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Time Team S07E03 wierre-effroy,.france
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 เม.ย. 2013
- On 23 May 1940, Spitfire pilot Paul Klipsch flew across the Channel for his first and last day of combat. His plane crashed in northern France, where his body is buried in a local cemetery.
Time Team have just three days to excavate the Spitfire and tell the story of Klipsch's last hours.
I absolutely loved Stewart's gentleness in explaining to Eric what happened to his half-brother.
I have been watching all the Time Team episodes, but this is the first one that made me cry ... when the old gentleman was given his step-brother's jacket chain ... then the old fellow died a few weeks later ... it just got to me ... thanks for all your hard work, gents and ladies ...
Hopefully the stress of reliving it so vividly wasn't too much for him.
Sometimes a person will hang on in life just to see something they feel very strongly about through to the end. This is the feeling I got from him. Bless him for the honor he bestowed on all the WW2 veterans by his actions, and bless Time Team for this episode as well. ^-^
The only other episode that got me emotional was a similar one involving a crash during WW2. They had just finished the last mission and were going to be done with the war but tragically a few miles from landing a crash happened and all members died. Really really sucks that it happened. Wish those guys had gotten to go home and live life fully.
So moving that he was able to say farewell to his brother.
Almost like the old gent was just hanging on long enough to find out what happened to his brother. Very emotional episode, and as always fantastically done by Time Team
Believe it or not, that is actually a thing that has been shown empirically.
It's so sad. This one made me cry. 😢 You could tell he was holding back tears. And that it was very emotional for him.
This is the most moving episode yet!
My uncle, 2Lt Milton Herman Reestman, was a navigator on an American B 29 that disappeared while on a "search and rescue mission" over the Coral Sea near New Guinea on February 2, 1944 and has never been found. Unfortunately, my mother, who adored her older brother all her life, died at 93; never finding out what had really happened to him. The telegrams to my grandfather from a general in the War Department are heartbreaking. This wonderful, old man's chance at finding closure was nice to see. I cried.
Larry The Photo Guy (
I did too. Answers make all the difference.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful, and deeply moving story ~xx
I just saw an interview with Roman History expert Guy de la Bedoyere. Out of all his TT experiences he said this one was by far the best and most memorable. Because living witnesses made it so real.
Matt Kustom Kostumes
Yeah I just saw that video!
That’s how I ended up here.
@@Brinta3 ditto
Its why I found and watched this ep. Now I need me a TT shirt.
The end left me in tears...
Well done lads.
Major Richard Hardin, US Marine Corps, Retired
Yes Sir , i got it to .
To all who have served, solemn thanks. These stories, like the US bomber episode, are some of the most human, involving people still remembered, rest them well. =-[.]-=
Thank you for your service sir
❤🇺🇸❤
Group Captain Allan Wright, DFC and Bar, AFC, passed away on 16 September 2015, aged 95. His father, Air Commodore Arthur Wright flew with the RFC during WW1, and Allan's brother Mandeville, wounded whilst flying a Hurricane early in WW2 was killed after volunteering for mining operations off the North German coast. The third brother, John Wright, was invalided out of the RAF after breaking both legs in a flying accident.
Our country owes a great debt to the Wright family and others like Paul Klipsch and Roger Bushell.
We must NEVER FORGET!
GSTQ
Change the word _country_ to _world_ and I stand proudly with you on this.
RIP to all those brave lads.
My jaw dropped when I saw that old guy jump into that plane like he was a teenager. I can only pray I will be half that agile when I near his age. If I do. God bless him.
I also loved the part when he instantly knew which lever to pull to drop flaps. I guess there are stuff you never forget. :D
Saw a similar kind of show where these Americans were restoring a tank destroyer called a Hellcat. At the end they bring in a very old looking vet who promptly demonstrated how you mounted this beast back in the day. Freaked everybody out when he ran at it, jumped up like a teenage ninja, and wound up standing proudly on his Hellcat, just like in 1944!
“Allen will you pull the flaps down please?” It was really amazing to see Mr Wright beaming! While sitting in that cockpit
Didn't I hear him say, "It's like coming home."?
Larry The Photo Guy the actual pilot said that.
My father served with the Canadian Air Force in England during the war where he met my mother. Fair to say, because of the sacrifices men like Paul Klipsch, and all the men and women who served in world war II made, I have had the life I am living now. I liked this episode very much and it reminded me again to not take anything for granted, hard to imagine where we`d be today had the allies lost the war.
We would be where some here in America are trying to take us again.
The fight for freedom is and always has been, an ongoing struggle. Resist the oppression of anyone anywhere, or we dishonor those who risked their very lives doing so for us in the past.
@vvinston I agree; the the coordinated censorship and persecution of conservatives and the promotion of racial hierarchies is an evil that must be resisted by everyone who values freedom and justice.
@vvinston 95% of the billionaires, academics, journalists, bureaucrats and entertainers of the West have signed up for your nightmarish programme, and yet the left wing culture warriors somehow believe they are the Resistance, rather than the useful idiots they really are. You are signing up to a movement whose specific aim is the destruction of the civilisation that has dragged the whole world out of millennia of darkness. You voted for the boot that will be on our necks forever.
I thought when the former pilot climbed into the Spitfire, that he was going to start the engine and fly around for awhile!
He looked so at home.
I have nothing but the utmost respect for these men.
That was my favorite moment of this episode. I really wanted him to fly that plane again. I feel badly for all those young pilots, British and German, they all probably enjoyed flying more than they cared for shooting at each other. It was all such a waste.
A waste of good planes and excellent boys!
@@MrKmoconne a brilliant comment. I never looked at it that way, but yes, you're right. They were certainly more into the flying than the fighting.
Thank you.
Its hard to imagine what a terrible service those villagers had to perform, to remove his remains from such wreckage. R.I.P
It was quite a sad episode. I lost a husband who died in military service, and I have thought about what really happened and did he know. So, watching this one and seeing the crew collect the pieces plus the personal effects of the pilot made me cry. The pictures of Paul, my husband's name was Paul too, showed a brave, happy, healthy and handsome young man lost forever because of a war. Eric was visibly moved too by Stewart's sensitive explanation of Paul's death and this part was very touching. RIP Paul and Eric- two brothers finally together forever.
Love seeing those old guys getting up on their old equipment, the years melt off them. Thank you for your service
Just two months ago I started watching Time Team reruns on this you tube channel. Whoever you are I just say Thank You so much from Arkansas. Like others have said I too cried at the end. This team & shows are so awesome.
Such a shame about Eric, you could see his heart stop when he was handed the small hanging chain from his step brothers jacket, made me tear up completely.
It gave me chills when Tony said I know it’s not much but it is yours now
What these more historically recent digs sometimes lack in dramatic structures,celebrated names or amazing artifacts,they certainly make up for in poignancy.So often the aging participants recall details lost to current sources,and their contributions make these shows meaningful,emotional and rewarding.Thanks once again for another irreplaceable Time Team episode!
My father joined the Essential services Corp in the South African Air Force in the first Second World War. He was only just out of school and he helped to assemble the Spitfires and Harvards which were shipped to Cape Town, South Africa. Although he was in the engineering Corps as an air mechanic, he did go overseas to Italy and Egypt to help repair any aircraft that were shot or damaged.
In the Rhodesian war many years later, the Rhodesian Air Force found spitfire parts in an aircraft hangar and had a spitfire mainframe which they reconstructed. One day my father was in the garden and he saw them flying the Spitfire and as he watched nostalgically, he suddenly became anxious and he kept saying " No! What are you doing?" and he could see that they were making serious errors by flying into very heavy cumulus clouds. A couple days later we heard that the experienced pilot had crashed and died while flying the Spitfire. My father shook his head and said "I thought so." My father's dearest love was to talk about his love of life in the airforce during the war and just like the gentleman in the story my father also died at the age of 82. I dearly wish that I could hear him talk about his airforce days again.
What a great episode this was.40000 viewers later and we know the young man Paul Klipsch's story.LEST WE FORGET
This Time Team episode is on my opinion the best one they've ever made.
Giving his stepbrother the chance to see what happened, and seeing this old man struggling with his emotions at the end made it so powerful and emotional.
This is the only episode I've cried.
RIP Paul Klipsch, thank you for your service. 🙏🏻❤
After watching this wonderful and also emotional episode, I visited Paul's grave in 2014 and this was thanks to Time Team, very special. I cried a few tears.
A very soul-stirring episode. May he, and his step-brother, rest in peace, as may all who unselfishly gave their lives for the cause of freedom.
Thanks to them, and the men and women who worked with them, we are living free today. Thank you to all of them for their service.
Thank You, Sgt. Pilot Paul Klipsch.
Extremely moving. Beautifully done, Time Team. Your sensitivity was outstanding.
This dig is so different from most of the other digs. Usually unknown people at relatively unknown sites from unknown dates in the Stone, Bronze, Roman occupation, or Medieval periods are discovered. This site pertains to a specific event in the Modern period, on a specific date, and, most importantly, pertains to one, specific, known person, whose own brother was present during the excavation. It carries an emotional charge unlike the other digs.
With eyewitnesses! How many eyewitnesses do you get on a neolithic site, eh?
My favorite episode thus far for those very reasons.
This episode and the episode discovering the two bombers are the most emotional programs on Time Team. Both brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for paying tribute to the pilots and crews of these planes.
Amazing that this wonderful poem was written by a nineteen-year old:
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace.
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
- Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gillespie_Magee_Jr.
Thank you for posting that! I was trying to write it down to search for and then saw your comment.
@@bethica-anncontreras Thank you! One of my favourite war poems.
John Magee was killed a few months later in combat.
I used part of this poem to write a goodbye to a close friend, a US Marine aviator lost at sea in 1983. I wrote " And while with silent lifting mind he'd trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, put out his hand to touch the face of God- and He took it!"
What a beautiful poem, I was scanning the comments and was going to ask if anybody knew who had written it and found your comment Graham. Thank you. I watch a lot of time team. Do you?
At 33 min... notice the old timer's immediate head movements~ left, Right, Up, down...youthful, ingrained instincts kick in~ observation of all and everything in seconds.
Yeah... Eyes all over the place, looking out over the wing and probably with a mind miles away up in the clouds... Best moment!
I have seen and read about how the French take such care of all the allied graves I can’t remember the name of the little town but I believe I read how each family has “adopted” each of our loved ones who are buried so far away and care for them as if they were their own. My Daddy is buried in another state ...but when I lived close by I always brought flowers and took care of a grave of a man who obviously didn’t have family close by (or maybe not even around any longer) I would always bring enough for 3...Grandpa, Daddy and the other Gentleman who was also a veteran. Thank you to each and every one of you who have served for your countries
I went to France in 1974 with some veterans of my regiment who were there. I visited one of the cemeteries after on my own. Some of the soldiers were not much older than I, some the same age.
I saw a French family and it looked like they were having a picnic. In my school French and his limited English, I learned they were celebrating "their" soldier's birthday. The grave was an unknown Canadian soldier. I asked if he was unknown, how could they know it was his birthday? The man said they did not. It was the day his father had adopted the grave so it became hi birthday. He had chosen an unknown soldier on purpose.
His father was dead and now he looks after the soldier's grave and his son will and so will his son and so on in turn. He said to me that the soldier had been loved in life by his family, he will be loved in death by mine. He had given not only his life but his identity too so they could be free. Should he be loved less than those here who had a name?
I joined them in drinking a toast to their unknown soldier.
That trip to France and the cemetery changed my outlook forever.
May they all be remembered and rest in peace.
@@BigLisaFan Thank you for sharing this story. What a touching story of respect by the French for the people who helped to liberate France. It brought tears to my eyes.
@@BigLisaFan thank you. It brought tears to my eyes also. I'm so glad I read it. I've learned something.
@@BigLisaFan Your story is so heartwarming and truly wonderful! Thank you for sharing. My late paternal grandfather fought at the end of WWII, and I have close family friends who are all USAF, so the Air Force in general (around the world) is close to my heart.
Excellent episode! The Spitfire was an airborne Ferrari, powerful, responsive, and lethal. A beautiful machine with an ugly job, and the air corps took the heaviest losses of all the western allied forces. I am in awe of the resolve those people had to keep launching every day knowing what the odds were of returning safely, but the smile on his face in that old b/w photo, climbing into that Spit', says it all. Sad as this may have been, there is still a happy ending. If there be a heaven, the two will meet again and Eric can tell his brother the price he paid was not in vain,...They won To the R.A.F./U.S.A.F men and women, "salute".
Truly lovely comment.
Made me cry by the end. I had an uncle fight in WWII and blessed he came back. Glad his brother got some closure
This episode had me absolutely in tears. High Flight is one of my favorite poems and was such a lovely tribute to the pair of brothers.
The scientific side of me was overcome with the emotion of the event. I shed profuse tears. Time Team, you handled this one with great sensitivity. The greatest of all your episodes!
@ 41:01 - 41:12 The true definition of graceful flight. What a marvelous aircraft. John Gillespie Magee, Jr 's poem "High Flight" is one of my most favorite poems and was a fitting tribute at ending of the program.
High Flight
---John Gillespie Magee, Jr
"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
i Normally like the episodes that are about Roman excavations and almost skipped this one. I am glad i didnt ! Just seeing that Spitfire fly over the field and over the grave of the Pilot was amazing. True heros back in WWII. My Grandfather drove a Sherman tank with the 13th Armored Division through France and Germany,so WWII has a special interest to me ...awesome episode
My Grand Farther was with the 13th Armored Division also in France and Germany.He told me the their headquarters's was Set up in Hitler boyhood home. I would like to chat with you and learn more about the Black cat's and if they where At Rocco pass . feel fee to contact me. I'm try to put together a Memorial for the member's of the black cat's here in north Texas at Camp Bowie was this division was from.And later Was train a Camp Beal,In Marryvilel-Yuba city Ca.
Bless us all that our grandfathers were willing to risk everything for our futures. My grandfather was part of the supply line from India to China, and his twin was a P51 fighter pilot. But let us not forget those Germans who risked everything as well to save many an allied soldier and help them escape as well. I've heard many of these stories over the years, yet there are so many untold stories of bravery and compassion that none of us will never even know about.
We owe each and every single one of them our gratitude. For my part I will never dishonor them by supporting such a horror that some even here in America today still wish to bring back. They could not bring more shame to us all.
This is now my 2nd time watching Time Team's entire saga from season 1 onwards, and I have to say that after the first time watching all the seasons and episodes I was convinced Carenza was a complete egotistical know-it-all brat who wouldn't shut up. I couldn't have been more wrong about her. She is extremely kind, educated, talented, highly intelligent and very hard working to say only a few attributes about her that I now see. Thank you Carenza, you truly are impressive and more.
This is the first time that time team has made me cry. Thank you for the care and love used in the making of this episode.
This one of the most special episodes I have watched! God bless all our HEROES!!!
A very touching ending to a poignant episode. For all their joking around, Time Team has class & always sincere respect.
Have been binge watching this wonderful series for days and must finally comment. To me, this is the most compelling, heart wrenching, poignant and important episode. Thank you for posting the video and TimeTeam producers -- thank you for making this video. Outstanding.
This brought me to tears. Those young, handsome, full of life boys lost to a senseless war. May they rest in pease. God bless them one and all.
First hard cry watching this Time Team! God bless them for giving that man an answer about what happened to his brother. Bless the brothers…they are now together❤
This one brought tears to my eyes. Thank you in so many ways! My father flew in the South Pacific during the war and was brigade photagrapher. I have many of his photographs to remember him by.
Sadly, sometimes war is all that's left to free us from enslavers. I cry with those who remember the noble deeds of Mr. Kkipsch as I cry for the loss of my own noble son Naresh. God bless them both.
Interestingly, Squadron Leader Bushell - who flew with Paul Klipsch, would be captured and would eventually be held at Stalag Luft III, made famous by 'The Great Escape'. Bushell inspired the character of Roger Barlett, played by Richard Attenborough.
Wow, that is super interesting. Thanks for that tidbit.
Although the original comment is 2 years old, watching these episodes over again and sometimes reading the comments piqued my interest here - not only was Bushell held at Stalag Luft 3, but he was also one of the main organizers of the escape attempt (he had escaped other camps, but was recaptured.) The sad part is that only 76 of the original 200 who were to escape got out and of those, 73 were recaptured. Fifty of those recaptured, including Bushell, were executed by the Gestapo. Twenty three were imprisoned again and only three (2 Norwegians and a Dutchman) made it to freedom. Additionally, many of those who survived the whole escape ordeal lived a long life - some nearly or just over 100 years old! According to lookup, the last remaining survivor of the original escapees died in February, aged 99. It hasn't been easy to find any info, but it appears that there might be a few remaining former prisoners still alive today (they were not among the 76 escapees.)
@@mickymickle2764
Thank you so much for your comment.....it was in a way, an ongoing episode of the war as lived by this man.
My High School had that book. it has AMAZING details. I read it so many times. It's the only thing I have ever considered actually purposely stealing. Being long out of print, I try to find it every time I'm at a second hand book store.
One of my favorite episodes - a wonderful tribute, an extremely touching ending. Well done!
Brian Kelley
I am so happy I stopped for a quick bit of history what an awesome feeling rather proud of carina speaking French very obvious she paid great attention to her lessons!
Nothing has ever been created that can match the beauty of a Spitfire, bought a lump to the throat watching the awesome beauty fly over the remains of one its fallen comrades.
The Jump Jet is not far behind the spitfire in history
Choked me up too the laying of the wreath at his graveside as the spitfire choked me up so much god bless them all we will remember
Very moving episode. Éric, the retired spitfire pilot was is tears for the loss of his half brother. Felt his sadness when he held the bomber jacker chain. Lest We Forget 💖
I really miss my grandpa. 😔 He was a Bombardier US Air Force. Flew over 50 missions but didn’t talk about it much Man that generation was truly special.
This is definitely one of my favorite episodes. Very touching towards the end when they're talking to the pilots brother.
saw the original program, & now still brings a tear to the eye to see what those young men sacrificed for a free world.. Hope they are not watching the outcome of world politics in 2014. May they rest in peace.
If I haven't said this before, let me say it now.
Thank you kind sir, for recording the Time Team Episodes (where you could) in Chronological order.
LOL, I'm not usually so 'anal' about watching a TV Series in order, but I'm a bit of a History Buff (used to imagine I would grow up to be an Archeologist, somewhere between the personalities of Mick, The Professor, Phil, the Enthusiastic, yet knowlegeable 'digger', and Tony the "Everyman asking questions, but always a bit sceptical of answers that seemed to be 'to exact', with little, or no room for error, on the part of "experts".
I especially enjoyed the episodes that Victor drew out for us. Although based on what he had learned on his own research, and that provided to him by the experts on that specific dig, his images, I think, did the most to bring to life THEIR LIVES.
History never dies, it just waits to be discovered (or re-discovered) by new eyes - perhaps eyes that can see the past histories 'present', and that had been learned since.
The Best Time Team episode to date.
Most emotional episode!! Thank you Time Team! Awesome episode! You made grown man cry :(
A very moving episode. Thank you Time Team.
These type of videos about WWII make me sad for the loses of life but proud at the same time because I'm proud to say I'm a 3rd generation military veteran 1)my mom's dad (Army) my dad (Marine) and myself (Army)
At 46:40 one of the team showed Carenza Lewis a picture of mk 1 spitfires flying in formation. I know this picture. A copy used to be on my father's desk. It was photographed prewar as a publicity and the flying code of FZ is of 65 squadron where my uncle was flying , As I remember it , the second to last in the row was his machine. He survived the Battle of Brtitain but lost many friends, he told me later. He himself shot down in early August 1940 and hospitalised until October.
The field that was dug for Sgt Kilpsch's Spitfire was here:
50.778998°N, 1.741021°E
So many lovely young men who lost their lives. War is so cruel.
Heartwrenching to think about.
I was born way after the big war and have because of that only a theoretical knowledge about the trials the soldiers had to succumbe.
All those brave pilots who sacrified their lives - the unimaginable courage the troops had tomuster on D-day - just imagine storming up the beach, shattered with dead comrades, screaming, shooting and hoping that they won’t hit you.
Such terrible loss - all those lives
it great to see alan reunited with a spitfire after so many years.
i was not prepared for how shaken i was seeing the wreckage laid out upon the spitfire shaped tarp. how mangled it was, and the fact that a man was sitting in it when it became so mangled.
I love this program, but this particular show was very meaningful, quite touching and left me close to tears. These brave pilots paid for freedom we all need to appreciate a little bit more. Thank you TimeTeam for such a special program.
The fact they found a way to get Alan into a Spitfire again was so lovely to witness….age may bare our bones but the mind can always find a way to stay young…and Alan just returned to his 20’s again I’m sure in that moment…one of the unique TT episodes…
I love Phil's enthuiasim!
And another family has closure. Well done. I enjoy watching all the episodes but my favorites are where they have dug up a plane from WW II with the best part being the closure they can bring to the families.
I think it's the most moving episode of Time Team so far. I broke down when I heard the story behind the little jacket chain and when they gave it to the killed pilot's brother. I hope it brought the man a sense of closure before he passed away.
Pathetic.
Hats of to all these guys. Brave lads. 👍 thank you for all that you gave..........
Carenza is such an intelligent woman. I love her. And she speaks French really good.
And she speaks French really WELL. Maybe you could refresh your English grammar first. Ya think? 🤔
A very touching episode with such a moving ending - almost as though Eric felt his mission was finally accomplished once he found out what had happened to Paul.
I cringed, however, at the end when everybody was respectfully standing around the blue outline of the Spitfire, and good old Tony goes and walks right across it - several times.
MrAlumni72
I have to admit to never having liked Tony. Initially as Baldrick in the Black Adder series no glimpse of his personality was revealed but in the unscripted environment of Time Team he can't help but reveal himself as arrogant and thoroughly self absorbed.
+BodyGuardOfLies1 It is very much scripted with numerous takes of almost every scene.
+BodyGuardOfLies1 It is very scripted, unfortunately. Even, very frequently, when they find items in the ground, and it appears to be 'in the moment' it is scripted. When I discovered that I was a bit disappointed but I also understand that they want to get the most information to the viewer in the time allotted to them. (I own several of the books put out by this show, and have watched much of the behind the scenes videos) I know, it's a bit of an obsession....
As for Tony's personality, much of what we see is an act for the show. Tim Taylor wanted an 'every man' character who was clueless about archaeology to make the average viewer comfortable with the dialog. Tony is actually quite intelligent.
Donna Perez
I don't doubt that he is intelligent my point is that he is dislikable and I stand by it. I have enjoyed the show for many years but it is despite Tony Robinson and not because of him. Finally the show may well be scripted but the pure git that TR brings to it is all his own.
+BodyGuardOfLies1 - You're going to instantly dislike about 20% of the people you encounter; instantly like about 20%; and be neutral about the other 60% until you get to know them, according to rather extensive psychological testing. P.S. *You're* going to be in the 20% other people instantly dislike, too. Just sayin.
Shew! Very emotional I am sure many a tear including my own has been shed. R.I.P. All the airmen and soldiers who died in the war. I am pleased that the step-brother was able to get full confirmation about what happened and a few personal artifacts before he himself passed away.
During war there is naturally a lot of secrecy about details pertaining to war operations. It sometimes takes many years before relatives and close friends find out what happened to their loved ones who died in the war. Especially when the body is not recovered and is buried in hostile territory. This leaves a hole in people's heart as they really never get closure and struggle to put the dear departed to rest.
I experienced the very same thing when my brother was killed when his helicopter was downed by a rocket in Mozambique in the Rhodesian war. We did not even know where it happened and if his body had been buried. It took 30 years before we found out. My father was so traumatised by this that he started having fits and eventually his mind went soft and simple. My mother became a very bitter and difficult woman but at least she got to know where it happened and that the villagers had buried her son. But she still died with no real closure.
My father was part of the groundcrew who serviced and repaired the allied aircraft in Italy during WWII. My grandmother was in the women's auxiliary air force based at home doing the same. Starting in Cape Town South Africa one of the first jobs my father was involved in was the assembling of Spitfires and Harvards which were initially used to train the young pilots and then flown by the same pilots into the war zones in Europe. After this job was complete My father along with the rest of the team travelled to Italy where they were stationed at a base for the servicing and repair work. He fell in love with the Italian people and their culture and right until his death at the age of 82 he would get misty eyed and over and over again talk about his experiences there.
Once a restored Spitfire flew over our house in Salisbury (now Harare) and my father was in the garden. He looked up and told us that he was very worried because the pilot was flying too high and into thick clouds. We could hear him giving instructions to the pilot even though the pilot would never have heard him because he was talking to himself. He said, "That man is going to kill himself", We did not witness or hear or see the crash, but two days later we learned that the pilot indeed made mistakes and had crashed the plane and died.
It has taken my siblings and I 40 years to put the heartache and pain of my brother's death behind us but hearing this story doubles the tears and I can honestly say that I can really empathise with this family. The marked and unmarked graves of fallen military personnel globally represent the cries and heartache of millions of bereaved family and friends who have never gotten closure.
God Bless you
My grandfather was stationed on the USS Saratoga in the Pacific. My father was born on a Naval base in Washington state in the tag end (1944) of the Pacific theater.
My father volunteered for ROTC at Florida Stste and graduated in 1968 then was stationed in Texas at Reese AFB where I was born. He spent the tag end of Vietnam in minuteman missile silos in ND before retiring in 1998 after 20 years of service.
I met a nice gent who saved in the RAF during WWII in town and thanked him for his service which was so much longer than any US service member served. He was nearly in tears and gave me a hug.
Very touching, a life lost before it was lived. We owe them so much!
Man that episode really chocked me up . My father and 3 uncles were all WW2 Veterans and thank God they all came back alive although one was pretty traumatized about it til his death in 1984 . They all seemed to drink rather heavily too.
RIP Klipsch you were a real hero that veterans talk about that did not come back.
Very cool. I stumbled upon a downed Spad XIII from 1918, or at least it's engine block, in a cow pasture near Grandpre, that's never been excavated.
Wow!!!
Incredible.
Paul H. Klipsch shares a name with Paul W. Klipsch, engineer and founder of Klipsch Audio, my favorite audio brand. No apparent close relationship, but R.I.P. to both.
This SO made tear up. RIP Sergeant Klipsch and Mr. Wynn-Owen.
The most moving Time Team I’ve seen. Thank you for this one.
Wonderful episode!!
A most touching Time Team. Thank you. ❤️
What a fantastic episode. Thank you Time Team.
48 seconds to go and I had to stop. I was so emotional, so inspired… I just couldn’t. Well done.
Very emotional ending. My dad was in the Pacific during WWII and fought at Okinawa with the 3rd Marine Raiders.
Outstanding episode! One of the best!
At the end of this episode, I couldn't stop a few tears. The words and the plane flying, searching for his fellow pilot, but in vain.
This was heartbreaking. Im glad Eric was able to have some closure before he died.
I almost made it through this episode. And then they recited “High Flight” and I lost it. RIP, heroes.
Never has a Time Team episode touched me in such a way
It's so lovely to hear that some portion of the team is "coming up trumps" without wanting to weep with anger and sorrow.
Holy moley! The commander Bushell whom Stewart is talking about at 42:03 is Squadron Leader Roger Bushell, who was shot down the same day as the battle [5.23.40] and captured. He was later sent to Stalg Luft III, where Bushell was a leader in planning and executing the great escape from that camp about which the 1963 film was made where Bushell was portrayed by Richard Attenborough. After his recapture, Bushell was executed by the Nazis.
This story shows what we miss when the news mentions the number of aircraft and fatalities involved and it rolls over the listener's head and heart. The angle of the plane and the thickness of the clay were amazing. Perhaps we should feel relief for the pilot (and his stepbrother) that he died before the impact in the field. The horror that the British squadron had training in basic flight, but not dogfighting probably happens in too many military stories in wartime. When will we figure out how to end wars? Thank you Time Team
I have always loved the Spitfire, and the other great plane of the time, the Hurricane. The Spitfire and the Hurricane were the planes that won the Battle of Britain. I've seen film where the Spitfire would fly alongside the V-1 and V-2 Rockets coming into London, and tip their wings with the airplane wing, sending the rocket off course. Some of them just shot the rockets down, but when it was already within range of the city they were concerned about it crashing inside the city, or exploding overhead and raining down debris. Any plane that can fly alongside a rocket and send it off course takes a lot of maneuverability, as well as courage and daring by the pilot. My hat's off, and a salute, to all the brave fighters of WW2. Mercifully, it sounds like Paul Klipsch was already dead when he hit the ground. I certainly hope that was the case. R.I.P.
Well now, nothing could fly alongside the V2, it was many times supersonic and came down at a very high angle. There was simply no defence against it other than bombing the launch sites as often as humanly possible. The airplane you saw in the reels tipping V1s was more likely a Tempest, as most marks of Spitfire didn't have the speed to catch and pace the V1. Incidentally, the Germans wised up quickly to the tipping trick and wired contact fuzes to the wingtips of the V1. A number of pilots were killed by this modification. In the end, shooting down the V1s was the safer tactic, although still fraught with danger.
Schluesselmensch Are you sure about that? I was certain that it was the Spitfire that defended Britain during the initial years of the war.I could be wrong. You may know more about it, but I was pretty certain they said it was Spitfire pilots. I'll look for the video again and get back to you. Thanks.
Schluesselmensch Spitfire vs V-1 Rocket (computer animation):
th-cam.com/video/j0sgsiMzRnU/w-d-xo.html
Spitfire Pilot attacking V-1, runs out of ammo and tips the wing with plane wing (actual video): th-cam.com/video/iKZpUvz4MZo/w-d-xo.html
Article: "... Air Marshall Roderic Hill - had a number of fighter planes at his disposal which were faster than the V1's and could fly above the weapon before descending to attack it. The Spitfire XIV, the Mustang III, the Tempest V and the Mosquito could all do this -"
www.historylearningsite.co.uk/V1.htm
I was pretty sure I remembered that correctly. I have seen better video of this from the ground, too. It was indeed the Spitfires.
Rob Robert Spitfire XIVs saw action against the V1s (303 shot down) but nothing compared to the Tempest and Mosquito (638 and 623 shot down) The Tempest was the key player with enough down low speed to intercept the V1 and its total is very impressive given the relatively low numbers of Tempests. One Tempest pilot shot down 59 V!s! But you're quite right about the video, and wrong on the V2. There wasn't anything that could shoot those down. I was fortunate to know personally one of the Tempest pilots who flew against V1s, "Lefty" Whitman. He said that the Tempest was the one to have if you were hunting Doodlebugs. By the way, a lot of people think that the V1 was a threat throughout the war but they first were fired at England in June, 1944.
Thanks so much for posting
A very touching episode. Thank you
My Grandad was a spitfire mechanic. He never wanted to talk about what he had seen. Loved to talk about the planes themselves though.
Wonderful episode.. Timeless Time Team 🤎💥 still missing you gays!
And we still have bullies and unworthy runing the world and creating endless wars and suffering. Hope that Paul and none of the millions of other "Pauls" can't see it..
Of course Carenza speaks French, is there nothing she can’t do? Love the old man, the step-brother, holding on to her hand, lucky guy.
I’m so glad she and Helen are back for the new ones, fitting they take the reigns from Mick and Francis.
I vision Matt taking the place of Phil.
Squadron leader Bushell was also shot down that day. He was taken prisoner and was one of the 50 men killed following the great escape from Stalag Luft 111 in 1944.
Oh! What a touching story this episode of TT is. Where's the tissue???
Holy shit, It's Theresa on a Time Team episode....Small world.
Yea, Tim,e Team did it good on this one for sure.
I am happy Eric was able to get closure before he passed on and find out what exactly happened to his step brother those many years ago. REST IN PEACE Paul Klipsch and Eric , fly high again in the skies free together. I salute you .
every dam episode John shows up with a diffferent looking Geophys machine. lol.
So Snoopy flew a Sopwith Camel, but Charlie Brown flies a Spitfire.
There was another famous Charlie Brown during the war. He flew a damaged bomber that was escorted from Germany back to the English Channel by a German fighter pilot. Both Charlie and Franz Stigler, the German pilot, became friends late in life.
Each gun had 9 yards of ammo
Hence the term- "the whole 9 yards" it ran out quickly so they were taught to use small burst fire. When you see the round hit your enemy you gave them the whole 9 yards. Then they learned that burst fire was best for the entire battle
Who else thought it was great when alan immediately knew where the flap lever was.