I really appreciate this video, my great uncle was a waist gunner on a B-17 bombing oil fields in what is now the Czech. Republic. He was KIA during a flight on The Queen (name of the B17 he crewed) on 29 Aug 1944 near Krhov. A fw190 from JG301 was credited with the hostile action, the pilot of The Queen was the only survivor and managed to evade Nazi capture thanks to the local resistance efforts there. Thank you for the historical context and information. As I am 5th generation US Army, and having grown up in a military household I am very interested in military history as well as my family history, and you have added to that. Again, much appreciated.
Yes, he was part of the 2nd Bomb Group, 20th Sqd. and was indeed operating out of Italy (Foggio I believe). www.2ndbombgroup.org/20thSquadron.htm www.leteckabitvakarpaty.cz/osobnosti/adair/ In the first link you will see a diagram of the flight. My great uncle's plane was flown by a man named Wheeler that day. The second link is tied to a memorial that is located near the crash site (english translation is further down the page).
woof! the losses for JG 301 are frankly astounding. Though I do wonder how the squadrons equipped with Do217s, Ju88s and Bf110s and Me 410s did in comparison?
Keep in mind that the pilots of JG 301 primarily came from the ranks of bomber pilots, heavy fighter pilots, and flight instructors, people that would've had experience in blind flying but not with something that flies like a single-engined fighter, not to mention the influx of untrained rookies later on in the war (the best pilots in the Wilde Sau squadrons seem to have been assigned to Hermann's JG 300). A lot of their casualties can be attributed to this inexperience, among other factors, though I would imagine a lot of the take-off and landing accidents were suffered by those in 109s - the narrow undercarriage caused enough accidents that there were times when more of them were being written off from crashes than lost to battle damage, and that was during DAYTIME operations (a similar problem was experienced by Spitfire pilots in 1940-1941 when they were sometimes used at night due to a shortage of dedicated night fighters in the RAF's inventory). By comparison, the dedicated night fighter squadrons were trained from the start as night fighter pilots and primarily flew twin-engined aircraft that they were already used to flying by the time they first went into combat (or at least that was ideal - late in the war, experienced pilots were a luxury that not many units had anymore).
Mmm, considering the average Bf109 pilot trained after spring of 44 wasn't taught how to tricycle land, I doubt that'd help much either. Although I do wonder what portion of JG301's casualties could be claimed by nightfighter Mosquitos?
in 1945 they basically put everyone in a plane that knew how to fly and gave everyone a gun that knows how to pull a trigger pretty much. id assume most of the losses are from the time towards the end. its definitly not the fault of the planes.
High casualties and fuel shortages meant German pilot training programmes were reduced in length and in 1944-5 many were barely capable of taking off and landing. The 109 was trickier in this regard than the FW190, which had wider undercarriage.
Great video Bismarck! Even though its a topic I'm very interested in, you gave a lot of information I had never known. The Il-2 footage is really good too
Willi Reschke was the best soldier from WW2, greetings from Tabor (Czech republic), from the piece of land, where Willi Reschke jumped from his burned plane. (Battle of Tábor and Jindřichohradecko)
12 from 650 may not sound like much but at that rate a Bomber Command would have only a 57% chance of surviving an initial tour of 'Ops'. Put another way, it would have taken about 5 months for Bomber Command to lose around 50% of its aircraft (assuming no replacements). The debut of 'Wilde Sau' caused a 1.8% loss rate. The overall Bomber Command losses per sortie for aircraft, averaged over the whole war, was 2.3%. 45% of Bomber Command Aircrew did not survive the war.
Very interesting video. I had once a chance to listen two German night fighter pilots, Peter Spoden and Klaus Scheer, talk about Wilde Sau and Zahme Sau tactics. Very nice gentlemen with interesting stories about their experiences during and after the war.
Yeees! Well,you see,i am from Zagreb(Croatia),and for all y'all who don't know,that was Austro-Hungary like,totally. Only foreign terms and words we got more than Turkish,are German. My great-grandfather said that Austro-Hungary was the best-organised state in the world. And you know what? He was right. As for the videos,i can see that the guy knows his WW2 air war. I am into that deeply since i was a kid. One of the shelfs with my model planes was for Luftwaffe aircraft only. They made the best aircraft in the world,Germans did. Fw 190A,F,and G,He 219,Me 262,Ju 88,Kurt Tank's Ta 152H...too name just couple of them. I love the train-busting Junkers 88's,awesome stuff. Hals und Beinbruch!
Thank you again Bismarck for the video, it was as usual very informative, well presented but overall I never realised the sacrifice that those young men made. Even though I live in the UK but am an Irish citizen I think we all can try to imagine what it must have been like for those men of the Luftwaffe to scramble and meet up with these hordes of bombers with their fighter escort's. I have nothing but respect and admiration for those young men regardless of the political climate at the time with how they carried out what must have seen to them as suicide missions, daily/nightly against overwhelming odds. I don't mean to come across as trite or a Neo-Nazi, but I salute those men for the bravery they showed day after day, week after week and month after month. On a more positive note thank you for your videos about IL2 and other sims such as DCS, which I went out and bought Flaming Cliff's 3 as you've helped me no end in getting back into flight sims after a 10 year hiatus from playing them. So from the bottom of my heard I thank you Bismarck. oh and hopefully I'll see you in the sky so hals und beinbruch
I got to know the night fighting ace Günther Bahr in my youth. Always knew he was a crazy guy. But apparently, he had to be even more crazy than I thought. Great video! :-)
My great grandpa was a squadron leader in the Luftwaffe. He flew in a Focke-wulf 190 and was very honorable, he will always respect the art of war and he and his squadron never shoot down heavily damaged aircraft and downed pilots. He served in the western front.
Why never shoot down a heavily damaged plane. What if you are fighter and you are shooting at a bomber that is bombing your city. You notice that you have almost destroyed the bomber. Do you just stop shooting because of honor if every fighter pilot did that they would all be useless. Never wanted to get to a moment where i had to quote a videogame but "stand on the ashes of a million dead souls and ask them if honor matters". Every bomber he doesnt shoot down is another bomber destroying his country. Altough i do respect men who fight with honor i do not think you shouldn't shoot at crippled planes.
While the "Wilde Sau" tactics were a logical first reaction to "Window", the later implemented " Zahme Sau" (Tame Boar) tactics were far more efficient, as regular night fighters followed the bomber streams to and from the targets and used radar guiding equipment and upward firing cannon to locate and shoot down RAF bombers.
I still remember reading decades ago about one Schrage Musik ME110 destroyed nine Lancasters in one night. I bet the pilot never paid for a beer again.
The Luftwaffe night fighter wings (NJG) used a similar tactic for a while, called Zahme Sau (tame boar). The general principle of that tactic was to direct the night fighters towards where the clouds of "Window" was thickest, and then they used their short range on-board radar to find and shoot down the bombers. Of course, the British could drop other lengths of foil to disturb also that radar, so results were mixed at best.
Great video I hope u will make a video on "Schräge Musik" and other night fighter tactics! It is whole topic in itself.Introduced in May 1943 "Schräge Musik" was German for upward-firing automatic guns mounted in night fighters, e.g. Ju88 and Me110. It was used to attack Allied bombers from below, outside the crew's usual field of vision. Mostly used at night, "schräge musik" often caught the British bomber crews by surprise. Otherwise, "Schräge Musik" was 1940s German "slang" for "off-tune music".
Hey Bismarck, there is a really good book about a Canadian bomber pilot called 'A Thousand Shall Fall' by Murray Peden. He starts off by flying Stirlings, but later transfers to No.100 bomber support group flying an RAF B-17 at night. They were the electronic countermeasures crew. It gets very interesting from here on. Oh, and the story where his best friend peddles over drunk to a dates house is an unfolding horror.
I love your videos, Bismarck. So well researched and informative. Could you do a video on why, when pilots looked straight ahead, the gun sights were often not in the middle but a little to the side?
You should do a video on night fighter radar! Either use or development- It's a fascinating subject and somehow not a lot of information about it has gotten online.
German weapons designer, "I have a great idea. I want to develop a flak shell that will explode when it senses an airplane is nearby." His boss, "So how do we sell this idea to Hitler? Designer, "Simple. We call it a wonder weapon. He likes wonder weapons." You did not cover that they built a special fighter that mounted a cannon behind the pilot. It was angled upwards and was very effective as the Landcasters had no belly guns. I used CC and I learned a new language.
Two important points are missed here: 1. Number of aircraft lost on either side is not as important as human casualties, because replacing dispensable warplanes is much easier than finding qualified replacement personnel. Accordingly, combined JG 301 and JG 302 casualties of 515 fighter pilots killed, injured or missing against total Allied casualties of 3,659 crewmen lost indicates a clear Luftwaffe success, especially when additional Allied losses from ground fire are factored in. (2) Negating the effectiveness of Anglo-American bomber raids did not require destroying a large percentage of attacking aircraft; merely disrupting bomber formation flying was usually sufficient for spoiling accuracy. Typical instances occurred in USAAF operations against Sophia, in spring 1943, when their bombs often went wide of the entire city to fall harmlessly in farmers fields, due to vigorous German-Bulgarian defense. Moreover, the entire Allied bomber campaign was revealed as a failure in congressional studies conducted after the war. Many continental Europeans died in the raids and cultural treasures were lost, but Axis war production was never crippled. For example, more Me.109s rolled off underground factories during late 1944 than at any other period in the conflict.
Yes, and Germany won the war....you just don't get it, do you. None are so blind as they who cherry pick their history. The allies won the war strategically by using all arms to contribute to the victory, effectiveness or lack thereof in certain areas still eroded the German war effort. Axis war production was a joke even when they finally decided to go on a war footing. Slave labor produced a shoddy product. And the Germans were losing pilots they could not replace.
- p. S. I just double checked and a Lancaster 4 engine bomber had a 7 man crew. So... 329 pow, killed crewmen? At nearly most? If the first tallied kills by the 2 squadrons were all Lancaster bombers then that's an enemy casualty rate at least 10 each. 47 x 10 470 killed or captured crews is an achievement if your not getting any! Even including mosquitos, beaufighters, and any American planes used in they're raids, that's at least 4 crew per plane kill. Thanks for the vid!
Great Video as ever Bismarck...could you also do one on the Radar which was attached to fighters later in the war....and talk a little about "Scrage Musik"? (Sorry if I spent that wrong).
Yes, U r right, "Schräge Musik" is a whole topic in itself.Introduced in May 1943 "Schräge Musik" was the German term upward-firing automatic guns mounted in night fighters, e.g. Ju88 and Me110. It was used to attack Allied bombers from below, outside the crew's usual field of vision. Mostly used at night, "schräge musik" often caught the British bomber crews by surprise. The word "Schräge Musik" was 1940s German "slang" for "off-tune music".
Okay....Yesterday, I was taking down from the upper shelf of my kitchen closet an openend package with delicious "rum balls" ...krssshh...a handful chocolate sprinkels right in the open salt package below...I get what you mean.....Wilde Sau in my kitchen....^^
"Wilde Sau" was no night fighter taktik, it was a "taktik" by daylight. "Wilde Sau" means attacking Allied Bomber over the bombing tarfet under own anti-aircraft fire.
Hi Bismark. Could you pls tell me what is the name of the air combat simulstor game that is often displayed in your vid? I would like to play it. Your vids are very intresting and educational and entertaining. Thank you
To any history nuts out there. I'm looking to find out the name of a german fighter pilot who died May 31.1944? Is there a organization I might contact? Any help would be great?
could you do something on US long range interceptors/night fighters like the P38 (in that role not as escort) and P61 in pacific or ETO probably pacific might be better but whatever you know your stiff better than I do. this is a topic rarely covered like UK night fighters.
9:26 How many of those kills were confirmed? Considering it took place at night, it's easy to imagine that a lot more kills were claimed than actually occurred.
Hi bis I have a question I have il 2 sturmovuc ultimate edition but it doesn't let me play as certain bombers but does 1946 let you? And does it have any benifits? Thanks. Btw huge fan
The video is about Wilde Sau, a Luftwaffe night fighting unit that used SINGLE engine fighters. The video isn't about Twin engine fighters. Theres no reason to mention them.
Interesting, but very limited information on the context in which the Wilde Sau formations were introduced. In particular, there is no reference to the Kammhuber Line and the reasons for its failure. Also, while there were accidents involving the Wilde Sau pilots that was nothing to do with the fact that they were bomber pilots. Bomber pilots were always the cream of the crop; that's just a fact. The reality is that there were always flying accidents during this period.
MIA... So how many of those do you think wound up bellying into a bald patch in a large forest or other area that's been particularly desolate and having almost no real human development or interaction since the war...?
@@visionist7 because today's the day the teddy bears had their piiiiiicnic I especially loved it when Bart simpson was singing that at Moe's tavern in one episode to the cheerful drunken lot who gathered to hear bart perform at the behest of an ignorant moe who had no idea yet that bart was prank calling him all this time
Can you elaborate on the "typical German problem of logistics and responsibilities" ?? Is it more political/Nazi party related or German cultural (bad) organisation?
It's different whether you're winning and losing, and its a difference whether you send grown trained men to war or put 16 year old glider pilots in jet fighters. Also being so hopelessly outnumbered and undereqipped and underfueled must have been depressing. Obviously war in general is shit,butome of it is more depressing.
Pretty much every airforce (with the exception of the americans I guess) was in that position at some time and place during the war. British during the battle of Britain and in south east Asia, Soviet pilots during and after Barbarossa and the Japanese when kamikaze attacks became more or less mandatory for new and inexperienced pilots. I don't know how many pilots and crew died world wide during WW2, but just over western Europe, I believe the numbers are over 250.000 (all sides combined). Enough to make you cry.
I am the last dude in the world to give lessons regarding youtube audio, but I feel like you could benefit from a different audio mix or mic for these MHV-like videos. When you do your videogame videos it sounds perfect, I don't know what makes it sound different in these videos, maybe it's the lack of a background engine noise to muffle out the ticking of consonants, maybe it's because you talk in a more laid back way when you do gaming videos. I don't want to come out as an audio snob (especially because everytime I tried uploading something with commentary to yt, my voice ended up awful), but I thought this might be of use. To do the stereotypical smoothening of criticism by finishing with a compliment, I really like you and your videos so please nobody take me as an angery dude. I really like to see your channel and MHV colliding, it's really a best of both worlds thing that's going on here.
The British used Radar to fuck the Germans in 1940. The technology (and certainly the knowledge about those rays) was around for a while. Thing is, that the Germans quickly figured out that they just had to change the frequency of their radar to make them quite useless, because they work best when they are exactly half the length of the wavelengths of the radar.
The one's from 1943 are only Wilde Sau, the overall stats at the end are combined over the whole period the unit served. Since Spring 1944, JG301/302 did night missions only by exception
so JG 302 got more kills for less losses in half the time! better leadership? Also noteworthy is the very small number of fighter kills, which I suppose shows the overwhelming focus on bomber interception. Also, most of the newbie pilots at this point just didn't have the skill to engage the Mustangs effectively.
I really appreciate this video, my great uncle was a waist gunner on a B-17 bombing oil fields in what is now the Czech. Republic. He was KIA during a flight on The Queen (name of the B17 he crewed) on 29 Aug 1944 near Krhov. A fw190 from JG301 was credited with the hostile action, the pilot of The Queen was the only survivor and managed to evade Nazi capture thanks to the local resistance efforts there.
Thank you for the historical context and information. As I am 5th generation US Army, and having grown up in a military household I am very interested in military history as well as my family history, and you have added to that. Again, much appreciated.
John Leslie Thankyou for your service
Do you know what bomb group your great uncle belonged to? it sounds like a 15th Air Force Plane operating from Italy.
For clarity, the survivor was the co-pilot not the pilot and he ended up as a POW. I do not wish to diminish his experiences.
Yes, he was part of the 2nd Bomb Group, 20th Sqd. and was indeed operating out of Italy (Foggio I believe).
www.2ndbombgroup.org/20thSquadron.htm
www.leteckabitvakarpaty.cz/osobnosti/adair/
In the first link you will see a diagram of the flight. My great uncle's plane was flown by a man named Wheeler that day. The second link is tied to a memorial that is located near the crash site (english translation is further down the page).
Interesting
"231 kills... of wich 209 bombers, 21 fighters and 1 mosquito" LOL
(okay, i know he is talking about the DeHavilland Mosquito,but i digress XD)
What else?
Military History Bismarkised
DuckSwagington
Just like it.
You should explain what you mean by that.
@@anthonyxuereb792 MAH's Old YT named was Bis18mark70 and I was comparing this video to a Military History Visualised video.
@@DuckSwagington Thanks for that, I knew I was missing something but it just wouldn't click.
thank you for opening a page of history that is not so well known
You are very welcome
woof! the losses for JG 301 are frankly astounding. Though I do wonder how the squadrons equipped with Do217s, Ju88s and Bf110s and Me 410s did in comparison?
Keep in mind that the pilots of JG 301 primarily came from the ranks of bomber pilots, heavy fighter pilots, and flight instructors, people that would've had experience in blind flying but not with something that flies like a single-engined fighter, not to mention the influx of untrained rookies later on in the war (the best pilots in the Wilde Sau squadrons seem to have been assigned to Hermann's JG 300). A lot of their casualties can be attributed to this inexperience, among other factors, though I would imagine a lot of the take-off and landing accidents were suffered by those in 109s - the narrow undercarriage caused enough accidents that there were times when more of them were being written off from crashes than lost to battle damage, and that was during DAYTIME operations (a similar problem was experienced by Spitfire pilots in 1940-1941 when they were sometimes used at night due to a shortage of dedicated night fighters in the RAF's inventory).
By comparison, the dedicated night fighter squadrons were trained from the start as night fighter pilots and primarily flew twin-engined aircraft that they were already used to flying by the time they first went into combat (or at least that was ideal - late in the war, experienced pilots were a luxury that not many units had anymore).
Mmm, considering the average Bf109 pilot trained after spring of 44 wasn't taught how to tricycle land, I doubt that'd help much either. Although I do wonder what portion of JG301's casualties could be claimed by nightfighter Mosquitos?
in 1945 they basically put everyone in a plane that knew how to fly and gave everyone a gun that knows how to pull a trigger pretty much. id assume most of the losses are from the time towards the end. its definitly not the fault of the planes.
High casualties and fuel shortages meant German pilot training programmes were reduced in length and in 1944-5 many were barely capable of taking off and landing. The 109 was trickier in this regard than the FW190, which had wider undercarriage.
And the Heinkel He-219 Owl.
Great video Bismarck! Even though its a topic I'm very interested in, you gave a lot of information I had never known. The Il-2 footage is really good too
Thank you :)
I always enjoy these videos, primarily because I actually learn stuff, more often then not, new stuff.
1:20 Flying through bombs. That was epic.
Woah, wait just a goddamn second, I totally thought I was watching a Military History Visualized video.
Good job, nice documentary.
Good summary of my farthers tactics. Nice presentation of facts and numbers
You do amazing stuff Bismarck, rarely do I watch my subscriptions 100% but every video you release interests me.
Willi Reschke was the best soldier from WW2, greetings from Tabor (Czech republic), from the piece of land, where Willi Reschke jumped from his burned plane. (Battle of Tábor and Jindřichohradecko)
12 from 650 may not sound like much but at that rate a Bomber Command would have only a 57% chance of surviving an initial tour of 'Ops'. Put another way, it would have taken about 5 months for Bomber Command to lose around 50% of its aircraft (assuming no replacements).
The debut of 'Wilde Sau' caused a 1.8% loss rate. The overall Bomber Command losses per sortie for aircraft, averaged over the whole war, was 2.3%. 45% of Bomber Command Aircrew did not survive the war.
It's not much. You are playing at "fuzzy math".
Yeah my JG300/301 boys getting some love!
Thanks for that.
Great information.
The fact you flew THROUGH the bombs at 1:20 has me questioning people whenever they say they have skill
Very interesting video. I had once a chance to listen two German night fighter pilots, Peter Spoden and Klaus Scheer, talk about Wilde Sau and Zahme Sau tactics. Very nice gentlemen with interesting stories about their experiences during and after the war.
Yeees! Well,you see,i am from Zagreb(Croatia),and for all y'all who don't know,that was Austro-Hungary like,totally. Only foreign terms and words we got more than Turkish,are German. My great-grandfather said that Austro-Hungary was the best-organised state in the world. And you know what? He was right.
As for the videos,i can see that the guy knows his WW2 air war. I am into that deeply since i was a kid. One of the shelfs with my model planes was for Luftwaffe aircraft only. They made the best aircraft in the world,Germans did. Fw 190A,F,and G,He 219,Me 262,Ju 88,Kurt Tank's Ta 152H...too name just couple of them. I love the train-busting Junkers 88's,awesome stuff. Hals und Beinbruch!
Thank you again Bismarck for the video, it was as usual very informative, well presented but overall I never realised the sacrifice that those young men made. Even though I live in the UK but am an Irish citizen I think we all can try to imagine what it must have been like for those men of the Luftwaffe to scramble and meet up with these hordes of bombers with their fighter escort's. I have nothing but respect and admiration for those young men regardless of the political climate at the time with how they carried out what must have seen to them as suicide missions, daily/nightly against overwhelming odds. I don't mean to come across as trite or a Neo-Nazi, but I salute those men for the bravery they showed day after day, week after week and month after month.
On a more positive note thank you for your videos about IL2 and other sims such as DCS, which I went out and bought Flaming Cliff's 3 as you've helped me no end in getting back into flight sims after a 10 year hiatus from playing them. So from the bottom of my heard I thank you Bismarck. oh and hopefully I'll see you in the sky so hals und beinbruch
Great graphics to illustrate the story! Wow! What an era of desperate struggle!
I like Bismarck's honesty. He doesn't get carried away by emotion.
I got to know the night fighting ace Günther Bahr in my youth. Always knew he was a crazy guy. But apparently, he had to be even more crazy than I thought. Great video! :-)
Great video 👌🏻 thanks
Thank you Mr Biz for the wonderful history lesson.
I swear you're Military History Visualized. Either that or you really, really need to do a collaboration with him (Or more of them).
We chat daily and exchange ideas and feedback on videos ;)
Either that or all Germans sound the same...
that's "racist" lol
racist?
Andrija Isn't Military History Visualized, Austrian?
I wonder how much lunar phases effected night bombing?
GrimFaceHunter: I thought werewolves were only a post-war thing?
My great grandpa was a squadron leader in the Luftwaffe. He flew in a Focke-wulf 190 and was very honorable, he will always respect the art of war and he and his squadron never shoot down heavily damaged aircraft and downed pilots. He served in the western front.
Thank you for your great grandfather's service
Why never shoot down a heavily damaged plane. What if you are fighter and you are shooting at a bomber that is bombing your city. You notice that you have almost destroyed the bomber. Do you just stop shooting because of honor if every fighter pilot did that they would all be useless. Never wanted to get to a moment where i had to quote a videogame but "stand on the ashes of a million dead souls and ask them if honor matters". Every bomber he doesnt shoot down is another bomber destroying his country. Altough i do respect men who fight with honor i do not think you shouldn't shoot at crippled planes.
@Charles Yuditsky piss off bolshie
billy mays .... Becuase a crippled plane will go down. It’s already going down.....
Menteur
My Grandfather fought in II./JG 300 located at Hangelar near Bonn until January 1944.
Your grandfather was a brave man!
@@shaggygabe728 Yes, but it didn`t help him to survive. That`s war.
@@BerndGSchneider damn. May he rest in peace
Very thorough. Thank you for sharing.
1:20 Damn Bis you were lucky as hell
Schnaufer used the tactic of coming under the bomber, used the dark ground as cover, then shot the wings where the fuel was situated, so smart!!!
Excellent job Bismarck. Looking forward to more commentary videos with IL-2 1946 footage.
Danke ;)
Still love and still playing IL2 Forgotten Battles :P
I subbed to watch this guy shoot at shit and ended up learning a thing or 2 in the process.
Love the videos Bismarck
Another very interesting video mate. Keep up the good work!
Really appreciate your hard work. For a WW2 enthusiast like myself resources like yours are indispensable.
Outstanding video. Subscribed
While the "Wilde Sau" tactics were a logical first reaction to "Window", the later implemented " Zahme Sau" (Tame Boar) tactics were far more efficient, as regular night fighters followed the bomber streams to and from the targets and used radar guiding equipment and upward firing cannon to locate and shoot down RAF bombers.
I still remember reading decades ago about one Schrage Musik ME110 destroyed nine Lancasters in one night. I bet the pilot never paid for a beer again.
The Luftwaffe night fighter wings (NJG) used a similar tactic for a while, called Zahme Sau (tame boar). The general principle of that tactic was to direct the night fighters towards where the clouds of "Window" was thickest, and then they used their short range on-board radar to find and shoot down the bombers. Of course, the British could drop other lengths of foil to disturb also that radar, so results were mixed at best.
That was really interesting, many thanks,
Joe
Thanks for the video. It is sobering to remember that many good Kiwi lads died over the night skies of Germany...
Another fantastic vid
Great video I hope u will make a video on "Schräge Musik" and other night fighter tactics! It is whole topic in itself.Introduced in May 1943 "Schräge Musik" was German for upward-firing automatic guns mounted in night fighters, e.g. Ju88 and Me110. It was used to attack Allied bombers from below, outside the crew's usual field of vision. Mostly used at night, "schräge musik" often caught the British bomber crews by surprise. Otherwise, "Schräge Musik" was 1940s German "slang" for "off-tune music".
Fascinating video on a fascinating topic.
This German Officer You mentioned - Hermann - the same one who came up with Sonderkommando Elbe?
I really like your content :) Keep it up mate !!
Very well done! 😊
Hey Bismarck, there is a really good book about a Canadian bomber pilot called 'A Thousand Shall Fall' by Murray Peden. He starts off by flying Stirlings, but later transfers to No.100 bomber support group flying an RAF B-17 at night. They were the electronic countermeasures crew. It gets very interesting from here on. Oh, and the story where his best friend peddles over drunk to a dates house is an unfolding horror.
Very informative.
I love your videos, Bismarck. So well researched and informative. Could you do a video on why, when pilots looked straight ahead, the gun sights were often not in the middle but a little to the side?
I've seen a actually plane from this wild boar squadron at the Dayton Air Force museum
History channel needs to hire you
"Up next: Dive trucking tactics used by the ancient aliens when transporting stone to the pyramids. And nazis."
You should do a video on night fighter radar! Either use or development- It's a fascinating subject and somehow not a lot of information about it has gotten online.
German weapons designer, "I have a great idea. I want to develop a flak shell that will explode when it senses an airplane is nearby." His boss, "So how do we sell this idea to Hitler? Designer, "Simple. We call it a wonder weapon. He likes wonder weapons." You did not cover that they built a special fighter that mounted a cannon behind the pilot. It was angled upwards and was very effective as the Landcasters had no belly guns. I used CC and I learned a new language.
Two important points are missed here: 1. Number of aircraft lost on either side is not as important as human casualties, because replacing dispensable warplanes is much easier than finding qualified replacement personnel. Accordingly, combined JG 301 and JG 302 casualties of 515 fighter pilots killed, injured or missing against total Allied casualties of 3,659 crewmen lost indicates a clear Luftwaffe success, especially when additional Allied losses from ground fire are factored in.
(2) Negating the effectiveness of Anglo-American bomber raids did not require destroying a large percentage of attacking aircraft; merely disrupting bomber formation flying was usually sufficient for spoiling accuracy. Typical instances occurred in USAAF operations against Sophia, in spring 1943, when their bombs often went wide of the entire city to fall harmlessly in farmers fields, due to vigorous German-Bulgarian defense.
Moreover, the entire Allied bomber campaign was revealed as a failure in congressional studies conducted after the war. Many continental Europeans died in the raids and cultural treasures were lost, but Axis war production was never crippled. For example, more Me.109s rolled off underground factories during late 1944 than at any other period in the conflict.
yes, the most succesful aspect of the bombing was going after fuel production as it turned out.
Iirc, the Daylight Raids were primarily over Industrial areas
I wish they would had produced more reliable bombs so we dont have to dig them up 3 Generations later.
Yes, and Germany won the war....you just don't get it, do you. None are so blind as they who cherry pick their history. The allies won the war strategically by using all arms to contribute to the victory, effectiveness or lack thereof in certain areas still eroded the German war effort. Axis war production was a joke even when they finally decided to go on a war footing. Slave labor produced a shoddy product. And the Germans were losing pilots they could not replace.
- p. S. I just double checked and a Lancaster 4 engine bomber had a 7 man crew. So... 329 pow, killed crewmen? At nearly most?
If the first tallied kills by the 2 squadrons were all Lancaster bombers then that's an enemy casualty rate at least 10 each. 47 x 10 470 killed or captured crews is an achievement if your not getting any! Even including mosquitos, beaufighters, and any American planes used in they're raids, that's at least 4 crew per plane kill. Thanks for the vid!
Great Video as ever Bismarck...could you also do one on the Radar which was attached to fighters later in the war....and talk a little about "Scrage Musik"? (Sorry if I spent that wrong).
Both topics will be featured in a future video. I have yet to work on some others tho.
Yes, U r right, "Schräge Musik" is a whole topic in itself.Introduced in May 1943 "Schräge Musik" was the German term upward-firing automatic guns mounted in night fighters, e.g. Ju88 and Me110. It was used to attack Allied bombers from below, outside the crew's usual field of vision. Mostly used at night, "schräge musik" often caught the British bomber crews by surprise. The word "Schräge Musik" was 1940s German "slang" for "off-tune music".
Is it weird that just by the cockpit, i can tell what plane it is?
Maybe for the next video Luke this could you talk about the Luftwaffe ramming unit thing they made thanks!
9:17 "Misc: 1" stands for one "miscellaneous" kill, not "Mosquito". In case you didn't know and did not just choose a word with easier pronunciation.
Can you please do a video on what your 5 most favourite planes and 5 hated planes PLEASE!
landing a ME 109 at night can:t be much fun.......
Great video Bis, will you be doing one on other prominent Night fighter pilots, like for instance Schnauffer?
I'll be making more videos about night fighters, but I don't know about any individuals for now.
Sounds good, looking forward to it
Second get! Love your vids btw
Hey Bismarck was wondering if we can expect some more IL-2 footage, i also enjoy the history lessons though!
"Like chocolate splatters on a white shirt"
Whut
Take a white shirt, sprinkle some chocolate on it, go out into the sun and you'll get what I mean ;)
Okay....Yesterday, I was taking down from the upper shelf of my kitchen closet an openend package with delicious "rum balls" ...krssshh...a handful chocolate sprinkels right in the open salt package below...I get what you mean.....Wilde Sau in my kitchen....^^
interesting as always :)
Wonderful video as per usual!
Also, is there any chance you may cover the Sonderkommando Elbe?
Desperate times called for desperate measures.
"Wilde Sau" was no night fighter taktik, it was a "taktik" by daylight. "Wilde Sau" means attacking Allied Bomber over the bombing tarfet under own anti-aircraft fire.
"It was only a stop-gap solution and the real solution followed soon after."
I mean, that's great, but what was the solution exactly?
Hi Bismark.
Could you pls tell me what is the name of the air combat simulstor game that is often displayed in your vid?
I would like to play it. Your vids are very intresting and educational and entertaining. Thank you
Sorry if this sounds rude, but the game is literally shown in the bottom left corner in the beginning of the screen
To any history nuts out there. I'm looking to find out the name of a german fighter pilot who died May 31.1944? Is there a organization I might contact? Any help would be great?
Heinkel He219 - Owl
Eagle-Owl*
Brilliant video. Can I ask a stupid question? What software is that for the air-combat?
Hey uhh Bismarck, when was the Indonesian Air Force formed?
Which mods/addons do you use for 1946?
Bismark,
Is the Mossie that JG 302 shot down that of Guy Gibson?
What Wilde Sau Pilot became one of the few guys who flew the 152?
III./JG301 had a few an these were later given the the Stab. Sattler, Keil, Reschke and Blum flew them afaik
could you do something on US long range interceptors/night fighters like the P38 (in that role not as escort) and P61 in pacific or ETO probably pacific might be better but whatever you know your stiff better than I do. this is a topic rarely covered like UK night fighters.
9:26
How many of those kills were confirmed? Considering it took place at night, it's easy to imagine that a lot more kills were claimed than actually occurred.
How many kills were confirmed in the whole world wars? On all sides
The Hs 219 HUH was effective against Mosquitos
what game is this looks nice
Hi bis I have a question I have il 2 sturmovuc ultimate edition but it doesn't let me play as certain bombers but does 1946 let you? And does it have any benifits? Thanks. Btw huge fan
I'm confused. Where's the twin engined radar night fighters?
The video is about Wilde Sau, a Luftwaffe night fighting unit that used SINGLE engine fighters. The video isn't about Twin engine fighters. Theres no reason to mention them.
will you talk about zahme sau?
Interesting, but very limited information on the context in which the Wilde Sau formations were introduced. In particular, there is no reference to the Kammhuber Line and the reasons for its failure. Also, while there were accidents involving the Wilde Sau pilots that was nothing to do with the fact that they were bomber pilots. Bomber pilots were always the cream of the crop; that's just a fact. The reality is that there were always flying accidents during this period.
Me 262 units next?
MIA... So how many of those do you think wound up bellying into a bald patch in a large forest or other area that's been particularly desolate and having almost no real human development or interaction since the war...?
_If you go down to the woods tonight, you'd better not go alone_
Points if you get the reference
@@visionist7 because today's the day the teddy bears had their piiiiiicnic
I especially loved it when Bart simpson was singing that at Moe's tavern in one episode to the cheerful drunken lot who gathered to hear bart perform at the behest of an ignorant moe who had no idea yet that bart was prank calling him all this time
@@kristinarain9098 good guess. But guess again...
Clue: it has something to do with a rollercoaster
@@visionist7 I bet this is something I could easily catch had I not been born with Spastic Scatter Brain Disorder : P
You got me, dah'link
@@kristinarain9098 it's a strongly feminine trait.
So what sound does purple make?
Can you elaborate on the "typical German problem of logistics and responsibilities" ?? Is it more political/Nazi party related or German cultural (bad) organisation?
The fate of the Luftwaffe is so depressing, if you think about how it must have been to be a fighter pilot.
The drawback of reading about war in general, very depressing =/
I think the war generally wasn't much fun for anyone involved.
It's different whether you're winning and losing, and its a difference whether you send grown trained men to war or put 16 year old glider pilots in jet fighters.
Also being so hopelessly outnumbered and undereqipped and underfueled must have been depressing.
Obviously war in general is shit,butome of it is more depressing.
Pretty much every airforce (with the exception of the americans I guess) was in that position at some time and place during the war. British during the battle of Britain and in south east Asia, Soviet pilots during and after Barbarossa and the Japanese when kamikaze attacks became more or less mandatory for new and inexperienced pilots.
I don't know how many pilots and crew died world wide during WW2, but just over western Europe, I believe the numbers are over 250.000 (all sides combined). Enough to make you cry.
I am the last dude in the world to give lessons regarding youtube audio, but I feel like you could benefit from a different audio mix or mic for these MHV-like videos. When you do your videogame videos it sounds perfect, I don't know what makes it sound different in these videos, maybe it's the lack of a background engine noise to muffle out the ticking of consonants, maybe it's because you talk in a more laid back way when you do gaming videos.
I don't want to come out as an audio snob (especially because everytime I tried uploading something with commentary to yt, my voice ended up awful), but I thought this might be of use.
To do the stereotypical smoothening of criticism by finishing with a compliment, I really like you and your videos so please nobody take me as an angery dude. I really like to see your channel and MHV colliding, it's really a best of both worlds thing that's going on here.
"Except for exceptions"
1:39, So basically this where Anti-Radiation countermeasures?
Anti Radar, yes. Basically stripes of Aluminium foil. Still in use today as countermeasure vs missiles.
Robert Boemke
Wow, It's very impressive that those tecnologies are older than I thought.
Interesting fact /)
The British used Radar to fuck the Germans in 1940. The technology (and certainly the knowledge about those rays) was around for a while.
Thing is, that the Germans quickly figured out that they just had to change the frequency of their radar to make them quite useless, because they work best when they are exactly half the length of the wavelengths of the radar.
Robert Boemke
Electronic warfare back in the 40s then.
Wow, these facts are never told elsewhere...
Thank you for this valuable piece of knowledge /)
Yep. It's called "chaff" in the modern day.
are the Jg 301 stats just for Wilde Sau missions, or overall?
The one's from 1943 are only Wilde Sau, the overall stats at the end are combined over the whole period the unit served. Since Spring 1944, JG301/302 did night missions only by exception
so JG 302 got more kills for less losses in half the time! better leadership?
Also noteworthy is the very small number of fighter kills, which I suppose shows the overwhelming focus on bomber interception. Also, most of the newbie pilots at this point just didn't have the skill to engage the Mustangs effectively.
where did you get the Lancs?
What is a Stab?
so, you're telling me the brits dev'd chaff in the 1940's?
neat.
Germans had it too but didn't want to use it to give away the secret