on F 84. Back in Germany, he had to bail out of a T-33 on November 9, 1960. His canopy fell into the parachute, and he crashed on a mountain in Sardinia with a broken back, but with undiminished enthusiasm continued to fly after his recovery. He left the German air force in August 1962 to emigrate to the United States which he had grown to love during his training here.