the ninth airforce's order to y 29 to remain on the ground was literally obeyed,,but in column,idling on the runway, ,follow orders,but not too closely,,,its why the germans lost.
German aircraft was good. VERY good. If you let me choose the P-51 and the FW-190, FW it is for me as it packs more punch, turns almost the same, can take more blows, clear view as the bubble canopy of the P-51 except slower in speed and looks nastier. One point they lost the war is that they could fight country like Poland with bad planes and tactics, they can't win a nation with proper training and planes. EG the English with their Spitfires and Hurricanes, Americans with their P-51 and P-47
I found out where the last of the Luftwaffe was destroyed in World War 2. The Red Air Force destroyed their last planes in the battle of Seelow heights
Slowly but surely, through the beauty of youTube (let's hope the gov't. leaves this alone) all kinds of crazy, wonderful stories are coming out from air war veterans (what's left) the world over. And cool videos of their stories should be made.
wow a lot of german supporters here, seig heil, jk. but yeah considering what they said earlier in the show, this was a desperation move. fact: in the start of the war american fighter casualties were higher due to inexperienced pilots and the use of WW I planes. fact: at the end of the war, the idea of quality over quantity backfired on the germans, in the end they had less planes and had lost almost all of their aces vs the mass manufacture and now higher number of aces that the US had.
Hey Everyone some new info. Turns out only 15% of the people in Germany were truly devoted to the Third Reich. The remaining 85% were either half-hearted about it or never cared.
A little research shows that Oberstleutnant Gunther Specht was flying an FW-190 that day, so it wasn't him. If anyone can find any info about who that expert German pilots was, please share...
@IcyScythe...I would have love to have met him...They should do some documentaries on the German or even Japanese side...I dont like the propaganda stuff...it happened 65 years ago...71 if you count 1939
Germany admitted the loss of 28 planes at Asch. Things didn't go as well for the Allies at the other 16 sites targeted. Many of the other attacks didn't have a good trade off for the Germans but a few of them did. A large number of the Germans where trainees and planning was poor. It is hard to be involved in ground attack and air to air combat at the same time. The American's didn't lose anyone at Asch but definately did at other bases. Planes already in the air at Asch helped
@Raubritter1488 Not quite. Planes may have been damaged yet not shot down. Capt. William Whisner's Mustang took multiple hits from a FW-190s cannon fire until another P-51 drove him off. Whisner had already downed one Luftwaffe fighter and before having to land from the damage destroyed three more. Another was Lt Jack Kennedy who had the right wing of his P-47 set on fire, he too survived and like Whisner returned to base at battles end. All pilot returned safely to base.
@Raubritter1488 Well do you have this book: Bodenplatte: The Luftwaffe's Last Hope. Reviews say this book is the definitive study on the last offensive attack on the Allies. It should be good. Then again different books may say different things about the same subject
I'm talking about the JG 11 biography.BTW,I have another book written by Norman Franks and Marek J. Murawski called ''Operation Bodenplatte'' edited by AJ-Press.
@Raubritter1488 I learned that part of JG/11 attacked another base nearby the rest attacked Y-29. In fact I've seen differing reports on how many planes were lost from both sides. Wikipedia says the Americans at Y-29 lost 4 aircraft yet the pilots survived. Other reports say JG/11 lost 40 thanks to enemy fighters, flak and friendly fire. It seems different sources say different things on the same subject. So which one is true?
During the ''Unternehmen Bodenplatte'',each Jagdgeschwader had its objective,for example,the JG 11's one was the Asch airfield and the JG 4's was the St.Trond one.Personally I don't believe in Wikipedia,I only believe in what I read but it would be nice to see the archives.
@Raubritter1488 I found something... The Bodenplatte book I was talking about. I searched for it and found it on Google Books. There's a description and contents to the book's chapters you can go right to the one about Y-29 and read it yourself. In fact there are two books on there with the same title. Go to the one that has the picture of a man sitting on an airplane's wing.
@TheBushImpersonator First of all, dont insult and have more education. Second: I simply don´t belive that no one american fighter was shoot down, that is impossible, the germans are one of the best quarry of pilots in the world with Manfred Von Richthofen in the World War 1 and Erich Bubby Hartmann in the second World War. I've seen several documentaries that talk about air battles of World War II between Germans and Americans and not talking about sacks from American planes. That´s impossible.
@IcyScythe The Luftwaffe units assigned to attack Asch were the I, II, & III Gruppen of Jagdgeschwader 11, Commanded by Oberstleutnant Gunther Specht, leader of the entire Geschwader.
This is from 352ndfg dautcom. No one knows for sure, but he had to be a top leader.
@SkullKing11841 They are ME-109, but they are called also BF because the Manufacturer. BF is Bayerische Flugzeugwerke. In english: Bavarian Aircraft Works
@raulox71 Yes, but we have to go further than that. As usual, the truth is always amazing when discovered why. In this case it's all about politics. Erhard Mich, head of the German RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) disliked the upstart Messerschmitt. In most cases, the first two initials of the last name are used when identifying the airplane, in this case, Me, standing for Messerschmitt. Because of political correctness due to Milch, who is showing his one up-manship....
@raulox71 ...insisted that the Messerschmitt company being instead called the 'Bayerische Flugzeugwerke",a former airplane company in the same town of Augsburg, where Messerschmitt also set up shop & had worked for prevoiusly. Later on it the war this policy was relaxed & now the Bf 109s became Me 109s.
At one of the 17 airfields attacked, a German pilot was captured after bail out. When the base commander came to his room, the pilot pointed out the window at the smoking American planes & proudly exclaimed in English "What do you think about that!" The commander let the prisoner stay in his cell for 4 days & then took him out to the flight line showing off row after row of shiny,new replacement aircraft. "What do you think about that ?" says he. The German admits defeat.
@kolbpilot The pilot captured was Feldwebel Stephan Kohl. Kohl was one of 8 Bf-109s shot down over Metz and was pretty smug about the destruction of the planes. The commander of Metz, Commander Brooking, was caught while using the men's room when the attack began. In fact Kohl wanted his picture taken and his shoes shined, showing off his pride at his and his comrades handiwork. However within five days new planes were delivered and Kohl's confidence was crushed.
@KGero478 I liked these history series but they were somewhat biased. Sure, by '45 Germany was spent, especially the Luftwaffe. But in their day, they were a match for any country out there.
Imagine Ridley Scott (an excellent military and historical movie director) using real Bf-109s, 190s, 51s and 47s, CGI and a cast of actors no one knows. This is an epic story.
@csmeltz I'm fortunate to know many of the ground crew that experienced this dogfight. Some jumped into half dug foxholes. Some only had .45's to use. Didn't really do much of anything to the 109's or 190's but tried none the less.
Galland was gearing up for the "big blow" that he intended to deal with the raiding fortresses and liberators. He plans to send as many as 600 fighters to intercept these raiders. Instead, he was the one dealt with the big blow, by taking his reserved planes and pilots and use them for bodenplatte.
Poor bad-ass German pilot. It's too bad to see someone get killed when they deserved to get away. But war has NOTHING to do with who deserves to die, at least not on the individual scale. It's easy for some people to say, "oh, well...he was a Nazi. His country started it; he deserved to die." I can't think like that. He had a mother. He was just fighting for his country, and it's just as tragic for him to die as an American. Either one COULD have been a total prick, but I don't know that.
That Luftwaffe pilot that evading all those aircraft and almost got away, it would've been great to have had him interviewed and tell his side of the story.
One can argue that, in the end, it was a numbers game with American and Soviet pilots outnumbering the Germans and it's a valid point, but I would ask that you guys don't forget that American pilots were no slouches when it came to flying and fighting. For the Germans, the best pilots were denied training of replacements.
@xxxShadowKnightxxxx I believe I understand what you're saying, but I would have to point out that Germany was deficient in both the QUALITY of the pilots and the aircraft they had to face, BF-109s and FW-190s were both a bit outclassed by American Thunderbolts and Mustangs. Again, our Allied trainees did get more detailed instruction from veteran pilots, something Germany didn't do.
Messers and Wurgers were not outclassed,they were outnumbered and hampered by the lack of well-trained pilots and,of course,of fuel.''Battle of Fuel(since May 1944)''=less fuel for the Jagdwaffe and training=less qualified pilots.That's so simple.
@Raubritter1488 How true. This air battle was a microcosm of the latter phase of the entire air war and, therefore, think it would make an epic movie showing the story from both sides. Europeans thought in terms of 100s while Americans thought in terms of 1000s. The war was won by "production" and "command structure" in both the ETO and PTO. Gut-wrenching story for German commanders, but then again... they supported an evil bastard who made his own command structure inept.
the ace wasnt Erich , hartmann survived and was captured after his last victory on the 8th of may 1945 , he was sent to prison byt the soviets for 25 years and was sent for hard labor for 10 years ... he was released 1955... sooo its not him
Alright, the name would have been either Major Gunther Specht-Kommodore JGll-34 kills, or more likely Horst-Gunther von Fassong -Gruppenkmmandeur III/JG11-136 kills. Both were killed at the battle at Y-29. The German report stated that he was last seen engaged in aerial combat.
i agree with you that many shows only show american victories in the war, yes i agree that the participation of the americans in the war made the allies win the war. But most americans do not noe that once the japs had taken over american soil, the aleutian islands, watch the videod and you will noe that the americans were not invincible, if you give me a thumbs down it only goes to show how americans cant take the truth .
No thumbs down, WarJunkie. We certainly were not invincible and few of us claim we were. We were quite unprepared for war at the outset. Not only did we lose the Aleutions but also the Phillipines, and Wake Island. However in defense I must state that only Attu and Kiska were occupied by the Japanese in the Aleutians. On one we had no military presence and on the other we only had a small weather station so not much of a defense force. The Phillipines was a far greater defeat for us.
I've seen comments on every dogfight episode about how biased this show is towards American victories. So I issue a challenge to all other countries. Tell me the name of the comparable show produced in YOUR country that does not show bias towards YOUR country. Just tell me the name and I will watch it. I have issued this challenge on many sites and have not received ONE reply ( except for a few nasty remarks ). But never the name of a singe production. Go for it.
i dont know an entire show... but meny episodes of diffrent shows in germany that showed it much better how it really were... but i dont know where i saw that... and one of the things you have to think about... were germans cant really say "jay were proud of our historie" or something like that... because were not. and we dont spend that much money on tv than the americans do
I understand what you are saying, FireX. My point is that German shows feature Germans, French shows feature French, Biritsh shows.....etc. etc. Why should people expect us to be different? And as far as your history is concerned, many countries have had their dark periods. America held onto slavery longer than most, England, Greece, Russia, and France all tried to rule the world at one time ( I think France is still trying ). But yeah, we watch way to much television. Salute from Texas.
yay... but when someone talks about war... everybody think´s of germany and nazi´s and so on... or if you talk about jews or diktators or what ever... germany is still hated. and we germans have to carry that... if an americans says "im proud of my country" he´s a patriot...if a german says that everybody thinks he´s a nazi
Forgive me porthpatho78. But I don't see the relavence of your post. Gallipolli was in WWI against the Turks. No one doubts the bravery of you Australians and New Zealanders in that battle. I simply can't see why your post would apply here.
Ah, now I understand. But my comments were about a weekly program showing the war such as this one presenting the aspects of WWII in a positive manner towards the enemy, or even an ally. No one has one. But everyone else, who does not do it, seems to expect us to. Salute to the ANZACS!
A strike designed to crush the allies turned out to be the greatest loss the Luftwaffe experienced on any single day, losing 234 of their best pilots, while the allies lost only 15 pilots according to Manrho & Pütz 2004.
The fundamental flaw in the German strategy of a surprise attack against Allied planes on the ground is planes are dime a dozen the the allies, it was the skilled pilots who are valuable and they don't sleep in their planes.
ya... i've been watching this doc for quite sometimes. they are great. but i wonder why it is so biased. it is like there were no american pilot lost in the battle. it should be from the view of good airmenship and present good dogfights from both sides.
Then don't watch. If you have a problem with this program being biased against Nazis and Commies, don't watch and go back to your 1st world life which we gave you.
Thanks for all the work in bringing this to us. I stayed up later than I should have to finish watching the whole thing. This is one episode that I had missed, so I appreciated seeing it here.
you mean Köhne? well, i personally think it was quite hard for him. here he scored his last kill in 6 months. in may 44 he claimed his 29 and a total of 15 fourengined bombers... well, at that time he had been for more than 4 years in action, had been wounded several times.. he had enough i think. he was "Abgeflogen"... translated as overused.. he was fed up with it and didnt shown any more aggressiveness like before.
the same with Specht, de Kommodore of JG 11. he flew for 4 years with one eye blinded and a treamandous headache... he gave his brother his loved hunting rifles before he died because he admitted that he had no more power to endure another such horrible wounding when shot down another time.
the others were too poor trained... for example 7./JG 11 Harald Schwartz(missing/3victories)
hit a tree and crashed when flying low back home...
it must suck to be a luftwaffe pilot during 1945 their airforce can barely make a dent on the allies stupid hitler if he let the jet grow without interruption it may hav slowed their loss of the waar.
The bulk of what was left of the Luftwaffe were sent to try and destroy the Allied Airforce on the ground in a last ditch attempt turn the tide of the war. Its was called "Operation Bodenplatte". And it didnt succeed. Some 200+ Luftwaffe aircraft were shot down by their own flak before they even eached their targets. This was because the German high command did not want any chance of the attack being known to the Allies. So they did not tell there own flak batteries about the operation.
yes, at a cost of more than 400 combat aircraft, flown by novice pilotshence the big aerial kill ratio. the fightrer pilots thmeselves were even guided byu JU 88 towards their target as they lacked navigation training. Destroying a plane in the ground in exhange of a plane and a pilot is a poor trade. that's the most fearful missions fighter pilots felt. the "flak suppression run"
This episode wasn't about "Operation Bodenplatte" as a whole..thought it was a disaster for the Luftwaffe dispite the aircraft they distroyed. It was about the engagement at Y-29 Asch between the attacking(mainly) JG/11 unit and the 487FS,352nd FG.
The 487th shot down between 23-25 e/a for the lost of 1 aircarft..and no pilot's.
the ninth airforce's order to y 29 to remain on the ground was literally obeyed,,but in column,idling on the runway, ,follow orders,but not too closely,,,its why the germans lost.
tkelly411 1 month ago
German aircraft was good. VERY good. If you let me choose the P-51 and the FW-190, FW it is for me as it packs more punch, turns almost the same, can take more blows, clear view as the bubble canopy of the P-51 except slower in speed and looks nastier. One point they lost the war is that they could fight country like Poland with bad planes and tactics, they can't win a nation with proper training and planes. EG the English with their Spitfires and Hurricanes, Americans with their P-51 and P-47
MrLolx2u 2 months ago
weird how the enemy planes seem to speed up right b4 exploding
max258147 2 months ago
damn i was cheering for the Germans after seeing that last pilot... i wish he wouldv'e lived so we could hear his side of the story, he was amazing.
tgshchris 3 months ago
Maybe if the germans followed a guy with a sense of leading capabilities they might have won the war.
MostwantedLover1 5 months ago
thank you so much for sharing these videos with us
they were truly great, just saying
RonyMexico 9 months ago
Y-29 should be a movie ... way too little people even know about Y-29.
DarkTenka 9 months ago 2
Goring was an idioit, Hitler was a madman.. and Speer, crazy...
teddythebenny 10 months ago
Who was the German Ace?
Zer10n 10 months ago
I found out where the last of the Luftwaffe was destroyed in World War 2. The Red Air Force destroyed their last planes in the battle of Seelow heights
Superdeath25 1 year ago
@Superdeath25
Wrong answer,the last planes were grounded by lack of fuel and your brain fell to the closet,you fucking moron!!!
Raubritter1488 7 months ago
Slowly but surely, through the beauty of youTube (let's hope the gov't. leaves this alone) all kinds of crazy, wonderful stories are coming out from air war veterans (what's left) the world over. And cool videos of their stories should be made.
kolbpilot 1 year ago
But yeah i am curious as to who that german ace was? i don't care what side their own an ace is an ace. anyone who knows let me know.
gunsniper0018 1 year ago
wow a lot of german supporters here, seig heil, jk. but yeah considering what they said earlier in the show, this was a desperation move. fact: in the start of the war american fighter casualties were higher due to inexperienced pilots and the use of WW I planes. fact: at the end of the war, the idea of quality over quantity backfired on the germans, in the end they had less planes and had lost almost all of their aces vs the mass manufacture and now higher number of aces that the US had.
gunsniper0018 1 year ago
Hey Everyone some new info. Turns out only 15% of the people in Germany were truly devoted to the Third Reich. The remaining 85% were either half-hearted about it or never cared.
KGero478 1 year ago
Rape is a very serious crime. These Americans commited it.
BombbieGoBoomBoom 1 year ago
wow 3 Mustangs vs 1 109. And the Mustangs win!! Never saw that coming.
Thermal26 1 year ago
A little research shows that Oberstleutnant Gunther Specht was flying an FW-190 that day, so it wasn't him. If anyone can find any info about who that expert German pilots was, please share...
Jonno2summit 1 year ago
@IcyScythe...I would have love to have met him...They should do some documentaries on the German or even Japanese side...I dont like the propaganda stuff...it happened 65 years ago...71 if you count 1939
hcpsspearsnb 1 year ago 2
omg 1 death and 20kills!!!!! if this was a game ill call it hax lol
yourmomwasherelol 1 year ago
@yourmomwasherelol No pilots were lost on the American side. The P-47 pilot that was shot down made a crash landing/bailed out and returned safely.
KGero478 1 year ago
@KGero478
Germany admitted the loss of 28 planes at Asch. Things didn't go as well for the Allies at the other 16 sites targeted. Many of the other attacks didn't have a good trade off for the Germans but a few of them did. A large number of the Germans where trainees and planning was poor. It is hard to be involved in ground attack and air to air combat at the same time. The American's didn't lose anyone at Asch but definately did at other bases. Planes already in the air at Asch helped
jonsidneyb 10 months ago
@KGero478
Wrong,Marek J. Murawski in his book ''JG 11'',says that 11 U.S. fighters were shot down over Asch(Village where Y-29 airfield was placed) airfield.
Raubritter1488 7 months ago
@Raubritter1488 Not quite. Planes may have been damaged yet not shot down. Capt. William Whisner's Mustang took multiple hits from a FW-190s cannon fire until another P-51 drove him off. Whisner had already downed one Luftwaffe fighter and before having to land from the damage destroyed three more. Another was Lt Jack Kennedy who had the right wing of his P-47 set on fire, he too survived and like Whisner returned to base at battles end. All pilot returned safely to base.
KGero478 7 months ago
@KGero478
Eleven were confirmed as kills,and some others were damaged.Personally I don't believe this one-sided HC shit,I base my statements on books.
Raubritter1488 7 months ago
@Raubritter1488 Well do you have this book: Bodenplatte: The Luftwaffe's Last Hope. Reviews say this book is the definitive study on the last offensive attack on the Allies. It should be good. Then again different books may say different things about the same subject
KGero478 7 months ago
@KGero478
I'm talking about the JG 11 biography.BTW,I have another book written by Norman Franks and Marek J. Murawski called ''Operation Bodenplatte'' edited by AJ-Press.
Raubritter1488 7 months ago
@Raubritter1488 I learned that part of JG/11 attacked another base nearby the rest attacked Y-29. In fact I've seen differing reports on how many planes were lost from both sides. Wikipedia says the Americans at Y-29 lost 4 aircraft yet the pilots survived. Other reports say JG/11 lost 40 thanks to enemy fighters, flak and friendly fire. It seems different sources say different things on the same subject. So which one is true?
KGero478 7 months ago
@KGero478
During the ''Unternehmen Bodenplatte'',each Jagdgeschwader had its objective,for example,the JG 11's one was the Asch airfield and the JG 4's was the St.Trond one.Personally I don't believe in Wikipedia,I only believe in what I read but it would be nice to see the archives.
Raubritter1488 7 months ago
@Raubritter1488 I found something... The Bodenplatte book I was talking about. I searched for it and found it on Google Books. There's a description and contents to the book's chapters you can go right to the one about Y-29 and read it yourself. In fact there are two books on there with the same title. Go to the one that has the picture of a man sitting on an airplane's wing.
KGero478 7 months ago
Beliefe only a 50% what you see. And a 0% what you hear.
raulox71 1 year ago 8
@raulox71 your an idiot
TheBushImpersonator 1 year ago
@TheBushImpersonator And you are blind. Sorry Pal.
raulox71 1 year ago 2
@TheBushImpersonator First of all, dont insult and have more education. Second: I simply don´t belive that no one american fighter was shoot down, that is impossible, the germans are one of the best quarry of pilots in the world with Manfred Von Richthofen in the World War 1 and Erich Bubby Hartmann in the second World War. I've seen several documentaries that talk about air battles of World War II between Germans and Americans and not talking about sacks from American planes. That´s impossible.
raulox71 1 year ago
@raulox71
ireference.ca/search/Operation%20Bodenplatte/
jonsidneyb 10 months ago
I wonder who the German ace was...
IcyScythe 1 year ago
@IcyScythe The Luftwaffe units assigned to attack Asch were the I, II, & III Gruppen of Jagdgeschwader 11, Commanded by Oberstleutnant Gunther Specht, leader of the entire Geschwader.
This is from 352ndfg dautcom. No one knows for sure, but he had to be a top leader.
Jonno2summit 1 year ago
I wonder why the Germans did so poorly... I guess it was a bunch of inexperienced pilots... this was pretty late war.
IcyScythe 1 year ago
y is everyone calling them BF-109s i thourt they were ME-109s
SkullKing11841 1 year ago
@SkullKing11841 They went by both names...when the war started they were called Bf 109's and for the most part that name stuck
Bagheera2 1 year ago
@SkullKing11841 They are ME-109, but they are called also BF because the Manufacturer. BF is Bayerische Flugzeugwerke. In english: Bavarian Aircraft Works
raulox71 1 year ago 2
@raulox71 Yes, but we have to go further than that. As usual, the truth is always amazing when discovered why. In this case it's all about politics. Erhard Mich, head of the German RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium) disliked the upstart Messerschmitt. In most cases, the first two initials of the last name are used when identifying the airplane, in this case, Me, standing for Messerschmitt. Because of political correctness due to Milch, who is showing his one up-manship....
kolbpilot 1 year ago
@raulox71 ...insisted that the Messerschmitt company being instead called the 'Bayerische Flugzeugwerke",a former airplane company in the same town of Augsburg, where Messerschmitt also set up shop & had worked for prevoiusly. Later on it the war this policy was relaxed & now the Bf 109s became Me 109s.
kolbpilot 1 year ago
@kolbpilot Aha.
raulox71 1 year ago
@raulox71 Bavarian Aircraft Manufacture
MrMOGHammer 5 months ago
At one of the 17 airfields attacked, a German pilot was captured after bail out. When the base commander came to his room, the pilot pointed out the window at the smoking American planes & proudly exclaimed in English "What do you think about that!" The commander let the prisoner stay in his cell for 4 days & then took him out to the flight line showing off row after row of shiny,new replacement aircraft. "What do you think about that ?" says he. The German admits defeat.
kolbpilot 1 year ago 15
@kolbpilot I like that!!
moonbeammustang 1 year ago
@kolbpilot The pilot captured was Feldwebel Stephan Kohl. Kohl was one of 8 Bf-109s shot down over Metz and was pretty smug about the destruction of the planes. The commander of Metz, Commander Brooking, was caught while using the men's room when the attack began. In fact Kohl wanted his picture taken and his shoes shined, showing off his pride at his and his comrades handiwork. However within five days new planes were delivered and Kohl's confidence was crushed.
KGero478 5 months ago in playlist The Legend Of Y29 Dogfights
@KGero478 Good stuff, fascinating information. Wonder what happened to Feldwebel Kohl after the war ?
kolbpilot 5 months ago
@KGero478 I liked these history series but they were somewhat biased. Sure, by '45 Germany was spent, especially the Luftwaffe. But in their day, they were a match for any country out there.
kolbpilot 5 months ago
@kolbpilot This is probably what the pilot was thinking "We lost this war, they have more planes than us."
mrnugets12 2 months ago
This epic battle deserves a fucking movie based on it!
Also where can I download this full episode in HD.
DarkTenka 2 years ago 3
Imagine Ridley Scott (an excellent military and historical movie director) using real Bf-109s, 190s, 51s and 47s, CGI and a cast of actors no one knows. This is an epic story.
Jonno2summit 2 years ago
That would be sweet!
DarkTenka 2 years ago
Must have been awesome and surreal to watch this from the ground - that many airplanes.
csmeltz 2 years ago 3
@csmeltz I'm fortunate to know many of the ground crew that experienced this dogfight. Some jumped into half dug foxholes. Some only had .45's to use. Didn't really do much of anything to the 109's or 190's but tried none the less.
moonbeammustang 1 year ago
Galland was not involved with Bodenplatte. He was already too busy dealing with Goring and Hitler's insane BS.
Jonno2summit 2 years ago
Galland was gearing up for the "big blow" that he intended to deal with the raiding fortresses and liberators. He plans to send as many as 600 fighters to intercept these raiders. Instead, he was the one dealt with the big blow, by taking his reserved planes and pilots and use them for bodenplatte.
burjegol 2 years ago
I have Galland's book, The First And The Last. I'll have to see if I can find out who that pilot was.
Jonno2summit 2 years ago
please post if you find out who he is
thepunictrader 2 years ago
Poor bad-ass German pilot. It's too bad to see someone get killed when they deserved to get away. But war has NOTHING to do with who deserves to die, at least not on the individual scale. It's easy for some people to say, "oh, well...he was a Nazi. His country started it; he deserved to die." I can't think like that. He had a mother. He was just fighting for his country, and it's just as tragic for him to die as an American. Either one COULD have been a total prick, but I don't know that.
justforever96 2 years ago
That Luftwaffe pilot that evading all those aircraft and almost got away, it would've been great to have had him interviewed and tell his side of the story.
One can argue that, in the end, it was a numbers game with American and Soviet pilots outnumbering the Germans and it's a valid point, but I would ask that you guys don't forget that American pilots were no slouches when it came to flying and fighting. For the Germans, the best pilots were denied training of replacements.
Darthbelal 2 years ago 3
@Darthbelal I'm with ya, unfortunately dead men tell no tales.
kolbpilot 1 year ago 2
@Darthbelal atcually germany outnumbered americans in this episode
xxxShadowKnightxxxx 1 year ago
@xxxShadowKnightxxxx I believe I understand what you're saying, but I would have to point out that Germany was deficient in both the QUALITY of the pilots and the aircraft they had to face, BF-109s and FW-190s were both a bit outclassed by American Thunderbolts and Mustangs. Again, our Allied trainees did get more detailed instruction from veteran pilots, something Germany didn't do.
Darthbelal 1 year ago
@Darthbelal ya i know just saying in that particular case that americans were outnumbered
xxxShadowKnightxxxx 1 year ago
@Darthbelal
Messers and Wurgers were not outclassed,they were outnumbered and hampered by the lack of well-trained pilots and,of course,of fuel.''Battle of Fuel(since May 1944)''=less fuel for the Jagdwaffe and training=less qualified pilots.That's so simple.
Raubritter1488 7 months ago
@Raubritter1488 How true. This air battle was a microcosm of the latter phase of the entire air war and, therefore, think it would make an epic movie showing the story from both sides. Europeans thought in terms of 100s while Americans thought in terms of 1000s. The war was won by "production" and "command structure" in both the ETO and PTO. Gut-wrenching story for German commanders, but then again... they supported an evil bastard who made his own command structure inept.
Jonno2summit 7 months ago
@Jonno2summit
Yeah,the fucking swine Goring,he should leave the Luftwaffe'command and go to his Karinhall palace to get his overdose.
Raubritter1488 7 months ago
Ah come on...I need some evidence for example the name of the germany 109 ace...
If it had been as shown here, the war could has been over after 2 weeks without an american loss...
Thermikus 2 years ago 3
Erich Hartmann, 352 kills by him.
The thing is that by 1945, germany was already weakened with rookie pilots and unserviced aircraft.
Wonder why only 1 pilot out of 24 was an experienced pilot?
365fg 2 years ago 4
the ace wasnt Erich , hartmann survived and was captured after his last victory on the 8th of may 1945 , he was sent to prison byt the soviets for 25 years and was sent for hard labor for 10 years ... he was released 1955... sooo its not him
Rakanblizz18 2 years ago
I know he isn't Erich Hartmann, someone asked for a top 109 Ace, which is Erich Hartmann.
365fg 2 years ago
Alright, the name would have been either Major Gunther Specht-Kommodore JGll-34 kills, or more likely Horst-Gunther von Fassong -Gruppenkmmandeur III/JG11-136 kills. Both were killed at the battle at Y-29. The German report stated that he was last seen engaged in aerial combat.
Rikki0 2 years ago
And also, Thermikus. At Y-29 it WAS the way it was shown here. At least according to the German records. Go argue with them
Rikki0 2 years ago
And for history's sake, the image at 4:19 is J.C. Meyer. The image at 4:31 is Horst-Gunther von Fassong. The image at 5:02 is Gunther Specht.
Rikki0 2 years ago
i agree with you that many shows only show american victories in the war, yes i agree that the participation of the americans in the war made the allies win the war. But most americans do not noe that once the japs had taken over american soil, the aleutian islands, watch the videod and you will noe that the americans were not invincible, if you give me a thumbs down it only goes to show how americans cant take the truth .
WarJunkieAndExpert 2 years ago 5
No thumbs down, WarJunkie. We certainly were not invincible and few of us claim we were. We were quite unprepared for war at the outset. Not only did we lose the Aleutions but also the Phillipines, and Wake Island. However in defense I must state that only Attu and Kiska were occupied by the Japanese in the Aleutians. On one we had no military presence and on the other we only had a small weather station so not much of a defense force. The Phillipines was a far greater defeat for us.
Rikki0 2 years ago 4
And I might add that all of those defeats have been much documented and shown by American movies and historical documentaries.
Rikki0 2 years ago
I've seen comments on every dogfight episode about how biased this show is towards American victories. So I issue a challenge to all other countries. Tell me the name of the comparable show produced in YOUR country that does not show bias towards YOUR country. Just tell me the name and I will watch it. I have issued this challenge on many sites and have not received ONE reply ( except for a few nasty remarks ). But never the name of a singe production. Go for it.
Rikki0 2 years ago 3
well that goes to show, they don't have any....lol
noslack1964 2 years ago
i dont know an entire show... but meny episodes of diffrent shows in germany that showed it much better how it really were... but i dont know where i saw that... and one of the things you have to think about... were germans cant really say "jay were proud of our historie" or something like that... because were not. and we dont spend that much money on tv than the americans do
FireXtheRipper 2 years ago
I understand what you are saying, FireX. My point is that German shows feature Germans, French shows feature French, Biritsh shows.....etc. etc. Why should people expect us to be different? And as far as your history is concerned, many countries have had their dark periods. America held onto slavery longer than most, England, Greece, Russia, and France all tried to rule the world at one time ( I think France is still trying ). But yeah, we watch way to much television. Salute from Texas.
Rikki0 2 years ago
yay... but when someone talks about war... everybody think´s of germany and nazi´s and so on... or if you talk about jews or diktators or what ever... germany is still hated. and we germans have to carry that... if an americans says "im proud of my country" he´s a patriot...if a german says that everybody thinks he´s a nazi
FireXtheRipper 2 years ago
We made Gallipoli, but that wasn't really a victory.
porthpatho78 2 years ago
Forgive me porthpatho78. But I don't see the relavence of your post. Gallipolli was in WWI against the Turks. No one doubts the bravery of you Australians and New Zealanders in that battle. I simply can't see why your post would apply here.
Rikki0 2 years ago
Because you asked whether there was a show made that didnt have bias towards a victory. There was a movie about Gallipoli.
porthpatho78 2 years ago
Ah, now I understand. But my comments were about a weekly program showing the war such as this one presenting the aspects of WWII in a positive manner towards the enemy, or even an ally. No one has one. But everyone else, who does not do it, seems to expect us to. Salute to the ANZACS!
Rikki0 2 years ago
Are there any other shows like this?
whitesox889 2 years ago
yeah, search dogfights,great programs.
antonyvt 2 years ago
A strike designed to crush the allies turned out to be the greatest loss the Luftwaffe experienced on any single day, losing 234 of their best pilots, while the allies lost only 15 pilots according to Manrho & Pütz 2004.
The fundamental flaw in the German strategy of a surprise attack against Allied planes on the ground is planes are dime a dozen the the allies, it was the skilled pilots who are valuable and they don't sleep in their planes.
A foolish plan borne out of a desperate regime.
Treblaine 2 years ago
For me the biggest problem with this series is just how Yank-biased it is.
porthpatho78 2 years ago
ya... i've been watching this doc for quite sometimes. they are great. but i wonder why it is so biased. it is like there were no american pilot lost in the battle. it should be from the view of good airmenship and present good dogfights from both sides.
pyaethiha 2 years ago
No they shouldn't. Nobody wants to hear about successful Nazis and Commies.
whitesox889 2 years ago
not all Germans were Nazis
porthpatho78 2 years ago
Then don't watch. If you have a problem with this program being biased against Nazis and Commies, don't watch and go back to your 1st world life which we gave you.
whitesox889 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
"...the death of the Luftwaffa..." can somebody please shoot that narrator...
BrassyFool 2 years ago
y would you shoot him???
HowYouSayOwned 2 years ago
I'll shoot him. How many times would you like? Once for you and twice for me?
1889SSWolf 2 years ago
through ww2 dumbass
shipoopi92 2 years ago
@BrassyFool it is actually the right German pronounciation of the term.
MrMOGHammer 5 months ago
Thanks for all the work in bringing this to us. I stayed up later than I should have to finish watching the whole thing. This is one episode that I had missed, so I appreciated seeing it here.
Thank you metalmelvin,
Ripper
mannyrendon7 2 years ago 2
wow that was some real aerial marksmanship.
trashcanwarrior 2 years ago
wow, these guys should have took a lot of vacations with the airplane I think... xD
Darksidetris1 2 years ago
Walter Köhne.. he survived
rakrakrak000 2 years ago
sry im wrong. Köhne claimed his 30 vic, but survived. this unit (II./JG 11) lost on this mission:
II./JG11 Günter Hoffmann(missing)
6./JG 11 Herbert Huss(pow)
6./JG 11 Peter Reschke(+)
7./JG 11 Herbert Kraschinski(pow)
7./JG 11 Harald Schwartz(missing/3victories)
8./JG 11 August Engel(+)
8./JG 11 Franz Meindl(missing/31victories)
8./JG 11 Alfred Tempel(pow)
Just Meindl and Schartz had the proper experience. Meindl joined II./JG 11 in august44 after service with JG51
rakrakrak000 2 years ago
Wonder if he ever told the story of Y-29 from his side.
rbarrett58 2 years ago
you mean Köhne? well, i personally think it was quite hard for him. here he scored his last kill in 6 months. in may 44 he claimed his 29 and a total of 15 fourengined bombers... well, at that time he had been for more than 4 years in action, had been wounded several times.. he had enough i think. he was "Abgeflogen"... translated as overused.. he was fed up with it and didnt shown any more aggressiveness like before.
rakrakrak000 2 years ago
the same with Specht, de Kommodore of JG 11. he flew for 4 years with one eye blinded and a treamandous headache... he gave his brother his loved hunting rifles before he died because he admitted that he had no more power to endure another such horrible wounding when shot down another time.
the others were too poor trained... for example 7./JG 11 Harald Schwartz(missing/3victories)
hit a tree and crashed when flying low back home...
rakrakrak000 2 years ago
Who piloted the expertly flown 109?
EdTheBu 2 years ago
an actually i found a pic from him from the refreshment time of II./JG 11 in july/august 44. poor nice guy..
JG11 lost on this day alone
10 missing, 5 pow, 1 wounded and 9 dead. 7 further airplaines were damaged.
some of them real good aces like their kommodore JG 11 Günther Specht (34 vic),
2./JG 11 Alwin Doppler (29 vic), III./JG 11 von Fassong (136 vic), 12./JG 11 Paul-Heinrich Dähne (99 vic).... a.s.o.
rakrakrak000 2 years ago
@rakrakrak000
Dahne survived,but he was killed in a flight accident in a He-162 in March or April 1945.
Raubritter1488 7 months ago
were the pictures at the end originally there?
f14fan1243 2 years ago
No, they're not. I saw this episode on tv and I never seen these photos
WIZKID8675 2 years ago
That was a great series of videos. I was glued to my computer. Thanks.
JohnMagg 3 years ago 3
yeah, me too...
08xiaomav08 2 years ago
it must suck to be a luftwaffe pilot during 1945 their airforce can barely make a dent on the allies stupid hitler if he let the jet grow without interruption it may hav slowed their loss of the waar.
phonix032 3 years ago 2
It wasn't exactly possible for hitler to let the jet grow with all the allied strategic bombings.
sniff2313 3 years ago
They were lucky the ETO didn't go on any longer, unless B-29s and nukes are their idea of a good time.
gcrav 2 years ago
did the luftwaffe try to blow up the airfields
dltmdgn 3 years ago
The bulk of what was left of the Luftwaffe were sent to try and destroy the Allied Airforce on the ground in a last ditch attempt turn the tide of the war. Its was called "Operation Bodenplatte". And it didnt succeed. Some 200+ Luftwaffe aircraft were shot down by their own flak before they even eached their targets. This was because the German high command did not want any chance of the attack being known to the Allies. So they did not tell there own flak batteries about the operation.
Bodneyblue 3 years ago
yes, at a cost of more than 400 combat aircraft, flown by novice pilotshence the big aerial kill ratio. the fightrer pilots thmeselves were even guided byu JU 88 towards their target as they lacked navigation training. Destroying a plane in the ground in exhange of a plane and a pilot is a poor trade. that's the most fearful missions fighter pilots felt. the "flak suppression run"
burjegol 3 years ago 3
the german destroyed 305 allied ac,190 were damaged a further 25 were shot down.Was not a one sided dogfight as the show depicted
kruegerrossi 3 years ago
This episode wasn't about "Operation Bodenplatte" as a whole..thought it was a disaster for the Luftwaffe dispite the aircraft they distroyed. It was about the engagement at Y-29 Asch between the attacking(mainly) JG/11 unit and the 487FS,352nd FG.
The 487th shot down between 23-25 e/a for the lost of 1 aircarft..and no pilot's.
And not all were novice pilots.
Bodneyblue 3 years ago 3
Y-29......The P-51 Mustang and P-47 Thunderbolts finest hour!!!
scape321 3 years ago 10
Most Excellent!
Bodneyblue 3 years ago 4
Oh man i love this show its the best!
gir1904 3 years ago 2
Nice Video...Thanks
warbird64 3 years ago 2