It sounds like you know a lot more about him than me, but I thought he started out supporting and being very enthusiastic about the Luftwaffe and then grew to hate the Nazi ideal?
My thinking if that was the case, would see him as a very strong leader of the airforce in the time of its, the RLMs, and the aircraft factories huge expansion era and when the specifications were being issued for some very important types.
You would think that the Nazis would have wanted someone with the right drive and foresight to have been in charge, but they did make some strange choices.
Yes and no. Most of what I know is from Hans Herlin´s book: Udet-Der Flieger. (I do not know if published in English. Title would loosely translate as: Udet-The Aviator.) To make long things short: He was always and foremost pilot. Full stop. Everything else was secondary, at least that´s what is stated in the book. He desperately wanted to fly after WW I (the only profession he had), live a good life (planes, cars, drinks, women, …..) and don´t care about politics, but…. when he wanted to get the Curtiss Hawk (Biplane), he simply didn´t have the money (spent it as fast as he earned it, lol), and Goering (the Nazis) bought 2. And then he had to pay back, starting to “play” General in the RLM. No good for someone who loved to do aerobatics at airshows (even if he just earned enough to go on living), did serious filmstunts, bought an bancrupt airplane factory to produce the plane he wanted, but never was interested in big money, politics or being the top gun. And was really bad at all things financially, he simply wasn´t a deskman.
I would suspect Erhard Milch (formerly Lufthansa boss) would have gotten Goerings hat and seat. But who knows?
Michael
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