Georg Betz was the substitute for which pilot during Hitler's early 1930s campaigns?
Georg Betz Georg Betz (15 June 1903 – 2 May 1945) was an SS officer (SS number: 625,419), who rose to the rank of SS-"Obersturmbannfuhrer" during World War II. Betz served as Adolf Hitler's personal co-pilot and Hans Baur's substitute. Betz was present in the "Führerbunker" in Berlin in late April 1945. On 1 May 1945, Betz took part in the break-out from the Reich Chancellery in Berlin. Early on 2 May 1945, Betz was wounded and died while crossing the Weidendammer Bridge which was under heavy fire from Soviet troops.
Nose gunner A nose gunner or front gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who operates a machine gun or autocannon turret in the front, or "nose", of the airplane. This position could be manned by someone who was a dedicated gunner, however, it was more common for him to have a dual role, the gunnery being a secondary position (i.e. his primary task is navigator, bombardier, most commonly). This is different from fixed guns mounted in the nose and fired by the pilot or co-pilot, since those do not require a nose gunner. Manned nose guns were most common during WWI and World War II, employed by both Allied and Axis forces. Early in WWI, nose-gunners enjoyed a period of popularity on pusher-engined fighters; a gunner would be stationed in the nose, covering the arc ahead of the aircraft. Once the synchronizer was invented, allowing a fixed machine gun to fire through the propellor, the pusher-engined fighter fell into disuse, although nose guns were still commonly seen on multi-engine bomber aircraft.