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The people who showed up at the farm were not Nazis, they were Belgian resistance fighters, who, if discovered, would be hung or shot on the spot. This was why they were so specific about the kid NOT remembering their faces etc. They will do their best to get him out, but I am sure they have seen many not make it.
My grandma's family did this exact thing, her father and two brothers were executed when her neighbor ratted them out to the Germans she was partying with. (aka like the women who got shaved and marked with a swastika in Band of Brothers) I know she got allied airmen from Ostend, Ghent and Brussels to the Pyrenees in southern France where they crossed the border to Spain. She never talked about how or what, and I don't want to think about what she had to do to get those men home. All we know is that at her funeral, an honor guard showed up, but for what exactly we don't know. Also, an important detail for us here in Flanders, we speak Dutch not French. French was/is reserved for the elite who worked with the Germans trying to protect their wealth, it might look like a detail, but it's really significant in Belgium, to the point I don't get how it got through research in the making of this series. It's like if you had a movie about civil rights in the US and having Dr Martin Luther King Jr. be played by a white guy.
@@Robalogot "Dr Martin Luther King Jr. be played by a white guy." Not quite. A linguistic error is hardly the same as that. That is a false comparison. That reveals more about the cultural tensions of Belgium between the Fleming and Walloon.
Because of the risks of exposure, air crew who escaped via the resistance were never returned to active duty in europe. They were always transferred to the pacific or to non-active duty.
I was going to write a comment to say this. I’m not sure why they got the idea they were German soldiers. They weren’t in uniform and a soldier wouldn’t give a shit about a prisoner knowing their name or face.
To be fair, from the kids perspective, he's very much unsure about who these guys are and is probably genuinely trying to figure out whether this is some kind of trick, and the show kind of presents it that way to convey his fear. It's obvious to people familiar with the mechanics of what's going on there that they're resistance fighters, but it may be less obvious to other people I guess.
He is also testing the American's reaction. If the airman tries to evade the Germans but is still captured, they might execute him or they might send him to a POW camp. However, any resistance people caught with him would be executed or sent to a concentration camp. The airman might also be tortured to reveal any other people who helped him in Belgium. Helping this one airman might risk hundreds of other lives and the Resistence guy needs to know that the American is committed and will not chicken out when the going gets tough.
The reason the resistance fighter wanted to make him be sure of his decision was if he surrendered he would be safe as a prisoner but if he tried to escape he would have to remove his uniform & wear civilian clothing making him by definition a spy (& not covered by the Geneva Convention) as well as those with him would be shot as spies as well & anyone he might betray if tortured.
@@przemekkozlowski7835 I don't care who you you are, how cute you look, or how innocent you may be. For all I know, you could be a spy. I shouldn't even care about you; only about my family and myself. I've given you your Choice; make it now, S’il vous plaît.
The loss of over 60 bombers on this one mission plus dozens crippled is exactly the experience the RAF had in 1939/40. Hence the move to night time bombing by the British instead.
The Canadians took it a step further and started adapting tactics to improve survivability, leading to the RCAF bombers having the best survival rate of the Allied air forces, though there is debate about how it effected their accuracy.
@@toughspitfire However, the Canadians were usually the last to receive the more modern weapons. Soldiering on with older marks of Halifax for longer than most others Groups/Wings before being upgraded.
Except night bombing ended up being deadlier in 1944. The Germans adjusted their tracking by radar and liked not having to deal with escort fighters. RAF lost 94 bombers in March 1944 on a mission to Nuremberg
The character that bailed and was at the farm in Belgium was given a choice by the Belgium Resistance fighters. They were offering to either help him escape or surrender to Germans (not surrender to them as they are not with the Germans).
Yeah, they were being firm and secretive. Because they are risking their own lives, and their families lives in providing even this level of assistance to any Allied personnel. Resistance people from adults to children, male and female don't get enough attention of how much risk and danger to not just themselves but everyone you loved.. Can't give them enough props. Compare that to the active duty service men and women from the US, who absolutely put their lives in direct harms way to help safe guard others, but for all their absolute sacrifice (again we all owe so much to every single one who served), their actions if discovered wouldn't lead directly to death to their family and friends, Always nice to see a show acknowledge this.
"On August 17, 1943, [Curtis] Biddick's B-17 42-5860 "Escape Kit'" took part in a mission to Regensburg. The 100th Bomb Group was assigned to "coffin corner", so called for its vulnerable position at the rear of the formation. Approximately 40 miles north of Regensburg, Biddick’s plane suffered an oxygen fire caused by 20mm damage to the nose and fuselage, trapping those on the flight deck. Four of the crew were killed in action, including Lt Biddick." Biddick was 28
They also called it the Purple Heart Corner. My father flew this mission with the 100th on the Piccadilly Lily of the 351stSQ. His diary entry from AUG17, '43 is a sobering read of the150+ enemy fighters hitting them, planes exploding, crew jumping out , some without a chute going open. He also lists on the AUG18 entry the names of his buddies that did not make their landing spot in N. Africa. Gut wrenching reading.
I read that in the book Biddick's death was more gruesome. An intense fire was in the nose as his plane was going down. Another crew observed him trying to climb out his window while on fire. He never got out.
The Schweinfurt-Regensburg (Aug 1943) was the infamous raid in this episode, it was as bad as it got for the 8th Airforce and 100th Bombardment Group. The 8th Airforce sent over nearly 400 bombers and lost about 60 with another around 20 wrecked (about 20% of the force) and a total of more than 600 aircrew killed, missing (mostly POWs) or wounded in action. The 100th suffered the worst losing 9 aircraft of the 21 flown out on the mission. This raid absolutely demonstrated that unescorted daylight raids deep into Germany were simply unfeasibly deadly. However, the RAF night raids were also extremely bloody and dangerous (if not as disastrous as Schweinfurt). For comparison the terrible Nuremberg Raid, 30/31 March 1944 was likely the RAF's worst. British Bomber Command sent nearly 800 aircraft on a night raid to Nuremberg. They lost just under 100 aircraft shot down, around 10 more wrecked - over 11% of the force sent. Total aircrew missing at over 700. Also, take a moment and consider the truly extraordinary risk the local Resistance groups took in aiding aircrew evaders (in this episode from Flanders - Belgium, but all across occupied Europe). It looks like the series will include some focus on this and the incredibly dangerous occupied Europe escape trails - that history is ridiculously under-recorded.
Answer to the riddle: Ask one of the guards what the other guard would say is the road to Valhalla. If you are asking the guard who always tells the truth he will point to the road to Damnation, since that is what the other guard would answer. If you're asking the lying guard. He will lie about the other guard's answer and point to the road to Damnation. Either way you take the other road.
The POW rule for downed airmen goes: If you bail-out in enemy territory and then immediately surrender, you get quarter as a POW and get to spend the rest of the war in a Luft Stalag (POW camp for captured airmen). It is when you change out of your uniform and into civilian clothes, and try to do your Escape and Evasion (which wasn’t taught to airmen yet at this time), which is your duty to do, but are caught anyway, that you will be considered a spy and executed as such. Being considered a spy is not something that happens after some sort of Catch-and-Release. But it can happen if you manage to escape from the Stalag, and then get caught on the outside.
Specifically in military law it is changing out of your uniform not trying to escape. Not being in uniform and preforming military operations classes you as a spy or commando both of which you are executed. Trying to escape is ok if in uniform
In winter and cooler times of year, escapees often wore their uniform pants and shits with Dog Tags UNDER a set of civilan clothes, (Jacket and Pants. A Blue shirt was NOT unusual, nor was a drill/buff coloured shirt.) Although the Resistance often gave them papers, they did also retain their military ID, usually hidden in a shoe or inner lining.
My father was a senior Navigational Instructor in the AAF. He taught ultimately thousands of crewmen how to find their targets and get back home. I wonder if Crosby or the other navigators in this story were some of his students? He never flew in combat, but he really did his part. He told me his best students were from Tuskegee.
They stuck with it though, and as both Fighter Escort improved and as more airplanes and aircrews were becoming available Daylight Precision Bombing improved dramatically.
@@cleekmaker00it never was really effective. Operation Cobra showed how ineffective it really was when massive numbers of B17s - a couple of thousand from memory - accidentally bombed US and british ground forces, killing hundreds. Strategic bombing has literally never been decisive, but bomber harris and curtis le may were two crazy idiots in the wrong place at the wring time who kept alive the stupid idea that it might be. Killing thousands of people in the process.
These raids did make the 8th Air Force rethink daylight precision bombing. It still took them time to make the switch to daylight area bombing where the target became less the factories and machineries but the population that could be trained to replace manpower losses in the factories.
@@dialian79for the 1940’s it was highly precise. The British and Germans could only target whole cities, the US targeted specific complexes within cities.
This episode is carnage. I know the history of these daylight bomb runs that these guys did but it still hits hard watching it. Especially losing my favorite character already. Cant mention him name because of spoilers.
In the European theater of WWII, aircrews had to fly from 25 to 30 missions, before they were eligible to "rotate" back home. However, in the Mediterranean theatre, aircrews flew a 50 mission tour. This was because a lot of their targets were in Italy and the Balkans, where the defenses were light or non existent.
The scene where he’s trying to get out is done very well. I was once caught in a stalled, spinning aircraft when skydiving. The jump ship stalled after the first jumpers left and we were spinning and falling, it was terrifying trying to get out while pinned by the centrifugal forces, one second i was pinned, the next I was out and still couldn’t tell you how. The aircraft fell a few thousand feet before the pilot recovered it, it was a Pilatus Porter.
Remember every time you see a plane go down its 10 men gone. When an aircraft goes into a spin the centrifugal force pins you against the fuselage. So even if you want to bale out you can't move. Some have one survivor some 2 - 3 or 4 few have 10 survivors. So the 10 aircraft lost is 100 men killed or captured.
Actually most of the only the people in cockpit died. Usually the pilots died, because when they let go the control of the plane its hard them to get out.
@@JasperJHNS As long as you have some flight controls. However many aircraft lost a wing or most of it. Then the aircraft is uncontrollable and goes into a spin. Tail and ball gunners had the hardest escape. Due to space restrictions they didn't wear there parachutes, this made there escape a much longer affair. If stable flight is possible then higher survival rates occurred. Pilots had a higher killed in position because the Luftwaffe learned frontal attacks had less machine guns pointing at them.
This wasn't the largest air armada of the war even at this point. The RAF had already done multiple 1000 bomber raids by this point and even the Americans had already done one 500 bomber raid. I know it's only a single line but it's brushing over Britain's role again
They never sent 1000 bombers against a single target and the show is about the100 BG of the 8th Air Force so saying it's brushing over the British role is not even remotely fair.
@TheSocratesian operation millennium may 1942 , Essen - June 1942 Bremen. Operation Gomorrah 1943 /hamburg July 1943 , August 1943 Even if not full 1k bomber raids they were against single targets and larger than the raid in the episode. Yes it's about the 100th bomb group but 2 episodes now of brushing over British role and slamming the British. Band of brothers was guilty of it as well.
@@jameswg13 I'll look at the other operations again since its been a while. But if memory serves Ghomorrah was a a week long campaign and not a single raid with 1000 planes at once. As for your getting triggered over the perception that the British role was minimized I think you are really whining over an enormous nothing burger. There is plenty of items to pick knits about this series but that is not one of them.
@TheSocratesian Gomorrah was a week long operation yes but within that the were multiple bombing raids on singular targets larger than the infamous mission in episode 3.
@@jameswg13 For sure. Regensburg-Schweinfurt was not even close to the largest raids of the war. It was just an enormous failure for the most part given the results and the horrific losses. If I remember correctly one of the raids mounted by the British during Ghomorrah had close to 800 planes.
I know a mission with a major character who will be in the next episode where 11 0f 12 planes were shot down. They had the highest casualty rate. I knew the lead navigator for large B24 missions and heard allot of stories. I enjoy watching you two because I appreciate you as a wonderful loving couple. I wish you a good year.
Excellent review! I agree this was a rough episode to watch. I’m a veteran of 28 years and 9 combat tours, but I was usually on the ground - still given my experience, the losses incurred here are horrendous. These bombers defense, is very similar to tank warfare where it’s the norm in crews for everyone either makes it together or they all die together. Anyway, I’m a subscriber now please keep up the great work! Cheers!
This show compelled us to visit the Air & Space museum here, it's JARRING to step inside these fighter planes knowing there's not a single computer anywhere, the claustrophobia being trapped in those coffins as Steven put it, extreme cold/hot threats, hyperventilating, air sickness, no bathrooms (duh, but damn), the bombardment of flak canons, being shot at by Nazis all while operating an aircraft with ultimately two ways down... You two really point out key things that make the episodes far better while watching along! Been watching ya'll since the early GoT days and it always feels like having friends on the couch next to us, love you! 🤙
The most heart wrenching part was the part with the ball turret gunner being trapped. Can you imagine being in that position? I remember watching a short story with Kevin Costner as the B-17 pilot and Sean Astin as the bail turret gunner trapped in the turret. One of the landing gears was jammed and they were going to have to do a belly landing which would have crushed Sean Astin. One of their solutions was just to shoot him so it would be over quick. Just so hard to imagine being in that spot.
The B 17s deployed a flying formation called the box each B-17 had a precise position that it would fly so it supports the other bombers next to them so the whole formation formed a giant protection box to protect each other. It was very effective during the war, but with that said, they still lost a lot of bombers. The Germans had to come up with different tactics to attack this box formation. The show is doing a very good job on being accurate.
"That's the largest air armada ever assembled in the history mankind!" You know, except for the all those ones the RAF had done with 800 to over 1000 bombers by that stage. I see Hanks and Spielberg are continuing their tradition of ignoring what the rest of the Allies had done.
370 aircraft was not the biggest mission, it may have been the biggest yet for the 8th, but the RAF bomber command were regularly sending 600 to 1000 aircraft on a raid.
Here on TH-cam is a great documentary on the raid on Ploesti Romania. It shows how as the skipper of an airplane, you are ultimately responsible for your crew, how as the leader of a group you are responsible for the mission and your men. It shows how a navigation error can f**k $#*+ up and unlike flight 19 (Navy) Air Force crews are taught those responsibilities "but you disobeyed the commander of the mission" yep, and that was the exact, right thing to do.
Although the briefing officer was probably just trying to inspire the men, it wasn’t the biggest air armada in the history of mankind, the R.A.F did three 1000 bomber raids in 1942. Ive read the book and knew what happened, but seeing the visual representation of it is heartbreaking, horrifying and terrifying to see the slaughter. I have nothing but respect to those boys who did it for real. Glad my dad didn’t get his wish to be a tail gunner, he was a British paratrooper which was just as hard but at least you can take cover on the ground.
I’ve just read the book Masters of the Air. Incredible read. Remember 12700 b-17s were built at the height off ww2 . Over 5000 were lost. Ten crew per plane, that’s alot of airman. Greatest generation ever did what they had to.
To add some more Knowledge for you. This portrays the 100th BG as you know. But the 390th BG and the 95th were the Sister Groups to the 100th in the 13th Wing. So for example. They were the Low Group of the Wing. With the other 2. And then 3 more wings made up 1st Task force. Similar I'm 2nd and 3rd Task Forces. The Regensburg Task force lost 24 Bombers of the 60 bombers lost that day between the Task Forces. And the 100ths Sisters lost 10- 390th with 6 and 95th 4. Just brutal to think 1 mission 600 men gone. The 100th and her sisters were hit hard during the War, like the 381st,351st and 91st in the First Division. Just brutal.
Amazing series so far. Ive been waiting for this for years! My mothers Uncle was a Ball Turret Gunner (under the belly of the bomber) in the 381st bomb group 532nd Squad. My mothers uncle went in on a bombing raid March 24th 1944 into Germany and became a POW that day due to having 2 of the 4 engines were knocked out and some of the nose damaged. This damage kept them from keeping up with the rest of the Bombers heading back over to England. So while my mothers uncles B17 pulled out of formation the pilots kept control of the Bombers and limped it across Germany then through France ( which was still being held by the Germans ) but could no longer fly anymore due to the damage sustained. They nursed the bomber as far they could hoping they can get across the channel and back to England ( which some B17’s that were heavily damaged did make it across) but to no avail on this day . So they had to crash land in the French countryside , the French resistance got their before the German Patrols and quickly rounded up whom they could , 4 of the 10 man crew escaped with them and hid for months , the other 5 were captured eventually including my mothers uncle. He spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft 1 POW CAMP. You also need to realize that the German Fighters had 20 or 30 MM rounds being shot at those bombers , where as we were only shooting back at them with 50 caliber rounds , if the bombers got hit with those 20 mill rounds it would go through like a hot knife through butter. God bless these young men who fought and died for this country
For the Army Air Corps, The Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission was the equivalent of the Omaha Beach landing for the Army. They both accomplished their objectives but in the process took serious losses.
My uncle flew a P40 warhawk over N Africa for the Royal Canadian Air Force. His ship went down over the Med in the early part of the war. He was captured by the Italians and turned over to the Germans and spent the entire war in a Stalag. It was not good. In 45 his camp force marched back towards the west and they took fire from American and British fighters because it looked like a column of men. People he had been with for 4 or 5 years were killed. He made it though and was a good guy.
It's funny, You can picture the brutality of the ground war. The Air War was so much more brutal and there was no escape for these men. No trenches or walls. The only way you could survive was to foster that cavalier attitude. Every mission they had to know they were dead but act like they were immortal.
I've read comments that criticized the heavy use of CGI. Though I am not a fan either in general, there was no other way of rendering how brutal, chaotic and horrible of a war it was...
I don't think it's that CGI was used, it's the animation quality. There are some issues with how the models are interacting with the environment, and it makes for scene to scene variations that are sometimes jarring. Some of the scenes have a very video game quality, while others look fantastic.
@@JB-zu5gb Yeah, most CG is absolutely photoreal in a still frame on pretty much any show or movie that has a decent budget. It's always the animation that makes or breaks a scene. Physics and anatomy are important, and we are so atuned to how the world works and people move that we always pick up when something doesn't look right, even if we can't quite put a finger on it. Being an animator must the hardest job in the business. Getting it right takes so much effort ...
The Regensburg taskforce had it easier than the second element that hit Scweinfurt and this raid wasn't even known as "Black Thursday" we havnt seen anything yet.
Those were not german soldier, they were the Belgian resistance. They gave him a choice: surrender to the germans and spend the rest of the war in a POW camp ( and probably survive) or try to escape ( with their help). But if you are caught escaping, you will be executed.
Thing is... The Resistance got a fair number of Bomber and Fighter guys out of Enemy territory and to a Neutral country like Spain or Switzerland. Some of them were Interned by those Countries and got back to England via Prisoner Exchange, etc. When Chuck Yeager was shot down in 1944 he got help from the French Resistance and went over the Pyrenees into Spain. He was traded back to the Allies in a prisoner swap for Fuel, and made it back to England.
The short answer is that you couldn't completely avoid it. All gunners did take part in air gunnery training school and were taught to avoid that situation, but between being hopped up on adrenalin, the terror of air combat, or tunnel vision when engaging an enemy fighter, combined with bullet ballistic drop it couldn't be avoided completely. That being said, the raids overlapping fields of fire from multiple Bombers and machine guns were formidable.
"From my mother's sleep I fell into the State, And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze. Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life, I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters. When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose." -Randall Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner", 1945
19:15 The Pilot sitting in the Left hand seat was the Aircraft Commander AND the Pilot in Command. HE was the guy in charge; you did every single thing he ordered, without question or rebuttal. Each crewman aboard a Flying Fortress had a specific job as part of a 10 man Team, led by the AC. 21:11 Your Comments after this scene are interesting; the Crew's mindsets were similar to those you've seen before... the guys from Easy Company. Given the chance to Surrender (give up) vs. Risking Death (to get back to your Unit and continue to fight), to a man every one of them chose Escape vs. Surrender unless they were injured to the point where Escape was impossible. Also, any Allied Servicemen who made their way back to their Units with help from The Resistance would have been automatically sent back Stateside because they were potential Security Risks; if they were captured again and tortured, they could reveal and betray Resistance cells who helped them escape. Very few Allied servicemen were permitted to remain with their Units after escaping and evading capture, but there were some who did. One of those was Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the Sound 'Barrier'.
Perhaps the greatest unsung success story of AAF training was Navigators. The Army graduated some 50,000 during the War. And many had never flown out of sight of land before leaving the US for a war zone. Yet the majority found their way across oceans and continents without getting lost or running out of fuel which is tribute to the AAF's educational establishments.
Fantastic episode, so powerful and moving. The other 2 task forces did take off in the end, far too late, and they caught absolute hell from all the fighters that had refueled and come back up ready to attack the Regensburg raid as it flew back to England. They battled through to the target at Schweinfurt but it was obscured by a smoke screen so the bombs were scattered and did little damage. However, the target was so important they were sent back to Schweinfurt 2 months later and this this time the casualties were worse...... if that's possible.
And the answer to the riddle (we've named the Goblins Alex and Bod): We ask One goblin (Alex) what they other goblin(bob) would say. And then take the opposite path to the answer. Because: We ask Alex what Bob would say. There are two possibilities: Alex is the liar. Which means Bob would have told you the truth, Alex knowing this, lies about it and tells you the wrong way. Bob is the liar. Which means Bob would have lied to you. And Alex who tells the truth knowing this, tells you honestly what liar Bobs answer would be... the wrong way. The liar always lies, the truth teller always says truthfully what the liars lie would be. So with this question you get them to match up.
I recall reading that shot down aircrew who made it back to England with the help of the resistance were not assigned to new combat missions over the continent. If shot down again and captured, they could compromise the resistance members who had helped them.
15:50 I mentioned this in one of your other MotA reactions, these guys were often trapped alive in the belly turret while the plane was either destroyed in the air (as here), as the plane crashed into the ground or crushed during crash landings sacrificing their lives for the rest of the crew. The answer to the riddle; You ask one guard (it doesn’t matter which one) which door/path the other guard would say leads out/safe. Both guards will indicate the same door/path, which will be the door/path that doesn’t lead out, so use the other door/path.
At one point, before P-51s were available in numbers, they attempted a gunship version of the B-17, the YB-40. The armor protection was increased, the waist guns added an additional machine gun to each position in a twin gun configuration. A second top turret was added above the radioman position, and a twin gun chin turret in the nose near the bombardier position. The YB-40s bomb bay held extra ammunition. It didn't work out the way it was intended. The weight of the plane was such that it's performance suffered, and it couldn't keep up with the forts it was supposed to protect once they had dropped their bombs. Only about 25 of the YB-40s were ever built. As far as I know, no YB-40s survive today.
Thank you for watching and posting this. I have been lucky enough to have been around warbirds most of my life. The bravery of the kids that flew these missions is truly incredible. I am glad another generation is learning about the sacrifices made for our freedom. Remember, there are men and women out there today also making sacrifices for our freedom. If you are interested in learning more I would suggest going to Oshkosh and see these aircraft fly, I will be working with the P-51C Mustang-"Tuskegee Airmen" this year, stop by and say hi. Cheers all.
From the scene in the briefing room,when they told the mission is in regensburg,schweinfurt,its going to be bloody,most of the luftwaffe (german airforce) bases were near in that area, they accomplished the mission,but with high casualty.
There’s a book I’d read a million years ago by Martin Caidin (I think) “Black Thursday” which was about the Schweinfurt-Regensburg missions and how absolutely horrifying it was. This show I think captured the mission pretty well. I’m enjoying this show and enjoying your reactions! Keep em coming please
For those wondering about the answer to the riddle: you ask each guard "If I asked the other guard which way leads to Valhalla, what would he say?", no matter which guard you asked they would point in the direction of hell, so you would know which is the wrong way. (BTW - loving the show so far, not sure how they are going to top this episode)
If you read combat reports, you'll understand the German pilots were also terrified going into battle against the B-17 and its massive firepower - a large bomber formation was like a flying Caudine Forks. A WW2 fighter had ammo for only 3-5 minutes continuous burst, so they had to take their time, avoid hundreds of machine guns and to make every bullet count; that's why you see them maneuvering and flying around, but not firing much. In the meantime, the B-17 was very resilient and could take huge punishment. The Luftwaffe lost a lot of fighters over Germany battling the bombers, fighters that could've been used on the front in Italy, Normandy or elsewhere. Overall, I think the series depicts realistically the air battles.
In a single 376 plane raid in August 1943, 60 B-17s were shot down. That was a 16 percent loss rate and meant 600 empty bunks in England .. In 1942-43 it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete a 25-mission tour in Europe .
These raids were not the largest air armadas in the history of mankind. The RAF performed a 1000 bomber raid on Cologne in 42 where 800 or more bombers found the target and caused a great deal of damage……. More Spielberg changing history…
A little clarification on the night and day bombing... In a full scale war, day and night must go ahead. It was decided that to due to the RAF being doing day and night for years, USA with larger numbers would do the day and the smaller RAF now would do night. There is a upside and down side to both however... at night... being harder to find the mark also applies to bombing. But it all kind of balanced out... the RAF had a little more experience by this point to help compensate towards nightime bombing. Day was harsh, AAA and fighters could easily find their mark (Range), so having a greater numbers helped. In a full scale war, it was a very logical call.
The US did daylight bombing because it believed that the Norden Bombsight was that accurate that it would be worth it. The Norden Bombsight turned out to be basically useless but since they got stuck doing daylight bombing raids due to doctrine and not wanting to appear wrong they changed to area bombing instead.
The Regensburg group unknowingly hit a testing facility for the Me262 "Schwalbe" jet fighter as well as the production line for the Bf109. The Schweinfurt group hit the ball bearing plant, but missed the warehouse, so the Germans had enough ball bearings to last until the factory was repaired _3 weeks later_ The answer to Blakely's riddle is to ask the goblins which route the other would take. They both would point at the same path, so you take the other, as it's the path to Valhalla.
To add to your discussion, the beginning the planes are not pressurized as you already know, but the Pirates and crew have lots of layers. Most notably, of course is the sheepskin jackets and those really thick heavily insulated leather coats but they’re also weren’t electronic underwear. It’s basically electric blanket. It’s not on all the time but you can plug them in to the planes battery.
Another thing most don't realize is how good some of these German pilots were. Some of them had been fighting since the Spanish Civil War which started in 1936. Thats 6-7 years of experience compared to our guys with less then 2.
Answer to the Goblin question: You ask one of them (doesn't matter which) what the direction the other one would say was the right direction to Valhalla. The you'd go the opposite direction. If you ask the one that tells the truth, he'll give the liars answer, which would be wrong. So you go the other way. If you ask the one that only lies, he'll lie and tell you the opposite of what the truth teller would say, which would also be incorrect. So you go the other way.
At 22:10 you are extremely correct, it is a very hard choice and it’s the reason resistance member gave many of the pilots the choice of both options. If they chose surrender, they would help to leave them out in a location that they know a German patrol would likely find them. At which point they’d be taken to a German POW camp and as the man said “likely survive the war”. - note some men didn’t even get an option, if you were deemed to injured or having suffered a severe injury, the resistance would happily hand you over to the German so that the pilot would receive the medical care he needed - they’d be sent to a German hospital and put in a POW ward and when deemed fit enough to move be transferred to the camps. - it was also not uncommon for even some pilots who knew they we’re essentially “out of the war” to assist occupied civilian and resistance groups by “handing themselves over”. Essentially they’d have people apart of the resistance or just standard civilians hand them over to the Germans so that they group could receive a reward/clearance of potential guilt by showing a idea that they are helping the Germans. The other option as said is to escape, which as noted is extremely risky as capture will mean likely facing execution as a spy. As such many resistance members would relay this danger cause not only is it dangerous for the pilot but also them. Should they be discovered to have assisted/harboured an allied pilot they would be executed and their families either sent to a camp or executed themselves. As such the resistance members always wanted to make sure those who were taking this second option were prepared for the potential consequences of it, as they can only assist so far and they themselves aren’t going to risk their own family and friends if you get caught. Plus, there wasn’t really a hard stigma towards pilots who decided to take the first option. While many would think “everyone should do there damndest to get back to England” such wasn’t the case, very many accepted that they’d done their job and duty and tried their best, and to choose to sit out the rest after being shot down was quite fair, as after being forced to go through hell in the air, then bail out potentially having lost/losing friends and being left in a hostile country all your own. Yeah most were extremely fair to those young lads like Quinn who decided that they’d sit out the rest. The only time you’d likely see real scrutiny toward them would be if they were senior officers of what looked to be long serving age. It was expected of these men to have a bit more heart to make the attempt as a way to keep the morale of those lower enlisted escapees up and to also just continue the fight they lead others into, tho again finding a major, colonel or so on that’s completely exhausted/broken due to losing so many young men and aircraft under him or has seen a bit to much hell, then even they would be offered a chance to surrender or even just handed over for their own good.
The answer to the riddle is to ask both goblins what the other one would say is the wrong way, then go down the opposite road. The goblin that lies will say that the truthful goblin would send you down the wrong way, and the truthful goblin would say the lying goblin would send you down the wrong way. So go down the way neither one says the other would send you.
the first half of the war was the most brutal for allied bomber crews. strong anti-air defences and numerous fighter squadrons guarded Europe up until the second half where most of their airforce was depleted at this point. dont kid yourselves, the first half of the war was attritional warfare in the air.
This is one of the worst days in US Military aviation. It sent shockwaves throughout all of US Army Air Force command and cast the entire operating principles of the bombing campaign into doubt. The loss of life and equipment was absolutely immense.
The CGI is terrible for its massive budget but it's the lack of focus on the characters, lack of authenticity, and lack of attention to detail that's disappointing me. Still think the show is fine but definitely was expecting more.
The standard B-17 crew would have 10 total members with each wearing gear that enabled them to survive inside the unpressurized cabin. The crew would be susceptible to frostbite if their outfit was compromised. There were even reports of gunners getting their fingers cut off because they touched the guns with their bare hands! The American B-17s were assigned to the busiest parts of Germany, they only had a 25% to 33% chance of surviving the 25 missions needed to complete their tour. The ages of the crewmen were, on average, 24 and below.
Btw, those were Belgian Resistance fighters that the family brought to the farm. They gave the american two options: Surrender to the Nazis and be a war prisoner till end of the war OR try to escape to England with their help, with possibilty to get caught and killed. This show kinda fails to potray the danger that these "forts" actually holds. In this show its seems they are just sitting ducks, but they were actually insanly good when they were grouped up (like they said on episode 1). Nazi fighter pilots were ofc insaly effective, but when Americans started doing these bombings, Luftwaffe started losing huge amount of planes when they tried to attack them.
I mean this show is following the 100th, if you read what the 100th went through you'd also think these forts were sitting ducks because when the 100th lost they lost big. They said in ep 1 i believe that the forts are good in big numbers
B-17 losses were enormous until P-51s came along to escort them all the way and back. Before then the US was quite often losing B-17s faster than they could build them and you were lucky to last 5 missions.
The second raid at Schweinfurt was ever worse. Because this first raid was'nt as succesful as was hoped, they had to go back to Schweinfurt again. The 100th took part in it with only 8 B-17's. That's all they had left. Those 8 all made it back but the other bomber groups, consisting of mostly B-24's, lost so many men, it made the US leadership to halt those big deep inland bombing raids for over 4 months.
One of the major reasons at the start of the bombing war for the heavy losses was we had no fighter escorts to protect the bombers, until the arrival of the P-51 Mustang later on in the war.
my great grandfather was a radioman/gunner in ww2 him and his entire squadren went missing in the Bermuda triangle. (seriously!) Sergeant Howard Watson GUINTER (R/66016) of the Royal Canadian Air Force
I came across this little newspaper article from Sept 6 1943 about the fate of Lt Curtis Biddick and his crew. I really hope at the end of Masters of the Air they have a profile of the real men that the series was about.
I don't know for sure because my history's a bit rusty, but this run one task force was delayed but they decided to run the plan anyways expecting the first group to beat up the German defense enough they wouldn't be able to mess with the second. The first went over, got chewed up pretty good and by the time the second got there the German fighters had time to rearm and refuel and chewed up the second group. It was a stupid decision by the brass to risk it
Props to all the Resistance fighters who fought back under German occupation. They may not have served in the Allied militaries but they were all heroes.
As well as this show is put together, it's still just a film. There is no way a movie can capture the true horror of war and the fear that surrounds those who are forced to deal with it. As a Vietnam veteran I can truthfully say that moments in combat happen very quickly and your training kicks in like muscle memory. If you live through it, fear clutches you more afterwards than through the attack itself. I'm glad people watch these films that reveals our history which seems to be lost on so many younger people. Freedom isn't FREE! It must be fought for to retain it.
The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid on Aug. 17th 1943 was the darkest day of the 8th Air Force up until that point in the war. the 8th Air Force lost 60 bombers to enemy air action, 3 p-47 & 2 spitfires from the assign fighter escorts. 58-95 bombers were heavily damaged and lost beyond repair. 7 aircrews (aircrew=10 men) were KIA, 21 aircrew were WIA aboard returning aircraft, and 557airmen were MIA or POW. The Germans lost 25-27 fighters and 203 civilians were killed. The reason for all 3 task forces not being able to simultaneously attack both targets were mainly due to miscommunication between the bomber groups during the weather delay. the 390th Bomb Group had already launched its birds in the air 45 minutes ahead of schedule in the fog while the rest of the task forces delay for the weather to clear while the 390th remained in holding pattern for about 4hours. However, due to fear of losing too much sun light time for Regensburg Task Force to reach North Africa, (because it takes 3 hours for each bomb group to launch and form up, another 2-3hours for the task force to meet & form up over the English Channel. Plus, the route to Regensburg was additional 11hours long itself.) Colonel Curtis E. LeMay Wing Commander of the first Task Force gave the order to take off into Regensburg without the support of the Schweinfurt task forces. The Schweinfurt bomb groups remained at their bases untilled the weather cleared and then delayed again to give the fighter escorts time to come back for re-fuel & rearm to escort the Schweinfurt task force. By the time the Schweinfurt bomb groups begun launch perpetrations, the Regensburg force were already over the Netherlands going into Germany. Out 146 B-17s in the Regensburg Task Force, only 122 B-17s made it to North Africa. The Schweinfurt Task Forces failed to completely destroy the ball baring factories due to the factories being spread out in multiple areas and some placed within some residential areas. Plus, the Germans were able to place a massive smoke screen over the target and Schweinfurt at that time was considered to be the most Flak defended region in Eastern Europe. The 100th Bomb Group would later be tasked with finishing the job two months later which was later known as "Black Thursday." The Regensburg Task Force (146 B-17s): 403rd PCBW: 96th Bomb Group (0 losses), 388th bomb Group (1 loss), 390th Bomb Group (6 losses) 401st PCBW: 94th Bomb Group (1 loss) and 385th Bomb Group (3 losses) 402nd PCBW: 95th Bomb Group (4 losses) and 100th Bomb Group (9 losses) The Schweinfurt Task Force (2nd & 3rd TF) (230 B-17s): 201st PCBW: 91st Bomb Group (7 losses), 101st Bomb Group (6 losses), 381st Bomb Group (9 losses) 202nd PCBW: 351st Bomb Group (1 loss), 306th Composite Group (0 Lost), 384th Bomb Group (5 losses) 203rd PCBW: 306th Bomb group (0 lost), 305th Bomb Group (2 losses), 92nd Bomb Group (2 losses) 204th PCBW: 379th Bomb Group (0 lost), 103 Composite Group (4 losses), 303rd Bomb Group (0 lost)
The RAF did 1000 bomber raids so it’s odd that he said that it was the biggest air armada in aviation history. Either gee up for the airmen or another put down by the writers and producers for British contribution
If you bailed out over Belgium or France, the chances are you were going to survive. What was tragic is that by 1944-1945 the bombing had angered the German population so much that if you landed near German troops (not the SS) you were probably just be sent to a POW camp, but there were many instances of local civilians or police who would kill the crew in anger for what they were doing to their cities. The same was true for pilots who bailed out over Japan.
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a must see: THE IMPOSSIBLE (2012)
I fully recommend you guys watch Memphis Belle (1990). They used real B-17s in filming.
The people who showed up at the farm were not Nazis, they were Belgian resistance fighters, who, if discovered, would be hung or shot on the spot. This was why they were so specific about the kid NOT remembering their faces etc. They will do their best to get him out, but I am sure they have seen many not make it.
My grandma's family did this exact thing, her father and two brothers were executed when her neighbor ratted them out to the Germans she was partying with. (aka like the women who got shaved and marked with a swastika in Band of Brothers) I know she got allied airmen from Ostend, Ghent and Brussels to the Pyrenees in southern France where they crossed the border to Spain. She never talked about how or what, and I don't want to think about what she had to do to get those men home. All we know is that at her funeral, an honor guard showed up, but for what exactly we don't know.
Also, an important detail for us here in Flanders, we speak Dutch not French. French was/is reserved for the elite who worked with the Germans trying to protect their wealth, it might look like a detail, but it's really significant in Belgium, to the point I don't get how it got through research in the making of this series. It's like if you had a movie about civil rights in the US and having Dr Martin Luther King Jr. be played by a white guy.
@@Robalogot "Dr Martin Luther King Jr. be played by a white guy." Not quite. A linguistic error is hardly the same as that. That is a false comparison. That reveals more about the cultural tensions of Belgium between the Fleming and Walloon.
Because of the risks of exposure, air crew who escaped via the resistance were never returned to active duty in europe. They were always transferred to the pacific or to non-active duty.
I was going to write a comment to say this. I’m not sure why they got the idea they were German soldiers. They weren’t in uniform and a soldier wouldn’t give a shit about a prisoner knowing their name or face.
To be fair, from the kids perspective, he's very much unsure about who these guys are and is probably genuinely trying to figure out whether this is some kind of trick, and the show kind of presents it that way to convey his fear. It's obvious to people familiar with the mechanics of what's going on there that they're resistance fighters, but it may be less obvious to other people I guess.
Barry Keoghan captured that "Oh God" moment perfectly IMO. That moment of this episode made my heart stop.
Incredible actor
I love the brutal honesty of the Resistance fighter, he wants to help him but needs him to understand the risk in doing so. Its not an ultimatum
He is also testing the American's reaction. If the airman tries to evade the Germans but is still captured, they might execute him or they might send him to a POW camp. However, any resistance people caught with him would be executed or sent to a concentration camp. The airman might also be tortured to reveal any other people who helped him in Belgium. Helping this one airman might risk hundreds of other lives and the Resistence guy needs to know that the American is committed and will not chicken out when the going gets tough.
The reason the resistance fighter wanted to make him be sure of his decision was if he surrendered he would be safe as a prisoner but if he tried to escape he would have to remove his uniform & wear civilian clothing making him by definition a spy (& not covered by the Geneva Convention) as well as those with him would be shot as spies as well & anyone he might betray if tortured.
@@przemekkozlowski7835 I don't care who you you are, how cute you look, or how innocent you may be. For all I know, you could be a spy. I shouldn't even care about you; only about my family and myself. I've given you your Choice; make it now, S’il vous plaît.
The loss of over 60 bombers on this one mission plus dozens crippled is exactly the experience the RAF had in 1939/40. Hence the move to night time bombing by the British instead.
The Canadians took it a step further and started adapting tactics to improve survivability, leading to the RCAF bombers having the best survival rate of the Allied air forces, though there is debate about how it effected their accuracy.
@@toughspitfire However, the Canadians were usually the last to receive the more modern weapons. Soldiering on with older marks of Halifax for longer than most others Groups/Wings before being upgraded.
Except night bombing ended up being deadlier in 1944. The Germans adjusted their tracking by radar and liked not having to deal with escort fighters. RAF lost 94 bombers in March 1944 on a mission to Nuremberg
The character that bailed and was at the farm in Belgium was given a choice by the Belgium Resistance fighters. They were offering to either help him escape or surrender to Germans (not surrender to them as they are not with the Germans).
Thank you for pointing that out
Yeah, they were being firm and secretive. Because they are risking their own lives, and their families lives in providing even this level of assistance to any Allied personnel. Resistance people from adults to children, male and female don't get enough attention of how much risk and danger to not just themselves but everyone you loved.. Can't give them enough props. Compare that to the active duty service men and women from the US, who absolutely put their lives in direct harms way to help safe guard others, but for all their absolute sacrifice (again we all owe so much to every single one who served), their actions if discovered wouldn't lead directly to death to their family and friends, Always nice to see a show acknowledge this.
Yeah im pretty sure that went over their head😂
thanks for the explanation, at first i thought they were german soldiers
I don’t understand how that wasn’t obvious lol when you see a Nazi you know it immediately
"On August 17, 1943, [Curtis] Biddick's B-17 42-5860 "Escape Kit'" took part in a mission to Regensburg. The 100th Bomb Group was assigned to "coffin corner", so called for its vulnerable position at the rear of the formation. Approximately 40 miles north of Regensburg, Biddick’s plane suffered an oxygen fire caused by 20mm damage to the nose and fuselage, trapping those on the flight deck. Four of the crew were killed in action, including Lt Biddick." Biddick was 28
They also called it the Purple Heart Corner. My father flew this mission with the 100th on the Piccadilly Lily of the 351stSQ. His diary entry from AUG17, '43 is a sobering read of the150+ enemy fighters hitting them, planes exploding, crew jumping out , some without a chute going open. He also lists on the AUG18 entry the names of his buddies that did not make their landing spot in N. Africa. Gut wrenching reading.
I read that in the book Biddick's death was more gruesome. An intense fire was in the nose as his plane was going down. Another crew observed him trying to climb out his window while on fire. He never got out.
@@jimandaud yes it was really really bad. I also dont understand why they made him from New York in the show when he was born in Wisconsin
@@jp1170 That kid is a good actor though. He definitely made an impression as a confident pilot and a leader
@@donaldshotts4429 ya Barry Keoghan is a baller
Austin played Buck amazingly in this part ‼️‼️ So calm and composed yet aware of everything going on around him. Bravo Buck✈️❣️
Those few seconds of slo mo action over Regensburg were the most intense aerial combat in any film/video.
Yeah. It was super intense.
The Schweinfurt-Regensburg (Aug 1943) was the infamous raid in this episode, it was as bad as it got for the 8th Airforce and 100th Bombardment Group. The 8th Airforce sent over nearly 400 bombers and lost about 60 with another around 20 wrecked (about 20% of the force) and a total of more than 600 aircrew killed, missing (mostly POWs) or wounded in action. The 100th suffered the worst losing 9 aircraft of the 21 flown out on the mission. This raid absolutely demonstrated that unescorted daylight raids deep into Germany were simply unfeasibly deadly.
However, the RAF night raids were also extremely bloody and dangerous (if not as disastrous as Schweinfurt). For comparison the terrible Nuremberg Raid, 30/31 March 1944 was likely the RAF's worst. British Bomber Command sent nearly 800 aircraft on a night raid to Nuremberg. They lost just under 100 aircraft shot down, around 10 more wrecked - over 11% of the force sent. Total aircrew missing at over 700.
Also, take a moment and consider the truly extraordinary risk the local Resistance groups took in aiding aircrew evaders (in this episode from Flanders - Belgium, but all across occupied Europe). It looks like the series will include some focus on this and the incredibly dangerous occupied Europe escape trails - that history is ridiculously under-recorded.
Answer to the riddle: Ask one of the guards what the other guard would say is the road to Valhalla. If you are asking the guard who always tells the truth he will point to the road to Damnation, since that is what the other guard would answer. If you're asking the lying guard. He will lie about the other guard's answer and point to the road to Damnation. Either way you take the other road.
I've always taken the approach that I'd ask them a question about themselves or the other guard. What colour are his eyes, what is he wearing etc.
Think i am starting to getting old when my tears are flowing to the ground while watching these heroes fight against evil. 😢
The POW rule for downed airmen goes: If you bail-out in enemy territory and then immediately surrender, you get quarter as a POW and get to spend the rest of the war in a Luft Stalag (POW camp for captured airmen).
It is when you change out of your uniform and into civilian clothes, and try to do your Escape and Evasion (which wasn’t taught to airmen yet at this time), which is your duty to do, but are caught anyway, that you will be considered a spy and executed as such.
Being considered a spy is not something that happens after some sort of Catch-and-Release. But it can happen if you manage to escape from the Stalag, and then get caught on the outside.
Specifically in military law it is changing out of your uniform not trying to escape. Not being in uniform and preforming military operations classes you as a spy or commando both of which you are executed. Trying to escape is ok if in uniform
In winter and cooler times of year, escapees often wore their uniform pants and shits with Dog Tags UNDER a set of civilan clothes, (Jacket and Pants. A Blue shirt was NOT unusual, nor was a drill/buff coloured shirt.) Although the Resistance often gave them papers, they did also retain their military ID, usually hidden in a shoe or inner lining.
My father was a senior Navigational Instructor in the AAF. He taught ultimately thousands of crewmen how to find their targets and get back home. I wonder if Crosby or the other navigators in this story were some of his students? He never flew in combat, but he really did his part. He told me his best students were from Tuskegee.
The losses incurred in the Regensburg/Schweinfurt raids were so bad that the USAAF reconsidered their daylight bombing doctrine.
They stuck with it though, and as both Fighter Escort improved and as more airplanes and aircrews were becoming available Daylight Precision Bombing improved dramatically.
@@cleekmaker00it never was really effective. Operation Cobra showed how ineffective it really was when massive numbers of B17s - a couple of thousand from memory - accidentally bombed US and british ground forces, killing hundreds. Strategic bombing has literally never been decisive, but bomber harris and curtis le may were two crazy idiots in the wrong place at the wring time who kept alive the stupid idea that it might be. Killing thousands of people in the process.
@@cleekmaker00 its not precision bombing though!
These raids did make the 8th Air Force rethink daylight precision bombing. It still took them time to make the switch to daylight area bombing where the target became less the factories and machineries but the population that could be trained to replace manpower losses in the factories.
@@dialian79for the 1940’s it was highly precise. The British and Germans could only target whole cities, the US targeted specific complexes within cities.
"BLACK THURSDAY" - 60 bombers lost = 600 aircrew.
This doesn't count those dead or incapacited still in the B-17s that made it back.
That was the 2nd Schweinfurt raid on October 14th, 1943. This is the earlier one in August.
This episode is carnage. I know the history of these daylight bomb runs that these guys did but it still hits hard watching it. Especially losing my favorite character already. Cant mention him name because of spoilers.
In the European theater of WWII, aircrews had to fly from 25 to 30 missions, before they were eligible to "rotate" back home. However, in the Mediterranean theatre, aircrews flew a 50 mission tour. This was because a lot of their targets were in Italy and the Balkans, where the defenses were light or non existent.
The scene where he’s trying to get out is done very well. I was once caught in a stalled, spinning aircraft when skydiving. The jump ship stalled after the first jumpers left and we were spinning and falling, it was terrifying trying to get out while pinned by the centrifugal forces, one second i was pinned, the next I was out and still couldn’t tell you how. The aircraft fell a few thousand feet before the pilot recovered it, it was a Pilatus Porter.
Remember every time you see a plane go down its 10 men gone.
When an aircraft goes into a spin the centrifugal force pins you against the fuselage.
So even if you want to bale out you can't move.
Some have one survivor some 2 - 3 or 4 few have 10 survivors.
So the 10 aircraft lost is 100 men killed or captured.
Actually most of the only the people in cockpit died. Usually the pilots died, because when they let go the control of the plane its hard them to get out.
@@JasperJHNS
As long as you have some flight controls.
However many aircraft lost a wing or most of it.
Then the aircraft is uncontrollable and goes into a spin.
Tail and ball gunners had the hardest escape.
Due to space restrictions they didn't wear there parachutes, this made there escape a much longer affair.
If stable flight is possible then higher survival rates occurred.
Pilots had a higher killed in position because the Luftwaffe learned frontal attacks had less machine guns pointing at them.
That mission is why they got the nickname "The Bloody 100th".
yup. My father flew this mission on the Piccadilly Lily of the 351stSQ/100BG.
My grandfather is played by Jonas Moore
This wasn't the largest air armada of the war even at this point.
The RAF had already done multiple 1000 bomber raids by this point and even the Americans had already done one 500 bomber raid.
I know it's only a single line but it's brushing over Britain's role again
They never sent 1000 bombers against a single target and the show is about the100 BG of the 8th Air Force so saying it's brushing over the British role is not even remotely fair.
@TheSocratesian operation millennium may 1942 , Essen - June 1942 Bremen. Operation Gomorrah 1943 /hamburg July 1943 , August 1943
Even if not full 1k bomber raids they were against single targets and larger than the raid in the episode.
Yes it's about the 100th bomb group but 2 episodes now of brushing over British role and slamming the British. Band of brothers was guilty of it as well.
@@jameswg13 I'll look at the other operations again since its been a while. But if memory serves Ghomorrah was a a week long campaign and not a single raid with 1000 planes at once. As for your getting triggered over the perception that the British role was minimized I think you are really whining over an enormous nothing burger. There is plenty of items to pick knits about this series but that is not one of them.
@TheSocratesian Gomorrah was a week long operation yes but within that the were multiple bombing raids on singular targets larger than the infamous mission in episode 3.
@@jameswg13 For sure. Regensburg-Schweinfurt was not even close to the largest raids of the war. It was just an enormous failure for the most part given the results and the horrific losses. If I remember correctly one of the raids mounted by the British during Ghomorrah had close to 800 planes.
I know a mission with a major character who will be in the next episode where 11 0f 12 planes were shot down. They had the highest casualty rate. I knew the lead navigator for large B24 missions and heard allot of stories. I enjoy watching you two because I appreciate you as a wonderful loving couple. I wish you a good year.
Excellent review! I agree this was a rough episode to watch. I’m a veteran of 28 years and 9 combat tours, but I was usually on the ground - still given my experience, the losses incurred here are horrendous. These bombers defense, is very similar to tank warfare where it’s the norm in crews for everyone either makes it together or they all die together. Anyway, I’m a subscriber now please keep up the great work! Cheers!
thank you for your service.
This show compelled us to visit the Air & Space museum here, it's JARRING to step inside these fighter planes knowing there's not a single computer anywhere, the claustrophobia being trapped in those coffins as Steven put it, extreme cold/hot threats, hyperventilating, air sickness, no bathrooms (duh, but damn), the bombardment of flak canons, being shot at by Nazis all while operating an aircraft with ultimately two ways down... You two really point out key things that make the episodes far better while watching along! Been watching ya'll since the early GoT days and it always feels like having friends on the couch next to us, love you! 🤙
Don't forget the non hydraulically assisted Control Surfaces; everything was pulleys and cables, all handled with brute strength.
The bomb site was a computer
The most heart wrenching part was the part with the ball turret gunner being trapped. Can you imagine being in that position? I remember watching a short story with Kevin Costner as the B-17 pilot and Sean Astin as the bail turret gunner trapped in the turret. One of the landing gears was jammed and they were going to have to do a belly landing which would have crushed Sean Astin. One of their solutions was just to shoot him so it would be over quick. Just so hard to imagine being in that spot.
I remember that show. " Amazing Stories" S1.E5 "The Mission" Casey Siemaszko though, Sean Astin was in Memphis Belle
The B 17s deployed a flying formation called the box each B-17 had a precise position that it would fly so it supports the other bombers next to them so the whole formation formed a giant protection box to protect each other. It was very effective during the war, but with that said, they still lost a lot of bombers. The Germans had to come up with different tactics to attack this box formation. The show is doing a very good job on being accurate.
"That's the largest air armada ever assembled in the history mankind!" You know, except for the all those ones the RAF had done with 800 to over 1000 bombers by that stage. I see Hanks and Spielberg are continuing their tradition of ignoring what the rest of the Allies had done.
370 aircraft was not the biggest mission, it may have been the biggest yet for the 8th, but the RAF bomber command were regularly sending 600 to 1000 aircraft on a raid.
Here on TH-cam is a great documentary on the raid on Ploesti Romania. It shows how as the skipper of an airplane, you are ultimately responsible for your crew, how as the leader of a group you are responsible for the mission and your men. It shows how a navigation error can f**k $#*+ up and unlike flight 19 (Navy) Air Force crews are taught those responsibilities "but you disobeyed the commander of the mission" yep, and that was the exact, right thing to do.
Although the briefing officer was probably just trying to inspire the men, it wasn’t the biggest air armada in the history of mankind, the R.A.F did three 1000 bomber raids in 1942. Ive read the book and knew what happened, but seeing the visual representation of it is heartbreaking, horrifying and terrifying to see the slaughter. I have nothing but respect to those boys who did it for real. Glad my dad didn’t get his wish to be a tail gunner, he was a British paratrooper which was just as hard but at least you can take cover on the ground.
I’ve just read the book Masters of the Air. Incredible read. Remember 12700 b-17s were built at the height off ww2 . Over 5000 were lost. Ten crew per plane, that’s alot of airman. Greatest generation ever did what they had to.
To add some more Knowledge for you. This portrays the 100th BG as you know. But the 390th BG and the 95th were the Sister Groups to the 100th in the 13th Wing. So for example. They were the Low Group of the Wing. With the other 2. And then 3 more wings made up 1st Task force. Similar I'm 2nd and 3rd Task Forces. The Regensburg Task force lost 24 Bombers of the 60 bombers lost that day between the Task Forces. And the 100ths Sisters lost 10- 390th with 6 and 95th 4. Just brutal to think 1 mission 600 men gone. The 100th and her sisters were hit hard during the War, like the 381st,351st and 91st in the First Division. Just brutal.
Amazing series so far. Ive been waiting for this for years! My mothers Uncle was a Ball Turret Gunner (under the belly of the bomber) in the 381st bomb group 532nd Squad. My mothers uncle went in on a bombing raid March 24th 1944 into Germany and became a POW that day due to having 2 of the 4 engines were knocked out and some of the nose damaged. This damage kept them from keeping up with the rest of the Bombers heading back over to England. So while my mothers uncles B17 pulled out of formation the pilots kept control of the Bombers and limped it across Germany then through France ( which was still being held by the Germans ) but could no longer fly anymore due to the damage sustained. They nursed the bomber as far they could hoping they can get across the channel and back to England ( which some B17’s that were heavily damaged did make it across) but to no avail on this day . So they had to crash land in the French countryside , the French resistance got their before the German Patrols and quickly rounded up whom they could , 4 of the 10 man crew escaped with them and hid for months , the other 5 were captured eventually including my mothers uncle. He spent the rest of the war in Stalag Luft 1 POW CAMP. You also need to realize that the German Fighters had 20 or 30 MM rounds being shot at those bombers , where as we were only shooting back at them with 50 caliber rounds , if the bombers got hit with those 20 mill rounds it would go through like a hot knife through butter. God bless these young men who fought and died for this country
For the Army Air Corps, The Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission was the equivalent of the Omaha Beach landing for the Army. They both accomplished their objectives but in the process took serious losses.
2 movies you should think of watching (both B&W) are "12 O'Clock High" & "Command Decision"
My uncle flew a P40 warhawk over N Africa for the Royal Canadian Air Force. His ship went down over the Med in the early part of the war. He was captured by the Italians and turned over to the Germans and spent the entire war in a Stalag. It was not good. In 45 his camp force marched back towards the west and they took fire from American and British fighters because it looked like a column of men. People he had been with for 4 or 5 years were killed. He made it though and was a good guy.
It's funny, You can picture the brutality of the ground war. The Air War was so much more brutal and there was no escape for these men. No trenches or walls. The only way you could survive was to foster that cavalier attitude. Every mission they had to know they were dead but act like they were immortal.
I've read comments that criticized the heavy use of CGI. Though I am not a fan either in general, there was no other way of rendering how brutal, chaotic and horrible of a war it was...
I don't think it's that CGI was used, it's the animation quality. There are some issues with how the models are interacting with the environment, and it makes for scene to scene variations that are sometimes jarring. Some of the scenes have a very video game quality, while others look fantastic.
@@JB-zu5gb Yeah, most CG is absolutely photoreal in a still frame on pretty much any show or movie that has a decent budget. It's always the animation that makes or breaks a scene. Physics and anatomy are important, and we are so atuned to how the world works and people move that we always pick up when something doesn't look right, even if we can't quite put a finger on it. Being an animator must the hardest job in the business. Getting it right takes so much effort ...
Brutal episode
Im not gonna lie that "Oh God" doesn't get any easier I loved his character
The Regensburg taskforce had it easier than the second element that hit Scweinfurt and this raid wasn't even known as "Black Thursday" we havnt seen anything yet.
Those were not german soldier, they were the Belgian resistance. They gave him a choice: surrender to the germans and spend the rest of the war in a POW camp ( and probably survive) or try to escape ( with their help). But if you are caught escaping, you will be executed.
Thing is... The Resistance got a fair number of Bomber and Fighter guys out of Enemy territory and to a Neutral country like Spain or Switzerland. Some of them were Interned by those Countries and got back to England via Prisoner Exchange, etc. When Chuck Yeager was shot down in 1944 he got help from the French Resistance and went over the Pyrenees into Spain. He was traded back to the Allies in a prisoner swap for Fuel, and made it back to England.
Dunno how the gunners avoided friendly fire when they flew in such tight formations
that's some we were actually going to mention in the next video - how do they not shoot their own wings or other bombers, wild!!
The short answer is that you couldn't completely avoid it. All gunners did take part in air gunnery training school and were taught to avoid that situation, but between being hopped up on adrenalin, the terror of air combat, or tunnel vision when engaging an enemy fighter, combined with bullet ballistic drop it couldn't be avoided completely. That being said, the raids overlapping fields of fire from multiple Bombers and machine guns were formidable.
Awesome reaction of my favorite episode of Masters Of The Air!!!!😊😊😊😊
"From my mother's sleep I fell into the State,
And I hunched in its belly till my wet fur froze.
Six miles from earth, loosed from its dream of life,
I woke to black flak and the nightmare fighters.
When I died they washed me out of the turret with a hose."
-Randall Jarrell, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner", 1945
Gut punch of an episode. Imagine living with the fact that you had to leave someone to die but really had no way to save them, Brutal.
19:15 The Pilot sitting in the Left hand seat was the Aircraft Commander AND the Pilot in Command. HE was the guy in charge; you did every single thing he ordered, without question or rebuttal. Each crewman aboard a Flying Fortress had a specific job as part of a 10 man Team, led by the AC.
21:11 Your Comments after this scene are interesting; the Crew's mindsets were similar to those you've seen before... the guys from Easy Company. Given the chance to Surrender (give up) vs. Risking Death (to get back to your Unit and continue to fight), to a man every one of them chose Escape vs. Surrender unless they were injured to the point where Escape was impossible.
Also, any Allied Servicemen who made their way back to their Units with help from The Resistance would have been automatically sent back Stateside because they were potential Security Risks; if they were captured again and tortured, they could reveal and betray Resistance cells who helped them escape. Very few Allied servicemen were permitted to remain with their Units after escaping and evading capture, but there were some who did. One of those was Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the Sound 'Barrier'.
Perhaps the greatest unsung success story of AAF training was Navigators. The Army graduated some 50,000 during the War. And many had never flown out of sight of land before leaving the US for a war zone. Yet the majority found their way across oceans and continents without getting lost or running out of fuel which is tribute to the AAF's educational establishments.
Fantastic episode, so powerful and moving. The other 2 task forces did take off in the end, far too late, and they caught absolute hell from all the fighters that had refueled and come back up ready to attack the Regensburg raid as it flew back to England. They battled through to the target at Schweinfurt but it was obscured by a smoke screen so the bombs were scattered and did little damage. However, the target was so important they were sent back to Schweinfurt 2 months later and this this time the casualties were worse...... if that's possible.
FYI, episodes 4, 5, 6, and 9 are on this channel, but are not in their Masters of the Air playlist (as of 8/31/2024)
And the answer to the riddle (we've named the Goblins Alex and Bod):
We ask One goblin (Alex) what they other goblin(bob) would say. And then take the opposite path to the answer.
Because:
We ask Alex what Bob would say. There are two possibilities:
Alex is the liar. Which means Bob would have told you the truth, Alex knowing this, lies about it and tells you the wrong way.
Bob is the liar. Which means Bob would have lied to you. And Alex who tells the truth knowing this, tells you honestly what liar Bobs answer would be... the wrong way.
The liar always lies, the truth teller always says truthfully what the liars lie would be. So with this question you get them to match up.
I recall reading that shot down aircrew who made it back to England with the help of the resistance were not assigned to new combat missions over the continent. If shot down again and captured, they could compromise the resistance members who had helped them.
That was the second time Buck landed a B-17 with all engines feathered. Gale Cleven had guts of steel.
& Fun fact - Gale actually said “you’re gonna sit there and take it” it was heard over radio comm.
15:50 I mentioned this in one of your other MotA reactions, these guys were often trapped alive in the belly turret while the plane was either destroyed in the air (as here), as the plane crashed into the ground or crushed during crash landings sacrificing their lives for the rest of the crew. The answer to the riddle; You ask one guard (it doesn’t matter which one) which door/path the other guard would say leads out/safe. Both guards will indicate the same door/path, which will be the door/path that doesn’t lead out, so use the other door/path.
At one point, before P-51s were available in numbers, they attempted a gunship version of the B-17, the YB-40. The armor protection was increased, the waist guns added an additional machine gun to each position in a twin gun configuration. A second top turret was added above the radioman position, and a twin gun chin turret in the nose near the bombardier position. The YB-40s bomb bay held extra ammunition.
It didn't work out the way it was intended. The weight of the plane was such that it's performance suffered, and it couldn't keep up with the forts it was supposed to protect once they had dropped their bombs. Only about 25 of the YB-40s were ever built. As far as I know, no YB-40s survive today.
This series is a cinematic masterpiece
Thank you for watching and posting this. I have been lucky enough to have been around warbirds most of my life. The bravery of the kids that flew these missions is truly incredible. I am glad another generation is learning about the sacrifices made for our freedom. Remember, there are men and women out there today also making sacrifices for our freedom. If you are interested in learning more I would suggest going to Oshkosh and see these aircraft fly, I will be working with the P-51C Mustang-"Tuskegee Airmen" this year, stop by and say hi. Cheers all.
From the scene in the briefing room,when they told the mission is in regensburg,schweinfurt,its going to be bloody,most of the luftwaffe (german airforce) bases were near in that area, they accomplished the mission,but with high casualty.
16:29 for what it’s worth atleast he went quick after the explosion instead of having to ride it all the way down, goddamn this scene breaks my heart
There’s a book I’d read a million years ago by Martin Caidin (I think) “Black Thursday” which was about the Schweinfurt-Regensburg missions and how absolutely horrifying it was. This show I think captured the mission pretty well. I’m enjoying this show and enjoying your reactions! Keep em coming please
This was clearly the best episode
I truly don’t understand how any of these men survived
Loving the series so far! The detail they go into about all the roles and responsibilities is great to learn about
It was called the Bloody Hundredth for a VERY good reason.
For those wondering about the answer to the riddle: you ask each guard "If I asked the other guard which way leads to Valhalla, what would he say?", no matter which guard you asked they would point in the direction of hell, so you would know which is the wrong way.
(BTW - loving the show so far, not sure how they are going to top this episode)
Schweinfurt raid had it worse
2nd Schweinfurt raid months later became known as “Black Thursday” with the loss of 77 bombers
If you read combat reports, you'll understand the German pilots were also terrified going into battle against the B-17 and its massive firepower - a large bomber formation was like a flying Caudine Forks. A WW2 fighter had ammo for only 3-5 minutes continuous burst, so they had to take their time, avoid hundreds of machine guns and to make every bullet count; that's why you see them maneuvering and flying around, but not firing much. In the meantime, the B-17 was very resilient and could take huge punishment. The Luftwaffe lost a lot of fighters over Germany battling the bombers, fighters that could've been used on the front in Italy, Normandy or elsewhere. Overall, I think the series depicts realistically the air battles.
imo this is the most anticipated series of the year! from a non-Apple fan, thank you both for these reviews.
In a single 376 plane raid in August 1943, 60 B-17s were shot down. That was a 16 percent loss rate and meant 600 empty bunks in England .. In 1942-43 it was statistically impossible for bomber crews to complete a 25-mission tour in Europe .
These raids were not the largest air armadas in the history of mankind. The RAF performed a 1000 bomber raid on Cologne in 42 where 800 or more bombers found the target and caused a great deal of damage……. More Spielberg changing history…
A little clarification on the night and day bombing...
In a full scale war, day and night must go ahead. It was decided that to due to the RAF being doing day and night for years, USA with larger numbers would do the day and the smaller RAF now would do night. There is a upside and down side to both however... at night... being harder to find the mark also applies to bombing. But it all kind of balanced out... the RAF had a little more experience by this point to help compensate towards nightime bombing.
Day was harsh, AAA and fighters could easily find their mark (Range), so having a greater numbers helped. In a full scale war, it was a very logical call.
The US did daylight bombing because it believed that the Norden Bombsight was that accurate that it would be worth it. The Norden Bombsight turned out to be basically useless but since they got stuck doing daylight bombing raids due to doctrine and not wanting to appear wrong they changed to area bombing instead.
I think the waist gunner called out focke wulf 190s..didn't think the bomber attack variant was ready at this time..but still could do damage
Approximately 400 Bf 109s, Bf 110s, and Fw 190s were sent to defend against the Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid.
Read the book the series is based off of.
The Regensburg group unknowingly hit a testing facility for the Me262 "Schwalbe" jet fighter as well as the production line for the Bf109. The Schweinfurt group hit the ball bearing plant, but missed the warehouse, so the Germans had enough ball bearings to last until the factory was repaired _3 weeks later_
The answer to Blakely's riddle is to ask the goblins which route the other would take. They both would point at the same path, so you take the other, as it's the path to Valhalla.
Love these reactions! Soo excited for "We're the ones who live"! hope you guys are having a awesome weekend!
To add to your discussion, the beginning the planes are not pressurized as you already know, but the Pirates and crew have lots of layers. Most notably, of course is the sheepskin jackets and those really thick heavily insulated leather coats but they’re also weren’t electronic underwear. It’s basically electric blanket. It’s not on all the time but you can plug them in to the planes battery.
Another thing most don't realize is how good some of these German pilots were. Some of them had been fighting since the Spanish Civil War which started in 1936. Thats 6-7 years of experience compared to our guys with less then 2.
Answer to the Goblin question:
You ask one of them (doesn't matter which) what the direction the other one would say was the right direction to Valhalla. The you'd go the opposite direction.
If you ask the one that tells the truth, he'll give the liars answer, which would be wrong. So you go the other way.
If you ask the one that only lies, he'll lie and tell you the opposite of what the truth teller would say, which would also be incorrect. So you go the other way.
At 22:10 you are extremely correct, it is a very hard choice and it’s the reason resistance member gave many of the pilots the choice of both options.
If they chose surrender, they would help to leave them out in a location that they know a German patrol would likely find them. At which point they’d be taken to a German POW camp and as the man said “likely survive the war”.
- note some men didn’t even get an option, if you were deemed to injured or having suffered a severe injury, the resistance would happily hand you over to the German so that the pilot would receive the medical care he needed - they’d be sent to a German hospital and put in a POW ward and when deemed fit enough to move be transferred to the camps.
- it was also not uncommon for even some pilots who knew they we’re essentially “out of the war” to assist occupied civilian and resistance groups by “handing themselves over”. Essentially they’d have people apart of the resistance or just standard civilians hand them over to the Germans so that they group could receive a reward/clearance of potential guilt by showing a idea that they are helping the Germans.
The other option as said is to escape, which as noted is extremely risky as capture will mean likely facing execution as a spy.
As such many resistance members would relay this danger cause not only is it dangerous for the pilot but also them. Should they be discovered to have assisted/harboured an allied pilot they would be executed and their families either sent to a camp or executed themselves.
As such the resistance members always wanted to make sure those who were taking this second option were prepared for the potential consequences of it, as they can only assist so far and they themselves aren’t going to risk their own family and friends if you get caught.
Plus, there wasn’t really a hard stigma towards pilots who decided to take the first option. While many would think “everyone should do there damndest to get back to England” such wasn’t the case, very many accepted that they’d done their job and duty and tried their best, and to choose to sit out the rest after being shot down was quite fair, as after being forced to go through hell in the air, then bail out potentially having lost/losing friends and being left in a hostile country all your own. Yeah most were extremely fair to those young lads like Quinn who decided that they’d sit out the rest.
The only time you’d likely see real scrutiny toward them would be if they were senior officers of what looked to be long serving age. It was expected of these men to have a bit more heart to make the attempt as a way to keep the morale of those lower enlisted escapees up and to also just continue the fight they lead others into, tho again finding a major, colonel or so on that’s completely exhausted/broken due to losing so many young men and aircraft under him or has seen a bit to much hell, then even they would be offered a chance to surrender or even just handed over for their own good.
The answer to the riddle is to ask both goblins what the other one would say is the wrong way, then go down the opposite road.
The goblin that lies will say that the truthful goblin would send you down the wrong way, and the truthful goblin would say the lying goblin would send you down the wrong way.
So go down the way neither one says the other would send you.
the first half of the war was the most brutal for allied bomber crews. strong anti-air defences and numerous fighter squadrons guarded Europe up until the second half where most of their airforce was depleted at this point.
dont kid yourselves, the first half of the war was attritional warfare in the air.
This is one of the worst days in US Military aviation. It sent shockwaves throughout all of US Army Air Force command and cast the entire operating principles of the bombing campaign into doubt. The loss of life and equipment was absolutely immense.
Are people still whining about this show? People online are sayin it sucks, cgi sucks, and acting sucked but so far im loving it
The CGI is terrible for its massive budget but it's the lack of focus on the characters, lack of authenticity, and lack of attention to detail that's disappointing me. Still think the show is fine but definitely was expecting more.
@@SpitFir3TornadoAnd there you go whining 😂
@@andrewwaller5913 Apologies for actually caring about the media I consume instead of shoveling slop down my throat.
Make your own opinion, don't listen to the noise. I am enjoying too.
The standard B-17 crew would have 10 total members with each wearing gear that enabled them to survive inside the unpressurized cabin. The crew would be susceptible to frostbite if their outfit was compromised. There were even reports of gunners getting their fingers cut off because they touched the guns with their bare hands!
The American B-17s were assigned to the busiest parts of Germany, they only had a 25% to 33% chance of surviving the 25 missions needed to complete their tour. The ages of the crewmen were, on average, 24 and below.
I saw that from 43 until the end of 44 77% of air crews were casualties
Btw, those were Belgian Resistance fighters that the family brought to the farm. They gave the american two options: Surrender to the Nazis and be a war prisoner till end of the war OR try to escape to England with their help, with possibilty to get caught and killed.
This show kinda fails to potray the danger that these "forts" actually holds. In this show its seems they are just sitting ducks, but they were actually insanly good when they were grouped up (like they said on episode 1). Nazi fighter pilots were ofc insaly effective, but when Americans started doing these bombings, Luftwaffe started losing huge amount of planes when they tried to attack them.
I mean this show is following the 100th, if you read what the 100th went through you'd also think these forts were sitting ducks because when the 100th lost they lost big. They said in ep 1 i believe that the forts are good in big numbers
B-17 losses were enormous until P-51s came along to escort them all the way and back. Before then the US was quite often losing B-17s faster than they could build them and you were lucky to last 5 missions.
When the pilot hits the plane wing that hit hard!!! Best episode by far to press!
Trust me Nikki, there's no need to apologize when you get excited to see animals such as puppies in the show/movie you and Steven are watching. 😊
The second raid at Schweinfurt was ever worse. Because this first raid was'nt as succesful as was hoped, they had to go back to Schweinfurt again. The 100th took part in it with only 8 B-17's. That's all they had left. Those 8 all made it back but the other bomber groups, consisting of mostly B-24's, lost so many men, it made the US leadership to halt those big deep inland bombing raids for over 4 months.
One of the major reasons at the start of the bombing war for the heavy losses was we had no fighter escorts to protect the bombers, until the arrival of the P-51 Mustang later on in the war.
my great grandfather was a radioman/gunner in ww2 him and his entire squadren went missing in the Bermuda triangle. (seriously!) Sergeant Howard Watson GUINTER (R/66016) of the Royal Canadian Air Force
happened 21 of may 1943 flying Mitchell II FR365 unit 111 C OTU
the people in Belgium were resistance forces...not German soldiers
Fun Fact: the B-17 Bomber has the same wingspan as the F-14 in Top Gun... that's how big Fighter jets got.
Wow. Thats interesting.
I came across this little newspaper article from Sept 6 1943 about the fate of Lt Curtis Biddick and his crew. I really hope at the end of Masters of the Air they have a profile of the real men that the series was about.
And correct the record on Biddick who never even lived in New York. He was from Wisconsin and went to college in California.
I don't know for sure because my history's a bit rusty, but this run one task force was delayed but they decided to run the plan anyways expecting the first group to beat up the German defense enough they wouldn't be able to mess with the second. The first went over, got chewed up pretty good and by the time the second got there the German fighters had time to rearm and refuel and chewed up the second group. It was a stupid decision by the brass to risk it
Props to all the Resistance fighters who fought back under German occupation. They may not have served in the Allied militaries but they were all heroes.
As well as this show is put together, it's still just a film. There is no way a movie can capture the true horror of war and the fear that surrounds those who are forced to deal with it. As a Vietnam veteran I can truthfully say that moments in combat happen very quickly and your training kicks in like muscle memory. If you live through it, fear clutches you more afterwards than through the attack itself. I'm glad people watch these films that reveals our history which seems to be lost on so many younger people. Freedom isn't FREE! It must be fought for to retain it.
This show is amazing just caught up with it. Happy I started it
The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid on Aug. 17th 1943 was the darkest day of the 8th Air Force up until that point in the war. the 8th Air Force lost 60 bombers to enemy air action, 3 p-47 & 2 spitfires from the assign fighter escorts. 58-95 bombers were heavily damaged and lost beyond repair. 7 aircrews (aircrew=10 men) were KIA, 21 aircrew were WIA aboard returning aircraft, and 557airmen were MIA or POW. The Germans lost 25-27 fighters and 203 civilians were killed. The reason for all 3 task forces not being able to simultaneously attack both targets were mainly due to miscommunication between the bomber groups during the weather delay. the 390th Bomb Group had already launched its birds in the air 45 minutes ahead of schedule in the fog while the rest of the task forces delay for the weather to clear while the 390th remained in holding pattern for about 4hours. However, due to fear of losing too much sun light time for Regensburg Task Force to reach North Africa, (because it takes 3 hours for each bomb group to launch and form up, another 2-3hours for the task force to meet & form up over the English Channel. Plus, the route to Regensburg was additional 11hours long itself.) Colonel Curtis E. LeMay Wing Commander of the first Task Force gave the order to take off into Regensburg without the support of the Schweinfurt task forces. The Schweinfurt bomb groups remained at their bases untilled the weather cleared and then delayed again to give the fighter escorts time to come back for re-fuel & rearm to escort the Schweinfurt task force. By the time the Schweinfurt bomb groups begun launch perpetrations, the Regensburg force were already over the Netherlands going into Germany. Out 146 B-17s in the Regensburg Task Force, only 122 B-17s made it to North Africa. The Schweinfurt Task Forces failed to completely destroy the ball baring factories due to the factories being spread out in multiple areas and some placed within some residential areas. Plus, the Germans were able to place a massive smoke screen over the target and Schweinfurt at that time was considered to be the most Flak defended region in Eastern Europe. The 100th Bomb Group would later be tasked with finishing the job two months later which was later known as "Black Thursday."
The Regensburg Task Force (146 B-17s):
403rd PCBW: 96th Bomb Group (0 losses), 388th bomb Group (1 loss), 390th Bomb Group (6 losses)
401st PCBW: 94th Bomb Group (1 loss) and 385th Bomb Group (3 losses)
402nd PCBW: 95th Bomb Group (4 losses) and 100th Bomb Group (9 losses)
The Schweinfurt Task Force (2nd & 3rd TF) (230 B-17s):
201st PCBW: 91st Bomb Group (7 losses), 101st Bomb Group (6 losses), 381st Bomb Group (9 losses)
202nd PCBW: 351st Bomb Group (1 loss), 306th Composite Group (0 Lost), 384th Bomb Group (5 losses)
203rd PCBW: 306th Bomb group (0 lost), 305th Bomb Group (2 losses), 92nd Bomb Group (2 losses)
204th PCBW: 379th Bomb Group (0 lost), 103 Composite Group (4 losses), 303rd Bomb Group (0 lost)
The RAF did 1000 bomber raids so it’s odd that he said that it was the biggest air armada in aviation history. Either gee up for the airmen or another put down by the writers and producers for British contribution
If you bailed out over Belgium or France, the chances are you were going to survive. What was tragic is that by 1944-1945 the bombing had angered the German population so much that if you landed near German troops (not the SS) you were probably just be sent to a POW camp, but there were many instances of local civilians or police who would kill the crew in anger for what they were doing to their cities. The same was true for pilots who bailed out over Japan.