Thanks, great footage. Obviously, the crews and the brass knew this was being filmed for the newsreels. Despite that, you can still see the real tension, fear, and anxiety in their young faces during the briefing. Many of them never made it to 25 missions. They were brave, brave young men.
@@Jo_Wardy no soldier on the Memphis belle was killed. Their bomber was damaged in 7 of their bombing runs but they all survived the war. You may be thinking about when the Memphis belle movie was recorded. The original group that was being filmed for the movie (Invasion 2nd) went on their 25th and last mission on April 17, 1943 to Bremen but was shot down along with 5 others. This caused the film crew to turn their attention to the Memphis Belle. Another fun fact. Memphis Belle was not the first to complete 25 missions. The first to complete those missions was (Hot Stuff) after they completed 25 mission they flew to Iceland for an inspection but because of bad weather crashed into the side of a mountain killing 14 of the 15 on board including a high ranking officer. Just a few days next in line that made it to 25 missions was (Hells Angles) because of the name they felt they would have a hard time promoting and then selling war bonds which then caused them to follow (Invasion 2nd). This is the history but I just wanted to point out that all crew survived that flew the Memphis Belle.
My uncle shot down on his 2nd mission. He was waist gunner. Shot down over Austria. He suffered burns & broken back. Naturally, he was POW & had a march at the end to evade Soviets,when Stalad was emptied.
Lol the higher ranking officer gave such a rousing speach at the beginning you could see the fire in his eyes and the eyes of his men.. the officer that finished the briefing totally drained the energy straight out of the room lol you could hear the last things spoken at the briefing were "That is all" and the first officer responds with.. "That is all??" hahahahahaha
The 8th Air Force lost 26,000 crew...Bomber Command, 57,000. The difference is due to many factors, one being the ease or otherwise of bailing from a stricken aircraft; easier in the B-17..........over 80,000.......young men, some only just shaving, who lived with the fear that the next mission would be their last.....hero's?; maybe......but more, examples of amazing courage despite the fear. Just a small fraction of the total attrition of WW2.
A few things. Bomber Command had been at lit longer - starting in 1939 whereas the 8th didn't start until 1942 and then didn't get really going until '43. During the Battle of Britain - Bomber Command actually suffered more casualties bombing the assembly areas for Sea Lion than Fighter Command suffered defending Britain. The US also had the 9th and 15th Air Forces in Europe and the 5th in the Pacific. As to aircraft - the B-17 and the Lancaster had almost the same load that could be carried. The 17 had more of that load in Armor, Guns, Ammunition for the guns, and crew members. The Lancaster had more of it in bombs. Thus - the Lancaster could deliver more bombs but had to fly at night to keep from getting shot out of the sky - but their bombs were scattered over an area the size of the entire city they were bombing because they couldn't see their targets at night. The 17's (and '24's) could often see their targets and try to actually hit them. So the 17's got more of their bombs closer to that actual target but the Lancaster's destroyed more of the city's infrastructure and small scattered factories. The American Bombers also took a toll on German Day Fighters. Early in the war the German Blitzkrieg was as successful as it was - partly - because of the Air Superiority of the Luftwaffe. After 1943 - most of the German Fighter Planes were up over their cities trying to defend them against American Bombers and the Germans never had Air Superiority any where ever again. So - with Armor over it's vitals and bristling with guns - the American Bombers were getting a real return on all that carrying capacity they had devoted to Armor, Guns and Gunners. As the war progressed - the Germans Night Fighters and Radar Controlled Flak became more and more effective - where - the German Day Fighters were gradually shot out of the sky by the American Fighter planes. The Americans suffered early on under the attacks of all the German Experten that had been flying since the early '30's but the Germans couldn't replace them. Thus - towards the end of the war - the British switched to Day Light Bombing because it was safer. The Allied and Axis Air Forces just shot each other to pieces but the Germans could not replace their losses. .
These men didn’t know it yet but the bombing runs is what I think won the war. With Germany anyway. The Pacific theater it was the hard fighting men that helped but with Germany it was these men risking their lives and bombing the factories so that they couldn’t keep building up their war machine. The Flying Fortress in my opinion was the greatest bomber during WWII. These things could have their wings shot off and still come back home. (Exaggeration) yes but you get my point. They got a lot of men back home safely. I respect every soldier who fought in WWII especially those pilots. Even their families at home helped our war effort in ways that the world will probably never see again. These men and women was the greatest generation. Thank you all.
Well, just another difference of opinion, but the B 24 was a better mission capable aircraft. It could carry more bombs and fly longer. The B 17 (Flying Fortress) was a beautiful aircraft with a memorable name, so it got nearly all the publicity and captured the imagination of the public. The greatest generation? Lol. What does that even mean? If this generation can successfully triumph over the tyranny of the elites and their plan to put the world's population in E-slavery, then they just might become "The Greatest Generation".
Clearly sanitized for the public. Maybe I'm ignorant, but how often did one star generals go on bombing missions? No mention of losses. Well, I guess the folks at home was just glad to get any information
Plenty of Mexican Americans caught with us lol I met one at the ww2 museum in New Orleans. He lost a kidney after taking 2 machine gun rounds in the mountains of central Italy. He told me he cried when he was told that he couldn’t fight after he recovered.
Well, what did you expect? The only form of African-Americans in documented research in USAAF pilots in combat was the Tuskegee Airmen or better known as Red Tails And yes there was Mexican-Americans, there may have even been some in one of them B-17's
Thanks, great footage. Obviously, the crews and the brass knew this was being filmed for the newsreels. Despite that, you can still see the real tension, fear, and anxiety in their young faces during the briefing. Many of them never made it to 25 missions. They were brave, brave young men.
Even in Memphis belle t 1st mission the rookie crew d is they never made it
@@Jo_Wardy no soldier on the Memphis belle was killed. Their bomber was damaged in 7 of their bombing runs but they all survived the war. You may be thinking about when the Memphis belle movie was recorded. The original group that was being filmed for the movie (Invasion 2nd) went on their 25th and last mission on April 17, 1943 to Bremen but was shot down along with 5 others. This caused the film crew to turn their attention to the Memphis Belle. Another fun fact. Memphis Belle was not the first to complete 25 missions. The first to complete those missions was (Hot Stuff) after they completed 25 mission they flew to Iceland for an inspection but because of bad weather crashed into the side of a mountain killing 14 of the 15 on board including a high ranking officer. Just a few days next in line that made it to 25 missions was (Hells Angles) because of the name they felt they would have a hard time promoting and then selling war bonds which then caused them to follow (Invasion 2nd). This is the history but I just wanted to point out that all crew survived that flew the Memphis Belle.
Thank you for this!!
My uncle shot down on his 2nd mission. He was waist gunner. Shot down over Austria. He suffered burns & broken back. Naturally, he was POW & had a march at the end to evade Soviets,when Stalad was emptied.
Why did your uncle engage in this war ?
That's a pretty stupid question
@@zacharyirwin49 Not necessarily. Aircrews were not drafted, they enlisted.
Why did he enlist to kill people unconcerned ?
@@bubiruski8067seriously?
Lol the higher ranking officer gave such a rousing speach at the beginning you could see the fire in his eyes and the eyes of his men.. the officer that finished the briefing totally drained the energy straight out of the room lol you could hear the last things spoken at the briefing were "That is all" and the first officer responds with.. "That is all??" hahahahahaha
0:50 How George Lucas got the inspiration for the briefing scene in Star Wars
The 8th Air Force lost 26,000 crew...Bomber Command, 57,000. The difference is due to many factors, one being the ease or otherwise of bailing from a stricken aircraft; easier in the B-17..........over 80,000.......young men, some only just shaving, who lived with the fear that the next mission would be their last.....hero's?; maybe......but more, examples of amazing courage despite the fear. Just a small fraction of the total attrition of WW2.
A few things.
Bomber Command had been at lit longer - starting in 1939 whereas the 8th didn't start until 1942 and then didn't get really going until '43. During the Battle of Britain - Bomber Command actually suffered more casualties bombing the assembly areas for Sea Lion than Fighter Command suffered defending Britain.
The US also had the 9th and 15th Air Forces in Europe and the 5th in the Pacific.
As to aircraft - the B-17 and the Lancaster had almost the same load that could be carried. The 17 had more of that load in Armor, Guns, Ammunition for the guns, and crew members. The Lancaster had more of it in bombs.
Thus - the Lancaster could deliver more bombs but had to fly at night to keep from getting shot out of the sky - but their bombs were scattered over an area the size of the entire city they were bombing because they couldn't see their targets at night. The 17's (and '24's) could often see their targets and try to actually hit them. So the 17's got more of their bombs closer to that actual target but the Lancaster's destroyed more of the city's infrastructure and small scattered factories.
The American Bombers also took a toll on German Day Fighters. Early in the war the German Blitzkrieg was as successful as it was - partly - because of the Air Superiority of the Luftwaffe. After 1943 - most of the German Fighter Planes were up over their cities trying to defend them against American Bombers and the Germans never had Air Superiority any where ever again. So - with Armor over it's vitals and bristling with guns - the American Bombers were getting a real return on all that carrying capacity they had devoted to Armor, Guns and Gunners.
As the war progressed - the Germans Night Fighters and Radar Controlled Flak became more and more effective - where - the German Day Fighters were gradually shot out of the sky by the American Fighter planes. The Americans suffered early on under the attacks of all the German Experten that had been flying since the early '30's but the Germans couldn't replace them. Thus - towards the end of the war - the British switched to Day Light Bombing because it was safer.
The Allied and Axis Air Forces just shot each other to pieces but the Germans could not replace their losses.
.
These men didn’t know it yet but the bombing runs is what I think won the war. With Germany anyway. The Pacific theater it was the hard fighting men that helped but with Germany it was these men risking their lives and bombing the factories so that they couldn’t keep building up their war machine. The Flying Fortress in my opinion was the greatest bomber during WWII. These things could have their wings shot off and still come back home. (Exaggeration) yes but you get my point. They got a lot of men back home safely. I respect every soldier who fought in WWII especially those pilots. Even their families at home helped our war effort in ways that the world will probably never see again. These men and women was the greatest generation. Thank you all.
Well, just another difference of opinion, but the B 24 was a better mission capable aircraft. It could carry more bombs and fly longer. The B 17 (Flying Fortress) was a beautiful aircraft with a memorable name, so it got nearly all the publicity and captured the imagination of the public. The greatest generation? Lol. What does that even mean? If this generation can successfully triumph over the tyranny of the elites and their plan to put the world's population in E-slavery, then they just might become "The Greatest Generation".
Clearly sanitized for the public. Maybe I'm ignorant, but how often did one star generals go on bombing missions? No mention of losses. Well, I guess the folks at home was just glad to get any information
Sin duda lo mejor de lo mejor
What caliber are the machine guns?
Browning .50 calibre machine guns.
@@tim7052 Thank you. But were 50 cal guns really in use that early? I thought it was a modern caliber.
@Jan in Sweden the M2 .50-cal machine guns was produced around 1918.
B-17E
Editi'g off that idiot music would be a smart move.. All we want to hear, here, is the sound of those four engines !
Cuando veremos la serie de los pilotos de los aviones B-17.." MASTER OF THE AIR " ??? de los creadores de BANDA DE HERMANOS..
Право американским летчикам.только Красное армия взяло Берлин.Слава Красной армии.
Not a black/Mexican pilot in sight :/
Plenty of Mexican Americans caught with us lol
I met one at the ww2 museum in New Orleans. He lost a kidney after taking 2 machine gun rounds in the mountains of central Italy. He told me he cried when he was told that he couldn’t fight after he recovered.
It was the 1940s what do you expect?
Well, what did you expect? The only form of African-Americans in documented research in USAAF pilots in combat was the Tuskegee Airmen or better known as Red Tails
And yes there was Mexican-Americans, there may have even been some in one of them B-17's
@@redactedagentdataexpunged9431 And they were our in the Mediterranean