My Dad flew in the Wellington in WWII before moving on to the Halifax. He told me many times how the geodetic construction saved many lives, including his own.
@@gbentley8176 I recall that it had to wait for electrical starters, as as the compression rose, they couldn’t just spin the propeller to start. They would still slowly roll over those big engines to move the oil around. My pop was a flight engineer on B17s and B29. Told tales of having to climb out onto the (armed) bombs to kick them loose when they hung up on the racks. Brrrr. Guess it worked, as I’m here.
@@matiaslarrain5618 I said it was far more flammable than jet fuel. There is no noticeable combustion difference in standard gasoline types. I specified the high octane as it was required for the higher compression rotary and turbo engines.
@@matiaslarrain5618wrong. High octane RON 130 is even more volatile than gasoline RON 98 or 91 in the US. Kerosene for jet is very close to Diesel , or "heavy fuel " in US. Gasoline will explode with a spark. Diesel needs compression
My History teacher Mr Harper was a navigator on Wellington Bombers and he spoke highly of the Geodesic frame, as it held together after being hit by flack but unfortunately the shell took he head off one of the crew and it landed in Mr Harpers lap. He was a wonderful man.
My classics master flew Wellingtons from the UK and in Africa. He lost part of his hand to gunfire and his tail gunner had wounds to his leg. He often spoke of the trust he and the crew felt in the aircraft no matter what the conditions. He was a marvelous inspiration to us all.
My Grandad used to build Wellington Bombers in WW2, he tried explaining the geodesic design to me when I was a teenager in the atc. He has since passed away I just wished that i listened more and wrote it down. He really loved working on this aircraft.
I live near the factory featured in that movie and actually worked there during the nineteen seventies, some of the older workers at that time had actually worked on the Wellington's during the war. The factory still exists and is now part of Airbus Industries UK. Over the years this factory has produced a number of famous aircraft including Lancaster Bombers, Nimrods (fuselage only) and 125 executive jets (this was sold off to Raytheon). Production now centres on Wings for various Airbus aircraft.
It also proved Sir Barnes Wallis was a absolute aircraft engineering genius, a title (in my opinion) should also be conferred to Hawker Aircraft's Sir Sydney Camm and Lockheed's Kelly Johnson. Besides the Wellington, Barnes Wallis developed the famous _Upkeep_ spinning bomb used in the famous Dambusters raid and the very large Tallboy and Grand Slam earth penetrator bombs.
My Uncle Charlie was a tail gunner in WW2. Their plane was MIA after a mission. Years later the wreckage was found in a swamp that was being drained. The whole crew was there. RIP those brave air crew.
I had a colleagues whose father had been a tail gunner. He'd been shot down and captured during the war. They usually didn't survive if the aeroplane was shot down. Those people were impossibly brave.
Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart survived crashing at least three times (if memory serves) in Vickers Wellingtons. By WWII, he was largely relegated to liaison activities, and he was downed en route to Yugoslavia due to engine trouble, and then a couple times in China due to engine trouble yet again. In his memoirs, he mentions his initial nerve of taking such a long flight and recalls the maintenance sergeant reassuring him before take off that the Wellington was brand new, he had personally torn the engines apart and inspected everything. Regardless, he woke up as the Wellington was about to plunge into the Adriatic. He kept getting issued Wellingtons in his time in China, as he travelled a good amount, and after his second crash in China, he was finally able to get a hold of a Douglas DC-3/C-47/DACoTA, which served him without fail until the end of the war.
My father flew a Wellington on the first two Thousand Bomber raids (Cologne and Essen), with a scratch crew while serving as an instructor between operational tours (they were maximum effort operations). I never asked him about the raids, but all crew returned safe. I know more of his experiences flying the Manchester and Lancaster. Wish I could chat to him now...
My Dad flew 38 missions in WW2 in Wimpys. Lost lots of bits. Limped home often, but survived. Unsung heros. The Spitfires and Lancasters get all the press!
Had quite an emotional response to come across Ward's grave in the CWGC section of the Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg. Knew nothing of him then other than he had a VC and was in the RNZAF. Also felt sympathy for those buried in the cemetery who were killed in the firebombings. 🇳🇿
If you ever find yourself in Cambridgeshire then visit the RNZAF memorial at Mepal aerodrome which is mostly industrial estate now but still full of reminders of the locally much loved New Zealand squadron. Take in the Chequers pub in the village of Sutton too which has a fine array of photographs of the heyday.❤
I would not be able to forgive the fire bombings if I were German. And the audacity of the Allies to use videos of German civilians' burned corpses being shoveled around by bulldozers for their so called de-Nazification propaganda videos and to edit it together so that it looks like it is jews from concentration camps being shoveled around... man F hell.. that is cynical and atrocious beyond belief.
I always admired British ingenuity above others. Barnes Wallis was an amazing designer. I’m glad he was on the right side during the war and afterwards. Although he survived, my dad was in Halifax bombers.
My dad was with the RCAF and flew Wellingtons in the UK with 70 squadron. After one particular sortie, they landed with 112 bullet holes in the aircraft and 14 feet missing off one wing.
Early in WWII the Wellington's designer, Dr. Barnes Wallis, was working on a large 4-engine successor to the Wellington, tentatively named (depending to who tells the story) the "Wellsley" or the "Warwick." The standard operating capacity at maximum normal operating range was to be a nice, round number, 10 tons. One mention of this design says that, borrowing an idea from Roy Chadwick (designer of the Lancaster), the bomb bay was to be a single unobstructed space. This would allow for carrying very long bombs - even then, Wallis was also working on "Tallbody" and "Grand Slam" - his 6 ton and 10 ton "penetrator" bombs. I've wondered many times what direction aircraft development might have taken if this project had gone to Production, and if Wallis' concept had been more widely adopted. Some of the most interesting descriptions of Barnes Wallis are those given, in various works, by the engineer and writer Nevil Shute Norway, who worked under Wallis during the 1930's. Writing as "Nevil Shute" during and after WWII, he published many books, among them a non-fiction work that described Britain's successful "private venture" airship, the R-100. The R-100 and its success story have been lost to the horror stories of the R-101 and Hindenburg, but Barnes Wallis's R-100 made a number of long trips, including to Canada, of which there still exists a lot of news film. Wallis was a true genius, and I'm sure the tens of thousands of aircrew who flew Wellingtons could add many similar stories to this one.
Point of order: the Wellington was not a 'behemoth' or a 'giant'. It was a twin-engined medium bomber, much smaller than, say, the four-engined B-17 or Lancaster. In size it a bit larger than the German Heinkel 111.
Unfortunately Sgt Ward died soon after this mission. His VC is not only extraordinary because of his courage, he was 'only' an NCO. Bravery had to be truly exceptional for anybody to get a VC who was not a Commissioned Officer. Different times today of course, but 'other ranks' would normally receive the next highest depending on the service. [Please note correction below, the VC was actually the exception to the rule] In other news, 75 (NZ) Squadron was made up of kiwis alone, although the ground crews were mostly British. There were quite a few (bracketed) Squadrons from different Commonwealth nations, but 75 (New Zealand) was the only one that was given the right to the squadron number after the war, as a mark of distinction and respect from the RAF.
actually the VC is meant to be the most "rank blind" of medals , a quick look a recipient's since inception shows the large majority who have revived it held no commission (and quit a lot of "acting /temporary officer ranks) It's very inception was that it was open to all ranks as prior to that only commissioned officers were eligible for awards and it was Queen Victoria's wish that this award for the highest gallantry was open to all
@@Evilroco Thanks for the correction, I was relying on memory, and what happened to a relative. Although that didn't involve a VC, but he was 'dropped' to an MID. I'll annotate my posting accordingly.
@@Evilroco Jeremy Clarkson made a superb 1 hour BBC programme about 20 years about the Victoria Cross - "The Victoria Cross: For Valour". It can be found on TH-cam.
After all the movies I’ve seen this is the first I’m hearing of this? I can’t imagine this actually happened. I can’t believe I’ve never heard this before. Truly amazing and brilliant. He can’t possibly have bought a beer again in his remaining life.
Who was a New Zealander, in a British built Bomber. So what are you waving the American flag around the place for, mate? Oh yeah that's right ... America "won the War", all on it's own, what was I thinking? Pardon me, pardon me indeed.
@@frenzalrhomb6919I don't think they meant that. Usually older people add their country's flag at the end of their comment for some reason and I think that's what they did.
@@visassess8607 Well I'm a helluva lot older than the internet (57) and I don't go about waving my flag in other peoples faces, nor do I presume that any "heroic figures" of WW2, MUST, by their mere proximity to said "heroic deed", almost by necessity, be an American, and therefore the "flag must be waved". It's "American Exceptionalism" revelling in all it's vainglorious B.S!!
@@frenzalrhomb6919good Lord dude, relax. Believe it or not history class and a love of WW2 taught me and lots of Americans were taught about British resolve and their heroic stand and subsequent retaliation against Nazi Germany. Maybe eat a candy bar?
Alas my wife's grandfather and his crew were less fortunate. On the same or a similar raid over Holland their Wellington was destroyed. The wreck has never been found and he and his comrades were listed as missing presumed killed. More recently a German combat report came to light that describes the downing of a Wellington in the right place at the right time. Poor guy. His wife was pregnant with my father in law...
I have a part of one somewhere, I visited Brooklands in the 90's and they were restoring one that had been found in a lake. You could pay 50p for an unrestorable part that had been cut out of the frame.
The Wellesley was a long range single engine bomber, the Warwick was a twin engine beefed up successor to the Wellington (overtaken by the heavies), and the four engine bomber referred to was likely the Windsor (20mm defensive armament). All three were of geodetic construction. Wallis pioneered geodetic construction on (successful) airships.
I have a copy of the movie where they build a Wellington on a weekend . The workers did it with style. One lady left a party to come into work , still wearing a pretty dress , to help on it. They ALL were the greatest generation .
the zuiderzee was renamed to ijsselmeer in 1932 .. as they build a long dam (afsluitdijk) which turned the sea (zee) into a lake (meer). first flight of the Vickers Wellington Bomber was 1936.
My dad was an LAC during the war and worked on both Wimpeys and Lancs. He always said that they (both) were just built like proverbial brick sh*t houses and he couldn't believe how some of them made it back they were so shot up! 🤔🙄😲
A feat of bravery that shows the human spirit at its highest and finest it’s such a shame it comes out when the world is going mad. More people should know his name.
Mayhap be. Even so, war is never the bringer of good things... Not even for the victorious. Idealogical, political, even economic and religious-level goals and differences lead to war. Political objectives suddenly mean very little to a mother burying her only son. Therefore I would caution against glorifying or glamorizing warfare... If you think there is something cool or sexy about war, or the warrior stereotypes, just take a walk through the halls of the US Army's Walter Reed Medical Center. It is more hellish than anything the Western world has experienced in a couple of generations. Americans are even more removed from the experience of war...the last time we had any artillery unit open fire on any American city was during our Civil War. Not one soul alive today has any idea how awful war truly is. Not when it's in your hometown. None of us even CAN imagine the terror and horror and the loss... Hey tho', our films and games sure do make war look like fun, huh? I think THAT is fucked up and stupid. I would also point out that we can never know what discoveries, inventions, and innovations may have been delayed, or even lost forever, by the unnecessary death of just one, among the tens of millions of civilians that were slaughtered in the wars of last century alone.
I am reading the book Luck and a Lancaster by Harry Yates, who was a bomber pilot based latterly at Mepal aerodrome in Cambridgeshire. Ward was part of the same squadron and based at Feltwell nearby. Mepal is my local former bomber base that was primarily a New Zealand squadron. I even drink in the same pubs as they did! Wizard wheezes bringing back their wounded kite like the dauntless heroes they were. They’re all very much still remember locally.
As might be expected from the 'fishnet tights' geodesic construction they had problems when they were pressed into service as glider tugs, as the fuselage tended to stretch under the load, causing problems with the control cables running to the tail.
Ain't a hope in Hell Nothing's gonna bring us down The way we fly Five miles off the ground Because We shoot to kill And you know we always will It's a bomber, it's a bomber Scream a thousand miles Hear the black death rising moan Firestorm coming closer Napalm to the bone Because You know we do it right A mission every night It's a bomber, it's a bomber, it's a bomber No night fighter Gonna stop us getting through The sirens make you shiver You bet my aim is true Because You know we aim to please Bring you to your knees It's a bomber, it's a bomber, it's a bomber!! -Motörhead.
I'm surprised that it continued to fly after Sgt. Ward climbed onto the wing. How that bomber was able to hold up the weight of his giant brass balls while still maintaining altitude, we'll never know.
'Impossible to modify'? - on a cellular structure? Certainly easier to repair, just cut back to good stuff & insert 'more of the same' to suit, sew the new fabric on, dope & paint.
'75 Sqn' was in fact 75 (NZ) Sqn i.e. a New Zealand Squadron of the RAF. SGT Ward was a New Zealander - not British as stated here. After the war, the RAF allowed the Sqn number (i.e. 75) to be transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). 75 SQN continued to serve in New Zealand until the Air Combat Force was disbanded by Prime Minister Helen Clarke's Labour Government in the late 1990s. The last aircraft type flown by 75 Sqn was the A4K and TA4K Skyhawk.
From my experience with family and non-family veterans, at the time of World War 2, many or most New Zealand servicemen would have called themselves "British" as well as "New Zealanders".
@@birzky 75 was a New Zealand Sqn flying for the RAF. They wore New Zealand shoulder flashes on their uniforms as was the practise at the time. This was the same for the Aussies, Canadians, Indians, South Africans etc they all wore their Country's shoulder flashes. This is as opposed to that other notable New Zealander Air Marshall Sir Keith Park, the Air Officer Commanding 10 Group during the Battle of Britain. Park was a full blown member of the RAF and so wore British shoulder flashes on his uniforms. The fact that even as a child we Kiwis considered ourselves "British" is a different thing.
I’ve been outside an aircraft while flying relatively slow (about 60 knots) at 3,000 feet altitude during the day. Nonetheless, I can’t even imagine doing what the sargeant did.
Yes I suspect the Wellington had to maintain 120 kts. I have experienced about 80 mph winds (according to the weather service, so I dont know locally what it really was) Fearsome wind.
Thank you for this amazing story, made me do some further reading.... Saddened to learn that kiwi James Ward VC was killed in in action 2 months after this event
Airfix have paid homage to that particular aircraft & crew in 1/72 scale in their re-make of this classic bomber… Barnes Wallis and Bomber Harris are my personal heroes from that conflict 🫡
Barnes Wallis - yes, great man. But Bomber Harris, not so sure. He nearly lost the war on his own by preventing long range Liberators being allocated to Coastal Command thereby nearly losing the Battle of the Atlantic. Churchill overruled him only just in time.
Been involved in Radio Control Aircraft and just finished a 22 yr long career in commercial aviation and have never heard of a geodetic airframe although I've seen a few Vickers Model Aircraft flown & shown @ "Warbirds" Events. Kewl Story, I learn something new with nearly every episode !
The Wellington (or "Wimpy") was certainly an excellent aircraft, and served throughout WW2, but to call it massive is ridiculous. It was a twin-engine medium bomber. The Lancaster, Halifax, and Sterling bombers were far larger, and 4-engined.
What would be the other four, do you think? Mosquito? B-25? Me--262? P-38? P-61 Black Widow? (The P-61 only because my dad was training to fly them towards the end of the war...)
You haven't a clue that you showed a far more rare and interesting thing, that experimental 20mm cannon dorsal turret, that was the real story - not the "strange" geodetic construction which every 14 year old boy into Airfix kits has known for decades. (not forgetting the wing climb story, that was well worth telling)
It seems to me that the title page still shows a Wellington with high altitude pressurised cabin in the front. MK VIA according to some sources. FL 30 pretty good for petrol engined bomber in the 1940's.
Returning aircraft that sustained damage were carefully examined by the boffins. It was surmised that planes that did not make it back were damaged in areas not apparent in those that survived. This enabled for the efficient distribution of reinforcement and armour in the manufacture of newer versions.
the Wellesley was built before the Wellington and used the same construction method, and was the picture used when the Wellington was given the reputation for being the first
My Grandad flew as crew in these beasts - crash landing more than once - including into a field of anti-landing poles right after take off, with a full fuel load, full bomb load and no wheels - the crew all walked away - though my Grandad had his flight cap which was on his nav/radio desk next to his arm, chopped almost in two by the prop coming in through the side of the fuselage. He went on to complete all his missions and switched to training multi-engine pilots of the Norwegian, Polish, Dutch and French forces how to navigate in the dark at very low level for SOE missions. How low? Well they took one four engine bomber underneath the bridge at Conwy Castle in North Wales (at low tide apparently) The instructor's notes after the flight (written by my Grandad) were something amusing to behold apparently - typically understated and polite. Needless to say it took a special kind of pilot and crew to fly these missions so there were some high jinx :)
I'm going to say something American now lol "Thank you for your service" granddad though in all probability he is no longer with us. So many of that great generation sadly now gone and going. Ah but that's life.
What is this "aluminum" you mention? Was it a new secret material? If so, why are you not elaborating on it? The ONLY light metal we know of that the Wellington was made with, is proper aluminium!
Aluminum is the lightest metal that (at least, in it's "unnatural" metallic elemental form) isn't violently hyper-reactive, and it is also super difficult to ignite...compared to Magnesium, Sodium, Lithium, ect..., ect... It most certainly will burn, but ONLY when ground into a powdery dust. Unlike, for example, Magnesium engine blocks...which burn like charcoal briquettes once ignited (but a hell of a lot hotter). [ I say, "unnatural", because it doesn't exist in the natural world. I mean, not as elemental Aluminum - the soft, shiny, silvery metal we all love & use so much of today. There never was such a thing as an aluminum nugget...not until the first beer can was tossed into a campfire, anyway. There is a hell of a lot of it in the Earth's crust, but only in forms that are essentially unrecognizable as being a metal ore...i.e.: not in rocks... Discovered first in 1825, by the onset of WWII, it was by no means anyone's "secret".]
@@Kerbeygrip Which is 90-95%aluminium, 4-9% copper +traces---. I am not sure, but I believe it was not used on the Wellington in order to avoid the copper induced corrosion. The flexibility of the frames before covering suggests that this was the case as the copper made a harder, more rigid alloy. I also saw a lot of the ones that made it back with much of the covering burnt off and serious damage to some of the framework.
The fuselage was built up from 1,650 elements, consisting of aluminium alloy (duralumin) W-beams that were formed into a large framework. That’s from Gracie’s. All the ref I can find say Duralumin. My husband RAE trained says so too.
The geodetic framework used in the construction of the Wellington bomber was designed and developed by Barnes Neville Wallis. Wallis did not design the Wellington bomber.
Avatar for this video shows Vickers Wellington B Mk.V /VI High altitude bomber . The B.VI's high-altitude fuselage design optimised for pressurisation had a solid, bullet-like nose with no nose turret, and a cockpit with an astrodome-like bubble canopy - source : wiki
It's interesting that the Wellington was made with some additional strength, while the B-24 also used geodetic construction but was prone to being downed with almost any damage in key areas.
My great grandpa was the poilet of the vickers wellington bomber and got shot down twice escaped the enemies lost his brother and if you did 50 missions u could go home my grandpa did 100 and Robert(my great grandpas older brother) got shot down the way back they both dropped bomes infront of dames to break them, dame busters they call then very dangerous bc it pushes the water away then comes with amazing force and smashes into the dame breaking it. My great grandpa Thomas Richard Brandshaw Ww2 veteran.❤ died after the war peacfully
My Dad flew in the Wellington in WWII before moving on to the Halifax. He told me many times how the geodetic construction saved many lives, including his own.
Some modern folks don’t realize that the fuel was high octane gasoline, not the kerosine used in modern jets. It is far more flammable.
I believe the high octane fuel was specifically developed to its optimum during the war.
@@gbentley8176 I recall that it had to wait for electrical starters, as as the compression rose, they couldn’t just spin the propeller to start. They would still slowly roll over those big engines to move the oil around. My pop was a flight engineer on B17s and B29. Told tales of having to climb out onto the (armed) bombs to kick them loose when they hung up on the racks. Brrrr. Guess it worked, as I’m here.
high octane fuel is not more flammable
@@matiaslarrain5618 I said it was far more flammable than jet fuel. There is no noticeable combustion difference in standard gasoline types. I specified the high octane as it was required for the higher compression rotary and turbo engines.
@@matiaslarrain5618wrong. High octane RON 130 is even more volatile than gasoline RON 98 or 91 in the US. Kerosene for jet is very close to Diesel , or "heavy fuel " in US. Gasoline will explode with a spark. Diesel needs compression
The fact he did this at night and at altitude is remarkable and more than human.
Now THAT'S a Mad Lad.
When men used to be men.
When men did what they could to stay alive.
adrenaline, fiery determination does to a man.
My History teacher Mr Harper was a navigator on Wellington Bombers and he spoke highly of the Geodesic frame, as it held together after being hit by flack but unfortunately the shell took he head off one of the crew and it landed in Mr Harpers lap. He was a wonderful man.
OMFG
My classics master flew Wellingtons from the UK and in Africa. He lost part of his hand to gunfire and his tail gunner had wounds to his leg. He often spoke of the trust he and the crew felt in the aircraft no matter what the conditions. He was a marvelous inspiration to us all.
merely a flesh wound.
@@Sugarsail1 I've had worse
@@sicheredid yer catch yer own head?
Ward was a New Zealander. Absolute hero.
"Kiwis can fly!"
So were a lot of Kiwis.
Sergeant Ward was shot down and killed just over a month after receiving the VC.
Balls of stainless steel, ayup.
Bravery beyond belief.
My Grandad used to build Wellington Bombers in WW2, he tried explaining the geodesic design to me when I was a teenager in the atc. He has since passed away I just wished that i listened more and wrote it down. He really loved working on this aircraft.
I live near the factory featured in that movie and actually worked there during the nineteen seventies, some of the older workers at that time had actually worked on the Wellington's during the war. The factory still exists and is now part of Airbus Industries UK. Over the years this factory has produced a number of famous aircraft including Lancaster Bombers, Nimrods (fuselage only) and 125 executive jets (this was sold off to Raytheon). Production now centres on Wings for various Airbus aircraft.
Broughton! I was brought up near it too and was always so proud of the workers and local community
I lived in Northwich and know Broughton quite well. I do hope the old hangars have survived!
It also proved Sir Barnes Wallis was a absolute aircraft engineering genius, a title (in my opinion) should also be conferred to Hawker Aircraft's Sir Sydney Camm and Lockheed's Kelly Johnson. Besides the Wellington, Barnes Wallis developed the famous _Upkeep_ spinning bomb used in the famous Dambusters raid and the very large Tallboy and Grand Slam earth penetrator bombs.
My Uncle Charlie was a tail gunner in WW2. Their plane was MIA after a mission. Years later the wreckage was found in a swamp that was being drained. The whole crew was there. RIP those brave air crew.
I had a colleagues whose father had been a tail gunner. He'd been shot down and captured during the war. They usually didn't survive if the aeroplane was shot down. Those people were impossibly brave.
An entire Wellington built in twenty-four hours? Now that is extraordinary!
Yes the film of it is on TH-cam. I watched it about a year ago. Well worth watching it.
Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart survived crashing at least three times (if memory serves) in Vickers Wellingtons. By WWII, he was largely relegated to liaison activities, and he was downed en route to Yugoslavia due to engine trouble, and then a couple times in China due to engine trouble yet again.
In his memoirs, he mentions his initial nerve of taking such a long flight and recalls the maintenance sergeant reassuring him before take off that the Wellington was brand new, he had personally torn the engines apart and inspected everything. Regardless, he woke up as the Wellington was about to plunge into the Adriatic.
He kept getting issued Wellingtons in his time in China, as he travelled a good amount, and after his second crash in China, he was finally able to get a hold of a Douglas DC-3/C-47/DACoTA, which served him without fail until the end of the war.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. He deserved the VC.
My father flew a Wellington on the first two Thousand Bomber raids (Cologne and Essen), with a scratch crew while serving as an instructor between operational tours (they were maximum effort operations). I never asked him about the raids, but all crew returned safe. I know more of his experiences flying the Manchester and Lancaster. Wish I could chat to him now...
My Dad flew 38 missions in WW2 in Wimpys. Lost lots of bits. Limped home often, but survived. Unsung heros. The Spitfires and Lancasters get all the press!
It's my fave ww2 era plane, such a beautiful design
Agree, just like the P51 and B17 overshadowed the P47 and B24
Had quite an emotional response to come across Ward's grave in the CWGC section of the Ohlsdorf Cemetery in Hamburg.
Knew nothing of him then other than he had a VC and was in the RNZAF.
Also felt sympathy for those buried in the cemetery who were killed in the firebombings. 🇳🇿
Cool Comment!
If you ever find yourself in Cambridgeshire then visit the RNZAF memorial at Mepal aerodrome which is mostly industrial estate now but still full of reminders of the locally much loved New Zealand squadron. Take in the Chequers pub in the village of Sutton too which has a fine array of photographs of the heyday.❤
I would not be able to forgive the fire bombings if I were German. And the audacity of the Allies to use videos of German civilians' burned corpses being shoveled around by bulldozers for their so called de-Nazification propaganda videos and to edit it together so that it looks like it is jews from concentration camps being shoveled around... man F hell.. that is cynical and atrocious beyond belief.
I always admired British ingenuity above others. Barnes Wallis was an amazing designer. I’m glad he was on the right side during the war and afterwards. Although he survived, my dad was in Halifax bombers.
My dad was with the RCAF and flew Wellingtons in the UK with 70 squadron. After one particular sortie, they landed with 112 bullet holes in the aircraft and 14 feet missing off one wing.
Oh my god, my grandad (Ted Hunt) worked as groundcrew on Wellingtons with 70 squadron 🥰🥰🥰
Impressive engineering for the day.
I bet they would have really appreciated CAD back then :)
I didn't know there were feet on aircraft wings😏
@@BradleyGibbs yes. Several on each side.
@@leatherindian inconceivable!
Early in WWII the Wellington's designer, Dr. Barnes Wallis, was working on a large 4-engine successor to the Wellington, tentatively named (depending to who tells the story) the "Wellsley" or the "Warwick." The standard operating capacity at maximum normal operating range was to be a nice, round number, 10 tons. One mention of this design says that, borrowing an idea from Roy Chadwick (designer of the Lancaster), the bomb bay was to be a single unobstructed space. This would allow for carrying very long bombs - even then, Wallis was also working on "Tallbody" and "Grand Slam" - his 6 ton and 10 ton "penetrator" bombs. I've wondered many times what direction aircraft development might have taken if this project had gone to Production, and if Wallis' concept had been more widely adopted.
Some of the most interesting descriptions of Barnes Wallis are those given, in various works, by the engineer and writer Nevil Shute Norway, who worked under Wallis during the 1930's. Writing as "Nevil Shute" during and after WWII, he published many books, among them a non-fiction work that described Britain's successful "private venture" airship, the R-100. The R-100 and its success story have been lost to the horror stories of the R-101 and Hindenburg, but Barnes Wallis's R-100 made a number of long trips, including to Canada, of which there still exists a lot of news film. Wallis was a true genius, and I'm sure the tens of thousands of aircrew who flew Wellingtons could add many similar stories to this one.
Point of order: the Wellington was not a 'behemoth' or a 'giant'. It was a twin-engined medium bomber, much smaller than, say, the four-engined B-17 or Lancaster. In size it a bit larger than the German Heinkel 111.
A heavy bomber at the time it was introduced.
Unfortunately Sgt Ward died soon after this mission. His VC is not only extraordinary because of his courage, he was 'only' an NCO. Bravery had to be truly exceptional for anybody to get a VC who was not a Commissioned Officer. Different times today of course, but 'other ranks' would normally receive the next highest depending on the service.
[Please note correction below, the VC was actually the exception to the rule]
In other news, 75 (NZ) Squadron was made up of kiwis alone, although the ground crews were mostly British. There were quite a few (bracketed) Squadrons from different Commonwealth nations, but 75 (New Zealand) was the only one that was given the right to the squadron number after the war, as a mark of distinction and respect from the RAF.
actually the VC is meant to be the most "rank blind" of medals , a quick look a recipient's since inception shows the large majority who have revived it held no commission (and quit a lot of "acting /temporary officer ranks)
It's very inception was that it was open to all ranks as prior to that only commissioned officers were eligible for awards and it was Queen Victoria's wish that this award for the highest gallantry was open to all
@@Evilroco Thanks for the correction, I was relying on memory, and what happened to a relative. Although that didn't involve a VC, but he was 'dropped' to an MID. I'll annotate my posting accordingly.
Stan Horex D Day was just a sergeant.
@@Evilroco Jeremy Clarkson made a superb 1 hour BBC programme about 20 years about the Victoria Cross - "The Victoria Cross: For Valour". It can be found on TH-cam.
After all the movies I’ve seen this is the first I’m hearing of this? I can’t imagine this actually happened. I can’t believe I’ve never heard this before. Truly amazing and brilliant. He can’t possibly have bought a beer again in his remaining life.
Just a true example of an impossible situation faced by a man of immense courage.👍🇺🇸
Who was a New Zealander, in a British built Bomber. So what are you waving the American flag around the place for, mate?
Oh yeah that's right ... America "won the War", all on it's own, what was I thinking? Pardon me, pardon me indeed.
@@frenzalrhomb6919 You don't like a thumbs up from an American disabled Vet?🖕
@@frenzalrhomb6919I don't think they meant that. Usually older people add their country's flag at the end of their comment for some reason and I think that's what they did.
@@visassess8607 Well I'm a helluva lot older than the internet (57) and I don't go about waving my flag in other peoples faces, nor do I presume that any "heroic figures" of WW2, MUST, by their mere proximity to said "heroic deed", almost by necessity, be an American, and therefore the "flag must be waved".
It's "American Exceptionalism" revelling in all it's vainglorious B.S!!
@@frenzalrhomb6919good Lord dude, relax. Believe it or not history class and a love of WW2 taught me and lots of Americans were taught about British resolve and their heroic stand and subsequent retaliation against Nazi Germany. Maybe eat a candy bar?
My uncle died after his B-24 was hit by flak and then fighters on a raid over Munster over 2 years after Ward's mission.
The Wellington was an indestructible Aircraft, but only when flown by it's indestructible Airmen‼️👍‼️
I well remember my late uncle saying he flew a 'Wimpy' (as they were affectionately known) home with the side blown out.
These video's are the best assembled and presented on YT and most Cable Shows.
Alas my wife's grandfather and his crew were less fortunate. On the same or a similar raid over Holland their Wellington was destroyed. The wreck has never been found and he and his comrades were listed as missing presumed killed. More recently a German combat report came to light that describes the downing of a Wellington in the right place at the right time. Poor guy. His wife was pregnant with my father in law...
I have a part of one somewhere, I visited Brooklands in the 90's and they were restoring one that had been found in a lake. You could pay 50p for an unrestorable part that had been cut out of the frame.
The Wellesley was a long range single engine bomber, the Warwick was a twin engine beefed up successor to the Wellington (overtaken by the heavies), and the four engine bomber referred to was likely the Windsor (20mm defensive armament). All three were of geodetic construction. Wallis pioneered geodetic construction on (successful) airships.
I have a copy of the movie where they build a Wellington on a weekend . The workers did it with style. One lady left a party to come into work , still wearing a pretty dress , to help on it. They ALL were the greatest generation .
I could visit the survivor wellington in Brooklands museum. Impressive engineering! Well done Wallis and Vickers
24 hours that is impressive And what a hero ward was and never realised what a great plane the wellington was Respect to all.
the zuiderzee was renamed to ijsselmeer in 1932 .. as they build a long dam (afsluitdijk) which turned the sea (zee) into a lake (meer). first flight of the Vickers Wellington Bomber was 1936.
In the fens, we call a lake a mere, pronounced meer
My dad was an LAC during the war and worked on both Wimpeys and Lancs. He always said that they (both) were just built like proverbial brick sh*t houses and he couldn't believe how some of them made it back they were so shot up! 🤔🙄😲
Good story. Very interesting plane and design. This was a good one!
A feat of bravery that shows the human spirit at its highest and finest it’s such a shame it comes out when the world is going mad. More people should know his name.
If you’ve ever clung to a motorcycle at anything over 135 mph, you have an idea what this young man endured. 😜
What a hero
At 7:07 correction needed = "... the Wellington's near-starboard engine ..." the Wellington is a two engine bomber, not four engined.
My father was in the Wimpies at the time, shot down a few times, had amazing stories to tell of the aircraft.
Wimpy was comic "book" character
Sgt. Ward was an extremely brave young man, and obviously had a very large pair of steel ones hanging!
War makes opportunities for ordinary people to do extraordinary things .
Mayhap be. Even so, war is never the bringer of good things... Not even for the victorious.
Idealogical, political, even economic and religious-level goals and differences lead to war. Political objectives suddenly mean very little to a mother burying her only son.
Therefore I would caution against glorifying or glamorizing warfare... If you think there is something cool or sexy about war, or the warrior stereotypes, just take a walk through the halls of the US Army's Walter Reed Medical Center.
It is more hellish than anything the Western world has experienced in a couple of generations. Americans are even more removed from the experience of war...the last time we had any artillery unit open fire on any American city was during our Civil War. Not one soul alive today has any idea how awful war truly is. Not when it's in your hometown. None of us even CAN imagine the terror and horror and the loss...
Hey tho', our films and games sure do make war look like fun, huh?
I think THAT is fucked up and stupid.
I would also point out that we can never know what discoveries, inventions, and innovations may have been delayed, or even lost forever, by the unnecessary death of just one, among the tens of millions of civilians that were slaughtered in the wars of last century alone.
I am reading the book Luck and a Lancaster by Harry Yates, who was a bomber pilot based latterly at Mepal aerodrome in Cambridgeshire. Ward was part of the same squadron and based at Feltwell nearby.
Mepal is my local former bomber base that was primarily a New Zealand squadron. I even drink in the same pubs as they did! Wizard wheezes bringing back their wounded kite like the dauntless heroes they were. They’re all very much still remember locally.
Great story. I built an Airfix kit of the Wellington when I was a child. Glad I didn't have to fit all the formers & spars together.
Fascinating! I've never heard of a geodetic airframe before. I wonder why it isn't more widely used?
It’s much more expensive to build. Three bids, low price, we have a winner! Metal tubes and riveted skin.
Geodesic is the correct spelling. In addition to cost it is much harder to install/access equipment from the outside via the diamond-shaped holes.
@@nightjarflying Geodesic and geodetic are both correct, both mean 'pertaining to geodesy'.
As might be expected from the 'fishnet tights' geodesic construction they had problems when they were pressed into service as glider tugs, as the fuselage tended to stretch under the load, causing problems with the control cables running to the tail.
The Wellington and the geodetic airframe was designed by Barnes Wallace who also designed 'Upkeep', 'Tall Boy' and 'Grand Slam'.
That Barnes Wallace guy got around. Smart fellow.
Ain't a hope in Hell
Nothing's gonna bring us down
The way we fly
Five miles off the ground
Because
We shoot to kill
And you know we always will
It's a bomber, it's a bomber
Scream a thousand miles
Hear the black death rising moan
Firestorm coming closer
Napalm to the bone
Because
You know we do it right
A mission every night
It's a bomber, it's a bomber, it's a bomber
No night fighter
Gonna stop us getting through
The sirens make you shiver
You bet my aim is true
Because
You know we aim to please
Bring you to your knees
It's a bomber, it's a bomber, it's a bomber!!
-Motörhead.
Loved the Vickers S Gun turret views and seeing it firing.
I'm surprised that it continued to fly after Sgt. Ward climbed onto the wing. How that bomber was able to hold up the weight of his giant brass balls while still maintaining altitude, we'll never know.
Brass balls have their own unique gravitational effects.
A hero is a coward who has had enough.
Geodetic is super strong, robust and durable. But it is impossible to modify. What you build is what you get.
Oh. That would explain why it wasn't used more often.
'Impossible to modify'? - on a cellular structure? Certainly easier to repair, just cut back to good stuff & insert 'more of the same' to suit, sew the new fabric on, dope & paint.
'75 Sqn' was in fact 75 (NZ) Sqn i.e. a New Zealand Squadron of the RAF. SGT Ward was a New Zealander - not British as stated here. After the war, the RAF allowed the Sqn number (i.e. 75) to be transferred to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). 75 SQN continued to serve in New Zealand until the Air Combat Force was disbanded by Prime Minister Helen Clarke's Labour Government in the late 1990s. The last aircraft type flown by 75 Sqn was the A4K and TA4K Skyhawk.
From my experience with family and non-family veterans, at the time of World War 2, many or most New Zealand servicemen would have called themselves "British" as well as "New Zealanders".
@@birzky 75 was a New Zealand Sqn flying for the RAF. They wore New Zealand shoulder flashes on their uniforms as was the practise at the time. This was the same for the Aussies, Canadians, Indians, South Africans etc they all wore their Country's shoulder flashes.
This is as opposed to that other notable New Zealander Air Marshall Sir Keith Park, the Air Officer Commanding 10 Group during the Battle of Britain. Park was a full blown member of the RAF and so wore British shoulder flashes on his uniforms.
The fact that even as a child we Kiwis considered ourselves "British" is a different thing.
Sgt Ward was a New Zealander
Serving with the RAF born and trained in NZ
His VC is on display Wigram Airforce museum
Thanks Professor, Hope to see the 24Hr. Assembly film.
Best to you Scott Whitmire
That was amazing.
5:24 Vickers Wellesley: Am I a joke to you?
I was going to remark on that, too.
I was awarding Sgt. Ward the VC in my mind. Glad the British followed my lead.👍
Sgt Ward has to be one of the bravest men ever known. Victoria Cross? A given.
I’ve been outside an aircraft while flying relatively slow (about 60 knots) at 3,000 feet altitude during the day. Nonetheless, I can’t even imagine doing what the sargeant did.
Yeah, you really have to be careful when going to the loo to choose the right door ...
@@qed100 yep, same here. The wind is a surprise.
Yes I suspect the Wellington had to maintain 120 kts. I have experienced about 80 mph winds (according to the weather service, so I dont know locally what it really was) Fearsome wind.
A very interesting frontispiece . This is a pressurised one off Wellington for very high altitude operational use .
Now THAT'S a Mad Lad.
Amazed he could accomplish that feat with those huge bollocks!
Thank you for this amazing story, made me do some further reading.... Saddened to learn that kiwi James Ward VC was killed in in action 2 months after this event
Airfix have paid homage to that particular aircraft & crew in 1/72 scale in their re-make of this classic bomber… Barnes Wallis and Bomber Harris are my personal heroes from that conflict 🫡
Barnes Wallis - yes, great man. But Bomber Harris, not so sure. He nearly lost the war on his own by preventing long range Liberators being allocated to Coastal Command thereby nearly losing the Battle of the Atlantic. Churchill overruled him only just in time.
Geodetic Design.. wow.
That was so freaking cool! What an awesome story!
Been involved in Radio Control Aircraft and just finished a 22 yr long career in commercial aviation and have never heard of a geodetic airframe although I've seen a few Vickers Model Aircraft flown & shown @ "Warbirds" Events. Kewl Story, I learn something new with nearly every episode !
There is a Wellington at the Brooklands Museum if you ever get the chance to go there, it's worth it.
Wallace was a genius
"Babe wake up, Dark Skies posted a new video"
That guy that climbed out of the plane to put out the fire had a huge set of BALLS'!!!
The Wellington (or "Wimpy") was certainly an excellent aircraft, and served throughout WW2, but to call it massive is ridiculous. It was a twin-engine medium bomber. The Lancaster, Halifax, and Sterling bombers were far larger, and 4-engined.
A ventral turret is on the belly whereas a dorsal is on top. But still a great video about a great yet unsung plane.
Heroes all!. Lest we forget!. Nuff said.
what a classic design!
top 5 twin engine of ww2 EASY!
What would be the other four, do you think? Mosquito? B-25? Me--262? P-38? P-61 Black Widow? (The P-61 only because my dad was training to fly them towards the end of the war...)
@@ukulelemikeleii well Mossie has to go there too..
B 25
Ju 88
and the P-38
You haven't a clue that you showed a far more rare and interesting thing, that experimental 20mm cannon dorsal turret, that was the real story - not the "strange" geodetic construction which every 14 year old boy into Airfix kits has known for decades. (not forgetting the wing climb story, that was well worth telling)
It seems to me that the title page still shows a Wellington with high altitude pressurised cabin in the front. MK VIA according to some sources. FL 30 pretty good for petrol engined bomber in the 1940's.
@@etherealbolweevil6268 Those poor engines - that final thousand feet must have taken forever, hope they took plenty of sandwiches. : )
I hope he does more videos on the Wellington and remote turrets
Returning aircraft that sustained damage were carefully examined by the boffins. It was surmised that planes that did not make it back were damaged in areas not apparent in those that survived. This enabled for the efficient distribution of reinforcement and armour in the manufacture of newer versions.
the Wellesley was built before the Wellington and used the same construction method, and was the picture used when the Wellington was given the reputation for being the first
That was an excellent story.
My Grandad flew as crew in these beasts - crash landing more than once - including into a field of anti-landing poles right after take off, with a full fuel load, full bomb load and no wheels - the crew all walked away - though my Grandad had his flight cap which was on his nav/radio desk next to his arm, chopped almost in two by the prop coming in through the side of the fuselage. He went on to complete all his missions and switched to training multi-engine pilots of the Norwegian, Polish, Dutch and French forces how to navigate in the dark at very low level for SOE missions. How low? Well they took one four engine bomber underneath the bridge at Conwy Castle in North Wales (at low tide apparently) The instructor's notes after the flight (written by my Grandad) were something amusing to behold apparently - typically understated and polite. Needless to say it took a special kind of pilot and crew to fly these missions so there were some high jinx :)
I'm going to say something American now lol "Thank you for your service" granddad though in all probability he is no longer with us. So many of that great generation sadly now gone and going. Ah but that's life.
What is this "aluminum" you mention? Was it a new secret material? If so, why are you not elaborating on it? The ONLY light metal we know of that the Wellington was made with, is proper aluminium!
Aluminum is the lightest metal that (at least, in it's "unnatural" metallic elemental form) isn't violently hyper-reactive, and it is also super difficult to ignite...compared to Magnesium, Sodium, Lithium, ect..., ect...
It most certainly will burn, but ONLY when ground into a powdery dust. Unlike, for example, Magnesium engine blocks...which burn like charcoal briquettes once ignited (but a hell of a lot hotter).
[ I say, "unnatural", because it doesn't exist in the natural world. I mean, not as elemental Aluminum - the soft, shiny, silvery metal we all love & use so much of today. There never was such a thing as an aluminum nugget...not until the first beer can was tossed into a campfire, anyway. There is a hell of a lot of it in the Earth's crust, but only in forms that are essentially unrecognizable as being a metal ore...i.e.: not in rocks... Discovered first in 1825, by the onset of WWII, it was by no means anyone's "secret".]
@@rjeder57 You missed the point. British bombers were made of ALUMINIUM. American ones were made of aluminum.
Actually made of Duralamin.
@@Kerbeygrip Which is 90-95%aluminium, 4-9% copper +traces---. I am not sure, but I believe it was not used on the Wellington in order to avoid the copper induced corrosion. The flexibility of the frames before covering suggests that this was the case as the copper made a harder, more rigid alloy. I also saw a lot of the ones that made it back with much of the covering burnt off and serious damage to some of the framework.
The fuselage was built up from 1,650 elements, consisting of aluminium alloy (duralumin) W-beams that were formed into a large framework.
That’s from Gracie’s. All the ref I can find say Duralumin. My husband RAE trained says so too.
The geodetic framework used in the construction of the Wellington bomber was designed and developed by Barnes Neville Wallis. Wallis did not design the Wellington bomber.
Indeed, the chief designer of the Wellington was Reginald Kirshaw "Rex" Pierson.
meanwhile war thunder: wellingtons die from a single 20mm spray...
*( MASTER LAYANGAN )* 🇲🇨 hadir menyaksikan keseruan pesawat bomber...👍👍👍⭐
That's what we'd call in my neighborhood - One BAD mf'er...in the most positive and respectful meaning of the term!!!!!
What a brave man!
Incredible!
Avatar for this video shows Vickers Wellington B Mk.V /VI High altitude bomber .
The B.VI's high-altitude fuselage design optimised for pressurisation had a solid, bullet-like nose with no nose turret, and a cockpit with an astrodome-like bubble canopy - source : wiki
It's interesting that the Wellington was made with some additional strength, while the B-24 also used geodetic construction but was prone to being downed with almost any damage in key areas.
Ah but the missing secret ingredient was Barnes Wallace
The B-24 did not use geodesic construction. Your last ten words don't make sense [a missing word?] - what are you trying to say?
That's why they're called "key areas". That applies to anything!😆
Wow, just wow!
Sadly Sergeant James Allan Ward VC was killed September 1941.
Dorsal turret.
Ventral are underneath.
Very well told Thanks
THIS WAS A GOOD VIDEO - *BRAVO!!!!!!!!*
This type of construction was used on the earlier Wellesley bomber
My great grandpa was the poilet of the vickers wellington bomber and got shot down twice escaped the enemies lost his brother and if you did 50 missions u could go home my grandpa did 100 and Robert(my great grandpas older brother) got shot down the way back they both dropped bomes infront of dames to break them, dame busters they call then very dangerous bc it pushes the water away then comes with amazing force and smashes into the dame breaking it.
My great grandpa Thomas Richard Brandshaw Ww2 veteran.❤ died after the war peacfully
Amazing design and complex
Parts count would have been high.
What a story
If you know where to look there are several Wimpey high ground wrecks still around ,all in good condition
and after the FSgt got the VC the RAF upped the criteria for the VC as his efforts had a element of self preservation