In fact Balbo was one of Italy's greatest aviators and accomplished many feats that could not be called anything less than heroic. His most famous feat came during the World's fair in Chicago in 1933. General Italo Balbo, minister of air under Italy's dictator Benito Mussolini, led a fleet of 25 Savoia-Marchetti SM.55X flying boats in a mass formation flight to Chicago's World's Fair. In an aerial spectacle aimed at demonstrating Italian technological might under fascist rule, Balbo's 100 crewmen practiced precision formation flying and water landings for months before taking off from Orbetello seaplane base for the first leg of the round-trip transatlantic flight. Despite the loss of a plane and a crewman in Amsterdam, 24 aircraft landed safely on Lake Michigan, having flown 6,065 miles in just under 49 hours flying time. Following celebrations in Chicago and New York, the fleet took off for Rome on July 25. A crash in the Azores took the life of a second crewman, but Balbo's remaining 23 flying boats arrived home to a patriotic welcome on August 12, still flying in tight formation. Balbo's popularity rivaled Mussolini's and as a reward he was banished to Libya as its Governor.

Disillusioned with the direction that Mussolini was taking Italy he resented the growing power of the German Nazi's over his beloved Italy. Exiled to Libya he assumed the role of Roman pro-consul; the greatness of the empire depended on the prestige the Consul could command. He held lavish receptions replete with African Guards in flowing costumes with drawn swords. The receptions were open to the diplomatic corps of North Africa and international high society. He preferred to mix with the creme of Britain and France over that of Germany. A perfect vehicle for him, in fact his world stage was the Grand Prix of Tripoli. He loved cars and would often cajole the teams to let him try their cars out on the circuit.

On August 13th, 1932 Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy authorized a lottery based on the result of the Tripoli Grand Prix. The effect was enormous, the race was converted from a backwater event to the top of the Grand Prix calendar. It became known as the race of millions, it also saw it involved in a scandal that rocked the sport when Varzi won the first race during the lottery under dubious circumstances over Nuvolari. The following year Balbo created new rules to prevent any chance of further cheating.

Reality was to intrude on this idyllic setting when Italy entered the war on the side of Germany. Balbo had been against the war from the start. On  June 28, 1940 Governor-General Marshal Italo Balbo was shot down and killed by his own AA guns over Tobruk just as an RAF raid materialized  (could this have been coincidence? Or is it possible that this was deliberate as Mussolini considered him to be his only serious contender in the fascist "government".) Considering Hitler's betrayal of his former comrade Ernst Rölm of the SA this scenario is not an uncommon feature of Fascism.

Elly Beinhorn was already a well known woman aviator when she first met her future husband, Bernd Rosemeyer in 1935. Since 1931 she had flown all over the world and in order to finance her trips she gave lectures. This occasion was a lecture to the local Flying Club in Brno, Czechoslovakia. As a guest of Auto Union she attend the Masaryk Grand Prix being held at the time of her visit to Brno. In the pits she was impressed by a handsome driver, who's name was Hans Stuck. But this was not Stuck's race as he suffered what could have been a tragic accident when he was struck in the face by a bird which shattered his goggles. Luckily he was able to mange to return to the pits where he was attended to. The eventual winner was a new rookie driver by the name of Bernd Rosemeyer. Elly was asked by Franz Michler, the Press Officer for Auto Union to go up and congratulate the young winner. One year later on July 13th they were married. To the Nazis they were the perfect Aryan couple and in fact unlike the other drives Rosemeyer was asked to join the SS. Theirs seamed the perfect marriage and the couple became the toast of Berlin. Tragically it was to end not quite three years later with the death of Rosemeyer while on a record attempt.

Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, the son of a minor customs official. He was a poor moody student who was not popular at school. College was out of the question, but an enjoyment of drawing led him to apply for admission to the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna but was rejected for lack of talent. Staying in Vienna until 1913, he lived in relative poverty on small earnings from pictures that he drew. Slowly a burning hatred was developing against everything and everyone that he felt conspired against him The top of his list for reasons not quite clear were Jews. He developed a hero complex, seeing himself as the man to lead the German masses.

In World War I (1914-1918), Hitler, by then in Munich, volunteered for service in the Bavarian army. He proved a dedicated, courageous soldier, but was never promoted beyond private first class because his superiors thought him lacking in leadership qualities. In 1919 he joined a small fringe party, the National Socialist German Workers' (Nazi) Party. In November 1923, a time of political and economic chaos, he led an uprising (Putsch) in Munich against the postwar Weimar Republic, proclaiming himself chancellor of a new authoritarian regime. Without military support, however, the Putsch collapsed he ended up in jail. While in jail Hitler wrote his manifesto Mein Kampf (My Struggle). When the Nazi's gained power he was at their head. After becoming Chancellor he later took the title of President upon the death of Hindenberg. Soon after, a Nazi dominated legislature passed the Enabling Act that permitted Hitler's government to make laws without the legislature. The act effectively made the legislature powerless. Hitler used the act to Nazify the bureaucracy and the judiciary, replace all labor unions with one Nazi-controlled German Labor Front, and ban all political parties except his own. The economy, the media, and all cultural activities were brought under Nazi authority by making an individual's livelihood dependent on his or her political loyalty. Thousands of anti-Nazis were taken to concentration camps and all signs of dissent suppressed.

With this as a background the next task for Hitler was to project German might first peacefully and then when ready, militarily. Sports was one area to be exploited and as a self professed motoring enthusiast racing seamed a natural showcase for avowed German superiority. Two German manufacturers, one the inventor of the modern automobile, the other a brand new consortium had independently decided to go racing based on the 1934 formula. The Nazi government, Hitler decided, would sponsor their efforts. Nazi involvement in Grand Prix racing should not diminish the accomplishments of the many talented people as well as drivers that created and drove the Silver Arrows.

With his flags and hand signals Neubauer pioneered many of the techniques that are take for granted today and in so doing this legendary Team Manager left a lasting legacy in automobile racing.

Ferdinand Porsche's first mark on the automotive world debuted at the Paris Exposition in 1900. Called the Lohner-Porsche, it was a battery-powered two-seater that used electric motors in the front wheel hubs for the tractive force. The hub motors were designed by the 25 year old Porsche and his employer, Mr. Lohner, boasted to the press: "He is very young, but he is a man with a big career before him. You will hear of him again."

In 1906, the Austrian branch of the Daimler Motor Co. hired Porsche as its new Technical Director. At Austro-Daimler he pioneered many new designs in engines for airships and "aeroplanes." Over the next two decades, he designed a number of landmark cars, eventually assuming the position of Chief Engineer at Daimler headquarters in 1923. While at Daimler-Benz, Porsche was also responsible for one of the most sensational motorcars of all time -- the Mercedes-Benz S-series. Essentially street-legal racing machines, the great Mercedes-Benz S, SS and SSK models of the late 1920s were bought by gentlemen and sportsmen who wanted speed and comfort. In Hollywood, Zeppo Marx had an SSK, the supercharged version that was especially coveted -- just 31 were ever produced. It was in this car that a young driver by the name of Rudolf Caracciola made a name for himself, becoming the first non-Italian to win the Mille Miglia .

At the same time, Dr. Porsche proposed a mass-produced Mercedes-Benz that drivers of modest means could afford, the forerunner for his famous Volkswagen -- a radical idea that the Daimler-Benz Board of Directors turned down. Frustrated by the conservative nature of his employer, Porsche quit. As Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand's son and successor, noted years later: "My father found that when he signed a contract with a firm, they could live another ten years on his designs, but he couldn't."

In 1929 he left Mercedes and went to work for Steyr but the Wall Street Crash in October of that year eventually saw him unemployed once again. With financial backing from investors, including Adolf Rosenberger who was a racing driver at Mercedes during Porsche's employment with the firm he went into business for himself. On March 6th, 1931, Porsche Konstruktionburo für Motoren-Fahrzeug-Luftfahrzeug und Wasserfahrzeugbau was established in Stuttgart, Germany. The firm would specialize in the design of automobile, aircraft and ship engines. Among the employees in this new firm were Porsche's son Ferry, himself a brilliant engineer and Chief Designer Karl Rabe. Rabe's contribution has sometimes been overlooked but together with the elder Porsche they formed a formidable duo. One of the first contracts for the newly founded design offices of the Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH in Stuttgart was a six-cylinder car for Wanderer in Chemnitz (Porsche Type 7) but contracts were few and far between during the depression and soon the new firm was completely broke. Porsche took this idle time as an opportunity to create a new, high-powered racing engine and attached this new engine to an earlier design for a mid-engined car. When Wanderer joined Audi, DKW and Horch to form Auto Union they turned to Porsche to develop a new racing car for the new 750 Kg Grand Prix Formula of 1934. The head of this new consortium, Baron Klaus von Oertzen arranged a meeting with Adolf Hitler. At the meeting Porsche was able to convince the German leader that supporting Auto Union in addition to Mercedes would be to Germany's advantage. Thus a brand new company was about to create their first car which happened to be a racing car, one  that would rival Mercedes, the inventor of the modern automobile.

For 1937 he worked with the designers to build a car wit a stiff frame and soft suspension. The results were immediate and the Mercedes team was back on top now with Uhlenhaut running the racing department while Neubauer ran the team while at the race. Their partnership would continue with another generation of drivers into the fifties. While Mercedes was not racing Uhlenhaut gained more and more responsibility for new production cars and special projects.

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