Excellent documentary- loved it. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the young men who flew their aircraft. They were all so humble and acknowledged the efforts of the ground crew. It made me question how I would have performed in those bitter years. Thanks for posting
After all these years, these brave airmen who lost their life and crashed here in Denmark, are still honored every year at their graves. Peace be with them
The big wing was way too slow according to my grand father who was 23 years old and flew a hurricane during that summer. I remember when I was 12 years old him telling me just before his last days on this planet how much he enjoyed flying that plane and he never told me the in-depth stories but I always respected that.
Marvelous presentation, well done. I have seen a number of these planes at one giant fly in a number of years ago. A Gathering of Mustangs in Columbus OH. A number of years ago, I knew a P-47 pilot in Lexington KY. Jere Wurmser told me he almost bought it in a dive that he nearly did not pull out of. Marvelous man.
The Spitfire is the nearest flying machine man can make in homage to such things of beauty as a dragonfly or a hawk, I live in Hampshire, every now and then I hear the sound of a Spitfire from some air show, it puts hairs on my neck up, as an engineer I can hear the power. I salute my war memorial in town every time I pass it. What bottle these young guys had, it is called Duty, been there. Salutations brave boys.
I've only seen one Spitfire fly [I'm in Oklahoma, USA] but I get the exact same feeling when hearing a P-51 Mustang with the amazing RR Merlin. I don't recall if there was a four bladed prop version of the Spitfire but the large 4 bladed props of the P-51 make a memorable cacophony
You can listen all armchair historians and pundit's but it is the crews, pilots and ground personnel that operated the machines during the war know the truth.
If we seek God's honesty & the uncorrupted truth about ww¡¡, then we need to ask the true Hero's from _"The Great Patriotic War"_ but first we must identify & recognize the Russian's as the party that best fits them knickers.
These are kept alive and well by the dedicated group that believe that that time in history should never be repeated, one might say. Like the 23 T Bucket Roadsters, WWII fighters are the real hotrods of the sky. Jets and turbo prop aircraft are a completely different animal all together. Great video history lesson here. Very well done. My much respect for all who served during that time and thank you.
The war bird era was the greatest period in aviation. There were so many beautiful, well-made machines. It was a time when pilots felt as though they were a part of the aircraft.
Johnnie Johnson I read his book “Wing Leader” back in 1984 One of the four books that travel with me on my person and not in baggage when I work abroad If you find a copy buy the book, Also good reads are Spitfire by Jeffrey Quill ( tech info superb) Sigh for a Merlin by Alex Henshaw And for a change of number of engines up-to four merlins Lancaster target by Jack Currie
RIP those brave souls who gave their lives for our freedom. Freedom to speak all our own languages from Poland to England and all between, so that I personally can speak English not German.
51:50 *I visited Cologne Germany in the early 60's from the UK on my Triumph '21' 350cc Motorbike and on the campsite with a **-few-** quantity of Feldschlößchen Lagers, was having a chat with other similar aged (early 20's) Germans, and one asked have you been to Köln before, I said no but my Dad did, "How did he like it?" - I don't know he just dropped his bombs and said let's get the Hell out of here - They all rolled over laughing !*
I know Johnnie Johnson and (sorry, forgotten the other pilot's name) were part of 12 Group, but that's the first time I've heard someone praise Leigh-Mallory's Big Wing unstintingly. All other accounts say it was usually too late to do its job, which was to defend Park's airfields. Also, around 10 years ago I was in Berwick upon Tweed when the only P38 I've ever seen flew along the East Coast mainline at around 200 feet. Never forget that as long as l live.
I think "Big Wing" was not fit for purpose. As a defensive strategy it was better to have smaller and faster to organise units sent to disrupt rather than destroy, but as an offensive strategy, it may well have been useful.
The research is wanting. It's generally acknowledged that the best 109 was the F and not the G model. The Me 109 G was up arnoured and up gunned to fight the Allied bomber stream , but this sacrificed handling and manoeuvrability.
8:55 That is NOT a bf109 its a Buchon- A merlin engined 109 So how does that equate to your argument about "steep dives" when they both have the same carburettor???
30:55 "They put a Merlin engine in the P40-F " in reality it was a Packard engine so not quite the same... It also lost the nose scoop for the Allison carburettor intake :) So not the aircraft in the video at the point of the commentary...
If was a license built Merlin, but with a single stage/single speed version like the early Spitfires and Hurricanes. Packard also built just about all of the Merlins used in P-51s and a significant number of Avro Lancasters built in Canada.
Beautiful tribute to both the Allied and Axis sky warriors of WWII. Pity about the ridiculous amount of ads, I counted at least 20 which in 5 years of using TH-cam is unprecedented and fcuking greedy too.
I love the P-40 Warhawk series of the P-40's of aircraft even the lesser known Tomahawk which were the first of the P-40's and they were the aircraft of choice for the AVG also known as the Flying Tigers. It's a shame that the P-40's doesn't get any attention from any military aviation historians because the P-40's are the unsung hero in the defense of China from the Japanese. Everything that was in any armed conflict has a story that's waiting to be discovered and shared to the world.
Kittyhawks/Tomahawks (P-40s) were extremely effective in the Western Desert with British/Commonwealth pilots from 1941-43. They were better than the Hurricanes they'd replaced, and very good for the mid-to-low level fighting that was most common over the desert.
@@ryantoole2327 And the AVG flying the P40 tore apart the Japanese pilots, they had something like a 15 to 1 kill ratio against them, and they were flying in combat for the first time against Japanese pilots who already had combat experience against the Chinese, that's because Claire Chenault was ahead of the curve vs other US air commanders at the time and told his pilots not to get sucked into a low altitude turning fight against the Japanese, he trained them to use the P40's superior high speed maneuverability in boom and zoom maneuvers, one thing about the Zero that most people don't know is that it's control surfaces got tight at higher speeds to the point where they would almost lock up, and that was well below the point of compressability, they just didn't maneuver worth a dam at high speed. Years back on TV I saw an interview with an F4U pilot, he said "I never understood why guy's worried so much about Zero's, they were easy to defeat, all you had to do was let one get on your tail and go into a high speed dive, his fervor would entice him into chasing you and everyone knew they couldn't turn to the right worth a dam at high speeds, so once you got him chasing you all you had to do was give it some right pedal, wait about 2 seconds and then give it left pedal and guess who was right in front of you".
@@ryantoole2327 underneath mamouth tiger stadium on the campus of louisiana state university, there is a flying tiger p-40. it had stayed there unknown, unattended untill years later was discovered.
The P 40 was limited by it's Allison engine. It was outstanding at low to mid level operations but it's performance dropped off at high altitudes. Curtis kept building them throughout the war. Many were supplied to allies.
Exceedingly good. Wished they could could have said more about the B-24's contribution aside from the waggish observation that it was "the packing crate the B-17 came in".
If Rolls-Royce birthed a stupendous engine, Packard brought American mass-manufacturing know-how to the equation, perfecting the design and mechanizing production.
120 something thousand between the Americans and the British, airmen. A lot more if you count the total allied losses which included the Soviet Union, France, the rest.
Yea the P39 shot down more aircraft than any other US fighter of the war, but it was done at the hands of the Russians. But they saw very little action by the US, I'm not aware of any P39 units in Europe and the only US units that I know of that flew P39's in combat were in the Pacific and that was only early on, they were replaced very quickly with other aircraft, basically the only P39's that saw action by US units were one's that were already formed and in the Pacific when the US entered the war. The P39's development time was cut short, had it been allowed to finish being developed with the intended turbo for high altitude things might have been very different, there's a chance that the P51 never would have been designed if that was the case, without a high altitude supercharger system it's use in western Europe just wasn't going to happen since those fights were at higher altitudes. The P63 was essentially the same aircraft as the P39 with the biggest difference being that the P63 had an accessory supercharger for high altitude performance, it wasn't a 2 stage supercharger but a separate supercharger that could be engaged once the plane climbed high enough to where the engine's single stage supercharger could no longer produce maximum boost, once the aircraft would start to lose boost because of the thinning air the pilot would engage the accessory supercharger, the Russians were the only ones to fly them in combat but they rarely engaged the accessory supercharger since the vast majority of their engagements were at lower altitudes.
@4:18 Sorry George, as much as I respect the "spoken truth" from pilots of the era, this is utter bollocks, both Spitfire & Hurricane could adjust the convergence or divergence of their guns to the whim of the pilot by ground crew. They set the airframe up on stands to align the guns to targets set at what ever range the pilot wanted 100-300 yards... As proven elsewhere...
In the First Couple of minutes of the video “WarBirds”, I Believe, Showing a formation of North American P(ursuit)-51D model Mustang Fighters of the World Famous Tuskegee Airmen, the First All-Black Fighter Groups, who incidentally had the Best Protection Records of any, going long periods without loosing a single Bomber to Enemy Fighters. Groups and Squadrons of the 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s went from Refusing to fly with them as their Cover to Demanding their assignment with the, even refusing to fly without them. No huge extent to their success, they simply REFUSED to leave the Bomber Swuadrons they were Assigned/Ordered to Protect to the Mercies of the German BF-109s and FW-190 Doros Seeking to become “Hero’s” and Aces”, it was that Simple! But they were Extremely Brave and Courageous in Doing so as it’s extremely terrifying to LET your enemies make Gun, Cannon, and Rocket passes at YOU without doing anything until you can finally drive them off the Bombers AFTER they pass, to do it all over again-Amazing Bravery!!
ALL very brave airmen, but your agenda laden comment does them no service. "Bombers refused to fly with them"? Do you realise what complete nonsense that is? Did bomber pilots get to pick and choose who flew as their escorts? In case you're unsure, I'll help you. The answer is NO.
Looks like Willy's Jeep? Where is the wing-they have it. Where is the tail -they have it. Where is Hydraulic, Landing gear, where is flabby they have it. Guns? Have it.
Respect to all those young guys who fell during the fight. Thanks to the UK, Canada, Oz, NZ, SA and all the Commonwealth countries. Saved the world in 1940.
Spitfire wouldn't be a legend with original weaponry......... it was only after it was fitted with a bigger calibre 20mm, .303 was a terrible weapon that either jammed or froze up at altitude
But remember it did the business with those eight 303" Brownings high above London, Essex, Kent and Sussex in the summer of 1940, so they can't have been all bad.and as for freezing up at high altitude the doped cloth patches over the wing openings sorted that out for once in a dog fight, after firing the guns through the cloth the guns got hot in use and unless there was a significant gap in the firing the guns were hot enough not to freeze. And let's be honest there wasn't that much ammunition to go through anyway. I think I've read it somewhere that there was somewhere between 20 and 25 seconds of full burst to empty the belts of .303" rounds
That and the 2 stage supercharger version of the Merlin that were starting to be fielded in mid 1942, before that with only a single stage supercharger the Spitfire struggled at higher altitudes. P.S., I actually have a friend who has an M1919 Browning machine gun that came out of the wing of a Spitfire that chambered in .303, the class 3 dealer he bought it off of converted the back end of it to the pistol grip and trigger configuration of a regular M1919 Browning but it still has the lighter bolt and heavier spring rate of the aircraft version of the gun which means it has a much higher firing rate than the infantry version of the M1919, and it's a blast to shoot, that thing absolutely rips!!!
"The work of a few dedicated men" rather overlooks Lady Docker (Mother of the more famous tiddlywinks champion!), who paid for the development of the Spitfire.
@@allanswan1548 Lady Docker did nothing but but travelled in cars made by her Husband's firm, Daimler, whose expense account was reputed to be so excessive that it ended up being taken over by Jaguar. Lady Houston funded Britains 1931 challenge of the Schneider Trophy which led to both the Spitfire (indirectly) and the RR Merlin.
High school history teachers should show these documentary's in class... let some of those gang bangers see men not much older them them fighting for freedom and paying with their life
How many important lessons are being forgotten when Dutch farmers are being driven from their lands by the same sort of cleansing philosophy that tried to 'clean up' Europe back then? It is well to remember the fallen: but to forget the lessons of the how we got there, how human complacency and addiction to comfort allow misguided ideologies to take hold and subvert our natural freedoms - this is not wise.
Sherri, I'm sure Time Line meant no offense by leaving out other forces but to try to get too much into less than an hour would not have done this documentary justice. My opinion only.
@@samrodian919 That's absolutely wrong, the Spitfire's could only escort them into Belgium due to their short range. And this documentary repeats the common myth that the P51 was the first fighter that could escort the bombers deep into Germany, the fact is P47's and P38's were escorting bombers over Berlin before the P51 was used for escort missions. Johnny Johnson himself in this documentary repeats a common myth, and that's that Hermann Goering said "When I saw P51's over Berlin I knew it was all over", what Goering actually said was "When I saw FIGHTERS over Berlin I knew it was all over". With the advent of the P47D-15 using the US made all metal pressurized drop tanks the P47 had the range and indeed had already been escorting bombers over Berlin before the P51 did, and the P38 was born with the range to escort bombers that far, so see it was actually an Allison powered fighter that escorted bombers over Berlin before anything powered by a Merlin did it, another myth repeated in this documentary is the narrative that the P51 was the plane that achieved air superiority over Europe, the fact is that honor goes to the P47 and P38, by the time the P51 came along P47's and P38's had already swept the skies clear of the Luftwaffe, the Germans only took off at that point to answer to incoming bombers and no longer roamed the skies of Europe at will.
German Losses over the Netherlands may 1940, Define what forms a full loss and what doesn't. Based on the most liberal definition (including temporarily put out of action planes), the German losses over Holland in eight days of war mounted beyond 525 air planes. You are welcome ...
Ah yes all those thousands of brave women fighter pilots. I'm not demeaning the contribution of women and yes, some died but not in the same numbers as men.
I love it. I couldn't imagine flying for my life. Nothing but respect for the men and women who fought in any war.
Excellent documentary- loved it. I have nothing but admiration and respect for the young men who flew their aircraft. They were all so humble and acknowledged the efforts of the ground crew. It made me question how I would have performed in those bitter years. Thanks for posting
Well said my friend greetings from Maine United States of America.
After all these years, these brave airmen who lost their life and crashed here in Denmark, are still honored every year at their graves.
Peace be with them
Tak
GBNF.
Wonderful documentary!
The big wing was way too slow according to my grand father who was 23 years old and flew a hurricane during that summer. I remember when I was 12 years old him telling me just before his last days on this planet how much he enjoyed flying that plane and he never told me the in-depth stories but I always respected that.
Marvelous presentation, well done. I have seen a number of these planes at one giant fly in a number of years ago. A Gathering of Mustangs in Columbus OH. A number of years ago, I knew a P-47 pilot in Lexington KY. Jere Wurmser told me he almost bought it in a dive that he nearly did not pull out of. Marvelous man.
Excellent documentary!!!! //Lars
Great men, you will always have my respect, thank you for your service.
The Spitfire is the nearest flying machine man can make in homage to such things of beauty as a dragonfly or a hawk, I live in Hampshire, every now and then I hear the sound of a Spitfire from some air show, it puts hairs on my neck up, as an engineer I can hear the power. I salute my war memorial in town every time I pass it. What bottle these young guys had, it is called Duty, been there. Salutations brave boys.
I've only seen one Spitfire fly [I'm in Oklahoma, USA] but I get the exact same feeling when hearing a P-51 Mustang with the amazing RR Merlin. I don't recall if there was a four bladed prop version of the Spitfire but the large 4 bladed props of the P-51 make a memorable cacophony
Brilliant !
I love the spitfire and the Mustang salamat.
Exceptional....thank you.....this shdbe shown in all schools as a history lesson.
You can listen all armchair historians and pundit's but it is the crews, pilots and ground personnel that operated the machines during the war know the truth.
If we seek God's honesty & the uncorrupted truth about ww¡¡, then we need to ask the true Hero's from _"The Great Patriotic War"_ but first we must identify & recognize the Russian's as the party that best fits them knickers.
Outstanding documentary. Am I mistaken but I have seen not a single shot of the wonderful Mosquito.
Thank You for this video which made me dream.
These are kept alive and well by the dedicated group that believe that that time in history should never be repeated, one might say. Like the 23 T Bucket Roadsters, WWII fighters are the real hotrods of the sky. Jets and turbo prop aircraft are a completely different animal all together. Great video history lesson here. Very well done. My much respect for all who served during that time and thank you.
The war bird era was the greatest period in aviation. There were so many beautiful, well-made machines. It was a time when pilots felt as though they were a part of the aircraft.
Brilliant
Excellent video but the volume is very low. Had to watch on my tv.
It seems TH-cam turns the video volumes down, so you will turn it all the way up, so when the commercial comes on it is blasting you!
The Narrator is key to a good Documentary
Johnnie Johnson I read his book “Wing Leader” back in 1984
One of the four books that travel with me on my person and not in baggage when I work abroad
If you find a copy buy the book,
Also good reads are
Spitfire by Jeffrey Quill ( tech info superb)
Sigh for a Merlin by Alex Henshaw
And for a change of number of engines up-to four merlins
Lancaster target by Jack Currie
RIP those brave souls who gave their lives for our freedom. Freedom to speak all our own languages from Poland to England and all between, so that I personally can speak English not German.
You do know that if it wasn’t for the Germans you wouldn’t be speaking English…
😂
51:50 *I visited Cologne Germany in the early 60's from the UK on my Triumph '21' 350cc Motorbike and on the campsite with a **-few-** quantity of Feldschlößchen Lagers, was having a chat with other similar aged (early 20's) Germans, and one asked have you been to Köln before, I said no but my Dad did, "How did he like it?" - I don't know he just dropped his bombs and said let's get the Hell out of here - They all rolled over laughing !*
Respect forever 🙏🇨🇦
I know Johnnie Johnson and (sorry, forgotten the other pilot's name) were part of 12 Group, but that's the first time I've heard someone praise Leigh-Mallory's Big Wing unstintingly. All other accounts say it was usually too late to do its job, which was to defend Park's airfields. Also, around 10 years ago I was in Berwick upon Tweed when the only P38 I've ever seen flew along the East Coast mainline at around 200 feet. Never forget that as long as l live.
I think "Big Wing" was not fit for purpose. As a defensive strategy it was better to have smaller and faster to organise units sent to disrupt rather than destroy, but as an offensive strategy, it may well have been useful.
"What would happen if we'd stick a Merlin in this thing?" Roland Harker, British test pilot talking about the P51.
Absolutely, and I am kind of surprised we went for it.
Hale Brittania!
The research is wanting. It's generally acknowledged that the best 109 was the F and not the G model. The Me 109 G was up arnoured and up gunned to fight the Allied bomber stream , but this sacrificed handling and manoeuvrability.
So it's not the research, it's the *opinion* you don't agree with.
Yes, I have read that as well, good point.
I like all the planes. Love em'. And not just the "winners" but I really would like to get my hands on a FW190!!
So would I, Pitbull of the sky, has its own aura.
8:55 That is NOT a bf109 its a Buchon- A merlin engined 109
So how does that equate to your argument about "steep dives" when they both have the same carburettor???
30:55 "They put a Merlin engine in the P40-F " in reality it was a Packard engine so not quite the same...
It also lost the nose scoop for the Allison carburettor intake :)
So not the aircraft in the video at the point of the commentary...
If was a license built Merlin, but with a single stage/single speed version like the early Spitfires and Hurricanes. Packard also built just about all of the Merlins used in P-51s and a significant number of Avro Lancasters built in Canada.
Beautiful tribute to both the Allied and Axis sky warriors of WWII.
Pity about the ridiculous amount of ads, I counted at least 20 which in 5 years of using TH-cam is unprecedented and fcuking greedy too.
He forgot the free Polish Airforce that operated with the RAF fron England
He's focusing on the planes
I love the P-40 Warhawk series of the P-40's of aircraft even the lesser known Tomahawk which were the first of the P-40's and they were the aircraft of choice for the AVG also known as the Flying Tigers.
It's a shame that the P-40's doesn't get any attention from any military aviation historians because the P-40's are the unsung hero in the defense of China from the Japanese.
Everything that was in any armed conflict has a story that's waiting to be discovered and shared to the world.
Kittyhawks/Tomahawks (P-40s) were extremely effective in the Western Desert with British/Commonwealth pilots from 1941-43. They were better than the Hurricanes they'd replaced, and very good for the mid-to-low level fighting that was most common over the desert.
@@ryantoole2327
And the AVG flying the P40 tore apart the Japanese pilots, they had something like a 15 to 1 kill ratio against them, and they were flying in combat for the first time against Japanese pilots who already had combat experience against the Chinese, that's because Claire Chenault was ahead of the curve vs other US air commanders at the time and told his pilots not to get sucked into a low altitude turning fight against the Japanese, he trained them to use the P40's superior high speed maneuverability in boom and zoom maneuvers, one thing about the Zero that most people don't know is that it's control surfaces got tight at higher speeds to the point where they would almost lock up, and that was well below the point of compressability, they just didn't maneuver worth a dam at high speed.
Years back on TV I saw an interview with an F4U pilot, he said "I never understood why guy's worried so much about Zero's, they were easy to defeat, all you had to do was let one get on your tail and go into a high speed dive, his fervor would entice him into chasing you and everyone knew they couldn't turn to the right worth a dam at high speeds, so once you got him chasing you all you had to do was give it some right pedal, wait about 2 seconds and then give it left pedal and guess who was right in front of you".
@@dukecraig2402 it took a while for the information on how to engage with the o got taught. Thus Resulting in an early war advantage for the o.
@@ryantoole2327 underneath mamouth tiger stadium on the campus of louisiana state university, there is a flying tiger p-40. it had stayed there unknown, unattended untill years later was discovered.
The P 40 was limited by it's Allison engine. It was outstanding at low to mid level operations but it's performance dropped off at high altitudes. Curtis kept building them throughout the war. Many were supplied to allies.
Exceedingly good. Wished they could could have said more about the B-24's contribution aside from the waggish observation that it was "the packing crate the B-17 came in".
Only P-47! - if I had the opportunity to choose before the fight...
*What no Mention of the Wooden DE-Havilland Mosquito - especially the deadly Tsetse.*
sure glad you included Japanese, Soviet airplanes. And a passing comment to the German airplanes?
If Rolls-Royce birthed a stupendous engine, Packard brought American mass-manufacturing know-how to the equation, perfecting the design and mechanizing production.
outstanding partnership, that.
Didn't improve the design but the rest of what you said is quite correct sir
Can I have one of those planes? please...please....please
Wow !
Thom Pattle was the highest scoring RAF, Commonwealth and Western Allied ace of WWII.
Spitfire name says it all
The P-38 the first twin engine, twin tail boom fighter?, Fokker G-1?
True, but they do mention single seat.
120 something thousand between the Americans and the British, airmen. A lot more if you count the total allied losses which included the Soviet Union, France, the rest.
The P 39's and P 63's never even get an honorable mention. Leave that to the Russian documentaries I suppose .
P47 Nor the P40, or F4F planes that were there at the start of the war and held their ground and still in service at the end of the war !!!!
Yea the P39 shot down more aircraft than any other US fighter of the war, but it was done at the hands of the Russians.
But they saw very little action by the US, I'm not aware of any P39 units in Europe and the only US units that I know of that flew P39's in combat were in the Pacific and that was only early on, they were replaced very quickly with other aircraft, basically the only P39's that saw action by US units were one's that were already formed and in the Pacific when the US entered the war.
The P39's development time was cut short, had it been allowed to finish being developed with the intended turbo for high altitude things might have been very different, there's a chance that the P51 never would have been designed if that was the case, without a high altitude supercharger system it's use in western Europe just wasn't going to happen since those fights were at higher altitudes.
The P63 was essentially the same aircraft as the P39 with the biggest difference being that the P63 had an accessory supercharger for high altitude performance, it wasn't a 2 stage supercharger but a separate supercharger that could be engaged once the plane climbed high enough to where the engine's single stage supercharger could no longer produce maximum boost, once the aircraft would start to lose boost because of the thinning air the pilot would engage the accessory supercharger, the Russians were the only ones to fly them in combat but they rarely engaged the accessory supercharger since the vast majority of their engagements were at lower altitudes.
nice docu but its a bit too onesided allied focused and their achievements for the title Classic Fighters of World War II
Maybe you could do one to fix that
It's allied focused because it says right at the beginning that the film is dedicated to the USAF and RAF.
@4:18 Sorry George, as much as I respect the "spoken truth" from pilots of the era, this is utter bollocks, both Spitfire & Hurricane could adjust the convergence or divergence of their guns to the whim of the pilot by ground crew. They set the airframe up on stands to align the guns to targets set at what ever range the pilot wanted 100-300 yards... As proven elsewhere...
Seems a little biased for ETO & high altitude aircraft, none of them could match the yak or corsair below 20k feet.
See part I
In the First Couple of minutes of the video “WarBirds”, I Believe, Showing a formation of North American P(ursuit)-51D model Mustang Fighters of the World Famous Tuskegee Airmen, the First All-Black Fighter Groups, who incidentally had the Best Protection Records of any, going long periods without loosing a single Bomber to Enemy
Fighters. Groups and Squadrons of the 8th Air Force B-17s and B-24s went from Refusing to fly with them as their Cover to Demanding their assignment with the, even refusing to fly without them. No huge extent to their success, they simply REFUSED to leave the Bomber Swuadrons they were Assigned/Ordered to Protect to the Mercies of the German BF-109s and FW-190 Doros Seeking to become “Hero’s” and Aces”, it was that Simple! But they were Extremely Brave and Courageous in Doing so as it’s extremely terrifying to LET your enemies make Gun, Cannon, and Rocket passes at YOU without doing anything until you can finally drive them off the Bombers AFTER they pass, to do it all over again-Amazing Bravery!!
ALL very brave airmen, but your agenda laden comment does them no service. "Bombers refused to fly with them"? Do you realise what complete nonsense that is? Did bomber pilots get to pick and choose who flew as their escorts? In case you're unsure, I'll help you. The answer is NO.
No mention of the RCAF, RAAF, or the Polish airmen who flew for the RAF and RCAF.
More about the aircraft i think as in Classic fighters
...sho, shoré
All these gentleman are now dead .RIP.
👍👍
Looks like Willy's Jeep? Where is the wing-they have it. Where is the tail -they have it. Where is Hydraulic, Landing gear, where is flabby they have it. Guns? Have it.
Little boy way crying 🥺
Respect to all those young guys who fell during the fight.
Thanks to the UK, Canada, Oz, NZ, SA and all the Commonwealth countries.
Saved the world in 1940.
Volume is to low.
I give up.
Nothing wrong with the volume here.
Get better speakers.
@@somebloke13 It's not my speakers. It's the video. I had to watch on my TV.
Apple laptop did ok.
why do these documentaries always omit the french air-force?
JonBain Mostly it was NON existant !!!!
The what!? 🤣
You got me with that one lol. Yes indeed. Where were they?
@@clayz1 sitting on the ground destroyed by the Luftwaffe
@@clayz1 Shot down or surrendered.
Spitfire wouldn't be a legend with original weaponry......... it was only after it was fitted with a bigger calibre 20mm, .303 was a terrible weapon that either jammed or froze up at altitude
AND LOW ON ENERGY,BEST FOR DEER HUNTING.
But remember it did the business with those eight 303" Brownings high above London, Essex, Kent and Sussex in the summer of 1940, so they can't have been all bad.and as for freezing up at high altitude the doped cloth patches over the wing openings sorted that out for once in a dog fight, after firing the guns through the cloth the guns got hot in use and unless there was a significant gap in the firing the guns were hot enough not to freeze. And let's be honest there wasn't that much ammunition to go through anyway. I think I've read it somewhere that there was somewhere between 20 and 25 seconds of full burst to empty the belts of .303" rounds
That and the 2 stage supercharger version of the Merlin that were starting to be fielded in mid 1942, before that with only a single stage supercharger the Spitfire struggled at higher altitudes.
P.S., I actually have a friend who has an M1919 Browning machine gun that came out of the wing of a Spitfire that chambered in .303, the class 3 dealer he bought it off of converted the back end of it to the pistol grip and trigger configuration of a regular M1919 Browning but it still has the lighter bolt and heavier spring rate of the aircraft version of the gun which means it has a much higher firing rate than the infantry version of the M1919, and it's a blast to shoot, that thing absolutely rips!!!
@@samrodian919 14 seconds worth
"The work of a few dedicated men" rather overlooks Lady Docker (Mother of the more famous tiddlywinks champion!), who paid for the development of the Spitfire.
I think you are talking about lady Lucy Housten
@@allanswan1548 Lady Docker did nothing but but travelled in cars made by her Husband's firm, Daimler, whose expense account was reputed to be so excessive that it ended up being taken over by Jaguar. Lady Houston funded Britains 1931 challenge of the Schneider Trophy which led to both the Spitfire (indirectly) and the RR Merlin.
High school history teachers should show these documentary's in class... let some of those gang bangers see men not much older them them fighting for freedom and paying with their life
Enjoyed but adverts every 2 mins
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@@ethimself5064 And it works GREAT !!!! Screw the ads !!!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 Cool
How many important lessons are being forgotten when Dutch farmers are being driven from their lands by the same sort of cleansing philosophy that tried to 'clean up' Europe back then?
It is well to remember the fallen: but to forget the lessons of the how we got there, how human complacency and addiction to comfort allow misguided ideologies to take hold and subvert our natural freedoms - this is not wise.
I wish this woke generation would what he WW2 and respect ✊🏿 the freedom
should have mentioned all AIRMEN not only the WINNING side... just saying
That cheesy keyboard music makes it easy to guess from which decade this docu was....
And what about all the commonwealth airforces???
Sherri, I'm sure Time Line meant no offense by leaving out other forces but to try to get too much into less than an hour would not have done this documentary justice. My opinion only.
It's about the planes.
Read the title of the documentary again. What classic fighter is left out?
Most famous engine of the war? Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Double Wasp
Jay Bass you would have to add the Wright R1820 and the R2800 to that list also !!!!
@@wilburfinnigan2142 Absolutely...
@@zTheBigFishz Thank you !!!!
Without the Merlins escorting the Pratt and Whitney's they would have got nowhere
@@samrodian919
That's absolutely wrong, the Spitfire's could only escort them into Belgium due to their short range.
And this documentary repeats the common myth that the P51 was the first fighter that could escort the bombers deep into Germany, the fact is P47's and P38's were escorting bombers over Berlin before the P51 was used for escort missions.
Johnny Johnson himself in this documentary repeats a common myth, and that's that Hermann Goering said "When I saw P51's over Berlin I knew it was all over", what Goering actually said was "When I saw FIGHTERS over Berlin I knew it was all over".
With the advent of the P47D-15 using the US made all metal pressurized drop tanks the P47 had the range and indeed had already been escorting bombers over Berlin before the P51 did, and the P38 was born with the range to escort bombers that far, so see it was actually an Allison powered fighter that escorted bombers over Berlin before anything powered by a Merlin did it, another myth repeated in this documentary is the narrative that the P51 was the plane that achieved air superiority over Europe, the fact is that honor goes to the P47 and P38, by the time the P51 came along P47's and P38's had already swept the skies clear of the Luftwaffe, the Germans only took off at that point to answer to incoming bombers and no longer roamed the skies of Europe at will.
1st comment pin please🙏
Isn’t it past your bedtime.
Who really cares if you get the first comment
German Losses over the Netherlands may 1940, Define what forms a full loss and what doesn't. Based on the most liberal definition (including temporarily put out of action planes), the German losses over Holland in eight days of war mounted beyond 525 air planes. You are welcome ...
Ant
... no FW 190?, ME 109, Zero? .. Yak 9? Only British & US fighters were Classic?
See part I
@@bradmiller2329 where is part 1
It says right at the beginning the film is dedicated to the USAF and RAF.
A mess
As soon as I hear the P/C nonsense "Men and women" who lost their lives I said NOPE!
Ah yes all those thousands of brave women fighter pilots. I'm not demeaning the contribution of women and yes, some died but not in the same numbers as men.
❤🙏👏👏