Dogfight footage of WW2

[saxdude]

Not sure if it belongs in Thema Devia or Here in the VV, but since it is historical content i think its better off here, i hope it has not been posted.

[DarkArk]

The music oddly fits.

[Araz]

Thank's for posting.

[Gallapagos]

I wonder what the pilots were thinking before they went down from the sky. It really is such a shame for talented people like them suddenly going in flames and shot down.

[Ulf]

I wonder what the pilots were thinking before they went down from the sky. It really is such a shame for talented people like them suddenly going in flames and shot down.

assuming the pilots saw their enemies behind them, I would think it would go something like this:
"oh , oh , oh . He's right on my ass, oh . Somebody help me!"

[Ulf]

I particularly like the shot at 4:49. To actually see the people the pilot was shooting at, not just trains, buildings, planes, etc., but actual people is interesting.

[Spartacus the Irish]

I wonder what the pilots were thinking before they went down from the sky. It really is such a shame for talented people like them suddenly going in flames and shot down.

The vast majority of pilots shot down were blissfully unaware of the fact until the bullets and shells struck home - Hartmann believed about three-quarters of his kills were completely unaware of him until he opened fire.

Thus the majority of pilots would at first be thinking 'Well what the ?', and would be in a sea of adrenaline, confusion and shock. Not a few accounts attest that a certain calm seemed to accompany this, and the fear only arose later in the descent, whilst in the parachute, or in some cases, many minutes after the dogfight.

EDIT:
One thing I fell that gun camera footage illustrates quite well is just how hard it was to keep an enemy plane in your line of fire - hell, look at how much some of the strafing footage shows tha guns praying around, and that is shooting a stationary target.

That's why armament was so important. The rough average estimate for how long a pilot could keep a target under continuous fire for was 3 seconds (obviously a huge generalisation); for example, the Spitfire IA had a weight-of-fire of 1.72kg/sec, whereas the Me 262 had a weight-of-fire of 12.5kg/sec. Thus in the above 3 second window, the Spitfire could shoot just over 5kg worth of .303 bullets at it's target, whilst the German fighter is approaching 40kg, and that is not taking into account the explosive nature of the latter's ammunition, merely sheer weight.

[intel]

The vast majority of pilots shot down were blissfully unaware of the fact until the bullets and shells struck home - Hartmann believed about three-quarters of his kills were completely unaware of him until he opened fire.

Thus the majority of pilots would at first be thinking 'Well what the ?', and would be in a sea of adrenaline, confusion and shock. Not a few accounts attest that a certain calm seemed to accompany this, and the fear only arose later in the descent, whilst in the parachute, or in some cases, many minutes after the dogfight.

That was definetly not the case with tactical/strategic bomber pilots. To them, every flight was terror. Bomber could withstand much, and the death was not immediate. When you've been isolated from your group or intercepted by enemy fighter, you could only await death.

[Spartacus the Irish]

That was definetly not the case with tactical/strategic bomber pilots. To them, every flight was terror. Bomber could withstand much, and the death was not immediate. When you've been isolated from your group or intercepted by enemy fighter, you could only await death.

On the contrary - enemy fighters often did not provoke as much helpless fear in bomber crews as did flak (mainly regarding the American daylight raids), as you could at least shoot at or attempt to evade a fighter; leaving you feeling in such a situation your fate was to a certain degree in your own hands.

When the enemy fighters peeled off, and you crossed into the flak zones; felt the bursting shells clawing through the sky toward you, whilst you can do naught but sit, and wait, and hope, whilst that icy knot of fear in your stomach grows and grows with every savage 'KRUMPH!', louder and louder, nearer and nearer...

At least that is the impression I got from the myriad US bomber crew anecdotes I have read.

[Gallapagos]

Yeah, I believe most would have preferred a quick death, it must have been such a terror to survive being hit, only to end up burning in your cockpit to die in pain.

Anyway, even in playing Sturmovik, whenever my friend gets the better of me, I'd be in so much terror and panic of being shot down and that is just in the game.

[Oklop]

At 1:14 you can see parachute failure when the parachute separates from the bailing pilot.

From 1:20 it seems that he is trying to shoot a pilot in parachute, at least the guy looks like he is trying to pull his legs up.

As Ujf said it seems that he is shooting 2 guys on the beach near a fishing boat, if true thus guy is an .

Otherwise awesome footage, especially the strafing of the airfield, reminds me of Il 2 Shturmovik which is the best WW2 flight simulator game ever. (if you do not agree on this game there is something wrong with you)

[saxdude]

As Ujf said it seems that he is shooting 2 guys on the beach near a fishing boat, if true thus guy is an .

It doesnt seem, he is infact shooting 2 people and quite frankly at that point id be hard pressed not to seeing the resistance of the japs in the isles.

[Oklop]

It doesnt seem, he is infact shooting 2 people and quite frankly at that point id be hard pressed not to seeing the resistance of the japs in the isles.

Perhaps, but it looked to me like 2 fishermen on the beach. OK for factories and the boats but 2 fishermen?

[intel]

Catch 22 is great at giving you impression of how it must have felt like. One of my favourite books, by the way. The other one you can guess from my sig and avatar. Thompson was hell of a journalist.

[saxdude]

Perhaps, but it looked to me like 2 fishermen on the beach. OK for factories and the boats but 2 fishermen?

Like wise they may carry weapons in the boat or bring food supplies to the defenders, at that stage in the pacific conflict you really couldnt spare anyone after seeing how hard the japs entrenched themselves, you may potencially be risking more american lives.

[Oklop]

Like wise they may carry weapons in the boat or bring food supplies to the defenders, at that stage in the pacific conflict you really couldnt spare anyone after seeing how hard the japs entrenched themselves, you may potencially be risking more american lives.

Ah, it has not occurred to me that some of the footage may be from pacific islands where indeed anything should be attacked that can be used by the enemy. I thought that the footage was from over the mainland Japan.

But awesome still, the poor guy whose parachute failed.......................

Did the plane try to shoot the pilot whose parachute did not fail? It kind of looked like he is puling his legs up.....

[Big War Bird]

P47 Thunderbolt

Lots of straffing footage