Historical notes - First, Howard used one of the earlier P-51 models in this mission, however I only had access to the P-51D in my flight sim, so that is what I used. Also, four of Howards kills in Japan were grounded aircraft, so some sources only credit him with 2.33 kills over China, but others list 6 kills over China.
Yep!! I think a C model which only had 4 .50s, two in each wing and IF I’m not mistaken (which I probably am tbh) also had two .30s in the nose firing through the propeller arc. But don’t quote me on that bc like I said I’m probably wrong. Not exactly an “inferior” aircraft compared to the D model but definitely had its shortcomings in many areas but a great fighter none the less!!
@@jordannewsom4578 I think you're mistaking the P51 C with the P40C that did indeed have 2 machine guns in the front of the aircraft. The P51B and C had only 4 machine guns
@@diegoplanell2780, You are correct. The P-51B and the P-51C are both are identical with 4 machine guns in the wings. The P-51B was manufactured at Inglewood, California and the P-51C was manufactured at Dallas, Texas. Other than the location of manufacture, both models are identical.
Listening intensely to the story. Fighting 30 fighters and living is amazing enough, but bluffing another one into disengaging after exhausting his ammo? Legendary.
According to contemporary official report, after half of hour erratic buzzing all around the isolated bomber formation in efforts to protect them from all sides and angles, ammo feed of all but one of his guns were jammed due accelerating/gravitational forces. Which tells even more about his incredible heroic deed. I guess that the Air Command didn't want to reveal potential weakness of the newly introduced fighter model which proved excellent in many more aspects.
I've heard a slightly different version of that story : early P-51 Bs having guns prone to jamming when taking high Gs during hard maneuvers, this is exactly what happened to Howard, suddenly leaving him with only ONE working gun to face the odds, this even before he ran out of ammo. And he did it anyway, not only bluffing the final Ju88 into retreat but also several of the 109s in the process. That makes his MoH even more deserved. Press F to pay respect to this pilot with balls of titanium 8-)
That was probably a problem with every fighter equipped with any sort of high-rate gun that was designed either before or early in the war, certainly it was a problem with the American made version of the British designed HS 20mm cannon, the 37 mm cannon in the P-39 also. Yet another reason not to engage in high-G maneuvers in the first place.
@@touristguy87 In the B and C models the wing machine guns were installed tilted to the side and not flat to the bottom surface of the wings. This seemed to have been the cause of the g induced jamming. The later increased armament had the guns flat to the lower surface of the wings.
@@touristguy87 Fighter aircraft are always on the edge of instability. That increases their maneuvering. Pilots couldn’t handle the center weight issue of the P-39. Chuck Yeager actually loved it and could do crazy maneuvers with it. High G maneuvers are the bread and butter of fighter aircraft even now where computers have to keep them steady in microsecond adjustments. The armament problem needed technical resolutions to fix it not reducing maneuverability of the aircraft. The P-51 wasn’t a docile aircraft and could go into a deadly spin easily if the pilot was slack. That issue was taught to beginning pilots early to minimize the danger. Remember, the Sopwith Camel was so named for two reasons, the small hump got the machine guns and the tendency to bite back at the pilot.
When I was a kid I had a Revell model of Ding Hao hanging from my bedroom. With respect to number of kills, in January of 1944, Jimmy Doolittle took command of the 8th Army Air Force. Doolittle changed the fighters responsibility from "protect the bombers" to "destroy enemy fighters" and I *believe* it was at this time he changed "kills" from air-to-air to include ground kills. Strafing in a P-51 was just as dangerous as air combat because of the Mustang's liquid cooled engine had a radiator in its belly. A single belly hit could create a coolant leak and seize the engine in a few minutes. Howard was a total bad ass and his level of bravery wasn't uncommon at this time. Ding Hao, Colonel.
"Strafing in a P-51 was just as dangerous as air combat because of the Mustang's liquid cooled engine had a radiator in its belly. " It also had cooling hoses running between the single engine and radiator and lots of gas tanks scattered around inside the plane. Plus when strafing ground targets the plane was vulnerable to every AA gun within range not just the occasional enemy plot with a good firing-solution. So strafing was even more dangerous than air combat as Mustang losses proved starting in mid-44, certainly strafing vs flying high-altitude escort. Definitely safer than the high-altitude interceptor mission. One really should look at the raids into Nazi Germany in the same light as the Luftwaffe raids into the UK and wonder if the British would have actually "won" the BoB if it wasn't for Hitlers' decision to invade the USSR or even just to bomb civilian targets instead of military targets. The only real, true rationale for such a decision is the fact that Central and Eastern Europe had far more Jews, potential Slavic slaves and raw material than the UK did. Just a bigger prize for the Nazi war-machine. Drunk on fantasies of power and glory, the Nazis ground themselves dull and were eventually pounded into dust.
You fellas are correct. During the Korean War, the Mustangs (now designated as the F-51) were assigned as low-level ground attack aircraft. They flew low to strafe, launch HVAR rockets and drop napalm at ground targets. Unfortunately, as both of you mentioned, they suffered high losses from AA fire when their radiators and coolant lines were hit. 💥
The P-51 was built for the British who named it the Mustang. The original Allison Engine didn't have a supercharger so above 15,000 ft it couldn't catch it's breath. That left the Mustang to ground attack and photo reconnaisance. When the supercharged Merlin was put in it with the bubble canopy in the P-51D well the rest is history. You can cosmetically tell the difference between the Allison and the supercharged Merlin by the intake scoop under the fuselage. The Mustang could have been used for ground attack especially when there weren't enough German fighters for everyone. When the P-51 came into the theater the P-47 Thunderbolt was then used for ground attcak. The P-47 has a grandchild the Thunderbolt ll (Warthog)
If you play DCS World enough, then you realize that as incredible a feat he achieved, it's just as incredible that he had three confirmed kills and lasted 30 minutes with the amount of ammo in the Mustang. I will straight up run out of rounds shooting down one single Bf-109 😆
I knew Jim Howard personally and had several conversations with him about that flight. He told me that there were never 30 fighters at one time - usually just 2 or 3, but they kept coming for a total of 30 all together. Jim was very well educated and although he actually said “I seen my duty and done it” it was in response to the, by then, countless repetition of the question about why he stepped up. He was just tired of the question and gave an answer that he thought would put an end to the questions. He was wrong. The press figured that it had the right tenure to it and repeated it often.
I knew Jimmy Howard, he was one of my many interviews. Also, for future reference, German fighters with yellow tail band were assigned to the Eastern Front exclusively. White tail bands were Western Front, other colored bands such as blue, red, green were Home Defense units.
He may have been flying his first "DING HAO" with three swastikas and no Japanese flags on 11 Jan 1944. He was flying his more famous 2nd "DING HAO!" by 25 Jan 1944.
The award is often erroneously called the “Congressional Medal of Honor,” but it’s an award whose recipients are chosen exclusively by the executive branch. The Department of Defense nominates recipients who are ultimately approved by the president. The History Channel and official Army sites each have sections dispelling the myth that the award is called the “Congressional Medal of Honor.” Additionally, each branch's official awards order refers to the medal only as the “Medal of Honor.” The idea that the award is “congressional” stems from two key places. The first and perhaps most influential is the presence of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the organization that all recipients belong to once they receive the Medal of Honor. It is so named because the society was created by an act of Congress in 1958, according to the organization’s website. “Congressional” is an adjective that describes the society, not the name of the medal. Even the very first line on the Congressional Medal of Honor Society website defines the medal as the “Medal of Honor.” The second reason for the “congressional” myth seems to stem from a line in the U.S. code outlining the award. The law says that the president awards the medal to the recipient “in the name of Congress.” That section of the law, 10 U.S. Code § 3741, also calls the award the “Medal of Honor” on all references. The “Congressional Medal of Honor” myth is so widely dispersed that a separate U.S. federal law passed just last year, 18 U.S. Code § 704, refers to it, but that’s a narrow law that doesn’t outline the Medal of Honor; indeed, it defines it via a series of federal statutes that refer only to the “Medal of Honor.” Congressional staffers are subject to myths, too. source: taskandpurpose.com/news/theres-no-such-thing-as-the-congressional-medal-of-honor/
A bit of extra info: According to his book "Roar of the Tiger" Howard actually started as a Navy pilot, getting his wings in 1939 at Pensacola, and was assigned to the USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor. He left in Navy in June 1941 to join the AVG. (For perspective, June 1941 was also when Hitler invaded Russia.)
*A friend of mine's grandfather fought in WWII against fascism. My friend was denied admission to a university in America in 2010 because he was white. Isn't it ironic?*
@@georgesakellaropoulos8162 Yeah. The political spectrum is an interesting thing. At either end lies authoritarianism. Would you rather live under Stalin or Hitler? Mao Zedong or Ayatollah Khomeini? The western democracies strive to live between the two extremes, but it's a balancing act on a knife's edge. The US is currently falling off....
@@truthseeker9454 The only thing that can save us is to literally cut the government down to size. Our founding documents tell us that it's not only our right, but our duty to do so, and give us the means.
I could be wrong about this, but I don't think he was flying "Ding Hao" that day because it wasn't ready for some reason, so he flew a different P-51B on this mission.
There were two DING HAOs. Squadron records indicate Howard's preferred aircraft just before the 11 Jan 1944 mission was AJ-X, not AJ-A. I suspect that may have been the first DING HAO. There's a photo of it with 3 swastikas but only the front fuselage is shown.
An excellent presentation and telling of the story. One thing I'd like to send your way, though, and that is the pronunciation of the word "Junkers". As it is German, the "J" is pronounced as a "Y" and the designation, "Ju88", in German is pronounced "U88" but Americans usually refer to it as "J U 88" saying each letter separately. As you'll be, no doubt, covering other Junkers aircraft in subsequent videos knowing the proper pronunciation will help. Good job!
Once again, you smashed it right out of the park. Great cut scenes, excellent period footage and smooth narration. I always look forward to these types of videos you do. If you were here I would shake your hand, well done good sir!
The number one Marine ace is sometimes said to be Gregory Boyington (Pappy), who according to him, shot down 22 aircraft. USMC score-keeping says that four were grounded with means officially he got 18 (placing him tied for 4th in the USMC). Boyington said if you had to go get them on the ground like he did he should credit for them! (I got a chance to Pappy a couple of dozen times when I was high school (he lives four blocks from the school, and slightly off (but easier) the shortest route home).
I wish our attitude towards our military today was how it was during this war. Heroes like this man were praised for their duty and that in turn got more young men to want to join the fight. There were no lazy men for the most part. The media and more importantly all civilian life held our military in high regard!! We should have never strayed from these principles!!! I know there are still plenty of patriots still out there, just not to the degree there were back then!Thank you to all of our servicemen and woman past and present!!
Yeah...only the Americans were ‘bombing targets deep in Germany’. The rest of the Brit, Canadian, Polish, New Zealand, Australian allied aircrews were just admiring the American prowess while safe back in cozy British airfields. Nice of Americans to do all the work....AFTER they finally entered the war late!
For some critics.....iHoward¨s plane was a P 51B model indeed with a Malcolm hood. Probably not availible in the game. So never mind....great video anyway. Watched all your vids...put you in my favourites from the beginning. Thnx.
P-51B model yes, but in early January 1944 no Malcolm hood was available for US P-51s, absolutely. Not only - the plane he flew that precise day (P-51B- 5-NA, #43-6315) still had the original older canopy in a photo dated 25 April 1944.
@@francescofissore161I agree 43-6315 originally had the birdcage canopy. Howard had two DING HAOs. He was flying the first one presumably on 5 Jan '44 as it had 3 swastikas (and no Japanese flags) with different plain lettering for the aircraft name. There's a photo. He may not have been flying the 2nd DING HAO! 43-6315 on 11 Jan but photos show it was assigned to him by 25 Jan.
Very interesting. ..greetings from Germany 👍 For me it is interesting to see the American history at the same time line (and the many old pictures and films)
What a great guy - Col. Howard. I was pleased to see that the "Stars and Stripes" article you featured was written by Andrew "Andy" Rooney, the late great commentator on "60 minutes." Hank Grover, former LTJG, U.S. Navy
He didn’t turn away because he knew the bombers couldn’t turn away. He wasn’t going to leave them as long as he could fight and then some. On a personal note, every kid I knew growing up who built model aircraft, built a Ding Ho P51. I built a few myself over the years.
@4.00 You stated "the Army Air Force." The correct name until 1941 was US Army Air Corps. After 1941 it became US Army Air Forces. The National Security Act of 1947 created the US Air Force.
Thank you for bringing these incredible stories to the masses in vivid detail. These heroes should never be forgotten. There are so many stories yet to be told. - I was hoping you might do an episode on Fred Ohr (P-51 pilot). He was the only Asian-American (of Korean descent) to fight in WWII as a fighter pilot, becoming an ace. God bless America! 🇺🇸
Awesome, in small defense of the Luftwaffe, they had a lot of awesome pilots pushing up daisies at this stage of the War. No slight to the Bravery of our Allies.
Depending on how deep into occupied Europe the mission was, yes. However, there's another complication. The Mustang had an L shaped fuel tank that the pilot sat on with a capacity of 75 gallons. Until this was used, it adversely affected the performance of the plane and most pilots used this fuel first, so the drop tanks were not used to their full potential Until later in the war when there would be time for them to use the fuel in the internal tank without worrying about combat Until that fuel, and the fuel in the drop tanks was consumed.
What I want to know is how that plane was able to get airborne with Howard's giant brass gonads. He took Werner Voss' final fight, upped it by a factor of five and lived!
By this time in the war the Luftwaffe pilots weren't well trained and had very little flying experience due to lack of fuel. How would he have done against the best the Luftwaffe had to offer?
Here's another point of view. "the best the Luftwaffe had to offer" got their experience, and a lot of their kills, during the late '30's fighting against poorly trained pilots who were flying greatly inferior aircraft. Once the Allied pilots began to gain experience, and aircraft that were a better match against the Bf 109's and Fw 190's, "the best the Luftwaffe had to offer" began to disappear rapidly. At the time this battle in the air took place, there were still some German aces flying over Europe, and the Allied pilots never knew when they would meet them in the air. There's no way to know what the experience level was of "any" of the German pilots he faced that day. However, I'm quite sure James Howard had no idea who was flying those 30+ German aircraft, and I doubt he gave it any thought at all before he decided to help those B-17s get home. As Chuck would have said, "he had the right stuff". The same thing happened in the Pacific Theater. The Japanese started in the '30's with superior aircraft against poorly trained pilots flying greatly inferior aircraft. Once the Allies caught up in experience and more comparable aircraft, the tables turned.
This is one of those stories that I heard from my elders, but that generation is pretty much gone and my generation, even though we have heard some of these stories,we won't last forever. Thanks for helping keep the history my parents and their friends lived through. 🏆
I was wondering when his name would come up. American pilots called themselves "Aces" when they had 5 kills. It the Luftwaffe, that would just be considered barely average. They had so many with over 100 kills. Rudel dd that much with his Stuka. Harman had over 300. Thats a one man Airforce.
I’ve watched TJ for years, and this is one of if not my absolute favorite story. I got war thunder 6 months ago and this is why my username is Ding Hao
Good Video. Major Howard Isn't Mentioned As Much As Some Of The Other Aces. I Would Like To See A Mini-Bio Like This One On Wing Commander J.R.D. Braham, Thank You.
James Howard didn't have nearly as much time in the sky to rack up kills as Erich Hartman did. Erich Hartmann flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He was credited with shooting down a total of 352 Allied aircraft: 345 Soviet planes and seven Americans while serving with the Luftwaffe. But notice Erich Hartmann only shot down seven Americans and he flew against mostly Soviet pilots on the Eastern Front who had to draw their gunsights on the inside of their cockpits. He might not have fared so well if he had been up against modern American technology and fighter experience from the very beginning of the war. James Howard was "The One Man Air Force," and you can call Erich Hartmann the "Most Successful Fighter Ace in the History of Aerial Warfare." It won't hurt my feelings... ;-)
These German pilots cut their teeth on obsolete, and inferior planes in the Spanish Civil War. They were shooting down bi-planes in many cases, in Spain, Poland, CZ, the Netherlands, etc. before having to deal with more formidable Allied planes piloted by well - trained, granted, inexperienced flyers. The myth that the P-51 was the first and only fighter that had the range to escort bombers is hear - say and hogwash.
@@Nate-my7je German pilots flew until they were killed, or the war ended. American pilots flew until they had a certain number of victories, were an ' Ace ', and were then sent on bond drives and PR engagements back home....then to a training assignment.
The blending of American and British tech turned the p51 from an underwhelming ground attack plane into the best long range fighter of the war , or ever really
American P51 USAF pilot Col Howard was a skilled Ace.... P51 was the best fighter of WWII with many victories against the Luftwaffe. Much respects from India 🇮🇳
@@donf3877 Dude, the ignorance of people like you is too much. No other country would have won in Germany's place. Having to face several other countries, 2 of them having more manpower and resources than you? Yeah, of course they lost. Doesn't change the fact that they had the best pilots. Do some research, you'll come to that conclusion yourself.
@@fabiana7157 Maybe you are the one that needs to do some research. Because your ignorance of this subject is appalling! The German fighter pilots were the best? Yes, many of their pilots racked up hundreds of kills over Europe at the start of the war, against bi-planes and other out-dated aircraft and the like. However, Germany lost 1,500 aircraft in two months prior to the Battle of Britain. Also mostly against bi-planes and other out-dated aircraft and the like. Not really a "best pilot" performance. And, England sure as hell didn't have more manpower and resources, when they beat the Germans off during the Battle of Britain. Germany had a two to one advantage in the fighter aircraft they would use at the start of the battle. And, two thirds of the English fighters were Hurricanes... a stop-gap compromise between wood and all-metal construction aircraft. Plus, Germany had a 1,600 to basically zero advantage in bombers. Sounds pretty one-sided, doesn't it.? A slam dunk, right? Germany pitted their BEST, their MOST EXPERIENCED, battle-hardened pilots against England. Most of the English pilots going up against them during that battle started out hitting the sky barely out of a trainer, with very few hours in a fighter. And yet, even as inexperienced as they were, they were a match against what you refer to as the "best pilots" in the world! Oh and, the vast majority of German pilots were shot down with the old half-wooden construction Hurricanes, not by the much more advanced Spitfires. And in the end, Germany could not defeat the British aircraft... and could not defeat the British pilots... and had to call off the invasion. So much for the "best pilots" in the world! Add to that, once Germany had to go up against fighter pilots with actual skills over Europe, like James Howard, they lost their "experienced" pilots quickly. And, they wound up putting pilots in the air barely out of trainers, with very few hours in a fighter. Sounds like England during the Battle of Britain, doesn't it? Except the inexperienced German pilots were blown out of the sky. Germany's "best" pilots couldn't even go up against the P-39's and P-40's the Russians were flying. And the P-39 and P-40 had horrible records in the Pacific against the Japanese. Your lack of knowledge is equal to Hermann Göring's ego. Way overblown.
@@fabiana7157 "No other country would have won in Germany's place." That only underlines the stupidity of Hitler and his cronies, in taking on the two most powerful countries, and the most populous Empire in the entire world. The only thing that prevented the complete collapse of the Luftwaffe well before the end of the war was a diminishing minority of experte pilots. "In 1943 just twelve Luftwaffe aces claimed 1160 Allied aircraft. The over-dependence on these men was, of course, completely unsustainable." from Big Week: The Biggest Air Battle of World War Two, by James Holland, p249.
Howard was actually an expert, who learned in China against high odds, P-40s against Zeros. When given the opportunity with better equipment, he took advantage of it. Any pilot will agree it is better to get them on the ground by the way. Those bombers were not exactly defenseless you know.
Get your History straight.....P-51 was built for the British The Mustang was initially developed for the RAF, which was its first user. As the first Mustangs were built to British requirements, these aircraft used factory numbers and were not P-51s; the order comprised 320 NA-73s, followed by 300 NA-83s, all of which were designated North American Mustang Mark I by the RAF.[38] The first RAF Mustangs supplied under Lend-Lease were 93 P-51s, designated Mk Ia, followed by 50 P-51As used as Mustang Mk IIs.[39] Aircraft supplied to Britain under Lend-Lease were required for accounting purposes to be on the USAAC's books before they could be supplied to Britain. However, the British Aircraft Purchasing Commission signed its first contract for the North American NA-73 on 24 April 1940, before Lend-Lease was in effect. Thus, the initial order for the P-51 Mustang (as it was later known) was placed by the British under the "Cash and Carry" program, as required by the US Neutrality Acts of the 1930s.[40] After the arrival of the initial aircraft in the UK in October 1941, the first Mustang Mk Is entered service in January 1942, the first unit being 26 Squadron RAF.[41] Due to poor high-altitude performance, the Mustangs were used by Army Co-operation Command, rather than Fighter Command, and were used for tactical reconnaissance and ground-attack duties. On 10 May 1942, Mustangs first flew over France, near Berck-sur-Mer.[42] On 27 July 1942, 16 RAF Mustangs undertook their first long-range reconnaissance mission over Germany. During the amphibious Dieppe Raid on the French coast (19 August 1942), four British and Canadian Mustang squadrons, including 26 Squadron, saw action covering the assault on the ground. By 1943-1944, British Mustangs were used extensively to seek out V-1 flying bomb sites. The last RAF Mustang Mk I and Mustang Mk II aircraft were struck off charge in 1945.
Great video but… the P51D didn’t arrive in Europe until mid 1944. Howard was flying a C version with a Malcolm Hood. Another observation is the ground graphics. Winter, not summer. Nice mix of original videos in with the graphics. Great narration!
hello, the former statement is correct - just a couple small corrections for the latter one. * action took place on January 11th 1944, those Mustangs all were the original 'B' variant (not the 'C') as arrived in England in the first batch, November 1943. Howard's airplane was a P-51B - 5-NA. * each of them had the original three-piece canopy, no 'Malcolm' canopies could have arrived so early for the US Mustang. Howard's P-51B was s/n 43-6315 and still kept the older canopy in a photo dated April 25th, 1944. Only from May onward it was fitted with a Malcolm canopy, until it was lost in action on late July by another pilot.
@@francescofissore161According to Sgt Will Louie who was one of two artists who did names and scoreboards for Jim Howard, Howard had another Ding Hao before S/N 43-6315. That one had three swastikas on it following a 4 or 5 Jan 1944 mission.
This seems so fake. 30+vs1 and win for the 1 seems like a fake story to boost moral. Guess that’s why he was called a “living legend” he beat all the odds..
Love the commentary The visual effect was awesome greatest film footage you ever saw . I love the history of WWII men and women in action thank you very much for the service man in the past and the servicemen in Afghanistan to present day
That was not really an original quote: it was a paraphrase based on a 1905 speech: "Everybody is talkin‘ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin‘ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. There’s all the difference in the world between the two. Yes, many of our men have grown rich in politics. I have myself. I’ve made a big fortune out of the game, and I’m gettin’ richer every day, but I’ve not gone in for dishonest graft-blackmailin' gamblers, saloonkeepers, disorderly people, etc.-and neither has any of the men who have made big fortunes in politics. There’s an honest graft, and I’m an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin‘: ** 'I seen my opportunities and I took ’em.' ”** ~George Washington Plunkitt from "Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics, Delivered by Ex-Senator George Washington Plunkitt, the Tammany Philosopher, from his Rostrum-the New York County Courthouse Bootblack Stand." www.historymatters. gmu.edu
Some facts, Lr. Col. Howard flew the earlier P-51B (the P-51C was identical, built at another factory) which did not have the later bubble canopy, his Mustang was in olive drab camouflage paint scheme with white bands painted on wings and tail for bomber gunner identification to prevent confusion with Bf-109s. The P-51B hadn’t its bugs worked out as 3 of his 4 50 cal machine guns progressively jammed, by the end of his 30 to 1 fight he had only one operating machine gun which ran out of ammunition. According to his account, he bluff attacked more than just one fighter. P-38 were flying to Berlin to Berlin February 1944 with a combat radius of 585 miles. The P-51 D had a radius that was only 65 miles longer. The 9th AF kept kept the 474th with P-38s until VE-Day. Lindberg doubled that distance in the Pacific, farther than either the late marks of the Mustang and Thunderbolt.
Enjoyed the story.. but please stop perpetuating the myth the P47 and P38 did not have the range of a P51 P38 was not a good high altitude fighter, but excelled at long range medium and low altitude combat in the pacific. The P47 had the same range and high altitude performance of P51, P47 was deployed first.. it was the use of drop tanks that extended both P47 and P51 ranges. The P47 with an air-cooled engine was better suited to ground attack... the liquid cooled Merlin powered P51s were assigned escort duty .... And the P51s were cheaper and could be produced faster than P47s See Greg's Airplanes videos for detailed discussion..
Not to take away any of the Col's heroism, or your research on this story but, this wasn't the first time. Robert Johnson in his book "Thunderbolt!" recalls where one of his compatriots engaged an estimated 40 Germans ... IIRC correctly the radio call went something like this ..." 'gasp' you guys 'gasp' better get down here 'gasp' I'm chasing about 'gasp' 40 krauts 'gasp' you better hurry before 'gasp' they're all gone" ... Johnson goes on to contrast how this compared to earlier when the 56th Fighter Group was still in its infancy. While the P47 is remembered for its ruggedness and ability to engage ground targets, it began its wartime career escorting bombers and did a rather good job of it as well.
You do a good job ….. however I object to your somewhat narrow narrative … the USA did not plan DDay alone ….. there were many different factions involved ….. the amazing mustang was a piece of shit until fitted with Merlin and Griffon engines …. The Brit’s bombed Germany by night ….these discrepancies make your docs lose partiality . That the entry of the USA into turned the tide is indisputable and many extraordinary us servicemen lost their lives fighting the two most evil empires the world has seen in contemporary history , nevertheless the combined weight of the Allie’s had the effect of winning that dreadful conflict . The then British empire my friend although on the wane was enormous, and the war would have continued to be fought from Canada ,Australia ,Africa , New Zealand ……. A huge amount of dday planning was Brit …… need i go on ? And no I’m not a proud, patriotic Brit ( grandad from Tennessee) simply an avid amateur historian of 50 years standing ….. this is a opinion that I have developed after watching A lot of your work …. Thanks for the majority of your content being interesting and informative
Either the P-38 or P-47 could have escorted bombers into Germany. The Army Air Corps didn’t believe that bombers needed escorting and so didn’t bother to procure drop tanks for these aircraft earlier in the war. It wasn’t until the unescorted bomber doctrine was proved wrong that the USAAF started providing them. That just happed to coincide with the arrival of the P-51. The Mustangs did have more range but that wasn’t the only reason they were used for escort over the P-47s. 47s were a more durable and effective ground attack aircraft than the 51, which was fragile for that role. If the Mustangs had never been built, later variants of the 47, that were coming into service around that time would have done escort duty just fine.
Ancient religion distinguished the power of creation, maintenance, and destruction.... conscious attention (worship) placed on any of those three forces, single minded devotion, a human can kill many (as well as create or maintain many). Worship Jupiter for creation, Mercury & Venus for maintenance, Saturn & Mars for destruction. They're right over your head. Romans were into Jupiter & Mars in a big way, but never ignored Lord Saturn!
I read james howard book the roar of the tiger during 90's very impresive story from fighter pilot aboard big E just before ww2 became flying tigers using p40 plane then return to america to fly usaaf new fighter .the p51 B mustang which destine to rule the skies of western europe as the plane evovle to D model
TJ it's the Medal of Honor not congressional medal of honor. Unfortunately it is miss quoted all the time. The medal takes approval from congress and is award to the person on behalf of them usually presented by the POTUS. Great video keep up the great work.
.....that the American Air Force was looking for to protect it's Bombers ( you had fighters) on these long range missions. No biggy, just thought I would let you know in case you wanted to fix that line.
There was 1 pilot that was allowed to leave his squadron and go hunting on his own during the battle of britain. This man went deep into the third reich to kill german fighters, and come back without a scratch. He flew the hawker hurricane. I wonder how many more kills he would have had if this man was given the legendary spitfire. So sad that britain never gave this fighter what he really deserved…. His name was Josef Frantisek. I don’t know how many times he was an ace.
The P47 and the P-38 both had the range to escort bombers deep into Germany if they used drop-tanks just as the P-51 used The issue was not of range. It was of choice of fighter, with the P-51 favored over the P-47 and the P-38 for high-altitude escort missions as the P-51 used the same Merlin design that the Spitfire used while the P-38 used the turbocharged Allison V12 engine which was not as well-suited for extended operations at high altitude on the low-octane British fuel used by the Americans in the ETO thus making mission-capability a problem for the P-38 early models, In terms of dogfighting, the P-47 simply lacked the climb rate of the P-51 and the P-38 was still hobbled by compressibility problems in high-speed dives that plagued the earlier P-38 types. It certainly was not simply a question of range in mid-1943, at the time the choice was made to migrate the 8th AF's fighters to P-51s and transfer their P-38s and P-47s to the 9th air force (where they were used for ground-attack missions) and to service on the Pacific front. But in the right hands, in the right environment they were all highly capable escorts each with a unique mix of strengths and weaknesses. In fact for the "fighter sweeps" beginning in mid 1944 the P-51 was really the worst choice of the three and the loss rate of P-51s exceeded that of the P-38 and P-47. In any case, the P-51 was another plane made by another company and supplemented overall American fighter production....they were all put to good use. A good movie could be made on this topic alone but yes the choice was made and the results came out of that choice. Just as pre-1943 the choice was made to fly daylight bombing missions without fighter escort in the first place...the B-17 was designed to fly deep-penetration missions without fighter-escort...at the time that it was designed there was only one Allied fighter with comparable range: the P-38. But it wasn't designed to fly on low-octane British gas. Just as when the Mustang was designed, it was designed without any form of supercharging at all as well as with a limited fuel capacity compared to the P-15C and D models which flew escort missions, and when the P-38 was designed it was not designed to carry 2000 lbs of bombs or even to fly the ground-attack mission. Necessity is often the mother of invention and the three types just happened to be capable of the ground-attack role...which many makes were adapted to. Sorry but it doesn't do this topic justice to try to wrap it all up in terms of range...if nothing else certainly the Mosquito had the range to fly escort to Berlin even without laminar-flow wings. The British chose instead to do their bombing at night and limit their escort-fighter requirements to radar-guided night-fighters and for that role a twin-engine bomber could and did do the job better than any single-engine fighter.
The P-51 was hugely successful at shooting down all types of Luftwaffe fighters once Jimmy Doolittle switched from escorting bombers to sweeping ahead of them. As a rule twin-engined fighters were not as effective as single-engined fighters in WW2. The P-47 was the complete package, being equally effective as an unadorned high-and-medium altitude fighter, or as a more heavily armed fighter-bomber. As for the next best US fighter in the ETO, it was definitely the P-51. I wonder if a P-38 or a P-47 would have been manoeuvrable enough to hold off so many enemy fighters in the same way Howard did. And it's easily forgotten that Howard flew a P-51 B (or C) on that day which only had four 0.50 mgs yet managed to claim 4 confirmed and 2 other possible kills. The P-38 came into it's own over the Pacific where it made total sense to fly over water with two engines rather than one, and where it enjoyed more success against Japanese fighters.
@@neilpemberton5523 you have no idea what you are talking about with thr p38. it was more maneuverable than any allied fighter. Its problems with compressibility and british gas kept it from being effective...the former problem was exacerbated by the british shooting down the c47 with the repair kits to fix it on the p38s deployed to the eto...the gas problem was a problem with low octane gas and the Allison intake design...they hàd a relatively low mission completion rate. But they were always higly maneuverable and the only allied fighter with center mounted guns. In the pacific they flew in warmer air with better gas and had no problems. It is that simple.
@@touristguy87 You are the first person I have ever seen claim that level of manoeuvrability for the P38. Please quote your source(s) for your claims. I will not believe you without seeing some compelling evidence.
@@neilpemberton5523 go on and doubt me doubting tthomas you act as if I'm supposed to worry about whether you have heard what I just said from someone else or not you worry about that
We have some brave pilots also they go up and down in luvi sky and bring down a precious liquid that is love by common folk ..they are called the mananggetty pilot...there weapon of expertise in combat is the deadly sanguth...
its horse manure p38 and p47 lacked range they both had drop tanks. Problem was leadership had head up ass and let thousands of our boys die needlessly by the fesicion not to escort bombers until losses necame unsustainable. They should of got the firing squad after day 2 of not escorting bombers by putting drop tanks on the 38s or 47s same as they did with the crapstang
Historical notes - First, Howard used one of the earlier P-51 models in this mission, however I only had access to the P-51D in my flight sim, so that is what I used. Also, four of Howards kills in Japan were grounded aircraft, so some sources only credit him with 2.33 kills over China, but others list 6 kills over China.
Yep!! I think a C model which only had 4 .50s, two in each wing and IF I’m not mistaken (which I probably am tbh) also had two .30s in the nose firing through the propeller arc. But don’t quote me on that bc like I said I’m probably wrong. Not exactly an “inferior” aircraft compared to the D model but definitely had its shortcomings in many areas but a great fighter none the less!!
@@jordannewsom4578 I think you're mistaking the P51 C with the P40C that did indeed have 2 machine guns in the front of the aircraft. The P51B and C had only 4 machine guns
@@diegoplanell2780, You are correct. The P-51B and the P-51C are both are identical with 4 machine guns in the wings. The P-51B was manufactured at Inglewood, California and the P-51C was manufactured at Dallas, Texas. Other than the location of manufacture, both models are identical.
@@diegoplanell2780 I figured I was wrong about the 2 .30s firing through the prop arc. Idk why I thought that maybe I was thinking about the p40
Sorry didn't know that. Thanks!
Listening intensely to the story. Fighting 30 fighters and living is amazing enough, but bluffing another one into disengaging after exhausting his ammo? Legendary.
last Nazi pilot
wtf is this guys problem?!
@@robbybee70 what?
More like super legendary
According to contemporary official report, after half of hour erratic buzzing all around the isolated bomber formation in efforts to protect them from all sides and angles, ammo feed of all but one of his guns were jammed due accelerating/gravitational forces. Which tells even more about his incredible heroic deed.
I guess that the Air Command didn't want to reveal potential weakness of the newly introduced fighter model which proved excellent in many more aspects.
“ I saw my duty and I did it.” Could there be a better way to live your life, in whatever endeavor you engage?
Actually he "done it" :() Hahahahah...Bad ass indeed :)
…and I DONE it!
Tons but those aren't as honourably, selfless or just don't make you look as bad ass.
Thank you for your service, as I sit here watching TH-cam enjoying my freedom. 😊🌏
Larry ''bien dit''. Amitiés.
I've heard a slightly different version of that story : early P-51 Bs having guns prone to jamming when taking high Gs during hard maneuvers, this is exactly what happened to Howard, suddenly leaving him with only ONE working gun to face the odds, this even before he ran out of ammo.
And he did it anyway, not only bluffing the final Ju88 into retreat but also several of the 109s in the process.
That makes his MoH even more deserved. Press F to pay respect to this pilot with balls of titanium 8-)
Being "Offensively defensive," I believe is what they call that.
That was probably a problem with every fighter equipped with any sort of high-rate gun that was designed either before or early in the war, certainly it was a problem with the American made version of the British designed HS 20mm cannon, the 37 mm cannon in the P-39 also. Yet another reason not to engage in high-G maneuvers in the first place.
@@touristguy87 In the B and C models the wing machine guns were installed tilted to the side and not flat to the bottom surface of the wings. This seemed to have been the cause of the g induced jamming. The later increased armament had the guns flat to the lower surface of the wings.
@@michaeltelson9798 how quickly can I put you on ignore, let's find out together
@@touristguy87 Fighter aircraft are always on the edge of instability. That increases their maneuvering. Pilots couldn’t handle the center weight issue of the P-39. Chuck Yeager actually loved it and could do crazy maneuvers with it. High G maneuvers are the bread and butter of fighter aircraft even now where computers have to keep them steady in microsecond adjustments. The armament problem needed technical resolutions to fix it not reducing maneuverability of the aircraft.
The P-51 wasn’t a docile aircraft and could go into a deadly spin easily if the pilot was slack. That issue was taught to beginning pilots early to minimize the danger. Remember, the Sopwith Camel was so named for two reasons, the small hump got the machine guns and the tendency to bite back at the pilot.
When I was a kid I had a Revell model of Ding Hao hanging from my bedroom. With respect to number of kills, in January of 1944, Jimmy Doolittle took command of the 8th Army Air Force. Doolittle changed the fighters responsibility from "protect the bombers" to "destroy enemy fighters" and I *believe* it was at this time he changed "kills" from air-to-air to include ground kills. Strafing in a P-51 was just as dangerous as air combat because of the Mustang's liquid cooled engine had a radiator in its belly. A single belly hit could create a coolant leak and seize the engine in a few minutes. Howard was a total bad ass and his level of bravery wasn't uncommon at this time. Ding Hao, Colonel.
"Strafing in a P-51 was just as dangerous as air combat because of the Mustang's liquid cooled engine had a radiator in its belly. " It also had cooling hoses running between the single engine and radiator and lots of gas tanks scattered around inside the plane. Plus when strafing ground targets the plane was vulnerable to every AA gun within range not just the occasional enemy plot with a good firing-solution. So strafing was even more dangerous than air combat as Mustang losses proved starting in mid-44, certainly strafing vs flying high-altitude escort. Definitely safer than the high-altitude interceptor mission. One really should look at the raids into Nazi Germany in the same light as the Luftwaffe raids into the UK and wonder if the British would have actually "won" the BoB if it wasn't for Hitlers' decision to invade the USSR or even just to bomb civilian targets instead of military targets. The only real, true rationale for such a decision is the fact that Central and Eastern Europe had far more Jews, potential Slavic slaves and raw material than the UK did. Just a bigger prize for the Nazi war-machine. Drunk on fantasies of power and glory, the Nazis ground themselves dull and were eventually pounded into dust.
You fellas are correct. During the Korean War, the Mustangs (now designated as the F-51) were assigned as low-level ground attack aircraft. They flew low to strafe, launch HVAR rockets and drop napalm at ground targets. Unfortunately, as both of you mentioned, they suffered high losses from AA fire when their radiators and coolant lines were hit. 💥
@@spreadeagled5654 sure when it wasn't flying escort for B29s in Korea
The P-51 was built for the British who named it the Mustang. The original Allison Engine didn't have a supercharger so above 15,000 ft it couldn't catch it's breath. That left the Mustang to ground attack and photo reconnaisance. When the supercharged Merlin was put in it with the bubble canopy in the P-51D well the rest is history. You can cosmetically tell the difference between the Allison and the supercharged Merlin by the intake scoop under the fuselage. The Mustang could have been used for ground attack especially when there weren't enough German fighters for everyone. When the P-51 came into the theater the P-47 Thunderbolt was then used for ground attcak. The P-47 has a grandchild the Thunderbolt ll (Warthog)
@@eddiehaskell1957 ...you've clearly failed the official WWII Historian course, junior level
"I seen my duty and I done it". Now that's what I call "toxic" masculinity. Beautiful! Godspeed general Howard. And thanks!
I've never forgotten that quote since the first time I read it as a boy. That's a true hero.
Thank you for telling these stories of these true hero’s, and not letting them fall through the cracks of time
If I'm not mistaken, I believe Howard was the only American Aviator in Europe to be awarded the Medal of Honor during the entire war...what a man
If you play DCS World enough, then you realize that as incredible a feat he achieved, it's just as incredible that he had three confirmed kills and lasted 30 minutes with the amount of ammo in the Mustang. I will straight up run out of rounds shooting down one single Bf-109 😆
This is IL2 Sturmovik, not DCS.
James Howard: " I am the One Man Air Force "
Erick Hartman: " Hold my beer "
Hans-Joachim Marseille: "Clean my pipe"
Adolf Galland: "load and fuel my jet"
@@timtaylor2427 Günther Rall: "Pull out and polich my gun"
@@teomak8059 Hermann Graf: "Bring me the champagne for my 200th victory"
@@timtaylor2427 Gerhard "Gerd" Barkhorn: "Wait for me to draw the '301' mark on my plane".
@@timtaylor2427 Gerhard Barkhorn:"Bring my slippers"
Great Man, great deeds may his memories never be forgotten!! Rest In Peace Ancient Warrior!! Thanks
Amazing story this should be made into a film 📽️🎥 what a classic this could be respect Colnal Howard 👏🙏💥💥💥💥
I knew Jim Howard personally and had several conversations with him about that flight. He told me that there were never 30 fighters at one time - usually just 2 or 3, but they kept coming for a total of 30 all together. Jim was very well educated and although he actually said “I seen my duty and done it” it was in response to the, by then, countless repetition of the question about why he stepped up. He was just tired of the question and gave an answer that he thought would put an end to the questions. He was wrong. The press figured that it had the right tenure to it and repeated it often.
I knew Jimmy Howard, he was one of my many interviews. Also, for future reference, German fighters with yellow tail band were assigned to the Eastern Front exclusively. White tail bands were Western Front, other colored bands such as blue, red, green were Home Defense units.
he wasn't flying the "Ding Hao" on this mission right ?
He may have been flying his first "DING HAO" with three swastikas and no Japanese flags on 11 Jan 1944. He was flying his more famous 2nd "DING HAO!" by 25 Jan 1944.
There's no such thing as the "congressional" medal of honor.
It's "medal of honor"
That is correct. The MOH is chosen and awarded exclusively by the executive branch.
The award is often erroneously called the “Congressional Medal of Honor,” but it’s an award whose recipients are chosen exclusively by the executive branch. The Department of Defense nominates recipients who are ultimately approved by the president. The History Channel and official Army sites each have sections dispelling the myth that the award is called the “Congressional Medal of Honor.” Additionally, each branch's official awards order refers to the medal only as the “Medal of Honor.”
The idea that the award is “congressional” stems from two key places. The first and perhaps most influential is the presence of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, the organization that all recipients belong to once they receive the Medal of Honor. It is so named because the society was created by an act of Congress in 1958, according to the organization’s website. “Congressional” is an adjective that describes the society, not the name of the medal. Even the very first line on the Congressional Medal of Honor Society website defines the medal as the “Medal of Honor.”
The second reason for the “congressional” myth seems to stem from a line in the U.S. code outlining the award. The law says that the president awards the medal to the recipient “in the name of Congress.” That section of the law, 10 U.S. Code § 3741, also calls the award the “Medal of Honor” on all references. The “Congressional Medal of Honor” myth is so widely dispersed that a separate U.S. federal law passed just last year, 18 U.S. Code § 704, refers to it, but that’s a narrow law that doesn’t outline the Medal of Honor; indeed, it defines it via a series of federal statutes that refer only to the “Medal of Honor.” Congressional staffers are subject to myths, too.
source: taskandpurpose.com/news/theres-no-such-thing-as-the-congressional-medal-of-honor/
@@secretagent86 Hey, thanx for that info. I had no idea.
Thanx for your comment. I learned something today.
That is just not true.
A bit of extra info: According to his book "Roar of the Tiger" Howard actually started as a Navy pilot, getting his wings in 1939 at Pensacola, and was assigned to the USS Enterprise at Pearl Harbor. He left in Navy in June 1941 to join the AVG. (For perspective, June 1941 was also when Hitler invaded Russia.)
I love your Voice, i love your Storys, good job, well done. Greets from Germany / Augsburg (Home of the Messerschmitt 109)
*A friend of mine's grandfather fought in WWII against fascism. My friend was denied admission to a university in America in 2010 because he was white. Isn't it ironic?*
That sure is! But at least he was spared indoctrination by that leftist university's faculty.
Maybe the fight against fascism isn't over.
@@georgesakellaropoulos8162 Yeah. The political spectrum is an interesting thing. At either end lies authoritarianism. Would you rather live under Stalin or Hitler? Mao Zedong or Ayatollah Khomeini? The western democracies strive to live between the two extremes, but it's a balancing act on a knife's edge. The US is currently falling off....
@@truthseeker9454 The only thing that can save us is to literally cut the government down to size. Our founding documents tell us that it's not only our right, but our duty to do so, and give us the means.
Never forget, all these aces owe their success to a Morman gun making genius.
Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for watching. Please consider supporting me on Patreon for awesome behind the scenes videos! www.patreon.com/TJ3Gaming
How did he get those balls to fit in a cockpit?
I could be wrong about this, but I don't think he was flying "Ding Hao" that day because it wasn't ready for some reason, so he flew a different P-51B on this mission.
There were two DING HAOs. Squadron records indicate Howard's preferred aircraft just before the 11 Jan 1944 mission was AJ-X, not AJ-A. I suspect that may have been the first DING HAO. There's a photo of it with 3 swastikas but only the front fuselage is shown.
An excellent presentation and telling of the story. One thing I'd like to send your way, though, and that is the pronunciation of the word "Junkers". As it is German, the "J" is pronounced as a "Y" and the designation, "Ju88", in German is pronounced "U88" but Americans usually refer to it as "J U 88" saying each letter separately. As you'll be, no doubt, covering other Junkers aircraft in subsequent videos knowing the proper pronunciation will help. Good job!
We're Americans - we pronounce things the way we want. For instance, do you call it Germany? Why? The Germans pronounce it "Deutschland."
Once again, you smashed it right out of the park. Great cut scenes, excellent period footage and smooth narration. I always look forward to these types of videos you do. If you were here I would shake your hand, well done good sir!
I hope that you can do one on U.S. Navy’s top Ace Lt Cmdr David S. MacCambell, who almost became a Double Ace during the Battle of Leyte gulf.
That was outstanding, and I'm sure he had confidence in himself and the P 51 . Good report
The number one Marine ace is sometimes said to be Gregory Boyington (Pappy), who according to him, shot down 22 aircraft. USMC score-keeping says that four were grounded with means officially he got 18 (placing him tied for 4th in the USMC). Boyington said if you had to go get them on the ground like he did he should credit for them! (I got a chance to Pappy a couple of dozen times when I was high school (he lives four blocks from the school, and slightly off (but easier) the shortest route home).
Another MOH recipient named Robert Howard served five tours in Vietnam with the Army Special Forces. His story is amazing as well. Were they related?
I wish our attitude towards our military today was how it was during this war. Heroes like this man were praised for their duty and that in turn got more young men to want to join the fight. There were no lazy men for the most part. The media and more importantly all civilian life held our military in high regard!! We should have never strayed from these principles!!! I know there are still plenty of patriots still out there, just not to the degree there were back then!Thank you to all of our servicemen and woman past and present!!
Yeah...only the Americans were ‘bombing targets deep in Germany’. The rest of the Brit, Canadian, Polish, New Zealand, Australian allied aircrews were just admiring the American prowess while safe back in cozy British airfields. Nice of Americans to do all the work....AFTER they finally entered the war late!
At which point did he say that ONLY the Americans were doing the bombing? I missed that.
For some critics.....iHoward¨s plane was a P 51B model indeed with a Malcolm hood. Probably not availible in the game. So never mind....great video anyway. Watched all your vids...put you in my favourites from the beginning. Thnx.
P-51B model yes, but in early January 1944 no Malcolm hood was available for US P-51s, absolutely. Not only - the plane he flew that precise day (P-51B- 5-NA, #43-6315) still had the original older canopy in a photo dated 25 April 1944.
@@francescofissore161I agree 43-6315 originally had the birdcage canopy. Howard had two DING HAOs. He was flying the first one presumably on 5 Jan '44 as it had 3 swastikas (and no Japanese flags) with different plain lettering for the aircraft name. There's a photo. He may not have been flying the 2nd DING HAO! 43-6315 on 11 Jan but photos show it was assigned to him by 25 Jan.
The twin engine converted bomber is a Ju 88 where you pronounce each letter individually (“J”, “u”, 88). Not, as you read from the script, “Jū 88”.
Very interesting. ..greetings from Germany 👍
For me it is interesting to see the American history at the same time line (and the many old pictures and films)
TWELVE victories..... I am very impressed...... Don´t mention Adolf Galland
I can only imagine the hype in the cockpits of the bombers watching a true underdog story
What a great guy - Col. Howard. I was pleased to see that the "Stars and Stripes" article you featured was written by Andrew "Andy" Rooney, the late great commentator on "60 minutes." Hank Grover, former LTJG, U.S. Navy
He didn’t turn away because he knew the bombers couldn’t turn away. He wasn’t going to leave them as long as he could fight and then some.
On a personal note, every kid I knew growing up who built model aircraft, built a Ding Ho P51. I built a few myself over the years.
In my case it was Don Gentile's P-51 Shangri La.
Could you do a video on the German arrow. It was a pusher/puller, single pilot built by corner I believe the I’d # was 335 I think.
@4.00 You stated "the Army Air Force." The correct name until 1941 was US Army Air Corps. After 1941 it became US Army Air Forces. The National Security Act of 1947 created the US Air Force.
Thank you for bringing these incredible stories to the masses in vivid detail. These heroes should never be forgotten. There are so many stories yet to be told. - I was hoping you might do an episode on Fred Ohr (P-51 pilot). He was the only Asian-American (of Korean descent) to fight in WWII as a fighter pilot, becoming an ace. God bless America! 🇺🇸
I'll check him out! Thanks
Luke Plunkett of Kotaku. Aka one of Zoe Quinn's "Partners", had used this photo for a racist tweet against the Japanese Game Devs.
This was a time when Americans loved their country and their freedoms and when Men were Men! RIP JAMES HOWARD YOUR DEFINITELY A GREAT AMERICAN 🇺🇸
Awesome, in small defense of the Luftwaffe, they had a lot of awesome pilots pushing up daisies at this stage of the War. No slight to the Bravery of our Allies.
Sorry to say this, but there was only
one man a one man air force.
Erich Hartmann with 352
confirmed shot downs.
wouldn't the mustangs be using drop tanks on the flight into germany... then dropping them to engage the enemy
Depending on how deep into occupied Europe the mission was, yes. However, there's another complication. The Mustang had an L shaped fuel tank that the pilot sat on with a capacity of 75 gallons. Until this was used, it adversely affected the performance of the plane and most pilots used this fuel first, so the drop tanks were not used to their full potential Until later in the war when there would be time for them to use the fuel in the internal tank without worrying about combat Until that fuel, and the fuel in the drop tanks was consumed.
The Germans thought the American fighter is all alone, but in the actuality those 30 German fighters were the ones that alone lol.
The computerized video should have shown drop tanks under the wings of the P51's
What I want to know is how that plane was able to get airborne with Howard's giant brass gonads. He took Werner Voss' final fight, upped it by a factor of five and lived!
By this time in the war the Luftwaffe pilots weren't well trained and had very little flying experience due to lack of fuel. How would he have done against the best the Luftwaffe had to offer?
Here's another point of view.
"the best the Luftwaffe had to offer" got their experience, and a lot of their kills, during the late '30's fighting against poorly trained pilots who were flying greatly inferior aircraft. Once the Allied pilots began to gain experience, and aircraft that were a better match against the Bf 109's and Fw 190's, "the best the Luftwaffe had to offer" began to disappear rapidly.
At the time this battle in the air took place, there were still some German aces flying over Europe, and the Allied pilots never knew when they would meet them in the air. There's no way to know what the experience level was of "any" of the German pilots he faced that day. However, I'm quite sure James Howard had no idea who was flying those 30+ German aircraft, and I doubt he gave it any thought at all before he decided to help those B-17s get home. As Chuck would have said, "he had the right stuff".
The same thing happened in the Pacific Theater. The Japanese started in the '30's with superior aircraft against poorly trained pilots flying greatly inferior aircraft. Once the Allies caught up in experience and more comparable aircraft, the tables turned.
This is one of those stories that I heard from my elders, but that generation is pretty much gone and my generation, even though we have heard some of these stories,we won't last forever. Thanks for helping keep the history my parents and their friends lived through. 🏆
We need more stories like this. We have lost almost all of our WWII veterans and their stories. Thank you so much for uncovering another hero!
It should be mentioned, that the 354th was the first unit to receive the P-51 in the ETO. I have met fellow aces/pilots who flew with Col. Howard.
I heard he wasn't flying the "Ding Hao !" on this one-man-air-force mission
Erick Hartman was a One Man Air Force!!!
I was wondering when his name would come up. American pilots called themselves "Aces" when they had 5 kills. It the Luftwaffe, that would just be considered barely average. They had so many with over 100 kills. Rudel dd that much with his Stuka. Harman had over 300. Thats a one man Airforce.
This new Ace Combat protagonist is pretty intresting.
I’ve watched TJ for years, and this is one of if not my absolute favorite story. I got war thunder 6 months ago and this is why my username is Ding Hao
I did this one before I knew about C models and custom skins! Haha
Good Video. Major Howard Isn't Mentioned As Much As Some Of The Other Aces. I Would Like To See A Mini-Bio Like This One On Wing Commander J.R.D. Braham, Thank You.
How beautiful is. the P-51!
James H. Howard has 12 confirmed kills, okay, they call him "The One Man Air Force" here. How would we then call Erich Hartmann with his 352 kills?
Call him ' Sir ' .
James Howard didn't have nearly as much time in the sky to rack up kills as Erich Hartman did. Erich Hartmann flew 1,404 combat missions and participated in aerial combat on 825 separate occasions. He was credited with shooting down a total of 352 Allied aircraft: 345 Soviet planes and seven Americans while serving with the Luftwaffe. But notice Erich Hartmann only shot down seven Americans and he flew against mostly Soviet pilots on the Eastern Front who had to draw their gunsights on the inside of their cockpits. He might not have fared so well if he had been up against modern American technology and fighter experience from the very beginning of the war. James Howard was "The One Man Air Force," and you can call Erich Hartmann the "Most Successful Fighter Ace in the History of Aerial Warfare." It won't hurt my feelings... ;-)
German pilots flew way way way more missions.
These German pilots cut their teeth on obsolete, and inferior planes in the Spanish Civil War. They were shooting down bi-planes in many cases, in Spain, Poland, CZ, the Netherlands, etc. before having to deal with more formidable Allied planes piloted by well - trained, granted, inexperienced flyers.
The myth that the P-51 was the first and only fighter that had the range to escort bombers is hear - say and hogwash.
@@Nate-my7je German pilots flew until they were killed, or the war ended. American pilots flew until they had a certain number of victories, were an ' Ace ', and were then sent on bond drives and PR engagements back home....then to a training assignment.
The blending of American and British tech turned the p51 from an underwhelming ground attack plane into the best long range fighter of the war , or ever really
who needs another ground attack plane when the P-47 jug was already more then capable of dishing out punishment and receiving it.
The blending of American and British technology allowed the merlin engine to become another great engine
American Servicemen doing their Job . Great Stuff !
American P51 USAF pilot Col Howard was a skilled Ace.... P51 was the best fighter of WWII with many victories against the Luftwaffe. Much respects from India 🇮🇳
The Germans had the best pilots and fighters.
Yeah... that's why all of Europe is part of Germany now. Oh wait... it isn't. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
@@donf3877 my thoughts exactly
@@donf3877 Dude, the ignorance of people like you is too much. No other country would have won in Germany's place. Having to face several other countries, 2 of them having more manpower and resources than you? Yeah, of course they lost. Doesn't change the fact that they had the best pilots. Do some research, you'll come to that conclusion yourself.
@@fabiana7157 Maybe you are the one that needs to do some research. Because your ignorance of this subject is appalling! The German fighter pilots were the best? Yes, many of their pilots racked up hundreds of kills over Europe at the start of the war, against bi-planes and other out-dated aircraft and the like. However, Germany lost 1,500 aircraft in two months prior to the Battle of Britain. Also mostly against bi-planes and other out-dated aircraft and the like. Not really a "best pilot" performance. And, England sure as hell didn't have more manpower and resources, when they beat the Germans off during the Battle of Britain. Germany had a two to one advantage in the fighter aircraft they would use at the start of the battle. And, two thirds of the English fighters were Hurricanes... a stop-gap compromise between wood and all-metal construction aircraft. Plus, Germany had a 1,600 to basically zero advantage in bombers. Sounds pretty one-sided, doesn't it.? A slam dunk, right?
Germany pitted their BEST, their MOST EXPERIENCED, battle-hardened pilots against England. Most of the English pilots going up against them during that battle started out hitting the sky barely out of a trainer, with very few hours in a fighter. And yet, even as inexperienced as they were, they were a match against what you refer to as the "best pilots" in the world! Oh and, the vast majority of German pilots were shot down with the old half-wooden construction Hurricanes, not by the much more advanced Spitfires. And in the end, Germany could not defeat the British aircraft... and could not defeat the British pilots... and had to call off the invasion. So much for the "best pilots" in the world!
Add to that, once Germany had to go up against fighter pilots with actual skills over Europe, like James Howard, they lost their "experienced" pilots quickly. And, they wound up putting pilots in the air barely out of trainers, with very few hours in a fighter. Sounds like England during the Battle of Britain, doesn't it? Except the inexperienced German pilots were blown out of the sky. Germany's "best" pilots couldn't even go up against the P-39's and P-40's the Russians were flying. And the P-39 and P-40 had horrible records in the Pacific against the Japanese. Your lack of knowledge is equal to Hermann Göring's ego. Way overblown.
@@fabiana7157 "No other country would have won in Germany's place."
That only underlines the stupidity of Hitler and his cronies, in taking on the two most powerful countries, and the most populous Empire in the entire world. The only thing that prevented the complete collapse of the Luftwaffe well before the end of the war was a diminishing minority of
experte pilots.
"In 1943 just twelve Luftwaffe aces claimed 1160 Allied aircraft. The over-dependence on these men was, of course, completely unsustainable." from Big Week: The Biggest Air Battle of World War Two, by James Holland, p249.
Howard was actually an expert, who learned in China against high odds, P-40s against Zeros. When given the opportunity with better equipment, he took advantage of it. Any pilot will agree it is better to get them on the ground by the way. Those bombers were not exactly defenseless you know.
Get your History straight.....P-51 was built for the British The Mustang was initially developed for the RAF, which was its first user. As the first Mustangs were built to British requirements, these aircraft used factory numbers and were not P-51s; the order comprised 320 NA-73s, followed by 300 NA-83s, all of which were designated North American Mustang Mark I by the RAF.[38] The first RAF Mustangs supplied under Lend-Lease were 93 P-51s, designated Mk Ia, followed by 50 P-51As used as Mustang Mk IIs.[39] Aircraft supplied to Britain under Lend-Lease were required for accounting purposes to be on the USAAC's books before they could be supplied to Britain. However, the British Aircraft Purchasing Commission signed its first contract for the North American NA-73 on 24 April 1940, before Lend-Lease was in effect. Thus, the initial order for the P-51 Mustang (as it was later known) was placed by the British under the "Cash and Carry" program, as required by the US Neutrality Acts of the 1930s.[40]
After the arrival of the initial aircraft in the UK in October 1941, the first Mustang Mk Is entered service in January 1942, the first unit being 26 Squadron RAF.[41] Due to poor high-altitude performance, the Mustangs were used by Army Co-operation Command, rather than Fighter Command, and were used for tactical reconnaissance and ground-attack duties. On 10 May 1942, Mustangs first flew over France, near Berck-sur-Mer.[42] On 27 July 1942, 16 RAF Mustangs undertook their first long-range reconnaissance mission over Germany. During the amphibious Dieppe Raid on the French coast (19 August 1942), four British and Canadian Mustang squadrons, including 26 Squadron, saw action covering the assault on the ground. By 1943-1944, British Mustangs were used extensively to seek out V-1 flying bomb sites. The last RAF Mustang Mk I and Mustang Mk II aircraft were struck off charge in 1945.
Please share with us all what you can find out about this Russian female sniper who has 309 confirmed kills in combat.
I heard this story before but never turn down another telling of it. Good job!
Great video but… the P51D didn’t arrive in Europe until mid 1944. Howard was flying a C version with a Malcolm Hood. Another observation is the ground graphics. Winter, not summer.
Nice mix of original videos in with the graphics. Great narration!
hello, the former statement is correct - just a couple small corrections for the latter one.
* action took place on January 11th 1944, those Mustangs all were the original 'B' variant (not the 'C') as arrived in England in the first batch, November 1943. Howard's airplane was a P-51B - 5-NA.
* each of them had the original three-piece canopy, no 'Malcolm' canopies could have arrived so early for the US Mustang. Howard's P-51B was s/n 43-6315 and still kept the older canopy in a photo dated April 25th, 1944. Only from May onward it was fitted with a Malcolm canopy, until it was lost in action on late July by another pilot.
@@francescofissore161According to Sgt Will Louie who was one of two artists who did names and scoreboards for Jim Howard, Howard had another Ding Hao before S/N 43-6315. That one had three swastikas on it following a 4 or 5 Jan 1944 mission.
What software do you use please?
Thank you!
@ 8:24 of video you said jew 88, what a shambles.
It's amazing the aircraft could get off the ground balls of his that size.
That is a great American hero there
Just incredible! The P-51 Mustang is my favorite WW2 fighter. We can certainly see why!
This seems so fake. 30+vs1 and win for the 1 seems like a fake story to boost moral. Guess that’s why he was called a “living legend” he beat all the odds..
6 kills compared to the German Aces that had 100+ kills
Major Howard's ride was a P-51B Mustang, with four Browning MG
That requires balls of stainless steel bowling balls!
What an amazing story of Duty, Honor and Heroism by one American Aviator.
Love the commentary The visual effect was awesome greatest film footage you ever saw . I love the history of WWII men and women in action thank you very much for the service man in the past and the servicemen in Afghanistan to present day
That was not really an original quote: it was a paraphrase based on a 1905 speech:
"Everybody is talkin‘ these days about Tammany men growin’ rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin‘ the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. There’s all the difference in the world between the two. Yes, many of our men have grown rich in politics. I have myself. I’ve made a big fortune out of the game, and I’m gettin’ richer every day, but I’ve not gone in for dishonest graft-blackmailin' gamblers, saloonkeepers, disorderly people, etc.-and neither has any of the men who have made big fortunes in politics.
There’s an honest graft, and I’m an example of how it works. I might sum up the whole thing by sayin‘: ** 'I seen my opportunities and I took ’em.' ”**
~George Washington Plunkitt from
"Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics, Delivered by Ex-Senator George Washington Plunkitt, the Tammany Philosopher, from his Rostrum-the New York County Courthouse Bootblack Stand."
www.historymatters.
gmu.edu
Great story🦅🇺🇸✌🇺🇸💪🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸
Some facts, Lr. Col. Howard flew the earlier P-51B (the P-51C was identical, built at another factory) which did not have the later bubble canopy, his Mustang was in olive drab camouflage paint scheme with white bands painted on wings and tail for bomber gunner identification to prevent confusion with Bf-109s. The P-51B hadn’t its bugs worked out as 3 of his 4 50 cal machine guns progressively jammed, by the end of his 30 to 1 fight he had only one operating machine gun which ran out of ammunition. According to his account, he bluff attacked more than just one fighter.
P-38 were flying to Berlin to Berlin February 1944 with a combat radius of 585 miles. The P-51 D had a radius that was only 65 miles longer. The 9th AF kept kept the 474th with P-38s until VE-Day. Lindberg doubled that distance in the Pacific, farther than either the late marks of the Mustang and Thunderbolt.
Enjoyed the story.. but please stop perpetuating the myth the P47 and P38 did not have the range of a P51
P38 was not a good high altitude fighter, but excelled at long range medium and low altitude combat in the pacific.
The P47 had the same range and high altitude performance of P51, P47 was deployed first.. it was the use of drop tanks that extended both P47 and P51 ranges.
The P47 with an air-cooled engine was better suited to ground attack... the liquid cooled Merlin powered P51s were assigned escort duty ....
And the P51s were cheaper and could be produced faster than P47s
See Greg's Airplanes videos for detailed discussion..
Not to take away any of the Col's heroism, or your research on this story but, this wasn't the first time. Robert Johnson in his book "Thunderbolt!" recalls where one of his compatriots engaged an estimated 40 Germans ... IIRC correctly the radio call went something like this ..." 'gasp' you guys 'gasp' better get down here 'gasp' I'm chasing about 'gasp' 40 krauts 'gasp' you better hurry before 'gasp' they're all gone" ... Johnson goes on to contrast how this compared to earlier when the 56th Fighter Group was still in its infancy. While the P47 is remembered for its ruggedness and ability to engage ground targets, it began its wartime career escorting bombers and did a rather good job of it as well.
You do a good job ….. however I object to your somewhat narrow narrative … the USA did not plan DDay alone ….. there were many different factions involved ….. the amazing mustang was a piece of shit until fitted with Merlin and Griffon engines …. The Brit’s bombed Germany by night ….these discrepancies make your docs lose partiality . That the entry of the USA into turned the tide is indisputable and many extraordinary us servicemen lost their lives fighting the two most evil empires the world has seen in contemporary history , nevertheless the combined weight of the Allie’s had the effect of winning that dreadful conflict . The then British empire my friend although on the wane was enormous, and the war would have continued to be fought from Canada ,Australia ,Africa , New Zealand ……. A huge amount of dday planning was Brit …… need i go on ? And no I’m not a proud, patriotic Brit ( grandad from Tennessee) simply an avid amateur historian of 50 years standing ….. this is a opinion that I have developed after watching
A lot of your work …. Thanks for the majority of your content being interesting and informative
Either the P-38 or P-47 could have escorted bombers into Germany. The Army Air Corps didn’t believe that bombers needed escorting and so didn’t bother to procure drop tanks for these aircraft earlier in the war. It wasn’t until the unescorted bomber doctrine was proved wrong that the USAAF started providing them. That just happed to coincide with the arrival of the P-51. The Mustangs did have more range but that wasn’t the only reason they were used for escort over the P-47s. 47s were a more durable and effective ground attack aircraft than the 51, which was fragile for that role. If the Mustangs had never been built, later variants of the 47, that were coming into service around that time would have done escort duty just fine.
Ancient religion distinguished the power of creation, maintenance, and destruction.... conscious attention (worship) placed on any of those three forces, single minded devotion, a human can kill many (as well as create or maintain many). Worship Jupiter for creation, Mercury & Venus for maintenance, Saturn & Mars for destruction. They're right over your head. Romans were into Jupiter & Mars in a big way, but never ignored Lord Saturn!
Great story about an American hero.
I read james howard book the roar of the tiger during 90's very impresive story from fighter pilot aboard big E just before ww2 became flying tigers using p40 plane then return to america to fly usaaf new fighter .the p51 B mustang which destine to rule the skies of western europe as the plane evovle to D model
Strangely I thought the ROYAL AIR FORCE were also involved and had been for two years before the USA lot turned up, remember 'the Battle of Britain'.
TJ it's the Medal of Honor not congressional medal of honor. Unfortunately it is miss quoted all the time. The medal takes approval from congress and is award to the person on behalf of them usually presented by the POTUS. Great video keep up the great work.
.....that the American Air Force was looking for to protect it's Bombers ( you had fighters) on these long range missions. No biggy, just thought I would let you know in case you wanted to fix that line.
1 against 30 Germans ! A German Fighter pilot from those days would say - hold my beer. The Germans usually was outnumbered 1:100 up from 1944
There was 1 pilot that was allowed to leave his squadron and go hunting on his own during the battle of britain. This man went deep into the third reich to kill german fighters, and come back without a scratch. He flew the hawker hurricane. I wonder how many more kills he would have had if this man was given the legendary spitfire. So sad that britain never gave this fighter what he really deserved….
His name was Josef Frantisek. I don’t know how many times he was an ace.
Total grit.
Spirit of the American fighting soldier
Dude, you have to stop calling them "Jew-88s." I mean, I think it's funny, but you're going to give the naziboys apoplexy.
The P47 and the P-38 both had the range to escort bombers deep into Germany if they used drop-tanks just as the P-51 used The issue was not of range.
It was of choice of fighter, with the P-51 favored over the P-47 and the P-38 for high-altitude escort missions as the P-51 used the same Merlin design that the Spitfire used while the P-38 used the turbocharged Allison V12 engine which was not as well-suited for extended operations at high altitude on the low-octane British fuel used by the Americans in the ETO thus making mission-capability a problem for the P-38 early models, In terms of dogfighting, the P-47 simply lacked the climb rate of the P-51 and the P-38 was still hobbled by compressibility problems in high-speed dives that plagued the earlier P-38 types. It certainly was not simply a question of range in mid-1943, at the time the choice was made to migrate the 8th AF's fighters to P-51s and transfer their P-38s and P-47s to the 9th air force (where they were used for ground-attack missions) and to service on the Pacific front. But in the right hands, in the right environment they were all highly capable escorts each with a unique mix of strengths and weaknesses. In fact for the "fighter sweeps" beginning in mid 1944 the P-51 was really the worst choice of the three and the loss rate of P-51s exceeded that of the P-38 and P-47. In any case, the P-51 was another plane made by another company and supplemented overall American fighter production....they were all put to good use.
A good movie could be made on this topic alone but yes the choice was made and the results came out of that choice.
Just as pre-1943 the choice was made to fly daylight bombing missions without fighter escort in the first place...the B-17 was designed to fly deep-penetration missions without fighter-escort...at the time that it was designed there was only one Allied fighter with comparable range: the P-38. But it wasn't designed to fly on low-octane British gas. Just as when the Mustang was designed, it was designed without any form of supercharging at all as well as with a limited fuel capacity compared to the P-15C and D models which flew escort missions, and when the P-38 was designed it was not designed to carry 2000 lbs of bombs or even to fly the ground-attack mission. Necessity is often the mother of invention and the three types just happened to be capable of the ground-attack role...which many makes were adapted to. Sorry but it doesn't do this topic justice to try to wrap it all up in terms of range...if nothing else certainly the Mosquito had the range to fly escort to Berlin even without laminar-flow wings. The British chose instead to do their bombing at night and limit their escort-fighter requirements to radar-guided night-fighters and for that role a twin-engine bomber could and did do the job better than any single-engine fighter.
The P-51 was hugely successful at shooting down all types of Luftwaffe fighters once Jimmy Doolittle switched from escorting bombers to sweeping ahead of them.
As a rule twin-engined fighters were not as effective as single-engined fighters in WW2. The P-47 was the complete package, being equally effective as an unadorned high-and-medium altitude fighter, or as a more heavily armed fighter-bomber. As for the next best US fighter in the ETO, it was definitely the P-51.
I wonder if a P-38 or a P-47 would have been manoeuvrable enough to hold off so many enemy fighters in the same way Howard did. And it's easily forgotten that Howard flew a P-51 B (or C) on that day which only had four 0.50 mgs yet managed to claim 4 confirmed and 2 other possible kills.
The P-38 came into it's own over the Pacific where it made total sense to fly over water with two engines rather than one, and where it enjoyed more success against Japanese fighters.
@@neilpemberton5523 you have no idea what you are talking about with thr p38. it was more maneuverable than any allied fighter. Its problems with compressibility and british gas kept it from being effective...the former problem was exacerbated by the british shooting down the c47 with the repair kits to fix it on the p38s deployed to the eto...the gas problem was a problem with low octane gas and the Allison intake design...they hàd a relatively low mission completion rate. But they were always higly maneuverable and the only allied fighter with center mounted guns. In the pacific they flew in warmer air with better gas and had no problems. It is that simple.
@@touristguy87 You are the first person I have ever seen claim that level of manoeuvrability for the P38. Please quote your source(s) for your claims. I will not believe you without seeing some compelling evidence.
@@neilpemberton5523 go on and doubt me doubting tthomas
you act as if I'm supposed to worry about whether you have heard what I just said from someone else or not
you worry about that
@@touristguy87 Like I care about you. Stop deflecting and show me the evidence you are so persuaded by. Put up or shut up.
We have some brave pilots also they go up and down in luvi sky and bring down a precious liquid that is love by common folk ..they are called the mananggetty pilot...there weapon of expertise in combat is the deadly sanguth...
its horse manure p38 and p47 lacked range they both had drop tanks. Problem was leadership had head up ass and let thousands of our boys die needlessly by the fesicion not to escort bombers until losses necame unsustainable. They should of got the firing squad after day 2 of not escorting bombers by putting drop tanks on the 38s or 47s same as they did with the crapstang
133 people thumbs down like they could have done better. Lol 😆 🤣 probably soy boy's that we're going to have to defend against the Chinese.