Gatward got one. The Distinguished Flying Cross with Fern getting the Distinguished Flying Medal. Gatward later got a second DFC for an attack against Axis shipping in Norway in August 1944.
As a french man, this story always bring tears to my eyes since my grandfather told me about il when i was a kid. Thanks to the RAF, and to Ken Gatward and George Fern, for this glorious and incredibly daring mission, what a display of British audacity and friendship, must have been something to see... Merry christmas and happy new year to all Btitish people and to the mighty RAF, from Normandy!
As an Aussie - my grandfather (RAAF pilot) and his father before him both went to fight in France. My great-great grandfather lied about his age (he was 44 in 1916) to leave Australia and fight in France, he died just after the war from illness of gas attacks in 1919 before he was sent home, we think his grave is in the UK. Australians bloody love France mate! You take great care of the dead from our young country.
@@goodshipkaraboudjan You should be able to find it. Have you tried the Wargraves Commission www.cwgc.org/ If he was buried as a soldier and died in England then they may have a record. Do you know what regiment he was with? Any info you have should be included. If not they may be able to advise where else to look.
Can you imagine being sat in your office in Paris, safely away from any frontline or combat, and a British plane just strafes your windows and lobs a flag out? Fantastic stuff. I hope they laughed the whole bloody flight!
The Beaufighter was a much underestimated aircraft. It really did nearly everything well. I met a WW2 pilot at Raf Kemble some years ago. He flew the Beaufighter and given the chance would not fly anything else.
When I saw the Beaufighter in real life at the RAF museum in London, I was impressed by it's size and powerful aspect. It is a beast. 4x20mm cannon, 8x303 MG, and then add torpedo, rockets, bombs, radar. It is quite imposing.
02:23 "The 27 year old..." I don't understand old pictures. Or aging. Or idk. The further I look back into the 20th century, the older all those not-too-old people look.
@@TheOperationsRoom the stress of war can be 1 explanation for many such photos. But I see the same phenomenon in peace-time pictures, too. Well, maybe it is just me. And/or their life style / nutrition / etc caused a somewhat faster aging process back then. It affected average hight, so maybe. I am glad they were not too old to burry the crow :- ) Honour your fellow aviator
dont you know color was just recently invented? For most of history, everything was in black and white. Imaging fighting at war where the terrain is just black and white. Cant believe they could hit someone let alone kill them from afar.
Youngsters saw their parents as immediate role models to follow, dressed & acted accordingly, & with little or no mass media around, what other 'peer groups' were there to impress? Ill fitting uniforms don't help much either : )
One of the most under-rated & under-sung aircraft of WW2. Too often, the Mosquito, Spitfire & Mustang stole the headlines while aircraft such as the Beaufighter & Hurricane did much of the heavy lifting.
Excellent Stuff. I had absolutely no idea that this mission had taken place. Once again, it seems dangerous on paper and everything is stacked against you. But the element of surprise is a great equaliser. Love you work!
Did F/L Gatward and his navigator make it through the war ? Often, it seems, with these stories of the RAF, the aircrew perished on later operations. Edited: Looked up myself....F/L Gatward survived and retired as a Group Captain in 1964. Died 1998. Hopefully the navigator made it too.
Gilbert Fern was made an officer ended the war as a Squadron Leader. He was a teacher before the war and returned to that, retired in 1982 and died in 2010.
Tales like this make me tear up a bit. I can't really describe the feeling, but I think there's some national pride and gratitude for the heroism of our defenders in there
@@houstonfriend2558 Yeah but we always classify our operations so nobody does know how badass we are. In an ironic sense we might have deliberately fooled China and other countries into thinking we’re weak by having a shitfucking president rule us for a term.
@@topsecret1837 yeah but its going to fall back into China and others realizing that they have another president in their pocket if Biden wins this election. Then we fall back into the same dynamic we have been in for years, but yes the US keeping things under wraps constantly is pretty impressive considering how wild the operations tend to be.
@R W Actually, the Brits seem to talk the least about their war achievements - the Americans on the otherhand making several thousand hollywood movies on every single little skirmish an American was involved in 😂😂
@R W LOL.... are you joking? The USA are first in the self congratulatory try and stuff it down everyone's necks fart sniffing category by SOME DISTANCE.
To the men and women of the RAF. We are so proud of and grateful for your service and your sacrifice which ensured the survival of our nation. Thank you and God bless
I've flown in and out of RAF Northolt, and spent a week there on detachment but I didn't know about the crow being buried there. Unsurprisingly really as station folklore is dominated by the Polish Squadrons that were based there during the war.
I looked it up on wiki, and apparently the Bristol Hercules engine used on the beau-fighter was the standout component on this aircraft. They were very reliable and in super high demand for British bombers throughout the war. I would love to find a good video on the subject.
@@TheOperationsRoom Totally. Another fascinating engine. I have already seen the excellent Real Engineering video on the Merlin. One on the Hercules would be even better due to it's understated impact on the war effort.
@@TheOperationsRoom You can on the Beaufighter, it was a lethal mistake. Too much torque, it affected the stability and led to a lot of pilots being killed. They only did it because the Hercules engine was in short supply and needed for bombers. Its part of that big list of production problems that get glossed over because they were exceeded by combat losses. For example the P-51 had structural problems and would shed its wings in flight. TheMosquito was designed for european service, the glue would fail in the far east and the wings disassembled. The C-46 leaked fuel that would detonate in flight. Theres a long and impressive list, Merlin Beaufighters are high on it.
"When a Beau goes in, Into the drink, It makes you think, Because, you see, they always sink But nobody says "Poor lad" Or goes about looking sad Because, you see, it's war, It's the unalterable law. Although it's perfectly certain The pilot's gone for a Burton And the observer too It's nothing to do with you And if they both should go To a land where falls no rain nor hail nor driven snow - Here, there, or anywhere, Do you suppose they care? You shouldn't cry Or say a prayer or sigh. In the cold sea, in the dark It isn't a lark But it isn't Original Sin - It's just a Beau going in." Gavin Ewarts
Here is a part of a letter published on the 22nd June in the Daily Telegraph: SIR - Two insights I have of Charles de Gaulle (Letters, June 20) come from my father, Air Commodore James Coward. His friend, Group Captain Ken Gatward, flew to Paris after it had been taken by the Nazis and draped a tricolour on the Arc de Triomphe. In a newspaper, de Gaulle invited whoever had done this to the French embassy for a slap-up dinner, but, on arrival, Ken and the others were dismissed; de Gaulle had expected French heroes.
I never knew about that, the audacity of the man! He didn't trust us Brits, even when we tried to join the Common market he flatly refused to allow us in. He is speech at the liberation of Paris in 1944 really shows what he's all about!
@@billmmckelvie5188 At some point when he was President of France he ordered all US servicemen out of France and ordered NATO to move its headquarters. De Gaul was so insulting that an American General asked De Gaul point blank, " Do you want ALL American servicemen removed? A member of De Gauls staff got to him before he could answer and De Gaul finally answered, "No, only active duty." If he had included the was dead, the people of France would have probably reacted very badly as they, to this day, are very grateful.
Here's my Pov as a frenchman *this is a rushed and half-assed answer De Gaulle was a man who did not lack any courage as he leaded a tank counter-attack during the Dunkirk retreat, that counter-attack was semi-sucessful due to the germans stretching their logistic lines but due to the chaos of allied troops organization,it wasn't put in profit and had to retreat. Now something you forgot to mention was that Churchill and DeGaule started a cordial relationship but deteriorated due to conflicing views and the fact De Gaule (and a lot of French people) never forgot the Fact that the US an UK tried to administrate France after the libération this was view as another backstab (after Dunkirk where some British general tried to leave the french soldiers defending the re-embarkment,Mers-el-kebir,Paris Failed Bombings)As pamphlets describing the new Anglo-US governance were ready to be drop on France degaulle rushed in France to block this Plan. No doubt he had political views and an agenda in mind when he started this résistance Overview in London
That man was the most arrogant, ignorant man ever to "lead" a country. The Brits saved his bacon and gave no end of help to him and France and he just spit on them. Next time Germany can conquer France again and we will applaud them.
Well , l thought l was pretty well in the zone when it came to daring raids but l've not heard of this one . So brazen ! So brave . And for these gentlemen ..just another day in the office ! Thankyou very much.
2:16 For anyone who's interested, here's why _Red Skelton_ is shown holding _that_ newspaper (this, from Echoes from the Garden site): _The comedian Red Skelton created a character called “The Mean Kid,” who would say “If I dood it I get a whippin’,” (If I do it, I’ll get a whipping). Then he would think for a moment and declare, “I dood it” (I’ll do it)._
wow...a VERY dangerous mission certainly....but I'm pretty certain these great men were having a pretty good chuckle AND having great fun..especially strafing the German H.Q.........I bet there was a helluva good time later on when they got home...
@@sheeplord4976 That's part of my point. The comment above uses the word *entire* as if that column was a singular entity, instead of a group composed of multiple individuals, each with their own history, beliefs, aspirations, etc. How small would to ratio of forced to non-forced have to be to justify killing them all? Would you kill them if 5% percent were forced to join? How about 10%? 25%? 50%? 80%? Would you or a family member deserve to die, just for being born in the wrong place and time?
During WW1 a similar manouver was pulled out by the Italian army (there was no air force at the time). They flew all the way to Vienna with some fighters and a bomber (if I recall correctly) and dropped many cool piece of paper with the Italian flag on it and some words of peace. I should check if my infos are correct, because last time I checked a lot of time ago.
The Beaufighter was a hot plane that was overlooked in most people's brief look at the RAF. It was essential for maritime attacks, special ops raids (as here), and more mundane small actions. At the end of Das Boot, the aircraft scrumming above the scene would've included the Beaufighter among other types.
Your videos area extremely well produced. Here are some topics which I think would lend themselves to your presentation style: 1. The journey of Little Boy from mfg to final delivery including the paths of U.S.S. Indianapolis and Enola Gay 2. Mission to shoot down Yamamoto (You might have already done this one? 🤔) 3. Sinking of Yamato 4. Flight of Hydra mega aircraft towards NYC before Capt. Steve Rogers forces it to crash. (I would release that one on April 1st. 😉) 5. P.T. 109 cut in half. Capt. John F. Kennedy becomes a war hero. 6. Capture of Iwo Jima. 7. D-Day 8. Dunkirk
PLEASE MORE CONTENT!!!!! I HAVEW ALREADY BINGED THROUGH YOUR ENTIRE CATALOG TWICE OVER!!! MORE MORE MORE !!! FASTER FASTER FASTER!!! PLEASE!!! LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!!!!
Cannot even begin to imagine the bravery and spirit these men have shown, first time I have heard this story, these men are national heroes, I just wonder what they would make of our country now
Probably weep I think. I personally am relieved that these heroes have nearly all passed on and will never have to witness the quisling globalists ensconced in parliament and sinking our country in a mocha tide.
Though the mission didn't go off as planned (no Nazi parade to shoot up) I am in total awe of the air crew who flew on multiple occasions to deliver a big "fuck you" to the Germans and lift the spirits of the occupied French. Well done, lads.
I can’t decide if I’m more impressed with the man for doing this dangerous mission or the plane for being able to even get airborne with how big that pilot’s balls had to of been.
The Beaufighter, classic case of it does what it says on the label and then, along comes the mosquito. I do not know if there are any Beaufighters still flying? I would love to see one.
I saw a documentary a week or so ago about the secret negotiations between the Soviet Union and Germany - the non-aggression pact. Molotov visited Berlin during an early RAF air raid and Ribbentrop tried to play it down saying they had the British under control. Molotov's reply was along the lines of 'So /that's/ why this meeting is in an air raid shelter..'
That one's been milked to death, it was bad enough the BBC did it live, John Mac's comments on it when he told either Maggie or Dennis to shift their head when they were watching the raid on the BBC post-op is just pure classic!
Reminds me of the story of a belgian pilot who broke formation while returning from a raid to strafe an SS-occupied building in Bruxelles where his father had been tortured.
What did it say on the French crow's headstone? - Dad Joke Competition
Cor, Beau!
Crowtary Engine?
"Here lies Francois, the Bristol Crow-fighter"
End me now.
@@TheOperationsRoom Carry-on Crow-fighter? OK , I'm off to Buzzfeed to do my penance.
Make'em eat crow.
The Germans, not the Bristol engine.
Damn, they even buried the French crow. Much respect lol
So before watching the video I was like, wtf, a crow. What's he talking about? And then it made sense lol.
Thankfully it wasn't pressed into the German Army as a Crowberleutnant.
Sigh.
The Operations Room hahahahahah
I had to think about it before I remembered the crow. Brilliant!
Incroyable et admirable ! C'est anglais !
I never heard about that mission before but jeez, he deserved a medal for doing that dangerous mission!
Thanks for the link dude.
That was the character of true Englishmen. You wouldn't get that now.
@@sg-yq8pm You've just proven his point. GG
the airmen deserved a medal for all of their missions
Gatward got one. The Distinguished Flying Cross with Fern getting the Distinguished Flying Medal. Gatward later got a second DFC for an attack against Axis shipping in Norway in August 1944.
As a french man, this story always bring tears to my eyes since my grandfather told me about il when i was a kid.
Thanks to the RAF, and to Ken Gatward and George Fern, for this glorious and incredibly daring mission, what a display of British audacity and friendship, must have been something to see...
Merry christmas and happy new year to all Btitish people and to the mighty RAF, from Normandy!
Oui Mers El Kebir tu connais ?
As an Aussie - my grandfather (RAAF pilot) and his father before him both went to fight in France. My great-great grandfather lied about his age (he was 44 in 1916) to leave Australia and fight in France, he died just after the war from illness of gas attacks in 1919 before he was sent home, we think his grave is in the UK. Australians bloody love France mate! You take great care of the dead from our young country.
@@goodshipkaraboudjan You should be able to find it. Have you tried the Wargraves Commission www.cwgc.org/ If he was buried as a soldier and died in England then they may have a record. Do you know what regiment he was with? Any info you have should be included. If not they may be able to advise where else to look.
I wish the pilot would have strafed one of those German soldier parades during the mission.
@@wordsshackles441 you do know at Mers El Kebir the French fleet was given multiple option’s for what to do but rejected them all so that’s on them
Can you imagine being sat in your office in Paris, safely away from any frontline or combat, and a British plane just strafes your windows and lobs a flag out? Fantastic stuff. I hope they laughed the whole bloody flight!
I'm surprised they were able to fit into the plane with their massive balls of steel.
That's why the Beau needed two engines!
@@TheOperationsRoom nearly spat my beer out.
The Operations Room YOOOOOOOOOOO
@@TheOperationsRoom lol
@@TheOperationsRoom one for each bollock
"The French crow is buried at RAF norfolt..."
The best part
I could see that man getting free drinks whenever he visits Paris
i love how while hes explaining things the beaufighter approaches paris
The Beaufighter was a much underestimated aircraft. It really did nearly everything well.
I met a WW2 pilot at Raf Kemble some years ago. He flew the Beaufighter and given the chance would not fly anything else.
This is one of my favorite historical vignettes of WWII. When I first heard this story it gave me a newfound respect for the Beau Fighter.
When I saw the Beaufighter in real life at the RAF museum in London, I was impressed by it's size and powerful aspect. It is a beast. 4x20mm cannon, 8x303 MG, and then add torpedo, rockets, bombs, radar. It is quite imposing.
Same here, I knew very little about that particular aircraft.
th-cam.com/video/YFDOGwptxOg/w-d-xo.html
Greg from Gregs Autos and Airplanes gives it a great review. Which is unusual as he is a big big US plane fan
02:23 "The 27 year old..." I don't understand old pictures. Or aging. Or idk. The further I look back into the 20th century, the older all those not-too-old people look.
I know what you mean, he looks mid 30s at least. The stresses of war
@@TheOperationsRoom the stress of war can be 1 explanation for many such photos. But I see the same phenomenon in peace-time pictures, too. Well, maybe it is just me. And/or their life style / nutrition / etc caused a somewhat faster aging process back then. It affected average hight, so maybe.
I am glad they were not too old to burry the crow :- ) Honour your fellow aviator
Some of the clothes and hair (and moustaches!) make them look older, but I guess that people worked harder in jobs that were not in offices.
dont you know color was just recently invented? For most of history, everything was in black and white. Imaging fighting at war where the terrain is just black and white. Cant believe they could hit someone let alone kill them from afar.
Youngsters saw their parents as immediate role models to follow, dressed & acted accordingly, & with little or no mass media around, what other 'peer groups' were there to impress? Ill fitting uniforms don't help much either : )
One of the most under-rated & under-sung aircraft of WW2. Too often, the Mosquito, Spitfire & Mustang stole the headlines while aircraft such as the Beaufighter & Hurricane did much of the heavy lifting.
Yes indeed and the MK21 of the RAAF in the Pacific was a fearsome weapons carrier 4X Cannon 6x50s and 8 rockets
Only the British would bury the crow!
As opposed to being crowmated?
I need to go for a lie down now.
obviously a Vichy crow.
@@TheOperationsRoom 🤣🤣 ...subscribed
@@TheOperationsRoom Fuck sake XD
@@ronin1915 Sake???
You found a Japanese spy boi !
Get him
Excellent Stuff. I had absolutely no idea that this mission had taken place. Once again, it seems dangerous on paper and everything is stacked against you. But the element of surprise is a great equaliser. Love you work!
Thanks!
Did F/L Gatward and his navigator make it through the war ? Often, it seems, with these stories of the RAF, the aircrew perished on later operations.
Edited: Looked up myself....F/L Gatward survived and retired as a Group Captain in 1964. Died 1998. Hopefully the navigator made it too.
Gilbert Fern was made an officer ended the war as a Squadron Leader. He was a teacher before the war and returned to that, retired in 1982 and died in 2010.
@@DavidBromage Thank you!
@@DavidBromage Wonder how many of his pupils ever knew that the man standing in front of them as a courageous warrior?
@@bepolite6961 they probably realized that now, with this video and Yarnhub's.
A damn shame he wasn't able to get that straif in
That would've been badass
Wow, first time I had heard about this mission. Nice one, thanks!
No problem!
Tales like this make me tear up a bit. I can't really describe the feeling, but I think there's some national pride and gratitude for the heroism of our defenders in there
i love how you show the objects moving in the background and to fill the time you talk about their history and stuff, it's amazing
Red Skelton! My mom met him when she was a child. She said, "thank you, Mr. Skull." She's still going strong at 83.
This should have been made in to a movie by now
They probably will - Tom Cruise in an American aircraft.😂
It wouldn't appeal to the cell phone morons
@@normanboyes4983 And the Germans will be on the Champs Elysees, too.
Oh yes- and they'll bring back an Enigma machine for good measure 😁
Tom Hanks will brief the crew as their unit's commander.
@@Phaaschh I wonder what the scenes would have been like had the Germans held their parade.
Leave it to the Brits to attempt, and sometimes pull off the war stunts that beyond your wildest imagination
R Williams and the Americans are used to it
@@houstonfriend2558
Yeah but we always classify our operations so nobody does know how badass we are.
In an ironic sense we might have deliberately fooled China and other countries into thinking we’re weak by having a shitfucking president rule us for a term.
@@topsecret1837 yeah but its going to fall back into China and others realizing that they have another president in their pocket if Biden wins this election. Then we fall back into the same dynamic we have been in for years, but yes the US keeping things under wraps constantly is pretty impressive considering how wild the operations tend to be.
@R W Actually, the Brits seem to talk the least about their war achievements - the Americans on the otherhand making several thousand hollywood movies on every single little skirmish an American was involved in 😂😂
@R W LOL.... are you joking? The USA are first in the self congratulatory try and stuff it down everyone's necks fart sniffing category by SOME DISTANCE.
moment of silence for that french crow
He/she died a patriot. Vive la France
@MichaelKingsfordGray no
F
Mort pour la République. Vive la France!
To the men and women of the RAF. We are so proud of and grateful for your service and your sacrifice which ensured the survival of our nation. Thank you and God bless
I've flown in and out of RAF Northolt, and spent a week there on detachment but I didn't know about the crow being buried there. Unsurprisingly really as station folklore is dominated by the Polish Squadrons that were based there during the war.
Hawker typhoon attack on gestapo Brussels field office on January 24 1943
Gotta love Mark Feltons vids...oh, wait
You made me check the channel name
@MichaelKingsfordGray Jeez! calm down grand dad.
Landing the flag on the unknown soldier is just *chef kiss* perfect
This should definitely be a movie
Such a massive coincidence, just yesterday was searching for "mark felton productions'" video on this and couldn't find it. Thanks so much mate!
No problem!
I could watch both videos on rotation. One is more visual, the other more verbal.
Great video, never heard of this one before.
Thanks!
good vid as usual, love the content dude!
Appreciate it!
I looked it up on wiki, and apparently the Bristol Hercules engine used on the beau-fighter was the standout component on this aircraft. They were very reliable and in super high demand for British bombers throughout the war. I would love to find a good video on the subject.
I believe Merlins were also fitted to Beaus because they were so readily available. Can't complain too much at a Merlin :)
@@TheOperationsRoom Totally. Another fascinating engine. I have already seen the excellent Real Engineering video on the Merlin. One on the Hercules would be even better due to it's understated impact on the war effort.
th-cam.com/video/YFDOGwptxOg/w-d-xo.html
@@TheOperationsRoom You can on the Beaufighter, it was a lethal mistake. Too much torque, it affected the stability and led to a lot of pilots being killed.
They only did it because the Hercules engine was in short supply and needed for bombers.
Its part of that big list of production problems that get glossed over because they were exceeded by combat losses.
For example the P-51 had structural problems and would shed its wings in flight.
TheMosquito was designed for european service, the glue would fail in the far east and the wings disassembled.
The C-46 leaked fuel that would detonate in flight.
Theres a long and impressive list, Merlin Beaufighters are high on it.
@@TheOperationsRoom Apparently the Merlins did not do well on the Beau and caused instability
"When a Beau goes in,
Into the drink,
It makes you think,
Because, you see, they always sink
But nobody says "Poor lad"
Or goes about looking sad
Because, you see, it's war,
It's the unalterable law.
Although it's perfectly certain
The pilot's gone for a Burton
And the observer too
It's nothing to do with you
And if they both should go
To a land where falls no rain nor hail nor driven snow -
Here, there, or anywhere,
Do you suppose they care?
You shouldn't cry
Or say a prayer or sigh.
In the cold sea, in the dark
It isn't a lark
But it isn't Original Sin -
It's just a Beau going in." Gavin Ewarts
Beautiful and sombre
A tear falls from my eye
For that fighter that once cruised the sky
Currently building a Beaufighter model . Both exit hatches are on the underside and those engines look awfully heavy .
Great and Thanks
Merci !
I love your channel man. So good. Please post more. Can’t get enough.
Here is a part of a letter published on the 22nd June in the Daily Telegraph:
SIR - Two insights I have of Charles de Gaulle (Letters, June 20) come from my father, Air Commodore James Coward. His friend, Group Captain Ken Gatward, flew to Paris after it had been taken by the Nazis and draped a tricolour on the Arc de Triomphe. In a newspaper, de Gaulle invited whoever had done this to the French embassy for a slap-up dinner, but, on arrival, Ken and the others were dismissed; de Gaulle had expected French heroes.
I never knew about that, the audacity of the man! He didn't trust us Brits, even when we tried to join the Common market he flatly refused to allow us in. He is speech at the liberation of Paris in 1944 really shows what he's all about!
Towards the end of the war he said to Eisenhower 'You will be shocked at our ingratitude'. Lovely man.
@@billmmckelvie5188 At some point when he was President of France he ordered all US servicemen out of France and ordered NATO to move its headquarters. De Gaul was so insulting that an American General asked De Gaul point blank, " Do you want ALL American servicemen removed? A member of De Gauls staff got to him before he could answer and De Gaul finally answered, "No, only active duty." If he had included the was dead, the people of France would have probably reacted very badly as they, to this day, are very grateful.
Here's my Pov as a frenchman
*this is a rushed and half-assed answer
De Gaulle was a man who did not lack any courage as he leaded a tank counter-attack during the Dunkirk retreat, that counter-attack was semi-sucessful due to the germans stretching their logistic lines but due to the chaos of allied troops organization,it wasn't put in profit and had to retreat.
Now something you forgot to mention was that Churchill and DeGaule started a cordial relationship but deteriorated due to conflicing views and the fact De Gaule (and a lot of French people) never forgot the Fact that the US an UK tried to administrate France after the libération this was view as another backstab (after Dunkirk where some British general tried to leave the french soldiers defending the re-embarkment,Mers-el-kebir,Paris Failed Bombings)As pamphlets describing the new Anglo-US governance were ready to be drop on France degaulle rushed in France to block this Plan.
No doubt he had political views and an agenda in mind when he started this résistance Overview in London
That man was the most arrogant, ignorant man ever to "lead" a country. The Brits saved his bacon and gave no end of help to him and France and he just spit on them. Next time Germany can conquer France again and we will applaud them.
Great work. Well done!
Thanks a lot!
A great story and your channel is amazing.
Thankyou so much.
Great video as always
Thanks again!
I absolutely love the opening of all your videos. Please don't ever change it.
Respect. My late father worked on the beaufighter. He couldn't praise it highly enough.
That's absolutely bonkers!!
Best channel of this sort on all of TH-cam
Is that a sip of tea at the end? The icing on the cake
your timing is perfect, explaining the aircraft history while it fly to paris hehe, nice!
Well , l thought l was pretty well in the zone when it came to daring raids but l've not heard of this one . So brazen ! So brave . And for these gentlemen ..just another day in the office ! Thankyou very much.
Glad you enjoyed!
Ahh but you forgot to mention that volley of cannon fire actually did end up killing several officers, a few SS if I remember correctly
Very informative video, I did not know about this raid. Thank you for posting.
I suspect that the Crow was a fifth columnist.
From the Crowviet Union?
@@TheOperationsRoom
Sent by Comrade Starling..
Commanded by Nikita Crowshchev
@@TheOperationsRoom That crow nest is Stalin my attic.
My apolo-Geese
2:16 For anyone who's interested, here's why _Red Skelton_ is shown holding _that_ newspaper (this, from Echoes from the Garden site): _The comedian Red Skelton created a character called “The Mean Kid,” who would say “If I dood it I get a whippin’,” (If I do it, I’ll get a whipping). Then he would think for a moment and declare, “I dood it” (I’ll do it)._
2:33. "He is told the Paris raid will be dangerous. He accepts straightaway". Flight Lieutenant Ken Gatward, what a badass!
So this was meant to be the British version of the Doolittle Raid. How nice. Nice video.
Nah, that was back in 1940, when the RAF bomber command demonstrated to Hitler that it could strike its cities in return for the Blitz
wow...a VERY dangerous mission certainly....but I'm pretty certain these great men were having a pretty good chuckle AND having great fun..especially strafing the German H.Q.........I bet there was a helluva good time later on when they got home...
Simply outstanding work! What a gift!
I am very sad that an entire column of german troops didn't die that day
Well we can pride in the fact that a single corsair managed to destroy an entire Chinese column during the Korean war.
@@sheeplord4976 atta boy
How does it make you sad that people forced into fighting didnt needlessly die?
@@juicebox9465 not all of them were forced.
@@sheeplord4976 That's part of my point. The comment above uses the word *entire* as if that column was a singular entity, instead of a group composed of multiple individuals, each with their own history, beliefs, aspirations, etc. How small would to ratio of forced to non-forced have to be to justify killing them all? Would you kill them if 5% percent were forced to join? How about 10%? 25%? 50%? 80%?
Would you or a family member deserve to die, just for being born in the wrong place and time?
Good start to a Saturday morning lol
Morning!
How is this not a film (someone prove me wrong!)!
Love your content bro. Keep it up 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
In over 50 years I have never read about this feat. Thank You so much for the History Lesson.
You should make a video out the RAF Bombing of the Shellhouse in Copenhagen. They had to fly low because the Gestapo had prisoners on the top floors
That was another hair-raising mission! I think they used Mosquitoes for that.
NICE ONE OPO
During WW1 a similar manouver was pulled out by the Italian army (there was no air force at the time).
They flew all the way to Vienna with some fighters and a bomber (if I recall correctly) and dropped many cool piece of paper with the Italian flag on it and some words of peace.
I should check if my infos are correct, because last time I checked a lot of time ago.
Gabriele d'Annunzio
You should do the captain Phillips story.
Great idea!
What a great story, much thanks!
What a great story. I had never heard about it. It reminds me about the Mosquito raid on Berlin to break up radio broadcasts
Not sure if anybody realized this, but crow in french is "corBEAU" -> BEAUfighter. The plane did its job.
And it seems the crow also did its job
That's nice, but a crow is a corneille, a raven is a corbeau :)
This guy was just about the greatest troll the allies ever had. Well done, boy.
Operation Mincemeat comes close.
Fantastic, thanks very much.
This is why I love the Brits! Would be nice to see some videos on the S.A.S Jeep raids, that would be great.
The Beaufighter was a hot plane that was overlooked in most people's brief look at the RAF. It was essential for maritime attacks, special ops raids (as here), and more mundane small actions. At the end of Das Boot, the aircraft scrumming above the scene would've included the Beaufighter among other types.
2:09 i was about to say that this reminded me of the doolittle raid
Your videos area extremely well produced. Here are some topics which I think would lend themselves to your presentation style:
1. The journey of Little Boy from mfg to final delivery including the paths of U.S.S. Indianapolis and Enola Gay
2. Mission to shoot down Yamamoto (You might have already done this one? 🤔)
3. Sinking of Yamato
4. Flight of Hydra mega aircraft towards NYC before Capt. Steve Rogers forces it to crash. (I would release that one on April 1st. 😉)
5. P.T. 109 cut in half. Capt. John F. Kennedy becomes a war hero.
6. Capture of Iwo Jima.
7. D-Day
8. Dunkirk
This is so fucking dope, thanks for this small but amazing piece of history.
PLEASE MORE CONTENT!!!!! I HAVEW ALREADY BINGED THROUGH YOUR ENTIRE CATALOG TWICE OVER!!! MORE MORE MORE !!! FASTER FASTER FASTER!!! PLEASE!!! LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!!!!
Cannot even begin to imagine the bravery and spirit these men have shown, first time I have heard this story, these men are national heroes, I just wonder what they would make of our country now
Probably weep I think. I personally am relieved that these heroes have nearly all passed on and will never have to witness the quisling globalists ensconced in parliament and sinking our country in a mocha tide.
Got some big ones down there.
Though the mission didn't go off as planned (no Nazi parade to shoot up) I am in total awe of the air crew who flew on multiple occasions to deliver a big "fuck you" to the Germans and lift the spirits of the occupied French. Well done, lads.
They obviously don’t consider a single Beaufighter to be a threat; otherwise they’d have a tighter defense.
Excellent reference ;)
They didn't pick it up on radar at 30ft
“Watched to make sure there were no civilian’s present”
Well I guess a burial was the least they could do for the *crow*
Great job !
only subscribed to the UFC channel and this. Great stuff
SOME SUGGESTIONS: sinking of yamato , sinking of indianapolis, sinking of scharnhorst,
Good video . How about a video recounting the Hawker typhoon attack on the Brussels gestapo headquarters by Baron De Selys Longchamps ?
I can’t decide if I’m more impressed with the man for doing this dangerous mission or the plane for being able to even get airborne with how big that pilot’s balls had to of been.
These videos are awesome.
Bravo, Bravo!!
They don't like it up 'em.
That's awesome, love from America Viva La France🇺🇸🇫🇷
Touch of class to bury the crow.
I dont know if you have a video of it already but the Jules Verne bomber attack on Berlin in 1940 is fascinating
Crazy times.
The Beaufighter, classic case of it does what it says on the label and then, along comes the mosquito. I do not know if there are any Beaufighters still flying? I would love to see one.
I saw a documentary a week or so ago about the secret negotiations between the Soviet Union and Germany - the non-aggression pact. Molotov visited Berlin during an early RAF air raid and Ribbentrop tried to play it down saying they had the British under control. Molotov's reply was along the lines of 'So /that's/ why this meeting is in an air raid shelter..'
You should do the Iranian embassy siege
That one's been milked to death, it was bad enough the BBC did it live, John Mac's comments on it when he told either Maggie or Dennis to shift their head when they were watching the raid on the BBC post-op is just pure classic!
I’m early and I’m gonna enjoy this video
Hope so!
WOW !!!! Magnifique !!!
Excellent content
Reminds me of the story of a belgian pilot who broke formation while returning from a raid to strafe an SS-occupied building in Bruxelles where his father had been tortured.