ANGERMÜLLER*: Yes, on LONDON, on a Sunday and at a height of 30 m. It was fairly stormy weather and the balloons were not up. I was the only one (who went over). I dropped my bombs on a railway station—attacked the station three times. Then I flew off right across ENGLAND and afterwards the papers reported: “German raider machine guns streets.” Of course my crew enjoyed it, and they fired at everything.

PETRI: At the civil population?

ANGERMÜLLER: Only military objectives!!! (Laughs.)¹⁰⁰

Angermüller’s pride is unmistakable. The attack on London he describes had a special status because, although it was a solo mission, he did not just drop bombs, but also flew low to strafe ground targets with machine gun fire. This sort of raid was so uncommon that it made a British newspaper—at least Angermüller says it did in order to underscore the impressive nature of his story. Angermüller’s answer to his comrade’s question as to whether he shot at civilians is obviously ironic. It was an opportunity for a bit of shared laughter.

THE AESTHETICS OF DESTRUCTION

One of the most central and frequent conversational topics among soldiers was how their kills were visibly verified. In great detail, they list the targets they themselves hit as well as those destroyed by their squadrons and their competitors. This is not surprising when we consider that their superiors handed out awards and promotions on that basis. (There were also other measures of achievement: Iron Crosses First Class and Knight’s Crosses were bestowed after a certain number of missions or verified kills.) In contrast to infantry soldiers, airmen had immediate concrete evidence of their success. They could see, with their own eyes, the decapacitated, burning remnants of enemy machinery or houses, trains, and bridges that went up in flames or collapsed.

Two aspects of killing from the air made it particularly suitable for being perceived and experienced as an aesthetic phenomenon. The destruction was visible, and it could be viewed from a relatively safe distance:

MERTINS*: One “Stuka” did a great deed. It sank an English warship. It flew over and dropped a 250 kg. bomb into the funnel and hit the magazine. It destroyed the ship. One saw it, too, in POLAND. You drop your bombs and know exactly what you have hit every time.¹⁰¹

Just as important as visibility were all the myriad improvements in bombing accuracy. A first lieutenant related in 1940:

Another example came from a major:¹⁰³