My father flew 25 missions in a B 17, the majority of them before D day. Growing up, he never spoke to us, his children, of his war experience. On occasion I would overhear a story shared with a fellow veteran, but the only direct comments he made were that war is hell, and only fools talk about the glory of war. The more I learn of the history of the 8th Air Force, the better I understand his view. Thank you for this documentary, and the education it affords those willing to learn. Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.
Feeling inspired after watching this to tell an experience I had; My grandfather &his little brother were both P-51 pilots in WWII &had the unique opportunity to fly together in the same squadron. My grandfathers brother Jack was shot down by Luftwaffe over Germany &my Grandfather witnessed it from his fighter. My grandfather NEVER spoke of ANY of this ,the war or his brother in life until a few days before he passed in an Unbelieveable experience that changed my life forever. He &his brother became sudden orphans in their early teens &were all that each other had. Neither my grandmother or my mom&her sister knew ANYTHING about his war experince or really what he even did. Like many vets, it Was not a topic u brought up to him. All anyone knew was "he was a pilot" of some kind&as a kid we finally learned it was of the great P-51 but that's all we knew until Towards the end of his life he told a story to a few of us a few times but was always pretty vague but gave us a little knowledge of what he did. The story made me so proud that HE was my grandpa. My grandma, His wife of 68 years passed suddenly &tragically a few years ago,..3 months later he also had a tragic accident when I found him. His brain was swelling &was given 2-3 days to live. My mom &aunt brought him home for those days. He was on large doses of morphine till the end but shockingly he survived for 16 days somehow? The doctors &nurse that would come by were astonished. We all sat around him for those 16 days realizing we knew so little about a lot of his life. A few days before he passed a couple of us were sitting in their living room next to his temporary bed. I'd sit next to him&whole his hand when I was there spending every moment I could with him soaking in my last chance to see him in life. The first 2 days home he'd soeak occasionally but soured from morphine and usually incoherent; then went to sleep for TWELVE days! That Friday afternoon I sat by his side when he suddenly shockingly opened his eyes& sat straight up in bed ,looked to the sky &reached up like he was reaching for someone or soenthing above him &smiled! My brother ran to get my mom (we thought. He was passing right then) sitting alone with him alone now He put his arm down & looked out the window at the mountain staring off in the distance & shockingly suddenly started talking so clearly for the first time in over 12 days! So clearly suddenly beginning a story like he had just paused from telling someone &was picking right back up where he left off. For the next 30 minutes he spoke staring out the window, never looking away but once. I'll never forget the first few sentences he said; "I was SO damn scared! Not as much for me, but for Jack,.see..I protected &took care of him after mom &dad died &to ALWAYS DID & COULD &when we started in the P51, it was so superior to enemy aircraft I felt almost invincible everytime I strapped in but this time something felt wrong that whole morning. I had just told jack while he was settling in to his to plane to stay close to my side this round but Jack Just laughed &said "sure big brother, see ya up there." When we grouped up to head to the Rendevouz I flew on his wing the entire journey with a pit in my stomach knowing something wasn't right. I had just learned in those first few minutes alone things no one knew or had ever heard, some details we'd never known; that he&Jack were in the same squadron, little of thefamily dynamic between him &Jack, about their life, how close they were. I was desperately trying to remember every single detail &word knowing he could pass any moment. My mom &brothers came running in the middle of his sentence & I'll never forget the look on my moms face &tears streaming seeing her dad that shouldnt be alive or speaking & so clearly. She grabbed his hand & the only time he took his eyes off the mountain he looked at her &pausing his story saying "hi sweetheart." Then looking back off in the distance at the mountain i said "mom, grandpa was JUST telling me about a mission he flew in WWII WITH JACK BY HIS SIDE in a P-51 Mustang& the bad feeling he had. He told Jack to stay close to him for this mission. I tried to act casual and calm to not interrupt whatever was happening! I put emphasis on EVeRY detail, all details no one had ever known&she stared in shock streamed tears. I said that desperately hoping it would keep him on topic &coherent as I knew this was all news to everybody &he could slip back to sleep any moment or pass. Fortunately for us, he continued narrating his story. The detail was vivid &amazing, from a crack in one of his gauges to some flight characteristics of the P-51 &advantage over the last plane he flew (we don't know what that was, maybe a 47?) He proceeded to tell us in detail what happened that day, that he refused to leave Jacks side in the comming dogfight with Luftwaffe, That they lost 2 P-51's in that fight but also the biggest piece of news no one had ever heard, one of the P51s was Jacks& he witnessed his plane get his across the left wing &cockpit by rounds from somewhere, that he didn't see where it came from &coukdnt see an enemy plane pursuing. Described How it was like "Jacks stick just went dead" and the P-51 went from banking to leveling off straight out before starting a slow barrel roll left &beggining to smoke. How he could see the bullet holes in the canopy. The heartbreaking image of How right after the rounds hit he saw jack slowly lean to the left resting his head against the canopy as it leveled off &she began yelling for Jack to bail out but knew he was already gone. He followed Jacks P-51 off the left side most of the way to the ground praying Jack would open the damaged canopy &jump. Said he was looking at landmarks below to mark the approximate location of where he'd land if he bailed somehow. He told us the shocking thought that he'd mentally marked the area below &would return to the dogfight then back to the spot if jack bailed. That he'd considered landing his plane in a "long triangulate shaped field" near where jack would likely land if he could get out. He didn't say what his plan was with that thought other than saying he couldn't leave him alone in enemy territory if he survived somehow? Talked about the fear of what "the Krauts would do to Jack if they found him, about the point he knew it was too late &too low, how he watched Jacks plane impact in a field , the detail of how there was no explosion or burst of flames, just a big cloud of smoke and dirt. How he made 3 passes over the site because there was no fire , wondering if maybe Jack would get out but then how rediculous that thought was as there wasn't much left of the plane. That was when he paused the second time&was the second time in my life I'd seen a tear from my grandpa.he paused for about 15 minutes without a word , was in his own world, not responding to my mom or anyone just sitting up staring out the window. We were all in tears finally knowing what happened to Uncle Jack, &knwoing now why he never talked of the war or any of this, why he never talked about Jack &why he never talked about bieng a fighter pilot or detail. I can't imagine what he experienced that day can't imagine what even the sight of a p-51 or the sound of a prop plane or who knows what else could trigger a flashback or that horrific tragic, severely traumatic experience. A lot made sense at that time. My mom said it answers most questions she's always had.I could see a sense of closure on her face, almost a breath of relief, after all we'd never have known if this hasn't happened. He then picked up with talking about returning to the fight with so much anger &hate in his heart for the Nazis &said he'd "run his plane out of fuel killing each &every one of those sons of bitches!" Told us in detail how he proceeded to shoot 3 down upon returning to the fight &then after the 3rd up above a group of dark rain clouds he returned to the group &the rest had bugged out or been shot down , said he desperately searched looking every direction angrily trying to find another one but couldn't see a single plane. Then on the way he finished using what was left of his ammunition on a transport truck on a road. Said he refused to return with a single round left the when the last of his ammunition was used he thoughtt if he saw a transport locomotive or anything significant he legitimately considered putting his plane straight into the target. Gabe us some insite of what he must have been feeling then. Said he knew God directed their group away from any other significant targets becaue he "wasn't thinking straight"&he had a life he needed to live. Said that experience "changed who he was & would become." about the anger&fierce hatred for all things German. said his superiors offered him leave time to grieve ®roup but the only thing he could think about was getting back out the next mission &"killing as many Krauts as he could", so with no leave time he went back up the very next mission& every mission after that he attacked with a "focussed, furious rage" Said there was no more fear from then on because every possible thought of fear was replaced with a focused anger &desired retribution. Said he felt regret all his life that " the only bully he couldn't protect Jack from was the last time Jack was ever picked on. Then he said "but Jacks close." Whatever that meant & slowly latd back down& instantly back to sleep . He didn't talk again& passed a couple days later. We sat in shock for an hour at what had just happened. That experience changed me forever. God bless all those who serve.
To think that the 8th lost more men than the Marines in WW2, is really what stuck with me. My Uncle who past away in 1985, was a crew chief who flew B24's in Italy, never talked about his time in WW2. He was like John Gibbons, Andy Rooney, Jos Armanini and Steve Pisansos, true heroes.
As a kid growing up in the 60's and 70's we lived hard by one of these old airfields that had Lancasters and later U.S. planes stationed there and we used to play in the old huts that still had paintings of girls and records of Bombing Missions on the walls, and every now and they we'd look up to see a middle aged man standing there sometimes with his wife or son , as they'd come back for a look at where they'd been stationed back then. We'd always engage them, especially me who made models of B17's and Mustangs etc, and they were always nice to us kids.
These men had something that you don't see any more, true fortitude! To go up and face that kind of horror would scare anyone to death. Real hero's one and all.
These lads had the guts to go and face their fears and fight the enemy knowing that every mission could be their last. And just to add, the British lost 55,000 from Bomber Command. The Bomber boys from all sides had it tough, and they did their duty to the full. May they all RIP.
I live in goxhill England where these guys trained before moving to permanent bases. In my mind these guys are absolute legends to me, heroic and utter hero's.
Thanks for uploading the series +violator791, I watched the other two series (for Vietnam and WW2) and was upset to find out that netflix doesn't have this installment streaming. To anyone who hasn't seen WW2: in HD or Vietnam: In HD, they are just as spectacular and have even more content. They are series with 6 or more episodes for each war and use the same exact production style. I've been glued to the various "In HD" installments since I first found them. I hope The History channel goes on to produce ones for other wars such as The Korean war, the Gulf war and possibly someday the ongoing "war on terror".
My great uncle was in the Mighty 8th. he was a pilot, 306bg, 366bs, he flew a b-17 by the name of "Flying Hobo" he died right over Germany. One of his crew became a POW. War is horrible. Peace.
This is a good doc. I enjoyed it immensely. I just wish they could have at least acknowledged the RAF. The British lost 1000s of young men also, were fighting well before the USA joined in to help. Understand, I don't want to take anything from the brave sacrifice of the American airmen, but if this doc was a person's only exposure to the European air war of WWII, that person could be forgiven for thinking America did it all by themselves.
4:20 so surreal. Can't imagine what it was like as flack keeps almost hitting you and you literally can't take any evasive maneuvers to bomb accurately.
I have much respect for all the bombers crews , they carried the fight to Germany When nothing else could reach. Their Sacrifice helped greatly the end the war 1 slug out raid after another, Day or night it was equally horrific, also I have a lot of respect for the German Fighter pilots, they knew well they were fighting a losing battle but still went up and against insanely armed formations and took them on, I could not imagine going head to head at a closing rate of 600mph to attack a bomber group.
BTW I was never in any military branch of service, but would close the door to my business and attend the funerals and play taps at the cemetery. My god, you just can’t thank them enough.
70% of bomber crews didn't reach their 25 missions, let that sink in, and Joe Armanini re-enlists for another tour. The balls on this man any many like him. We will never see a generational courage like theirs again,
My Uncle was a WW2 fighter pilot in the Pacific theater. He survived the war, but like most of these heroes, he didn't like to talk about it. I remember as a kid, I was warned not to bug him about it and never did. From what I understand, he lost a lot of fellow comrades and friends.
I fitted hearing aids in the DC area years back, while discussing what would have caused their hearing loss I discovered many were WWII and Korean war veterans. I got to know many of them fairly well, many wound up telling me things they hadn't talked about in decades or ever discussed with their families. One client was even one of the Tuskegee Airmen. To a man, they all said that anybody who talks about the glory of war is full of shit. You're just trying to keep yourself and the guy next to you alive.
After watching this series all I can say is "HOLY shit what them bomber crews went through, they must have had balls as big as king Kong". Thinking about each mission they had, it seems to me that the stresses must of been imence.
My uncle was on this raid. He was a tail gunner on a B-17 out of Thorpe-Abbotts in England. You can see a bomber from his group, the square D on the tail.
These are all my personal hero’s just for answering the call of duty. Remember, if your having a bad day, think of them & remember they gave everything so you could have bad days & good alike.
The 2nd highest Allied ace, G.Rechkalov , and 3rd highest Allied ace, A. Pokryshkin, all flew for the Soviet Union; all scored the majority of their kills in U.S. built, Lend Lease acquired, Bell P-39 Airacobras.
After watching this and other reminding videos, my disdain for the snowflake punks of our current society burns deeply. If they had an inkling of an idea of what fascism and oppression really are.. Thank you vet's, we cant imagine what the world would be without your sacrifice!
@@rubenmclitz1277 WW2 was exactly the same as every war. Based on propaganda. The only one trying to fight the global power elite was Hitler and the Germans. And the west seams to be on the verge now to pay the price for fighting on the wrong side.
American war industry and man power was one of the greatest addition to the war . The uk and US all so supplied the Russians with war materials. In today’s world we still have to stay strong 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧
It brings pride and tears when I think of the courage and bravery these men that America was blessed with had during the war. May God shed His grace on our nation once more. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
hey there was a war and the Indians lost.. They could have surrendered at any moment and the bloodshed would have been over. Thank you for posting these videos. Well done!
Good doc. Though I'm sure the background radio chatter was from the Vietnam war not WW2. I'm quite familiar with the recording as its used in the Arma 3 DUWS mission constantly.
I've only known a couple of Airmen from World War II one of them was on a bomber Crew, his name was Dink Deussen. I don't know if he was a gunner or what. I think he might even been a pilot because he had a couple little small craft, like a little helicopter until he was too old to fly, so he may have been a pilot or co-pilot, but anyway we owe these air crews so much, we could have never won the war without them! And that took a lot of guts flying over in enemy territory in a wooden and aluminum bomber.
Good god can you imagine the bloody fear of flying over Berlin , 10 000 guns and even if you do get through that nightmare you’ve then got the Luftwaffe just waiting to pour cannon shells into flesh. Those German gunners on the ground were the best in the world for accuracy, they knew to the bloody inch your height and to the mph how fast you were travelling. We can’t imagine in our worst nightmares how hellish it was. A generation of gutsy men and women to. I suppose there were times of high adrenaline and fun to especially once we had the long range fighter cover, letting loose with your defensive guns must have been a little bit of fun. The worst thing I should imagine was your odds were higher of you being killed than not, that is a lot to ask someone to do but they did it , I just can’t imagine today’s generation being quite so patriotic, maybe perhaps they are more sensible.
While those in the West tend to over value their contribution to allied victory during WW2, some of those who believe the Soviet Union's "Great Patriotic War" was the main event seem to resent any mention of non-Soviet loses or accomplishment.
Ironically a lot of the Air Force pilots involved in all this turned around and flew humanitarian flight into Berlin in 1949 when Russia tried to starve the city into communist submission... some of them died doing that as well but they kept the city alive for a long time. Talk about NOT holding a grudge.
The unfortunate reality is this was not a war of armies but a war of peoples. The British had to deal with the blitz and also faced the daily threat of invasion. Churchill determined they were not going to be helpless victims of conquest. If bombing targets, including cities, in Germany was the only way to strike at the enemy and fight back against him for the attacks on London, then so be it. WWII really was all or nothing - victory or death. A shame, but a necessary one.
I didn't make a stupid reply. I made an intelligent reply to a stupid comment. I'll try this once again...slowly. Bomber commands contributions were recognized....repeatedly. Get it that time? They are referenced throughout this film. How is it you are not getting that? So you are clearly asking for something more than that, to which I still say show me the British film that is dedicated to the 8th Air Force. As for reading books, I will school you on the subject of WWII any time pal.
RIP Airmen, RIP innocents ... so many died, so many countless fates, so unimaginable for us living in peace... let's just hope and do everything in our might that war will become just history!
What a great series. May we never forget. And when we as Americans or people of other nations complain about, question, America being the world's police or poking our nose into other nations business let us remember this, these times, the incredible cost in blood and nations treasures and point to this and loudly say, that's why! That's the result of what happens when the balance of power fails to act with decisiveness. Unfortunately I am afraid we will get another lesson in this. When Barack Obama was too afraid to act with decisiveness and simply allowed North Korea to obtain nuclear Weapons. Obama traded a war that would have possibly resulted in tens of thousands of deaths for a war that will claim millions at the least and perhaps all of humanity. That's the price of cowardice and indecisiveness. And that's just the partial legacy of Obama, he also all but guaranteed that Iran will eventually develop nuclear weapons, he also left a history where America has now voided internationally monitored and sanctioned democratic elections, barring the candidate elected by an overwhelming majority of the people and instead appointed a hated dictator as he did in Iraq, he ran away abandoning our allies who risked their and their families lives to help and support us in two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq giving rise to isis, again failed to act in Syria, in fact called off planned intervention in the last minutes leading Syria into years of civil war and hundreds of thousands dead. That's what happens when the balance of power fails to act r is too scared to act. Most times the cost of acting in prevention of a greater danger is far less than the eventual cost of inaction. But with Obama, coward that he is, he didn't act because now when the eventual results of his inaction and cowardice are forced upon us and the world, far after he's out of office. He can then blame whoever is currently in office as a coward never accepts responsibility for their actions r inaction in these cases. What an awesome legacy Obama, way to go! History will judge him as he truly is though. History isn't intentionally and willfully blind and ignorant as millinneals and most black Americans are. History will rightfully judge him to be the worst president in the history of the United States and perhaps the cause of the world's destruction.
You left your race hatred with your idiot comment about black americans towards the end. Obama was a good president and he will be long remembered after the current lying madman in the white house disappears into oblivion
In total, hundreds of thousands of men on both sides lost their lives, millions of civilians were killed, and Germany was reduced to rubble in the pursuit of an unproven weapons system and strategy built around it a decade before the war. Yes, aviation technology had advanced considerably but the heavy bomber was still slow and vulnerable. US military planners thought planes equipped with supercharged engines would be able to bomb from altitudes where anti-aircraft fire wouldn't be a threat. The Germans just turned their very capable 88mm artillery piece skywards and fitted altitude sensitive fuses to the shells.
What’s interesting about this is the main objective was not really Berlin. It was the German Airforce. Going after Berlin forced the hand of the Germans.
In the end it was about out-producing the enemy. The US was churning out tanks and aircraft much faster then the Germans. They knew if they could knock out the fighters the ground forces would likely fall soon after.
To all of our boys who never made it back both raf who flew into the night and the usaaf who flew not fearlessly but with the knowledge that if they didn't the whole world would suffer the men of the day saw and heard things we will never have the misfortune of seeing and hearing thanks to those then young boys who selflessly lost and put their lives on the line for our freedom and our library it's upto us to tell their stories and honor them for our children and many generations to come who Will know peace as a result of them!
F/A old school kicked Ass big time. My sincerest thanks to all military members that served and are currently serving thank you for all you do for God and country.
Is there a specific date associated with the raid on Berlin portrayed in this video? It must be March of 44 but having a date to research with would be nice.
I wonder why they never had at least some bombers targeting flak positions ? Or have fighters strafe them while the bombers passed overhead so they couldn't shoot at the bombers ?
My father flew 25 missions in a B 17, the majority of them before D day. Growing up, he never spoke to us, his children, of his war experience. On occasion I would overhear a story shared with a fellow veteran, but the only direct comments he made were that war is hell, and only fools talk about the glory of war. The more I learn of the history of the 8th Air Force, the better I understand his view. Thank you for this documentary, and the education it affords those willing to learn. Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.
This is the best of the many WWII air combat videos I've seen. Well done.
The actual documentary is like and hour and 45 minutes long. I recommend watching it.
Every day we lose more of these wonderful men. Honor them.
Feeling inspired after watching this to tell an experience I had; My grandfather &his little brother were both P-51 pilots in WWII &had the unique opportunity to fly together in the same squadron. My grandfathers brother Jack was shot down by Luftwaffe over Germany &my Grandfather witnessed it from his fighter. My grandfather NEVER spoke of ANY of this ,the war or his brother in life until a few days before he passed in an Unbelieveable experience that changed my life forever.
He &his brother became sudden orphans in their early teens &were all that each other had. Neither my grandmother or my mom&her sister knew ANYTHING about his war experince or really what he even did. Like many vets, it Was not a topic u brought up to him. All anyone knew was "he was a pilot" of some kind&as a kid we finally learned it was of the great P-51 but that's all we knew until Towards the end of his life he told a story to a few of us a few times but was always pretty vague but gave us a little knowledge of what he did. The story made me so proud that HE was my grandpa. My grandma, His wife of 68 years passed suddenly &tragically a few years ago,..3 months later he also had a tragic accident when I found him. His brain was swelling &was given 2-3 days to live. My mom &aunt brought him home for those days. He was on large doses of morphine till the end but shockingly he survived for 16 days somehow? The doctors &nurse that would come by were astonished. We all sat around him for those 16 days realizing we knew so little about a lot of his life. A few days before he passed a couple of us were sitting in their living room next to his temporary bed. I'd sit next to him&whole his hand when I was there spending every moment I could with him soaking in my last chance to see him in life. The first 2 days home he'd soeak occasionally but soured from morphine and usually incoherent; then went to sleep for TWELVE days! That Friday afternoon I sat by his side when he suddenly shockingly opened his eyes& sat straight up in bed ,looked to the sky &reached up like he was reaching for someone or soenthing above him &smiled! My brother ran to get my mom (we thought. He was passing right then) sitting alone with him alone now He put his arm down & looked out the window at the mountain staring off in the distance & shockingly suddenly started talking so clearly for the first time in over 12 days! So clearly suddenly beginning a story like he had just paused from telling someone &was picking right back up where he left off. For the next 30 minutes he spoke staring out the window, never looking away but once. I'll never forget the first few sentences he said;
"I was SO damn scared! Not as much for me, but for Jack,.see..I protected &took care of him after mom &dad died &to ALWAYS DID & COULD &when we started in the P51, it was so superior to enemy aircraft I felt almost invincible everytime I strapped in but this time something felt wrong that whole morning. I had just told jack while he was settling in to his to plane to stay close to my side this round but Jack Just laughed &said "sure big brother, see ya up there." When we grouped up to head to the Rendevouz I flew on his wing the entire journey with a pit in my stomach knowing something wasn't right.
I had just learned in those first few minutes alone things no one knew or had ever heard, some details we'd never known; that he&Jack were in the same squadron, little of thefamily dynamic between him &Jack, about their life, how close they were. I was desperately trying to remember every single detail &word knowing he could pass any moment. My mom &brothers came running in the middle of his sentence & I'll never forget the look on my moms face &tears streaming seeing her dad that shouldnt be alive or speaking & so clearly. She grabbed his hand & the only time he took his eyes off the mountain he looked at her &pausing his story saying "hi sweetheart." Then looking back off in the distance at the mountain i said "mom, grandpa was JUST telling me about a mission he flew in WWII WITH JACK BY HIS SIDE in a P-51 Mustang& the bad feeling he had. He told Jack to stay close to him for this mission. I tried to act casual and calm to not interrupt whatever was happening! I put emphasis on EVeRY detail, all details no one had ever known&she stared in shock streamed tears. I said that desperately hoping it would keep him on topic &coherent as I knew this was all news to everybody &he could slip back to sleep any moment or pass. Fortunately for us, he continued narrating his story. The detail was vivid &amazing, from a crack in one of his gauges to some flight characteristics of the P-51 &advantage over the last plane he flew (we don't know what that was, maybe a 47?) He proceeded to tell us in detail what happened that day, that he refused to leave Jacks side in the comming dogfight with Luftwaffe, That they lost 2 P-51's in that fight but also the biggest piece of news no one had ever heard, one of the P51s was Jacks& he witnessed his plane get his across the left wing &cockpit by rounds from somewhere, that he didn't see where it came from &coukdnt see an enemy plane pursuing. Described How it was like "Jacks stick just went dead" and the P-51 went from banking to leveling off straight out before starting a slow barrel roll left &beggining to smoke. How he could see the bullet holes in the canopy. The heartbreaking image of How right after the rounds hit he saw jack slowly lean to the left resting his head against the canopy as it leveled off &she began yelling for Jack to bail out but knew he was already gone. He followed Jacks P-51 off the left side most of the way to the ground praying Jack would open the damaged canopy &jump. Said he was looking at landmarks below to mark the approximate location of where he'd land if he bailed somehow. He told us the shocking thought that he'd mentally marked the area below &would return to the dogfight then back to the spot if jack bailed. That he'd considered landing his plane in a "long triangulate shaped field" near where jack would likely land if he could get out. He didn't say what his plan was with that thought other than saying he couldn't leave him alone in enemy territory if he survived somehow? Talked about the fear of what "the Krauts would do to Jack if they found him, about the point he knew it was too late &too low, how he watched Jacks plane impact in a field , the detail of how there was no explosion or burst of flames, just a big cloud of smoke and dirt. How he made 3 passes over the site because there was no fire , wondering if maybe Jack would get out but then how rediculous that thought was as there wasn't much left of the plane. That was when he paused the second time&was the second time in my life I'd seen a tear from my grandpa.he paused for about 15 minutes without a word , was in his own world, not responding to my mom or anyone just sitting up staring out the window. We were all in tears finally knowing what happened to Uncle Jack, &knwoing now why he never talked of the war or any of this, why he never talked about Jack &why he never talked about bieng a fighter pilot or detail. I can't imagine what he experienced that day can't imagine what even the sight of a p-51 or the sound of a prop plane or who knows what else could trigger a flashback or that horrific tragic, severely traumatic experience. A lot made sense at that time. My mom said it answers most questions she's always had.I could see a sense of closure on her face, almost a breath of relief, after all we'd never have known if this hasn't happened. He then picked up with talking about returning to the fight with so much anger &hate in his heart for the Nazis &said he'd "run his plane out of fuel killing each &every one of those sons of bitches!" Told us in detail how he proceeded to shoot 3 down upon returning to the fight &then after the 3rd up above a group of dark rain clouds he returned to the group &the rest had bugged out or been shot down , said he desperately searched looking every direction angrily trying to find another one but couldn't see a single plane. Then on the way he finished using what was left of his ammunition on a transport truck on a road. Said he refused to return with a single round left the when the last of his ammunition was used he thoughtt if he saw a transport locomotive or anything significant he legitimately considered putting his plane straight into the target. Gabe us some insite of what he must have been feeling then. Said he knew God directed their group away from any other significant targets becaue he "wasn't thinking straight"&he had a life he needed to live. Said that experience "changed who he was & would become." about the anger&fierce hatred for all things German. said his superiors offered him leave time to grieve ®roup but the only thing he could think about was getting back out the next mission &"killing as many Krauts as he could", so with no leave time he went back up the very next mission& every mission after that he attacked with a "focussed, furious rage" Said there was no more fear from then on because every possible thought of fear was replaced with a focused anger &desired retribution. Said he felt regret all his life that " the only bully he couldn't protect Jack from was the last time Jack was ever picked on. Then he said "but Jacks close." Whatever that meant & slowly latd back down& instantly back to sleep . He didn't talk again& passed a couple days later. We sat in shock for an hour at what had just happened. That experience changed me forever.
God bless all those who serve.
The fighter Aces got the glory but the Bomber crews (USAAF and RAF) gave the most. They gave their tomorrow's for our today's. Bless em all
what is pathetic is the patriotic blather over what is mostly nothing more than Allied garbage.
@@em1osmurf what?
@@rogernicholls2079 Ignore the smurf he is just a Nazi lover
@@em1osmurf is the poster-child for 'pathetic'. What, Nazi sphincter-boy?
em1o smurf That allied garbage smashed your sorry Nazi ASSES into the ground until you cried uncle. Fuck Boy
To think that the 8th lost more men than the Marines in WW2, is really what stuck with me. My Uncle who past away in 1985, was a crew chief who flew B24's in Italy, never talked about his time in WW2. He was like John Gibbons, Andy Rooney, Jos Armanini and Steve Pisansos, true heroes.
Amen.
what is worse, is that the allies killed 150k, and the axis killed 249k.
SALUTE
openmind1966 Cap off to him ... all heroes these young men...too many lost...too many lost.
em1o smurf Take your Nazi love ass somewhere else. The allies killed enough to beat the Nazis into submission.
"you may forget your missions, but you don't EVER forget your friends" -Joe Armanini
Excellent film that showed from first hand participants what the air war in Europe was really like.
God bless these old soldiers. RIP to those that didn't make it back.
An excellent 6-part series on the USAF bombers and fighters during WWII. (It didn't hurt that Steve Pisanos made me proud to be Greek.)
As a kid growing up in the 60's and 70's we lived hard by one of these old airfields that had Lancasters and later U.S. planes stationed there and we used to play in the old huts that still had paintings of girls and records of Bombing Missions on the walls, and every now and they we'd look up to see a middle aged man standing there sometimes with his wife or son , as they'd come back for a look at where they'd been stationed back then. We'd always engage them, especially me who made models of B17's and Mustangs etc, and they were always nice to us kids.
What a superb documentary this is, and utterly compelling. I couldn't take my eyes off it.
a very well presented documentry, this one showed as many different aspects as I could ever imagine, the glory, the pain, it is all here.
These men had something that you don't see any more, true fortitude! To go up and face that kind of horror would scare anyone to death. Real hero's one and all.
These lads had the guts to go and face their fears and fight the enemy knowing that every mission could be their last. And just to add, the British lost 55,000 from Bomber Command. The Bomber boys from all sides had it tough, and they did their duty to the full. May they all RIP.
I had goosebumps all the way through this, incredible bravery from these blokes.
A great tribute to the greatest generation. Many thanks.
I live in goxhill England where these guys trained before moving to permanent bases. In my mind these guys are absolute legends to me, heroic and utter hero's.
Thanks for uploading the series +violator791, I watched the other two series (for Vietnam and WW2) and was upset to find out that netflix doesn't have this installment streaming.
To anyone who hasn't seen WW2: in HD or Vietnam: In HD, they are just as spectacular and have even more content. They are series with 6 or more episodes for each war and use the same exact production style. I've been glued to the various "In HD" installments since I first found them. I hope The History channel goes on to produce ones for other wars such as The Korean war, the Gulf war and possibly someday the ongoing "war on terror".
My great uncle was in the Mighty 8th. he was a pilot, 306bg, 366bs, he flew a b-17 by the name of "Flying Hobo" he died right over Germany. One of his crew became a POW. War is horrible. Peace.
These guys are some of my heroes. Especially the ones who didn't make it back.
This is a good doc. I enjoyed it immensely. I just wish they could have at least acknowledged the RAF. The British lost 1000s of young men also, were fighting well before the USA joined in to help. Understand, I don't want to take anything from the brave sacrifice of the American airmen, but if this doc was a person's only exposure to the European air war of WWII, that person could be forgiven for thinking America did it all by themselves.
Hardtop Harry The British lost 55 thousand airmen.
Give it a break. The AMERICANS DID "ALL" THE DAYLIGHT BOMBING. WHEN THE BRITISH HAD THE COVER OF NIGHT.
The reason for that is this is NOT a documentary on the RAF!
Night wasn't any easier muppet read some history
@@mikeloghry9521
R.I.P major
Joe Armanini and andy rooney also. Steve Pisansos still lives on. True american heroes .
Joe Armanini passed? no way!!
Damn right old mate...damn right!
@@nucibus , he passed 2013.,
4:20 so surreal. Can't imagine what it was like as flack keeps almost hitting you and you literally can't take any evasive maneuvers to bomb accurately.
Excellent! I'm a Vietnam pilot and certainly understand how each day you don't know if you will return or what will happen. Thanks for the video!
One of my neighbors was a door gunner on a B-17.
Was shot down, became a POW.
I think the machine gunners on bombers were the most bad ass men in the war. Must have been an insane task.
SO TRUE YOU CANT THANK THEM ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for posting this documentary. Some great footage and personal testimony.
Thanks for uploading these episodes!
Excellent story. Very well done . History is .
Bless their hearts. Thank you
Thank you airmen for your bravery and your services!!
Thank you very much for posting that series of 6 videos
I have much respect for all the bombers crews , they carried the fight to Germany When nothing else could reach. Their Sacrifice helped greatly the end the war 1 slug out raid after another, Day or night it was equally horrific, also I have a lot of respect for the German Fighter pilots, they knew well they were fighting a losing battle but still went up and against insanely armed formations and took them on, I could not imagine going head to head at a closing rate of 600mph to attack a bomber group.
BTW I was never in any military branch of service, but would close the door to my business and attend the funerals and play taps at the cemetery. My god, you just can’t thank them enough.
Thanks for the upload. A truly amazing documentary.
70% of bomber crews didn't reach their 25 missions, let that sink in, and Joe Armanini re-enlists for another tour. The balls on this man any many like him. We will never see a generational courage like theirs again,
Thank you for these superb documentaries violator791.
Excellent history about the 8th Air Force.
R.I.P. Colonel John Gibbons.
My Uncle was a WW2 fighter pilot in the Pacific theater. He survived the war, but like most of these heroes, he didn't like to talk about it. I remember as a kid, I was warned not to bug him about it and never did. From what I understand, he lost a lot of fellow comrades and friends.
I fitted hearing aids in the DC area years back, while discussing what would have caused their hearing loss I discovered many were WWII and Korean war veterans. I got to know many of them fairly well, many wound up telling me things they hadn't talked about in decades or ever discussed with their families. One client was even one of the Tuskegee Airmen. To a man, they all said that anybody who talks about the glory of war is full of shit. You're just trying to keep yourself and the guy next to you alive.
After watching this series all I can say is "HOLY shit what them bomber crews went through, they must have had balls as big as king Kong". Thinking about each mission they had, it seems to me that the stresses must of been imence.
Thank you for the uploads :)
My uncle was on this raid. He was a tail gunner on a B-17 out of Thorpe-Abbotts in England. You can see a bomber from his group, the square D on the tail.
For those I love , I would scorch the earth ❤️
God bless every allied man and woman and resistance fighters, for going to the fight and giving the rest of us freedom!! God bless you all! Salute!
i wishi could still believe this
God these men had nerves of steel. God bless them all they Won the War.
These are all my personal hero’s just for answering the call of duty. Remember, if your having a bad day, think of them & remember they gave everything so you could have bad days & good alike.
The 2nd highest Allied ace, G.Rechkalov , and 3rd highest Allied ace, A. Pokryshkin, all flew for the Soviet Union; all scored the majority of their kills in U.S. built, Lend Lease acquired, Bell P-39 Airacobras.
After watching this and other reminding videos, my disdain for the snowflake punks of our current society burns deeply. If they had an inkling of an idea of what fascism and oppression really are.. Thank you vet's, we cant imagine what the world would be without your sacrifice!
@@rubenmclitz1277 WW2 was exactly the same as every war. Based on propaganda. The only one trying to fight the global power elite was Hitler and the Germans. And the west seams to be on the verge now to pay the price for fighting on the wrong side.
A lot of respect to this heroes....
Being a baby boomer, I know if it wasn't for these guys we all might be speaking german right now. That was the greatest generation. Thanks
Mike J Figures that a boomer would post a cringe comment like that.
Great footage of combat
American war industry and man power was one of the greatest addition to the war . The uk and US all so supplied the Russians with war materials. In today’s world we still have to stay strong 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧
what's the name of the orchestra music near the ending of the video?
Brave men! Thank you!!!
It brings pride and tears when I think of the courage and bravery these men that America was blessed with had during the war. May God shed His grace on our nation once more. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Heroes, always.
TRULY THE GREATEST GENERATION...
hey there was a war and the Indians lost.. They could have surrendered at any moment and the bloodshed would have been over. Thank you for posting these videos. Well done!
Grateful that men were in charge back then
Good doc. Though I'm sure the background radio chatter was from the Vietnam war not WW2. I'm quite familiar with the recording as its used in the Arma 3 DUWS mission constantly.
The RAF had been flying to Berlin, as individual airplanes, at night, at much much lower altitudes. Since 1940.
True First raid was several wellingtons after the Luftwaffe Accidently bombed london
Thanks for our freedom down here in France.
Humble respect !
I've only known a couple of Airmen from World War II one of them was on a bomber Crew, his name was Dink Deussen. I don't know if he was a gunner or what. I think he might even been a pilot because he had a couple little small craft, like a little helicopter until he was too old to fly, so he may have been a pilot or co-pilot, but anyway we owe these air crews so much, we could have never won the war without them! And that took a lot of guts flying over in enemy territory in a wooden and aluminum bomber.
What is that violin song starting at 4:20?
Good god can you imagine the bloody fear of flying over Berlin , 10 000 guns and even if you do get through that nightmare you’ve then got the Luftwaffe just waiting to pour cannon shells into flesh. Those German gunners on the ground were the best in the world for accuracy, they knew to the bloody inch your height and to the mph how fast you were travelling. We can’t imagine in our worst nightmares how hellish it was. A generation of gutsy men and women to. I suppose there were times of high adrenaline and fun to especially once we had the long range fighter cover, letting loose with your defensive guns must have been a little bit of fun. The worst thing I should imagine was your odds were higher of you being killed than not, that is a lot to ask someone to do but they did it , I just can’t imagine today’s generation being quite so patriotic, maybe perhaps they are more sensible.
While those in the West tend to over value their contribution to allied victory during WW2, some of those who believe the Soviet Union's "Great Patriotic War" was the main event seem to resent any mention of non-Soviet loses or accomplishment.
The bravest men I have ever seen
Could you imagine looking up and seeing those bombs falling out of the plane. Where would you run?
this was too epic.
MARCO 713Texas I diint know you like history videos
Amazing. 👍🇺🇸
I read some where in a book that the yanks thought the R.A.F were crazy flying at night and the vice versa, they were all brave beyond words.
Ironically a lot of the Air Force pilots involved in all this turned around and flew humanitarian flight into Berlin in 1949 when Russia tried to starve the city into communist submission... some of them died doing that as well but they kept the city alive for a long time. Talk about NOT holding a grudge.
YOU ARE RIGHT ON!!!!!
Can someone tell me the name of that Score/Song at 4:17 5:33
The unfortunate reality is this was not a war of armies but a war of peoples. The British had to deal with the blitz and also faced the daily threat of invasion. Churchill determined they were not going to be helpless victims of conquest. If bombing targets, including cities, in Germany was the only way to strike at the enemy and fight back against him for the attacks on London, then so be it. WWII really was all or nothing - victory or death. A shame, but a necessary one.
26 000 deaths, and a total of 650 000 casualties! That latter number is what I could not get my head around when I read it in a history of the Eighth!
dont ever forget
I had no idea that the late, great Andy Rooney was one of the first U.S. soldiers to step foot on Omaha Beach on that fateful day.
Thank God for the P-51.
I didn't make a stupid reply. I made an intelligent reply to a stupid comment.
I'll try this once again...slowly. Bomber commands contributions were recognized....repeatedly. Get it that time? They are referenced throughout this film. How is it you are not getting that? So you are clearly asking for something more than that, to which I still say show me the British film that is dedicated to the 8th Air Force. As for reading books, I will school you on the subject of WWII any time pal.
these men and women are what we call "the greatest generation".
Decent episode, revealing.
RIP Airmen, RIP innocents ... so many died, so many countless fates, so unimaginable for us living in peace... let's just hope and do everything in our might that war will become just history!
What a great series. May we never forget. And when we as Americans or people of other nations complain about, question, America being the world's police or poking our nose into other nations business let us remember this, these times, the incredible cost in blood and nations treasures and point to this and loudly say, that's why! That's the result of what happens when the balance of power fails to act with decisiveness. Unfortunately I am afraid we will get another lesson in this. When Barack Obama was too afraid to act with decisiveness and simply allowed North Korea to obtain nuclear Weapons. Obama traded a war that would have possibly resulted in tens of thousands of deaths for a war that will claim millions at the least and perhaps all of humanity. That's the price of cowardice and indecisiveness. And that's just the partial legacy of Obama, he also all but guaranteed that Iran will eventually develop nuclear weapons, he also left a history where America has now voided internationally monitored and sanctioned democratic elections, barring the candidate elected by an overwhelming majority of the people and instead appointed a hated dictator as he did in Iraq, he ran away abandoning our allies who risked their and their families lives to help and support us in two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq giving rise to isis, again failed to act in Syria, in fact called off planned intervention in the last minutes leading Syria into years of civil war and hundreds of thousands dead. That's what happens when the balance of power fails to act r is too scared to act. Most times the cost of acting in prevention of a greater danger is far less than the eventual cost of inaction. But with Obama, coward that he is, he didn't act because now when the eventual results of his inaction and cowardice are forced upon us and the world, far after he's out of office. He can then blame whoever is currently in office as a coward never accepts responsibility for their actions r inaction in these cases. What an awesome legacy Obama, way to go! History will judge him as he truly is though. History isn't intentionally and willfully blind and ignorant as millinneals and most black Americans are. History will rightfully judge him to be the worst president in the history of the United States and perhaps the cause of the world's destruction.
You left your race hatred with your idiot comment about black americans towards the end. Obama was a good president and he will be long remembered after the current lying madman in the white house disappears into oblivion
In total, hundreds of thousands of men on both sides lost their lives, millions of civilians were killed, and Germany was reduced to rubble in the pursuit of an unproven weapons system and strategy built around it a decade before the war. Yes, aviation technology had advanced considerably but the heavy bomber was still slow and vulnerable. US military planners thought planes equipped with supercharged engines would be able to bomb from altitudes where anti-aircraft fire wouldn't be a threat. The Germans just turned their very capable 88mm artillery piece skywards and fitted altitude sensitive fuses to the shells.
I've always wondered, with that many bombers, why not send a couple of squadrons to target the flak guns ? Make the next raid a bit easier ?
What’s interesting about this is the main objective was not really Berlin. It was the German Airforce. Going after Berlin forced the hand of the Germans.
In the end it was about out-producing the enemy. The US was churning out tanks and aircraft much faster then the Germans. They knew if they could knock out the fighters the ground forces would likely fall soon after.
Podrias compartir algún vídeo de la Luftwaffe bombardeando Inglaterra????
Really looking forward to the Masters Of the Air miniseries about the B-17 and its heroic crews
To all of our boys who never made it back both raf who flew into the night and the usaaf who flew not fearlessly but with the knowledge that if they didn't the whole world would suffer the men of the day saw and heard things we will never have the misfortune of seeing and hearing thanks to those then young boys who selflessly lost and put their lives on the line for our freedom and our library it's upto us to tell their stories and honor them for our children and many generations to come who Will know peace as a result of them!
F/A old school kicked Ass big time. My sincerest thanks to all military members that served and are currently serving thank you for all you do for God and country.
The GREATEST generation!
I've often wondered why they didn't target the flack positions. At least some of them.
The russians Couldn't even knock out the flak towers during the berlin seige some still stand today
German AA was renowned for being very deadly.
Excellent film. Now I know truth.
Is there a specific date associated with the raid on Berlin portrayed in this video? It must be March of 44 but having a date to research with would be nice.
Nice documentary, but it sure was not in HD.
I wonder why they never had at least some bombers targeting flak positions ? Or have fighters strafe them while the bombers passed overhead so they couldn't shoot at the bombers ?