Larissa, I'm sure there are some people still alive that experience the war as children or young adults in your area. You might want to consider talking with some of these people. With your interest in learning about WW2 and history in general, such a journey would be enlightening. You probably did meet some of these people when you were in school, but there is nothing like a sit down 1 on 1 conversation. Just a thought. Love your reactions to these videos.
The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid was a partial success, while the group that hit Regensburg did some damage to the Messerschmidt BF109 plant (and unknowingly a testing facility for the Me262 jet fighter), the Schweinfurt group failed to do enough damage to knock the ball bearing plant out of commission for more than a few weeks, plus they missed the storage facility meaning Germany had enough bearings while the factory was repaired
The raids on Scnhweinfurt forced the 8th Airforce to stand down. And they were totally useless. German had a large stockpile of ball-bearing and were getting plenty from Italy, Switzerland, and Sweden. It was a total waste and the British knew it but the Americans wouldn't listen.
A noble German fighter pilot. In Dec. 1943 a severely damaged B-17 was struggling to get back to England after a raid on Germany. The bomber was all alone when a Bf109 fighter pulled up on its tail. It would have been an easy kill but instead of scoring that kill the fighter pilot signaled to the bomber pilot that it was going to be OK. Franz Stigler escorted the B-17 all the way to the coast in order to hold off anti-aircraft batteries from firing on the bomber. The pilot of the bomber, Charlie Brown (I know what you're thinking, "Didn't Charlie Brown's dog shoot down the Red Baron?") looked up Franz after the war and they became life long friends. I love this story and others like it. It shows that people can be compassionate, even in the midst of hell. Keep in mind that the B-17 had just bombed Stigler's country. He had every reason to bring that plane down. God bless Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown ?.
Larissa, please, please, PLEASE condider doing a reaction to the movie RED TAILS. It's about an all black fighter unit that flew bomber escort during WW2. It is based on the true story of the Tuskegee Airmen who are famous for not losing a single bomber to enemy fighters. RED TAILS fits in with MASTERS of the AIR and Black History month here in the states. If you haven't seen it, give it some thought.
They started filming the show during the pandemic, like 2-3 years ago, Barry Keoghan was definitely not as popular then as he is at this moment lol. So the absolutely shocked reactions to his character's death have been slightly amusing (not that death is funny, they are based on real people after all, but people expecting the guy to survive because he's played by a now well known actor).
The real question is who will survive to see their 25th mission and end up being reassigned to non-combat duties. Unlike for the soldiers in Band of Brothers, the survival rate for B-17 crews were horrifically low during this early war period (For the Americans). Only 25% of airmen were likely to make it out the other side without dying, being severely injured or ending up a POW.
I had several family members serve during WWII, like 10 or 12 in total, including my grandfather who took part in the battle featured in the Netflix movie The Forgotten Battle. Just days after the events depicted in that movie my grandfather’s cousin, a Navigator on a Sterling bomber, had his plane shot down over the Netherlands with all the crew killed. Unlike the Americans, the British, Dominion/Commonwealth aircrews didn’t get to rotate home after 25 missions. They had to serve 35 mission deployments before rotated off combat missions, but only on a temporary basis, they usually would be rotated back into combat deployments after a break following their mandated 35 missions.
The wonderful people of Enkhuizen Netherlands ?? gave the crew a proper burial in their local community cemetery in a beautiful prominent location. It is as if Canada sent them to war, the Germans ended their lives but now they rest peacefully as adopted members of the Dutch nation for all eternity. We love how much the Dutch respect and care for our fallen ❤️
The boy in the turret ("Babyface") was Sgt. William Hinton of Youngstown, Ohio. It was his first mission with the crew of B-17F #42-5867 ("Alice from Dallas"). He was 18 years old.
van noy the guy who flew the fortress that landed in the water. they were all captured if memory serves me correctly so they did survive the water somehow.
However, initially all 3 bomber groups were to launch together which would provide full box protection across Belgium and the Netherlands up until they reach close to the German boarder. This would mean any and all responding German fighter forces would have to focus their main attacks against the full bomber army vs just a single task force and that single task force would also gain the benefit of having support from the two supporting squadrons coming up behind them – as any German fighters that went past the first division would fall into the gun lines of the second and would either have to dodge their way out or fix for an attack on that and potentially the third division if they made it through the 2nd.
As such the ideas was all 3 were there to support eachother during the main fighting and when they reach close to the boarder the first division would travel onto Regensburg to bomb while the 2nd and 3rd would split off to hit the ball bearing factories from different directions.
The plan here was that due to the fact that these German air squadrons would of had to expend their ammunition and fuel fighting the main division and that those in the area were most likely to target the 1st division as they’d expect all 3 groups to remain together vs split up, that on engaging the 1st with their remaining fighters they’d be to busy attacking them to note the 2nd and 3rd who’d have bombed their targets and began to head back to England and when the German squadrons would launch/be in wait for the 1st to return across Belgium, they’d be disappointed as they’d be making their way down to Africa meaning that whatever second attack they’d have planned for would be spoiled.
TLDR: 3 groups go in together to maximise protection until Germany. Task forces would split up with 2nd and 3rd hitting the main target while 1st played bait for those remaining enemy fighters. With the German units likely expecting to catch returning planes they’d be disappointed as the main leading division would be going to Africa and the other two would split out through an alternative route before they could refuel, rearm and get airborne again.
However as saw, high command deemed it a fine risk to send up the 1st bomber division alone while the others would go up 5-6 hours behind.
This meant 1st division faced everything in Belgium and Germany alone so took extreme casualties – they were expected to take the brunt but not as many as they took due to this blunder. This delay also cost the 2nd and 3rd groups too as when they finally reach over Belgium and Germany those same fighters that had struck at the 1st Division were rearmed and ready again for them and pounced just as hard.
Essentially a bold operation of planning that would have cost a good number of bombers but was initially designed to reduce the risk/reduce the casualty numbers was completely blundered and cost a lot of good airmen.
My grandpa was a C47 pilot in WW2 over Burma in the Pacific theater. He talked about how the Japanese fighters, Zeros, struggled to shoot them down because of how fast the fighters flew compared to the c47s. He died before I was born, so seeing this show is as close to seeing what he experienced as I'll get. The b17 wasn't TOO much larger than the c47 overall.
Kurts death hit hard. As stated in another comment, the actor wasnt as big as he is becomming now since this was started a few years ago. But man, Barry Keohgan captured that "oh god" moment better than anything I've seen in any movie. Almost comvinced it was real. I love the actor.
The air battle is realistically depicted. In many movies you see fighters firing for hours, but a WW2 fighter plane had ammo for only 3-5 minutes continuous burst… The fighter pilots had to take their time, avoid hundreds of machine guns and make every bullet count – that's why you see them maneuvering and flying around, but not firing much. If you read German WW2 combat reports, you'll understand the pilots were terrified of the B-17's huge firepower and the large bomber formations. Also, the B-17 was very resilient and could take a lot of punishment. Many people say now the air war over Germany was pointless – maybe the bombing was inaccurate and ineffective, but these battles destroyed many German fighters and many more were kept away from front lines in Italy, Normandy etc.
Mission was not accomplished. They had to go back in October and lost 60 Forts and over 600 men. Over twenty percent – a totally unsustainable loss rate. One bomber group lost EVERY plane but one.
"Of the 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses sent on the mission, 60 were lost, another 17 damaged so heavily that they had to be scrapped and another 121 had varying degrees of battle damage. Losses represented over 26 percent of the attacking force and losses in aircrew were equally severe, with 650 men lost of 2,900, 22 percent of the bomber crews. The American Official History of the Army Air Forces in the Second World War acknowledged losses had been so great that the USAAF would not return to the target for four months, "The fact was that the Eighth Air Force had for the time being lost air superiority over Germany"
" Among the most seriously affected American units was the 306th Bomb Group. It lost 100 men: 35 died on the mission or of wounds and 65 were captured. The 305th Bomb Group lost 130 men (87%), with 36 killed.
"Although the Schweinfurt factories were badly hit, the mission failed to achieve any lasting effect. The production of ball bearings in the factories was halted for only 6 weeks and Germany's war industry could easily rely on its substantial inventory of ball bearings as well as a large production surplus. In addition, the ball bearing facilities were dispersed to reduce their bombing risk"
A downed airman trying to get back to England would – at that point in the war – likely have to either ditch his uniform or modify it so he could pass as a civilian, at least to casual observation. Once you're out of uniform, you can be considered as a spy and shot, if captured. Officers would keep their insignia (which pinned on) to show that they were military if captured during an escape attempt, but enlsited men didn't really have that option, since their rank badges were sown on.
A forced landing in North Africa at that point in the war could be fatal, since there was so much effectively unmapped land. If your radio was still working, or if another crew saw you go down and got an accurate fix on your position, you might get rescued, but during the war more than a few aircrews walked until they died of thirst/exposure trying to find help.
The German fighters were using 20mm auto cannon along with standard Mach 9:59 ine guns. One or two hits on any structural part or solid object Like a Bomb) was enough to destroy the bomber, generally. Later on 1944, they often used 1 30mm cannon and 2 20mm cannon and heavy MGs. (13mm as opposed to 7.9mm)
The Schweinfurt–Regensburg was a perfect example of how not to conduct a strategic mission. 600 young men killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Plus the material losses in B-17s which the 8th could hardly sustain.
Watch my UNCUT Reactions to the Masters of the Air episodes and get EARLY ACCESS every week!: patreon.com/larissazeeuwe ?
Love you Larissa
Larissa, I'm sure there are some people still alive that experience the war as children or young adults in your area. You might want to consider talking with some of these people. With your interest in learning about WW2 and history in general, such a journey would be enlightening. You probably did meet some of these people when you were in school, but there is nothing like a sit down 1 on 1 conversation. Just a thought. Love your reactions to these videos.
The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Raid was a partial success, while the group that hit Regensburg did some damage to the Messerschmidt BF109 plant (and unknowingly a testing facility for the Me262 jet fighter), the Schweinfurt group failed to do enough damage to knock the ball bearing plant out of commission for more than a few weeks, plus they missed the storage facility meaning Germany had enough bearings while the factory was repaired
Epic reaction tbh can’t wait for Friday for the new episode
The raids on Scnhweinfurt forced the 8th Airforce to stand down. And they were totally useless. German had a large stockpile of ball-bearing and were getting plenty from Italy, Switzerland, and Sweden. It was a total waste and the British knew it but the Americans wouldn't listen.
A noble German fighter pilot. In Dec. 1943 a severely damaged B-17 was struggling to get back to England after a raid on Germany. The bomber was all alone when a Bf109 fighter pulled up on its tail. It would have been an easy kill but instead of scoring that kill the fighter pilot signaled to the bomber pilot that it was going to be OK. Franz Stigler escorted the B-17 all the way to the coast in order to hold off anti-aircraft batteries from firing on the bomber. The pilot of the bomber, Charlie Brown (I know what you're thinking, "Didn't Charlie Brown's dog shoot down the Red Baron?") looked up Franz after the war and they became life long friends. I love this story and others like it. It shows that people can be compassionate, even in the midst of hell. Keep in mind that the B-17 had just bombed Stigler's country. He had every reason to bring that plane down. God bless Franz Stigler and Charlie Brown ?.
Yes Kurt was killed in action in the first Regensburg – Schweinfurt raid
Larissa, please, please, PLEASE condider doing a reaction to the movie RED TAILS. It's about an all black fighter unit that flew bomber escort during WW2. It is based on the true story of the Tuskegee Airmen who are famous for not losing a single bomber to enemy fighters. RED TAILS fits in with MASTERS of the AIR and Black History month here in the states. If you haven't seen it, give it some thought.
They started filming the show during the pandemic, like 2-3 years ago, Barry Keoghan was definitely not as popular then as he is at this moment lol. So the absolutely shocked reactions to his character's death have been slightly amusing (not that death is funny, they are based on real people after all, but people expecting the guy to survive because he's played by a now well known actor).
The real question is who will survive to see their 25th mission and end up being reassigned to non-combat duties. Unlike for the soldiers in Band of Brothers, the survival rate for B-17 crews were horrifically low during this early war period (For the Americans). Only 25% of airmen were likely to make it out the other side without dying, being severely injured or ending up a POW.
The losses suffered by the US Army Air Force in the Regensburg/Schweinfurt raids made the US reconsider their policy of daylight bombing missions.
I had several family members serve during WWII, like 10 or 12 in total, including my grandfather who took part in the battle featured in the Netflix movie The Forgotten Battle. Just days after the events depicted in that movie my grandfather’s cousin, a Navigator on a Sterling bomber, had his plane shot down over the Netherlands with all the crew killed. Unlike the Americans, the British, Dominion/Commonwealth aircrews didn’t get to rotate home after 25 missions. They had to serve 35 mission deployments before rotated off combat missions, but only on a temporary basis, they usually would be rotated back into combat deployments after a break following their mandated 35 missions.
The wonderful people of Enkhuizen Netherlands ?? gave the crew a proper burial in their local community cemetery in a beautiful prominent location. It is as if Canada sent them to war, the Germans ended their lives but now they rest peacefully as adopted members of the Dutch nation for all eternity. We love how much the Dutch respect and care for our fallen ❤️
#LestWeForget
There was no boys in war, only men, Germany didn’t care if you were 12 or 13, you were big enough, you fight. 15:38
wasnt the largest air armada ever. even at that point of the war. not even largest american one either
does anyone want the answer to the riddle
They better have gotten that lobster lol
The boy in the turret ("Babyface") was Sgt. William Hinton of Youngstown, Ohio. It was his first mission with the crew of B-17F #42-5867 ("Alice from Dallas"). He was 18 years old.
van noy the guy who flew the fortress that landed in the water. they were all captured if memory serves me correctly so they did survive the water somehow.
7:32 so to explain the operation a bit easier.
The operation was to hit 2 different areas.
However, initially all 3 bomber groups were to launch together which would provide full box protection across Belgium and the Netherlands up until they reach close to the German boarder.
This would mean any and all responding German fighter forces would have to focus their main attacks against the full bomber army vs just a single task force and that single task force would also gain the benefit of having support from the two supporting squadrons coming up behind them – as any German fighters that went past the first division would fall into the gun lines of the second and would either have to dodge their way out or fix for an attack on that and potentially the third division if they made it through the 2nd.
As such the ideas was all 3 were there to support eachother during the main fighting and when they reach close to the boarder the first division would travel onto Regensburg to bomb while the 2nd and 3rd would split off to hit the ball bearing factories from different directions.
The plan here was that due to the fact that these German air squadrons would of had to expend their ammunition and fuel fighting the main division and that those in the area were most likely to target the 1st division as they’d expect all 3 groups to remain together vs split up, that on engaging the 1st with their remaining fighters they’d be to busy attacking them to note the 2nd and 3rd who’d have bombed their targets and began to head back to England and when the German squadrons would launch/be in wait for the 1st to return across Belgium, they’d be disappointed as they’d be making their way down to Africa meaning that whatever second attack they’d have planned for would be spoiled.
TLDR:
3 groups go in together to maximise protection until Germany.
Task forces would split up with 2nd and 3rd hitting the main target while 1st played bait for those remaining enemy fighters.
With the German units likely expecting to catch returning planes they’d be disappointed as the main leading division would be going to Africa and the other two would split out through an alternative route before they could refuel, rearm and get airborne again.
However as saw, high command deemed it a fine risk to send up the 1st bomber division alone while the others would go up 5-6 hours behind.
This meant 1st division faced everything in Belgium and Germany alone so took extreme casualties – they were expected to take the brunt but not as many as they took due to this blunder.
This delay also cost the 2nd and 3rd groups too as when they finally reach over Belgium and Germany those same fighters that had struck at the 1st Division were rearmed and ready again for them and pounced just as hard.
Essentially a bold operation of planning that would have cost a good number of bombers but was initially designed to reduce the risk/reduce the casualty numbers was completely blundered and cost a lot of good airmen.
My grandpa was a C47 pilot in WW2 over Burma in the Pacific theater. He talked about how the Japanese fighters, Zeros, struggled to shoot them down because of how fast the fighters flew compared to the c47s. He died before I was born, so seeing this show is as close to seeing what he experienced as I'll get. The b17 wasn't TOO much larger than the c47 overall.
Kurts death hit hard. As stated in another comment, the actor wasnt as big as he is becomming now since this was started a few years ago. But man, Barry Keohgan captured that "oh god" moment better than anything I've seen in any movie. Almost comvinced it was real. I love the actor.
The air battle is realistically depicted. In many movies you see fighters firing for hours, but a WW2 fighter plane had ammo for only 3-5 minutes continuous burst… The fighter pilots had to take their time, avoid hundreds of machine guns and make every bullet count – that's why you see them maneuvering and flying around, but not firing much. If you read German WW2 combat reports, you'll understand the pilots were terrified of the B-17's huge firepower and the large bomber formations. Also, the B-17 was very resilient and could take a lot of punishment. Many people say now the air war over Germany was pointless – maybe the bombing was inaccurate and ineffective, but these battles destroyed many German fighters and many more were kept away from front lines in Italy, Normandy etc.
This episode pissed me off. Incompentent American Army Air Commanders. They should have just postponed for another day.
Part 3 was just an incredible episode of television.
I'm still wondering where the welcome party was with the ice-cold beer and lobster tails. Hella empty airfield.
Mission was not accomplished. They had to go back in October and lost 60 Forts and over 600 men. Over twenty percent – a totally unsustainable loss rate. One bomber group lost EVERY plane but one.
"Of the 291 B-17 Flying Fortresses sent on the mission, 60 were lost, another 17 damaged so heavily that they had to be scrapped and another 121 had varying degrees of battle damage. Losses represented over 26 percent of the attacking force and losses in aircrew were equally severe, with 650 men lost of 2,900, 22 percent of the bomber crews. The American Official History of the Army Air Forces in the Second World War acknowledged losses had been so great that the USAAF would not return to the target for four months, "The fact was that the Eighth Air Force had for the time being lost air superiority over Germany"
" Among the most seriously affected American units was the 306th Bomb Group. It lost 100 men: 35 died on the mission or of wounds and 65 were captured. The 305th Bomb Group lost 130 men (87%), with 36 killed.
"Although the Schweinfurt factories were badly hit, the mission failed to achieve any lasting effect. The production of ball bearings in the factories was halted for only 6 weeks and Germany's war industry could easily rely on its substantial inventory of ball bearings as well as a large production surplus. In addition, the ball bearing facilities were dispersed to reduce their bombing risk"
"The mission was a failure"
My Father was on this mission on the Piccadilly Lily of the 351st SQ/ 100TH BG. He kept a diary and it supports what you see.
7:04 They were absolutely expecting German fighters. I think that look on their faces is more fear than surprise.
My grand uncle survived his 25 missions. Then he spent the next 40 years screaming in his sleep. Every single night till he died.
A downed airman trying to get back to England would – at that point in the war – likely have to either ditch his uniform or modify it so he could pass as a civilian, at least to casual observation. Once you're out of uniform, you can be considered as a spy and shot, if captured. Officers would keep their insignia (which pinned on) to show that they were military if captured during an escape attempt, but enlsited men didn't really have that option, since their rank badges were sown on.
A forced landing in North Africa at that point in the war could be fatal, since there was so much effectively unmapped land. If your radio was still working, or if another crew saw you go down and got an accurate fix on your position, you might get rescued, but during the war more than a few aircrews walked until they died of thirst/exposure trying to find help.
The German fighters were using 20mm auto cannon along with standard Mach 9:59 ine guns. One or two hits on any structural part or solid object Like a Bomb) was enough to destroy the bomber, generally. Later on 1944, they often used 1 30mm cannon and 2 20mm cannon and heavy MGs. (13mm as opposed to 7.9mm)
The Schweinfurt–Regensburg was a perfect example of how not to conduct a strategic mission. 600 young men killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Plus the material losses in B-17s which the 8th could hardly sustain.