Check out Ikarus Art here → ikarusart.net/ and use the code REX to get 10% off your order. F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.
Additional information: All photos of the Ju 390 V2 (registration RC+DA) that show it in flight are photomontages created after the war. Quasi a joke of German students, which very quickly became a self-runner. The Ju 390 V2 never left the ground
My grandfather was a test pilot for the Ju 90 series - one of the very few who survived. One of my favorite stories of his (apart from the crash with one of those giants) was the wind speed testing at 3000 m at the tip of the opened rear cargo/parachute bay door. Secured by a washing line (sic!).
the plane at 2.37 - the D-AALU. That was "my grandfather's" plane. The one that went down, killing two, leaving my grandfather and two colleagues as survivors. "Der Große Dessauer" (as from the Junkers testing facility in the town of Dessau) - seeing the picture at 2:39 brings back memories. The picture hung on the wall in his house, next to him sitting in the cockpit and next to that the "Kesselring Plakette" for his supply flights in the mediterranean campaign. And the outfit leftover from his crash, kept for good luck in the cellar still with some drops of ancient blood on the leather... Yep. That was quite a long time ago.
9:47 the wind speed testing was done at the tip of that very ramp. Remember: washing line only. Parachutes were scoffed at. I still cannot say wether this was bravery or sheer folly. Both, I guess.
I'll watch all of it later. A late friend of mine was the chief test pilot, Versuchflieger, of the 390. That was Flugkapitän Hans Pancherz. He also made the worlds second ejection in a real scenario with the 290 I think. Later he was supposed to break the sound barrier with the Ju 248, but that never happened as we all know. Best Greetings from Sweden.
@@stephenkayser3147 There is a lot unknown about "onkel" Hans. Like when the Russians tried 2 times to kidnap him and his family in the American sector in Berlin. That's how he ended up in Sweden, eventually working for my father to Hans retirement.
15:56 ah yes the JU-390. Anyone who remembers "Secret Weapons Over Normandy" would remember the JU-390 being used by Nemesis; be glad James Chase and the Battlehawks destroyed them using the then ultra secret XF5U.
It's a relief to know there would be a solution. In reality, it was the failure of novice pilot Weaver (a former army officer learning to fly) to unlock the ailerons of his He.70 (an awfully hot aircraft for a newbie) before taking off solo. That was just as effective at ending the Ural Bomber program.
And if all the T-34s you're escorting get destroyed except the leader he yells "I can't do it alone. I must have air support!" My 13 year old self heard that alot trying to beat that level (edit, I'm 31 now)
Problem is these planes were time expensive on the German Heavy Presses. For every one of these they built, they could build 10 FW190A8 fighter bombers or 10 BF109's. These bombers had no clear and useful use case and Germany needed fighter bombers more.
@@brokeandtired how do you built 10 fw 190 with 4 bmw 801s? As you can see, they were ordered in limited numbers. But they were good at their intended role. But mostly overlooked, unlike the He 177, which was much more troublesome. You can also built multiple spitfires for every lancaster or multiple p47 for every B29.
@@HaVoC117X You do realize that MULTIPLE smaller parts can be pressed at the same time and the Bombers were bigger, harder to make a mass production line for and had far more and larger parts. The sheer process of even moving a wing spar took longer and was harder to do than a fighter one. The Germans had mass production of engines down to an artform, they were churning out at a massive rate. The bigger the plane the harder it gets to even put them together. They could press out the fighter parts quicker, do them in bulk, assemble them faster than any mega bomber. On rare raw materials alone the mega bombers were a waste. Overkill for a tactical bomber and by 1943 they had zero chance of successfully surviving and conducting a bombing raid in the day against even British factories. The FW190's or BF109 could be assembly line made, these mega bombers were so big would have to be hand crafted piece by piece and slowly using what few hand craftsmen Germany had left
@@HaVoC117X You can also built multiple spitfires for every Lancaster, P-47, or B-29. Huh? You realize the P-47, though rather large, the Jug was a single engine fighter.
@@brokeandtired you do realize that the ju 290 is a little smaller than a b29 and little larger than a lancaster. This is not a gigantic nazi super weopon. Ever heard of the fighter emergency program, reserving bmw 801 strictly for fighter production?
Excellent work as always, on an indeed quite forgotten but interesting giant. I would have liked though that you would drop a word about the JU290Z, the projected zwilling version reminiscent of the very real He-111Z
I would like to say thank you so much for this upload I am at work watching this and have searched far and wide for a video of the ju290 and ju90 airplanes and the 390 I really appreciate the time you took to creat this great work
Another 290 survived and ended up in Farnborough, England. What test purpose it forefilled there (if any) I don't know but it ended up dumped in Happy Valley, where it appeared in photos of a public "Captured Enemy Aircraft Types" exhibition around 1948 before, presumably, being disposed of as scrap.
The designation "der große Dessauer" was a word play on "der alte Dessauer", Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau, who was the oldest but one of the best generals of the early reign of Frederick the Great. Junkers' production plant was in Dessau
started the revell amazing model of the ju290... it looks excellent... I've got lots of info on these - you nailed it.. (as usual).. great addition to your canon.
Excellent video! Were any of these aircraft the same as the condor or am I thinking of a different aircraft? The narration was absolutely fine, I never noticed any sign of a cold. ❤😉👍
@@C76Caravan Oops. My bad. I knew it was the C-76 but brain farted. First flight was one circle of the field and set her down. Was shaking itself to pieces. After the war, CW tried to interest the Air Force in a failed four engine jet attack aircraft as a four engine jet night fighter. The F-89 won out and CW was out of designing and building aircraft. A dismal turn of events for a company with roots going back the the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss.
Good job Rex. As a kid in the sixties I got into model building and became aware of many Luftwaffe aircraft. And I collected a decent reference library but apparently missed out on these aircraft. Sad to see that the one flown to Wright Field was destroyed. What were they thinking?
@@highjumpstudios2384 Even if it wasn't big, it would still have been scrapped, most likely. There were a crap ton of planes and other gear from a variety of nations, in a huge quantity of types, and, well, they were just tools which had served their purpose.
Interesting video. The most talked about German four engine plane seems to be the 'Condor' FW200 as it is always spoken about in convoy search and observation reporting. Other than the Gigantic I wasn't aware that Germany produced such aircraft that you spoke about in this video.
I was thinking of a subject, German aircraft company owners vs the nazis. I know Hugo Junkers hated them and they took over his company, Focke said to have been driven out of Focke-Wulf and joined up with Achgelis. And the one I joked about recently, Claude Dornier being half French and making planes as bad as he could get away with for the nazis, was there anything in that in real life?
The Luftwaffe was conceived as a tactical support arm of the army. Their perceived role involved comparatively short range coupled with after the initial successes, defensive armament. Indeed, after 1943 they were almost always in the defensive, so no real need for these types of aircraft.
Exactly right. German war tactics called for quick, mobile, decisive strikes of overwhelming force. They had no need of heavy long range bombers. Not until Stalin moved Soviet industry beyond the Ural mountains did the need for them become apparent. According to plan Stalin should have never gotten the chance to do so. But as we know, the plan didn't go quite as planned.
@@loyalopposition-us If the need to bomb at long distance only became apparent after 1941/2... .what of the RLM specification of 1935, mentioned in this very video, for an aircraft capable of reaching the Urals? (Hence the nickname "Ural Bomber"? )
@@trooperdgb9722 General Walther Wever anticipated the need for long range strategic bombing before the war, but pretty much everyone else in high places of the Luftwaffe disagreed. Prototypes were built but they never went into production. You have to remember that in 1935 strategic bombing was a theory that had never been tried. It's effectiveness was an unknown. Not until the allies launched their massive strategic bombing campaign against Germany had it ever been done. Some might argue that the London Blitz was the first attempt at strategic bombing, but I'd have to disagree. There was nothing strategic about it; it was revenge for the RAF bombing of Berlin in August of 1940.
If there one thing that I love about military history from small arms to ships and planes is how underrated the importance of industrial capacity is. Could Germany have gotten to the point of building actual fleets of these planes is a question that could go in a dozen directions as one figures out resources, transportation, factories, etc...
a dozen directions? how could they have done it? really, even with all of europe citizens as slave labor, they would'nt have enough diggers for their underground plants, let alone the material to built them... and with what fuel to fly them?
A few remarks. To my knollige the Gigant was the Me 323. The glider drived transport with 6 Gnome-Rône engines. The picture of the DB600 sits upside down, it is an iverted V12. I love your knollige about planes and i am anticipatng the realease of a new video.
@@TheObnoxiousMrPug Verder nog wat toe te voegen? Of kun je alleen taalkundig wat bijdragen? Ik gebruik Engels ontzettend weinig dus dan slipt er nog wel eens een foutje tussendoor. Ik zal maar zeggen, dank voor de heads-up.
Very good number for the late 1930's and only 10000' less than a modern civil airliner can travel.I think that the highest,well based on from when backseat screens have shown location, height,etc prior to that I have been on 707's and 747's and you couldn't tell how high they got,is 41000' on a A 380.
Also on a SAA Boeing 747, crossing the Indian Ocean on route from Hong Kong to Johannesburg. As well as a SAA Boeing 737-200 on route between Kimberley, Upington and Keetmanshoop. For me, as a passenger, that was a unbelievably beautiful sight. I could see across the whole subcontinent of Southern Africa.
That lack of having some sort of long rang strike ability came to haunt the Luftwaffe once Russia spirted all the industrial production behind those forementioned Ural Mountains and after their love of Medium Bombers lacked the heavy strike power to knock the British out of the War. This becoming a deadly reality as the RAF started build up its own fleet of Heavy's to pound Germany and not log after the the USAF who had long seen the need for long range Heavy Bombers no doubt driven by their own needs to defend their Pacific interests. we all know the panic programs by the RLM to produce a heavy Bomber in any form as the tide of War turned against them led to several costly design failures some of those maybe had had advanced features forward swept wings or flying wings or two engines powering one prop that constantly burst into flames. the Ballistics Missiles programs of the V1 and V2 which though advanced were little more than drains of time and materials. all those idea would go onto advance future post war weapons programs. When I see the Junkers Ju 90 /290/390 I think passenger aircraft the whole aircraft looks more like a commercial aircraft that was turned into a Military aircraft. Just like the JU 52 or the Focke Wulf 200 Condor. were as if you look at the early versions of the B17 or even the Avro Manchester they look like Bombers. The Nazi re arming of the Germany military was a rush job and was never planned to see any major conflicts before the mid to late 40's One also has to remember that Hugo Junkers was not a supporter of the Nazi's he had after all be a champion of the Art and Design School that was the Bauhaus movement who's teacher's and most of the Students were leftist's also many were also Jewish so a target of the Nazi Party's race purity laws. Hugo refused to build aircraft for the Nazi powers and was basically removed from running his company once they came to power. Put under house arrest and made to give up all the patients and share in the company he would Die only a few years later in 1935. the great Man had Morals unlike many of the other German Aircraft Companies . a very nice upload thank you.
You have to take into account the *purpose* of a 4 engine long range strategic bomber. Unlike the RAF and later USAF German military never intended to refer to strategic bombing of large areas but rather use a short and mid range bomber fleet for tactical support of ground forces, mainly the new motorised and armoured units. Even politically there was no desire to obtain such a fleet since Hitler at post-Versailles disarmament conferences spoke for an international condemnation of what was known since 1925 as "obliteration bombing" (conduced by RAF against insurgencies in India). The goal was to be able to rely on air support that could take out tactical targets instead of levelling entire areas. From this perspective there's no failure here because there never was demand for it.
Very interesting video. I was thoroughly surprised to find out that Greece flew such an aircraft for a while. The drawing of Archimedes S.1 with greek insignia looks so strange to me...
What's funny is that "Ikarus" (your sponsor's name) was an aaircraft design and manufacturing company here, in Yugoslavia, which made the first experimental Yugoslav mini-jets .. also did a lot of other stuff for our aviation
Despite all the blather from Hitler about thinking "strategically", virtually his entire Wehrmacht and its outlook, with the exception of Doenitz's U-Boots was geared tactically- e.g. heavy bombers intended for dive-bombing attacks.
Captain Kinderman must have been one very surprised puppy. Having an aircraft complete a RUD* is simply not on the books during proving flights especially with an aircraft of that size. I'll bet he didn't have to spend any money on beer that night. Every pilot in the place would buy him a beer and they'd all want to hear everything about it. He'd probably need a few after that day! *Rapid Unplanned Disassembly
21:12 Every time I see that photo to the left. I think of the movie scenes from Star Wars Return of the Jedi with Darth Vader or the Emperor walking down the ramp of the imperial shuttle
Walther Wever that's a name everyone should remember. That's the name of the Luftwaffe's heavy bomber proponent. He was the driving force behind their heavy bomber development. So why didn't they pursue a similar path to that of the US and Britain? Because he was the chief advocate for heavy, long range bombers, while the majority of the Luftwaffe was more in favor of medium long range bombers and CAS. So when he died on June 3rd 1936, Germany's chief heavy bomber advocate died as well. The rest is history.
Great job done with your talent for, aviation history 💯👏...... I learned much more about the German Luftwaffa mistake of not having a long range bomber...
A guy I worked with had an airfix (?) model of a Ju290 in 1:72 scale. When he resigned and moved away, the secretary trashed it before I could claim it. :(
- Yeah , it'll be the "Revell" kit (most likely A.5 "See-adler" or "Sea Eagle"), as AIRFIX have never made one I've still got BOTH versions (A.5 & A.7) and as yet, unmade Lovely kit BTW & hard to find, today
I retain a boyish fascination with WWII, and I find that the focus of my interest has become "what the hell were they thinking?" Neither the Germans nor the Japanese had anything approaching the natural/ human/ industrial resources to issue the challenges that they cheerfully embarked upon. This is another wonderful example. I kept waiting for Herr 88's order to "make it capable of performing dive bombing!" And what about that aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin? How far did they get with that project? The Japanese were even worse. Their industrial plant was primitive, to put it mildly. Yet in the spring of 1945 they were still attempting to put copies of the Me262 in the air! They actually got one off the ground for a test flight. The gear collapsed on landing, and that brought the program to a close. All they managed to do between the two countries was to get, round numbers, "several tens of millions" of people killed in horrible ways. And the waste! The destruction! All of that with zero chance of success. "Wolkenkuckucksheim," I think it's called.
Fun fact: A Ju 90 was used to tow the Me 321 giant glider. According to my sources, the giant glider even required to be equipped with take-off rocket pods. tldr, the Ju 90, despite being one of the most powerful aircraft available, wasnt enough to effectively pull the glider. I think Rex had covered the He-111Z in another video. I brought this up because of the aircraft in question.
According to some sources the Ju 290 designed as Hitler's "Luftwaffe Ein" (sorry for the obvious joke) had an escape system for the Führer consisting of what looked like a very comfortable armchair that concealed a parachute, survival gear, a radio transceiver, batteries, etc. In the event of an emergency, Hitler's seat would drop free from the doomed aircraft through a special hatch built into the floor. Though logical and technically feasible, this "parachute chair" has always struck me as fanciful. I've never seen a photograph of Hitler's 290, only artist's drawings, nor have I read an account of its service history -- where did it fly, how often, etc. -- which makes me suspicious of its reality. Was it real, or was it just a story Hans Bauer told the Russians to plant the seeds of various "Hitler in South America" myths? The "parachute chair" doesn't jibe with Hitler's personality. Whatever else he was -- psychopath, sexual deviant, genocidal mass murderer -- Hitler did have more than his share of physical courage (Iron Cross First Class). Large dangerous things that go fast didn't frighten him. Though he never learned to drive, he owned several large and powerful Mercedes-Benz cars and he regularly flew to meetings and political rallies at a time when most people his age were terrified of flying. Since the prospect of dying in a plane crash didn't deter Hitler from making a grand entrance by air, why would he want a parachute chair? One thing he truly feared was the possibility of being captured. Imagine Adolf Hitler alone in an East Prussian forest infested with partisan fighters. I think Hitler would rather have gone down in flames with the Ju 290 rather than face being taken prisoner.
Asking why WW2 Germany failed at anything is sort of like asking why a two-year-old failed at calculus. The Germans never had a chance, and Hitler was too stupid to recognize that fact. They might have had a chance to win the war (or at least most of Europe, except Britain and the USSR) if before they started it, they had secretly stored up about ten years of fuel in bomb-proof facilities, created about 200 atomic bombs along with 100 super long range very high-altitude bombers capable of air refueling with similar tankers. However, most likely the USA would discover their plans and already had measures in place to counter them.
@@TiberiusMaximus Yes absolutely, we're growing as fast as we can in terms of artwork variation. We've got a Spitfire, 109, P-47 and P-51 artwork in the works!
I’m leaving a comment for the TH-cam Algo because this video is very well made, but I’m still confused about German flights to Manchuria during the war. I thought the Italians were the only ones to pull off a mission to the Japanese? No worries, lots of interesting design and operational history, particularly on the Ju 290.
It's so funny, every time I see a development of "German war toys" it's almost impossible to find two alike, a total of 5-10 variants and no series production, they must have experimented with themselves to death. Fortunately, they never reached the production capacities of the United States. Nice work Rex👍
luckily, the US was not surrounded on all sides by the enemy, attacking factories day and night. The US isn't a wannabe empire, they already believe they are.
In the 1970's I was lucky enough to have the entire Above and Beyond book series which tried to list every production aircraft type. Perhaps this is why I don't remember these models from the books as they were never listed.
Extraordinary! I thought I kew every active-duty German WW II airplanes ever produced and used. I stand happily corrected. Now, when will Airfix make at least one Ju-390 model at least in 1/72 scale model available? Of course, 1/48 would be spectacular!
It would be spectacular, but a headache to display it. I remember Monogram made a 1/48 B 36 (perhaps they still make it ?). Price excepted, I was always thinking how it would be nice to display it in a small apartment😁. Perhaps flying, suspended with invisible rope to the ceiling.
Same reason they didn't get a bomb: not enough resources. The bomb cost $billions in 1945 dollars, and the B29 was MORE EXPENSIVE. Germany couldn't afford EITHER...
The Ju290 was also more successful than the FW 200 in that it didn't come apart on landing or in the air. I've never seen the internals of a Ju290, but I know that the Condor had its main fuel tanks arranged in what was the passenger cabin, so maybe that was too much stress there on the poor airframe.
@@merafirewing6591 Apparently they did in making a military version of the airliner, but not enough. The 290 was designed to also be a heavy transport with a loading ramp under the fuselage, so the strengthening that resulted seemed to stop the problems that the 200 had.
I keep having problems with this one video stalling - starting at 8:26. Just this one, none of the others. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is it this video - or just my set-up?
I hate to speculate how the evil Axis powers could have done yet more harm. Yet, approaching it as a strictly engineering problem, the solution to the Amerikabomber problem was probably a one-way bomber, and in fact one laden with explosives that was itself a flying bomb. Crew could ditch with a minute to go, and try to either escape or simply play the POW card. Surely there were enough Germans who had lived in America to be able to try such an escape with native English and the assistance of say just one German spy/agent. A few raids by such planes might have required thousands of fighters to be stationed in the US northeast. Plausible targets include Montreal, Toronto, Boston, NY, DC, and Detroit. Another option that comes to mind are trying to establish a pirate base in uncharted Canada, with transports flying in gas for refueling, and extra munitions for repeated attacks. This could be done on snow, which I hear is plentiful in Canada, or landing on lakes, or perhaps there's some coastal solution that would allow submarines to bring in the gas? Final idea is V-1's from subs, with a much shorter range and more payload. Perhaps a sub could launch five such, from 15 miles out, before slipping away?
@@knoll9812 I also hear the V2 expenditure was more than aircraft for 12 months straight. Mind you, due to the Manhattan project they didn't have a chance. Actually the mass bombings and even D-Day weren't necessary. A single flight of B-29s and Mustangs could have ended the war without all that, with Germany in control of Stalingrad when they surrender, so no divided Germany, no Warsaw Pact.
Copying an airplane engine without having the blueprints is not that easy. It would be years before it was operational, and no country could waste time in wartime. That's why everyone built what has proven itself so far and only made small improvements. In addition, most German developments and plans only came into the hands of the victorious powers after the war. In addition, after the war it was already foreseeable that the era of piston engines in airplanes was slowly coming to an end.
The RR Merlin was a 1000 bhp engine in September 1939. By w@r end it was making nearly 2000 bhp. Some of that was achieved with very high octane fuels but a lot can happen in six years.
Yet more examples of Germany losing the war due to terrible decisions rather than technical inferiority. These may well have been formidable bombers had development continued on them.
A bit disappointed there is not much else to find out about the 390. When I saw it in Secret Weapons Over Normandy I thought that there was no way they were ever built, like the Daimler Benz C. Cool to find out one was built and even flew as early as '43. Bit surprised Japan wanted one too.
@@kiwitrainguy You are right, I had completely forgot they were trying to hit the Yanks. Even if I did remember I am not sure I would have put two and two together, regardless thanks for the reminder. Do you have any info on this project of theirs or places to find it?
@@SHADOWFRENZY92 Sorry I can't help you with that Japanese bomber. I only know about it because there was a passing reference to it in a documentary I saw on the History channel during the '90s. Germany, Japan, Great Britain and the USA are all working on six-engined bombers during WW2 but the US one was the only one that went in to production (the B-36). The Germans ones were the Ju-390 and the Blohm & Voss flying boat powered by Diesel engines ( I forget its designation but it is mentioned elsewhere in the comments). The British one was to be called the Victory, I think Barnes-Wallis had a hand in its design.
@@kiwitrainguy No problem, cheers anyway. Off the top of my head the flying Blohm & Voss seaplane's designation was BV 238. I am only familiar with it because of War Thunder, I do not think I had ever seen mention of it before.
Great video. Note: There are pics of a captured Ju-290? from 1945 that might be the one that was reference by you flying from Europe to US that still exist.
Check out Ikarus Art here → ikarusart.net/ and use the code REX to get 10% off your order.
F.A.Q Section
Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)
Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.
Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos?
A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :)
Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators?
A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.
Audio is great, couldn't even tell there was any issues
F xactly
If you take an interest in less known airforces, perhaps the Swedish line-up of J-22, B-17 and B-18 could fill your spare time?
Could you cover the Soviet Cold War fighters and bombers like the Tu-95, Mig-15, Mig-17, Mig-21, Mig-23, Mig-29?
I am not sure if you already covered the Shinden?
The Luftwaffe was such a mess, especially in procurement that it's almost surprising they didn't insist that the 290 and 390 were able to dive bomb...
Additional information: All photos of the Ju 390 V2 (registration RC+DA) that show it in flight are photomontages created after the war. Quasi a joke of German students, which very quickly became a self-runner. The Ju 390 V2 never left the ground
So, this is the 390 V1 at 16:35 and then clearly states the V2 was never flown.
@@scootergeorge7089 I know he mentioned that. My main point was that two of the most famous photos of the Ju 390 (V2 in flight) are fake.
@@stoneman8387 - Excellent point!
Wish I had a computer program that could make a 10 12 or 16 engine stretched version. Maybe in Lufthansa colors
@@Dilley_G45 🤣
My grandfather was a test pilot for the Ju 90 series - one of the very few who survived. One of my favorite stories of his (apart from the crash with one of those giants) was the wind speed testing at 3000 m at the tip of the opened rear cargo/parachute bay door. Secured by a washing line (sic!).
the plane at 2.37 - the D-AALU. That was "my grandfather's" plane. The one that went down, killing two, leaving my grandfather and two colleagues as survivors. "Der Große Dessauer" (as from the Junkers testing facility in the town of Dessau) - seeing the picture at 2:39 brings back memories. The picture hung on the wall in his house, next to him sitting in the cockpit and next to that the "Kesselring Plakette" for his supply flights in the mediterranean campaign. And the outfit leftover from his crash, kept for good luck in the cellar still with some drops of ancient blood on the leather... Yep. That was quite a long time ago.
9:47 the wind speed testing was done at the tip of that very ramp. Remember: washing line only. Parachutes were scoffed at. I still cannot say wether this was bravery or sheer folly. Both, I guess.
I'll watch all of it later.
A late friend of mine was the chief test pilot, Versuchflieger, of the 390.
That was Flugkapitän Hans Pancherz. He also made the worlds second ejection in a real scenario with the 290 I think. Later he was supposed to break the sound barrier with the Ju 248, but that never happened as we all know.
Best Greetings from Sweden.
Thank you for your info. Something to research for me.
@@stephenkayser3147 There is a lot unknown about "onkel" Hans. Like when the Russians tried 2 times to kidnap him and his family in the American sector in Berlin. That's how he ended up in Sweden, eventually working for my father to Hans retirement.
15:56 ah yes the JU-390. Anyone who remembers "Secret Weapons Over Normandy" would remember the JU-390 being used by Nemesis; be glad James Chase and the Battlehawks destroyed them using the then ultra secret XF5U.
It's a relief to know there would be a solution. In reality, it was the failure of novice pilot Weaver (a former army officer learning to fly) to unlock the ailerons of his He.70 (an awfully hot aircraft for a newbie) before taking off solo. That was just as effective at ending the Ural Bomber program.
My literal childhood
Whenever I think of Ju-390, I think of that game.
And if all the T-34s you're escorting get destroyed except the leader he yells "I can't do it alone. I must have air support!"
My 13 year old self heard that alot trying to beat that level (edit, I'm 31 now)
@@loveofmangos001 That guy sounded like he was shitting himself down there so I always felt bad for him.
Thank you so much for covering this plane it's been a long time favorite of mine and critically underrated
Problem is these planes were time expensive on the German Heavy Presses. For every one of these they built, they could build 10 FW190A8 fighter bombers or 10 BF109's.
These bombers had no clear and useful use case and Germany needed fighter bombers more.
@@brokeandtired how do you built 10 fw 190 with 4 bmw 801s?
As you can see, they were ordered in limited numbers. But they were good at their intended role. But mostly overlooked, unlike the He 177, which was much more troublesome.
You can also built multiple spitfires for every lancaster or multiple p47 for every B29.
@@HaVoC117X You do realize that MULTIPLE smaller parts can be pressed at the same time and the Bombers were bigger, harder to make a mass production line for and had far more and larger parts. The sheer process of even moving a wing spar took longer and was harder to do than a fighter one.
The Germans had mass production of engines down to an artform, they were churning out at a massive rate.
The bigger the plane the harder it gets to even put them together.
They could press out the fighter parts quicker, do them in bulk, assemble them faster than any mega bomber. On rare raw materials alone the mega bombers were a waste.
Overkill for a tactical bomber and by 1943 they had zero chance of successfully surviving and conducting a bombing raid in the day against even British factories.
The FW190's or BF109 could be assembly line made, these mega bombers were so big would have to be hand crafted piece by piece and slowly using what few hand craftsmen Germany had left
@@HaVoC117X You can also built multiple spitfires for every Lancaster, P-47, or B-29. Huh? You realize the P-47, though rather large, the Jug was a single engine fighter.
@@brokeandtired you do realize that the ju 290 is a little smaller than a b29 and little larger than a lancaster. This is not a gigantic nazi super weopon.
Ever heard of the fighter emergency program, reserving bmw 801 strictly for fighter production?
Excellent work as always, on an indeed quite forgotten but interesting giant. I would have liked though that you would drop a word about the JU290Z, the projected zwilling version reminiscent of the very real He-111Z
I would like to say thank you so much for this upload I am at work watching this and have searched far and wide for a video of the ju290 and ju90 airplanes and the 390 I really appreciate the time you took to creat this great work
Another 290 survived and ended up in Farnborough, England. What test purpose it forefilled there (if any) I don't know but it ended up dumped in Happy Valley, where it appeared in photos of a public "Captured Enemy Aircraft Types" exhibition around 1948 before, presumably, being disposed of as scrap.
The designation "der große Dessauer" was a word play on "der alte Dessauer", Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau, who was the oldest but one of the best generals of the early reign of Frederick the Great. Junkers' production plant was in Dessau
The old Dessauer was his English nickname among the Prussian troops.
Also, speaking of gigantic German planes, why not cover the BV-222 and bv-238 flying boats?
Definitely planning to! :D
These were not boats they were planes not planes and roads
@@TimPerfetto teehee!... 🤣
@@jehoiakimelidoronila5450 Tee hee pee poo piss pot butt
And BV-9000, designed to airlift Bismark-class battleships
Voice sounded fine, Rex. Thank you for covering this aircraft.
Excellent compilation that nobody has ever seen, Great work!!!
No, I wasn't sitting here refreshing the screen. Why do you ask?
😊
😊👍
I wasn't expecting to chuckle during this video, but you made that happen!
*sees a video is uploaded an hour ago*
ooh something new and fresh, wonder what the first impressions were
*Too comment two hours ago*
Wait what?
started the revell amazing model of the ju290... it looks excellent... I've got lots of info on these - you nailed it.. (as usual).. great addition to your canon.
Excellent video! Were any of these aircraft the same as the condor or am I thinking of a different aircraft? The narration was absolutely fine, I never noticed any sign of a cold. ❤😉👍
Jesus I wasn't expecting the captain to have as little information about how the plane rapidly disassembled itself lol
Something similar happened with the second flight of the Curtiss Wright XC-76 Caravan but in that case, there were no survivors.
Just goes to show how quickly things went to heck, imagen sitting in your pilot seat and the next you are floating to the ground 😮
@@scootergeorge7089 YAY, my favorite worse aircraft ever. Though you mean C-76 Caravan. See my username 😉
@@C76Caravan Oops. My bad. I knew it was the C-76 but brain farted. First flight was one circle of the field and set her down. Was shaking itself to pieces. After the war, CW tried to interest the Air Force in a failed four engine jet attack aircraft as a four engine jet night fighter. The F-89 won out and CW was out of designing and building aircraft. A dismal turn of events for a company with roots going back the the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss.
Early concept of an ejection seat. Instead of launching the pilot in the air by rockets, the airplane disintegrates around him.
Good job Rex. As a kid in the sixties I got into model building and became aware of many Luftwaffe aircraft. And I collected a decent reference library but apparently missed out on these aircraft. Sad to see that the one flown to Wright Field was destroyed. What were they thinking?
That’s one of the planes that I wish was preserved. Of course there are a lot of others but this was a significant aircraft.
The thought process was probably "ugh this thing is so big. Where are we gonna keep it? I know, we'll just scrap it, not like anyone's gonna miss it."
Americans were not fond of the Germans and had no interest in preserving their history.
The best book, "Warplanes of the Third Reich" William Green.
@@highjumpstudios2384 Even if it wasn't big, it would still have been scrapped, most likely. There were a crap ton of planes and other gear from a variety of nations, in a huge quantity of types, and, well, they were just tools which had served their purpose.
Interesting video. The most talked about German four engine plane seems to be the 'Condor' FW200 as it is always spoken about in convoy search and observation reporting. Other than the Gigantic I wasn't aware that Germany produced such aircraft that you spoke about in this video.
As a huge fan of WWII planes since I was a kid this was very informative and I learned something new...
I just discovered your channel and now I'm obsessed and will be watching all of the videos. Great Job dude!
I was thinking of a subject, German aircraft company owners vs the nazis. I know Hugo Junkers hated them and they took over his company, Focke said to have been driven out of Focke-Wulf and joined up with Achgelis. And the one I joked about recently, Claude Dornier being half French and making planes as bad as he could get away with for the nazis, was there anything in that in real life?
Nah, the french just cant make anything good, except cheese and wine... 😆
@@HarborLockRoadThe Mirage IIIC would like a word…
@@HarborLockRoad & bread, & coldcuts, & ....
@@sivalon1 Wasn't it based on an English jet fighter?
I think history has shown that the French are more than capable of engineering a good guillotine.
The Luftwaffe was conceived as a tactical support arm of the army. Their perceived role involved comparatively short range coupled with after the initial successes, defensive armament. Indeed, after 1943 they were almost always in the defensive, so no real need for these types of aircraft.
Exactly right. German war tactics called for quick, mobile, decisive strikes of overwhelming force. They had no need of heavy long range bombers. Not until Stalin moved Soviet industry beyond the Ural mountains did the need for them become apparent. According to plan Stalin should have never gotten the chance to do so. But as we know, the plan didn't go quite as planned.
@@loyalopposition-us If the need to bomb at long distance only became apparent after 1941/2... .what of the RLM specification of 1935, mentioned in this very video, for an aircraft capable of reaching the Urals? (Hence the nickname "Ural Bomber"? )
@@trooperdgb9722 General Walther Wever anticipated the need for long range strategic bombing before the war, but pretty much everyone else in high places of the Luftwaffe disagreed. Prototypes were built but they never went into production. You have to remember that in 1935 strategic bombing was a theory that had never been tried. It's effectiveness was an unknown. Not until the allies launched their massive strategic bombing campaign against Germany had it ever been done. Some might argue that the London Blitz was the first attempt at strategic bombing, but I'd have to disagree. There was nothing strategic about it; it was revenge for the RAF bombing of Berlin in August of 1940.
If there one thing that I love about military history from small arms to ships and planes is how underrated the importance of industrial capacity is. Could Germany have gotten to the point of building actual fleets of these planes is a question that could go in a dozen directions as one figures out resources, transportation, factories, etc...
a dozen directions? how could they have done it? really, even with all of europe citizens as slave labor, they would'nt have enough diggers for their underground plants, let alone the material to built them... and with what fuel to fly them?
In a nut shell it all comes down to money.
@@owen368 Not so much when you’re using slave labour.
Amateurs discuss tactics, professionals discuss logistics.
The answer is "no".
A few remarks. To my knollige the Gigant was the Me 323. The glider drived transport with 6 Gnome-Rône engines. The picture of the DB600 sits upside down, it is an iverted V12.
I love your knollige about planes and i am anticipatng the realease of a new video.
That would be 'knowledge', Henk. Poets je Engels even een beetje op.
@@TheObnoxiousMrPug
Verder nog wat toe te voegen? Of kun je alleen taalkundig wat bijdragen? Ik gebruik Engels ontzettend weinig dus dan slipt er nog wel eens een foutje tussendoor. Ik zal maar zeggen, dank voor de heads-up.
Very good number for the late 1930's and only 10000' less than a modern civil airliner can travel.I think that the highest,well based on from when backseat screens have shown location, height,etc prior to that I have been on 707's and 747's and you couldn't tell how high they got,is 41000' on a A 380.
Also on a SAA Boeing 747, crossing the Indian Ocean on route from Hong Kong to Johannesburg. As well as a SAA Boeing 737-200 on route between Kimberley, Upington and Keetmanshoop. For me, as a passenger, that was a unbelievably beautiful sight. I could see across the whole subcontinent of Southern Africa.
I love that the videos are getting longer. Thank you!
That lack of having some sort of long rang strike ability came to haunt the Luftwaffe once Russia spirted all the industrial production behind those forementioned Ural Mountains and after their love of Medium Bombers lacked the heavy strike power to knock the British out of the War.
This becoming a deadly reality as the RAF started build up its own fleet of Heavy's to pound Germany and not log after the the USAF who had long seen the need for long range Heavy Bombers no doubt driven by their own needs to defend their Pacific interests.
we all know the panic programs by the RLM to produce a heavy Bomber in any form as the tide of War turned against them led to several costly design failures some of those maybe had had advanced features forward swept wings or flying wings or two engines powering one prop that constantly burst into flames.
the Ballistics Missiles programs of the V1 and V2 which though advanced were little more than drains of time and materials.
all those idea would go onto advance future post war weapons programs.
When I see the Junkers Ju 90 /290/390 I think passenger aircraft the whole aircraft looks more like a commercial aircraft that was turned into a Military aircraft.
Just like the JU 52 or the Focke Wulf 200 Condor. were as if you look at the early versions of the B17 or even the Avro Manchester they look like Bombers.
The Nazi re arming of the Germany military was a rush job and was never planned to see any major conflicts before the mid to late 40's
One also has to remember that Hugo Junkers was not a supporter of the Nazi's he had after all be a champion of the Art and Design School that was the Bauhaus movement who's teacher's and most of the Students were leftist's also many were also Jewish so a target of the Nazi Party's race purity laws.
Hugo refused to build aircraft for the Nazi powers and was basically removed from running his company once they came to power.
Put under house arrest and made to give up all the patients and share in the company he would Die only a few years later in 1935.
the great Man had Morals unlike many of the other German Aircraft Companies .
a very nice upload thank you.
You have to take into account the *purpose* of a 4 engine long range strategic bomber. Unlike the RAF and later USAF German military never intended to refer to strategic bombing of large areas but rather use a short and mid range bomber fleet for tactical support of ground forces, mainly the new motorised and armoured units. Even politically there was no desire to obtain such a fleet since Hitler at post-Versailles disarmament conferences spoke for an international condemnation of what was known since 1925 as "obliteration bombing" (conduced by RAF against insurgencies in India). The goal was to be able to rely on air support that could take out tactical targets instead of levelling entire areas.
From this perspective there's no failure here because there never was demand for it.
It's nice to see I'm not the only person who likes the Anson. Now, do they do a Dragon Rapide...
The Rapide is definitely something we’d like to do down the road 😊
@@ikarusart did you guys do the 290 here which was also used for the box art 1/72 Revell model kit? Nice kit and artwork.
Those big Junkers had definite aesthetic appeal.
This was excellent, hubby & I really enjoyed it. What a shame none of them made it into a museum or two. 😢
Awwwa did Ikarus go belly up? That art looked amazing.
Very interesting video. I was thoroughly surprised to find out that Greece flew such an aircraft for a while. The drawing of Archimedes S.1 with greek insignia looks so strange to me...
What's funny is that "Ikarus" (your sponsor's name) was an aaircraft design and manufacturing company here, in Yugoslavia, which made the first experimental Yugoslav mini-jets .. also did a lot of other stuff for our aviation
Despite all the blather from Hitler about thinking "strategically", virtually his entire Wehrmacht and its outlook, with the exception of Doenitz's U-Boots was geared tactically- e.g. heavy bombers intended for dive-bombing attacks.
Experts replaced with fools in leadership.
Putin has same problem
Thanks for this one, I love the rumors around the 390.
Captain Kinderman must have been one very surprised puppy. Having an aircraft complete a RUD* is simply not on the books during proving flights especially with an aircraft of that size.
I'll bet he didn't have to spend any money on beer that night. Every pilot in the place would buy him a beer and they'd all want to hear everything about it. He'd probably need a few after that day!
*Rapid Unplanned Disassembly
Well done for cutting through the Ju 390 myths.
Ty. Great photos!
No worries! Sounds great...and it's the information that I'm here for and, sadly, not the sweet, lullaby sound of your voice😊
It really is a shame none of these beautiful huge aircraft have survived in a museum
5 people before me.... and I was a few minutes after upload!
Rex... if that is your real name... you know you're loved!
I remember seeing these in the first video game I played, secret weapons over Normandy, man that’s a call back
21:12 Every time I see that photo to the left. I think of the movie scenes from Star Wars Return of the Jedi with Darth Vader or the Emperor walking down the ramp of the imperial shuttle
Outstanding video
Walther Wever that's a name everyone should remember. That's the name of the Luftwaffe's heavy bomber proponent. He was the driving force behind their heavy bomber development. So why didn't they pursue a similar path to that of the US and Britain? Because he was the chief advocate for heavy, long range bombers, while the majority of the Luftwaffe was more in favor of medium long range bombers and CAS. So when he died on June 3rd 1936, Germany's chief heavy bomber advocate died as well. The rest is history.
Wow! Smashing designs. Classic, refined looks.
Hi Rex, great video as always!
Now a friendly reminder to make a video about the Handley Page HP42.
Oh weird, Rex is my doppleganger. Huh, they say everyone has one. Well hello from Kansas! Loving the channel, Drach brought me here!
1 of my favorite aircraft from WW 2 , Thanks !
My other favorites are the P-61 Black Widow night fighter , TBM Avenger Torpedo Bomber , B-17 , A-26 invader
Thank you for the video and hard work!
Great job done with your talent for, aviation history 💯👏...... I learned much more about the German Luftwaffa mistake of not having a long range bomber...
Thoroughly researched! Fascinating history
A guy I worked with had an airfix (?) model of a Ju290 in 1:72 scale. When he resigned and moved away, the secretary trashed it before I could claim it. :(
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Yeah , it'll be the "Revell" kit (most likely A.5 "See-adler" or "Sea Eagle"), as AIRFIX have never made one
I've still got BOTH versions (A.5 & A.7) and as yet, unmade Lovely kit BTW & hard to find, today
I retain a boyish fascination with WWII, and I find that the focus of my interest has become "what the hell were they thinking?" Neither the Germans nor the Japanese had anything approaching the natural/ human/ industrial resources to issue the challenges that they cheerfully embarked upon. This is another wonderful example. I kept waiting for Herr 88's order to "make it capable of performing dive bombing!" And what about that aircraft carrier, the Graf Zeppelin? How far did they get with that project? The Japanese were even worse. Their industrial plant was primitive, to put it mildly. Yet in the spring of 1945 they were still attempting to put copies of the Me262 in the air! They actually got one off the ground for a test flight. The gear collapsed on landing, and that brought the program to a close. All they managed to do between the two countries was to get, round numbers, "several tens of millions" of people killed in horrible ways. And the waste! The destruction! All of that with zero chance of success. "Wolkenkuckucksheim," I think it's called.
Fun fact: A Ju 90 was used to tow the Me 321 giant glider. According to my sources, the giant glider even required to be equipped with take-off rocket pods. tldr, the Ju 90, despite being one of the most powerful aircraft available, wasnt enough to effectively pull the glider. I think Rex had covered the He-111Z in another video. I brought this up because of the aircraft in question.
Great video as always!
I would love to see a video from you about the B25 Mitchell!
Four dorsal turrets seems like a bad idea the middle two would have their arc of fire impacted by the front and rear turret.
According to some sources the Ju 290 designed as Hitler's "Luftwaffe Ein" (sorry for the obvious joke) had an escape system for the Führer consisting of what looked like a very comfortable armchair that concealed a parachute, survival gear, a radio transceiver, batteries, etc. In the event of an emergency, Hitler's seat would drop free from the doomed aircraft through a special hatch built into the floor. Though logical and technically feasible, this "parachute chair" has always struck me as fanciful. I've never seen a photograph of Hitler's 290, only artist's drawings, nor have I read an account of its service history -- where did it fly, how often, etc. -- which makes me suspicious of its reality. Was it real, or was it just a story Hans Bauer told the Russians to plant the seeds of various "Hitler in South America" myths?
The "parachute chair" doesn't jibe with Hitler's personality. Whatever else he was -- psychopath, sexual deviant, genocidal mass murderer -- Hitler did have more than his share of physical courage (Iron Cross First Class). Large dangerous things that go fast didn't frighten him. Though he never learned to drive, he owned several large and powerful Mercedes-Benz cars and he regularly flew to meetings and political rallies at a time when most people his age were terrified of flying. Since the prospect of dying in a plane crash didn't deter Hitler from making a grand entrance by air, why would he want a parachute chair? One thing he truly feared was the possibility of being captured. Imagine Adolf Hitler alone in an East Prussian forest infested with partisan fighters. I think Hitler would rather have gone down in flames with the Ju 290 rather than face being taken prisoner.
President Harker survived using it but landed inside the maximum security prison at New York.
love the videos, pls keep them coming =)
Great video as always. Good info on little known planes.
Asking why WW2 Germany failed at anything is sort of like asking why a two-year-old failed at calculus. The Germans never had a chance, and Hitler was too stupid to recognize that fact.
They might have had a chance to win the war (or at least most of Europe, except Britain and the USSR) if before they started it, they had secretly stored up about ten years of fuel in bomb-proof facilities, created about 200 atomic bombs along with 100 super long range very high-altitude bombers capable of air refueling with similar tankers. However, most likely the USA would discover their plans and already had measures in place to counter them.
Best video research to date. Congratulations.
Thanks! love the artwork I just picked up the Corsairs print
So glad to hear it!
@@ikarusart will you be releasing new prints soon?
@@TiberiusMaximus Yes absolutely, we're growing as fast as we can in terms of artwork variation. We've got a Spitfire, 109, P-47 and P-51 artwork in the works!
I’m leaving a comment for the TH-cam Algo because this video is very well made, but I’m still confused about German flights to Manchuria during the war. I thought the Italians were the only ones to pull off a mission to the Japanese? No worries, lots of interesting design and operational history, particularly on the Ju 290.
That was my understanding as well.
The RAF had a captured A-2 WK No 110157 which as Air Ministry 57 was displayed at Farnborough after the war and I think Winkle Brown tested it.
Honey wake up Rex posted
It's so funny, every time I see a development of "German war toys" it's almost impossible to find two alike, a total of 5-10 variants and no series production, they must have experimented with themselves to death. Fortunately, they never reached the production capacities of the United States. Nice work Rex👍
Reminds me a lot of a modern wanna be empire
luckily, the US was not surrounded on all sides by the enemy, attacking factories day and night. The US isn't a wannabe empire, they already believe they are.
B-17 s at Ford Detroit, one an hour, 24 hours.
@@williambrasky3891 Witch?
@@uingaeoc3905 Not sure you mean B-24 Liberator and what is your point?
Thank you for another very informative video. Well done!
In the 1970's I was lucky enough to have the entire Above and Beyond book series which tried to list every production aircraft type. Perhaps this is why I don't remember these models from the books as they were never listed.
I really enjoy your detailed work.
Great video!
Had never heard of this aircraft until I watched this video, very interesting.
Excellent documentary.
Thank you for the great video!
1:37 you cant fool me, i know the background of that picture is from Just Cause 4.
1:38 from Just Cause 3.
Anybody else remember shooting down the JU 290s in Call of Duty: Big Red One or is that just me?
It wasn’t JU 290s, it was ME 323s! Got curious and looked it up
Extraordinary! I thought I kew every active-duty German WW II airplanes ever produced and used. I stand happily corrected. Now, when will Airfix make at least one Ju-390 model at least in 1/72 scale model available? Of course, 1/48 would be spectacular!
It would be spectacular, but a headache to display it. I remember Monogram made a 1/48 B 36 (perhaps they still make it ?). Price excepted, I was always thinking how it would be nice to display it in a small apartment😁. Perhaps flying, suspended with invisible rope to the ceiling.
That Ikarus Art is really nice!!!!❤
I believe it was Goerring that said
" The fuhrer asks me lnot how many engines our bombers have, but how many bombers do we have"...
OK! That covers the need for the "Uralbomber". Next we need a "Antarktistransporter".
Same reason they didn't get a bomb: not enough resources.
The bomb cost $billions in 1945 dollars, and the B29 was MORE EXPENSIVE.
Germany couldn't afford EITHER...
The Ju290 was also more successful than the FW 200 in that it didn't come apart on landing or in the air. I've never seen the internals of a Ju290, but I know that the Condor had its main fuel tanks arranged in what was the passenger cabin, so maybe that was too much stress there on the poor airframe.
Could you strengthen the Fw-200 Condor's airframe?
@@merafirewing6591 Apparently they did in making a military version of the airliner, but not enough. The 290 was designed to also be a heavy transport with a loading ramp under the fuselage, so the strengthening that resulted seemed to stop the problems that the 200 had.
I keep having problems with this one video stalling - starting at 8:26. Just this one, none of the others. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is it this video - or just my set-up?
I hate to speculate how the evil Axis powers could have done yet more harm. Yet, approaching it as a strictly engineering problem, the solution to the Amerikabomber problem was probably a one-way bomber, and in fact one laden with explosives that was itself a flying bomb. Crew could ditch with a minute to go, and try to either escape or simply play the POW card. Surely there were enough Germans who had lived in America to be able to try such an escape with native English and the assistance of say just one German spy/agent. A few raids by such planes might have required thousands of fighters to be stationed in the US northeast. Plausible targets include Montreal, Toronto, Boston, NY, DC, and Detroit.
Another option that comes to mind are trying to establish a pirate base in uncharted Canada, with transports flying in gas for refueling, and extra munitions for repeated attacks. This could be done on snow, which I hear is plentiful in Canada, or landing on lakes, or perhaps there's some coastal solution that would allow submarines to bring in the gas?
Final idea is V-1's from subs, with a much shorter range and more payload. Perhaps a sub could launch five such, from 15 miles out, before slipping away?
They would have done more harm if they gave up the idea entirely
@@knoll9812 I also hear the V2 expenditure was more than aircraft for 12 months straight. Mind you, due to the Manhattan project they didn't have a chance. Actually the mass bombings and even D-Day weren't necessary. A single flight of B-29s and Mustangs could have ended the war without all that, with Germany in control of Stalingrad when they surrender, so no divided Germany, no Warsaw Pact.
This brings me back to my Secret Weapons over Normandy days...
"Vertical stabilizer was enlarged to improve controlability!" Checking that off of my interwar bingo card.
Has there ever been a new aircraft design that didn’t need a bigger vertical stabilizer? Where does that unwarranted optimism come from?
Great research!
Imagine if the Gerries had decided to make Ju290's insted of He 177's. After all they made 1,000 He 177's. Just an Idea?
They just could have studied the Lancaster, and followed the theories involved. Then come up with a kraut looking version.
I've always been a fan of aviation art.
Also seaborne art.
The DB 601 being so far ahead begs the question why other manufacturers did not copy whatever parts made them so powerful.
Because it actually wasn't better than a Merlin in use?
Copying an airplane engine without having the blueprints is not that easy. It would be years before it was operational, and no country could waste time in wartime. That's why everyone built what has proven itself so far and only made small improvements. In addition, most German developments and plans only came into the hands of the victorious powers after the war. In addition, after the war it was already foreseeable that the era of piston engines in airplanes was slowly coming to an end.
The RR Merlin was a 1000 bhp engine in September 1939. By w@r end it was making nearly 2000 bhp. Some of that was achieved with very high octane fuels but a lot can happen in six years.
Another Fantastic aircraft history lesson.
"Suddenly found himself in the open air on his parachute...."
Love it!🤣🤣🤣
I had no idea about this, thank you for the lesson.
Yet more examples of Germany losing the war due to terrible decisions rather than technical inferiority. These may well have been formidable bombers had development continued on them.
A bit disappointed there is not much else to find out about the 390.
When I saw it in Secret Weapons Over Normandy I thought that there was no way they were ever built, like the Daimler Benz C. Cool to find out one was built and even flew as early as '43. Bit surprised Japan wanted one too.
Japan was working on a six-engined bomber during WW2 that would have been capable of reaching San Francisco.
@@kiwitrainguy You are right, I had completely forgot they were trying to hit the Yanks. Even if I did remember I am not sure I would have put two and two together, regardless thanks for the reminder.
Do you have any info on this project of theirs or places to find it?
@@SHADOWFRENZY92 Sorry I can't help you with that Japanese bomber. I only know about it because there was a passing reference to it in a documentary I saw on the History channel during the '90s. Germany, Japan, Great Britain and the USA are all working on six-engined bombers during WW2 but the US one was the only one that went in to production (the B-36). The Germans ones were the Ju-390 and the Blohm & Voss flying boat powered by Diesel engines ( I forget its designation but it is mentioned elsewhere in the comments). The British one was to be called the Victory, I think Barnes-Wallis had a hand in its design.
@@kiwitrainguy No problem, cheers anyway. Off the top of my head the flying Blohm & Voss seaplane's designation was BV 238. I am only familiar with it because of War Thunder, I do not think I had ever seen mention of it before.
Amazing video on some obscure planes. P2V-1 through 7 series?
The A8 and B2 have so many dorsal turrets, they start looking like shitposts fake blueprints ^^
Great video. Note: There are pics of a captured Ju-290? from 1945 that might be the one that was reference by you flying from Europe to US that still exist.