Flight To Scotland
Like Goebbels, Hess was privately distressed by the war with the United Kingdom because he, influenced by his academic advisor and in line with earlier statements by Hitler, hoped that Britain would accept Germany as an ally. Hess may have hoped to score a diplomatic victory by sealing a peace between the Third Reich and Britain, using the contact his adviser Albrecht Haushofer had made in Nazi Germany, just before the war, with Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton.
On 10 May 1941 at about 18:00, Hess took off from Augsburg in a Messerschmitt Bf 110D (radio code VJ+OQ) that he had equipped with drop tanks to increase its range. Goering ordered the General of the Fighter Arm to stop him but squadron leaders were ordered to scramble only one or two fighters, since Hess's particular aircraft could not be distinguished from others and he was soon out of their range over the North Sea.
Read more about this topic: Rudolf Hess
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