Starfighter - Sie wollten den Himmel erobern (2015)

mini|The Wuppertal Dam is the setting for flying beneath a bridge mini|Two-seat Bundeswehr Starfighter West Germany, 1962: Harry Schäfer and his friend Richie Weichert are trainee fighter pilots in the air force of the Bundeswehr, newly formed in 1955. During a dress rehearsal for an air show at Nörvenich Air Base, they witness all four pilots in a formation crash to their deaths in their Lockheed F-104 “Starfighter” jets (→ 1962 Starfighter formation accident involving the Bundeswehr Air Force). Despite this, the Bundeswehr continues to acquire the state-of-the-art but also controversial aircraft in large numbers. Three years later, in the summer of 1965, Harry meets the beautiful Bettina “Betti” Altmann at a club in Cologne; she works as a sales assistant in a department store. They arrange to meet again, this time on a bridge over the Wupper. Harry reveals his profession by first flying over the bridge and then daringly beneath it. Betti is deeply impressed, but Harry’s stunt has professional consequences. Although he is the best pilot in the squadron, he is denied the position of squadron commander because his behavior is deemed irresponsible and reckless, supposedly showing that he lacks the ability to lead a squadron. As Betti and Harry grow closer, Harry witnesses one of his fellow pilots die because of technical problems with his F-104. He pushes for improvements to maintenance procedures for the highly sensitive aircraft. The crash also affects Betti, who wonders whether the same thing could happen to Harry. Harry cannot allay her fears, but he manages to convince her that he wants to spend his life with her. They marry, and their happiness seems complete when Betti becomes pregnant soon afterward. Not long afterward, squadron commander Dieter Mertens is also killed in an F-104 crash. When Betti hears the news, she panics, believing Harry has been the one killed, and collapses while trying to get onto the air base. She is taken to hospital and loses her unborn daughter. Harry tries to care for his wife, but Betti is deeply distressed by the miscarriage. She is also weighed down by worry for her husband and the fear that he, too, could die in a crash. She tries to persuade him to leave the Bundeswehr and work as a pilot for Lufthansa, but Harry will not consider it. When Harry is promoted to squadron commander, Betti cannot feel happy for him at all. She tells him about her worry and her daily fear that one day she will not see him again. When Harry replies that she knew what his profession was when she began their relationship, Betti answers: “Yes, but back then I hadn’t lost a child!” Harry leaves the house in anger. His colleague Richie encourages him to listen to his wife. Betti seeks advice from her friend Helga. She decides not to leave Harry. Soon afterward, Richie brings her the terrible news that Harry, too, has crashed in his F-104 and died. Betti tries to find out more about the circumstances of the crash, but encounters a wall of silence. She also discovers that she is pregnant by Harry again. When she visits the crash site with Richie, she realizes that human error cannot have been the cause and that the reasons for the crash are being covered up. In light of the many other crashes, she is certain that she is dealing with a much larger scandal. Betti passes herself off as the chairwoman of an association for pilots’ bereaved relatives, gets in touch with other widows of pilots killed in F-104 crashes, and compiles a list of the crashes and their presumed causes. It becomes clear that most of the crashes are blamed on human error; however, it is far more likely that the Defense Ministry bought the air force an aircraft type with serious defects. Richie also tells her that the Bundeswehr generals had originally wanted the French Mirage III for the air force, not the Starfighter. As they investigate further, they discover that the Starfighter was never tested in the United States under German weather conditions and was originally designed as an interceptor, but the defense minister at the time, Franz-Josef Strauß, insisted that it be modified for other roles, including as a bomber. Moreover, Lockheed was almost bankrupt before it won the Bundeswehr contract, so corruption is also suspected. Betti gives birth to her daughter, Anne-Marie. The Starfighter scandal becomes a political issue for Defense Minister Kai-Uwe von Hassel (CDU). He tries to portray Betti as an agitator on a revenge campaign and speculates that she may have ties to foreign intelligence services, such as the East German Ministry for State Security. He also argues that he would hardly have his own son, Joachim von Hassel, fly the F-104 as a fighter pilot if there were problems with the aircraft. At the same time, Germany’s political climate grows more radical. During the visit of the Shah of Persia, Reza Pahlavi, a demonstration in West Berlin is violently broken up on June 2, 1967, and student Benno Ohnesorg is shot dead. While the press descends on Betti and other pilots and their wives regard her as a traitor, she is also visited by the Military Counterintelligence Service and subjected to a psychological interrogation. Richie leaves the air force and becomes a pilot for a civilian airline. When it becomes clear that there is no way to sue the air force, Betti sees an opportunity to sue the manufacturer, Lockheed, instead. She contacts the American star lawyer Melvin Belli (portrayed as Gordon Marks). They plan a class-action lawsuit on behalf of widows of pilots killed in F-104 crashes, and Betti intends to visit the widows. When the proposed class action becomes public in the winter of 1968, the Defense Ministry and the air force begin intimidating the widows and defaming Betti. One by one, the widows withdraw from the plan. Betti also lets the matter rest. In the spring of 1970, the defense minister’s son is killed in an F-104 crash, whereupon his widow, Ute, agrees to join Betti’s class action. Eventually, they succeed in persuading other pilots’ widows to join them. They file suit in the United States. In 1975, the two sides agree to a settlement, under which the Starfighter widows receive 3 million DM in compensation. The end credits state that Germany acquired 916 F-104 Starfighter aircraft, of which 262 crashed, killing 116 pilots. To this day, no one has accepted responsibility. A list of the names of the German Starfighter pilots who died follows. The first fatal crash was in 1962, the last in 1984.