AMERICAN REACTS to World War II: The 13 Hours That Saved Britain (THE RAF IS GOOD😱) - PART 2 

S/O to Michael Probert for "buying me a coffee" 🫱🏾‍🫲🏼 A few more I might get batteries for my clock 😂 (Link in bio)

'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few' Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill said it the best "never have so many owed so much to so few"

This battle is called the Battle of Britain and many of the Pilots were Polish and Canadian as well as British. We wouldnt have won without them.

The efforts of the RAF should not be underestimated. If the RAF had lost then Hitler could have invaded England. There would have been no US and Allied troops in England and the D Day landings could never have been launched, thus leading to the eventual ending of the war. Winning that single battle led to eventual victory in Europe.

Everything was rebuilt, eventually. As a child, I was still playing around old bomb sites in the mid 70s. It took a long time because Britain was basically bankrupt. The debt we had as a nation was not repaid, entirely, until the last day of December 2006. They were the days when we were all in it together. Homes, fit for heroes, were built. Education became free. The NHS was established. Now, there is a housing crisis; heroes are on the streets; education costs a fortune and The NHS is underfunded. We won the war but we are losing everything we gained because of it. Shame on us!

You have to remember as well that many of the pilots of the Air Force were very young and had had only about six weeks flight training. Life expectancy for pilots was probably only a few months but they got on with it.

I just had a flight in a Spitfire out of Biggin Hill airbase and took the controls to fly it over Kent where the original air battles were. It was an amazing and truly humbling experience!

How the ejection system worked on these types of aircraft.. Lift your arms, slide back the glass canapé... Undo seat belt.. Stand up and jump out.. Then pull your parachute and pray it opens!! No joke.

🇬🇧 In the documentary the lady named Vera Lynn grew up to become "Dame Vera Lynn" and was a inspiration to the forces as a singer and performed to the Military during the War look her up. "We'll Met Again" was the most popular 🇬🇧

We may be a small island but we will always kick ass my friend! 😸

Remembering the non-British pilots: Free Polish, free French and from the countries who shouldn't have people there: Irish and the American eagle squadron! Also a shout out to Lord North who paid for 250 Hurricane fighters out of his own pocket pre-war

My great grandfather was an air raid warden, he went out to do his duties during an air raid and left his family of wife and two girls one being my grandmother in the Anderson shelter he had built in the garden. When he came home he discovered that where the Anderson shelter was was now covered with soil and red splodges all over the garden. He found all three still alive and well in the Anderson shelter. A bomb had hit next doors greenhouse and blown tomatoes everywhere hence the soil and red splodges. They got lucky.

The gerries underestimated the Brits. In 1982, so did the Argies.

My brother-in-laws uncle Derick was only 17 and a fighter pilot at this time. He survived this but was killed in action over Malta.

They did an amazing job to say they only had about 15 seconds of ammunition.

If you poke the lion then the lion will roar 🦁🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧. Brilliant reaction.

The British time in 24hr time is used nowadays as ZULU hrs for the whole of NATO

As a kid n the 80's lived in the New Forest, we had derelict airfields, control towers and underground bunkers to play at, I had no idea of what happened there until I got older, I still now visit them to look at the war memorials. My nan had an Italian POW camp next to her house, the Italian's became part of community helping out in the fields and farm's, they didn't want to be in the war unlike the German's. I know live in Southampton, we were heavily bombed, you can drive around the old streets and see rows and rows of old houses and then see a few odd different houses which don't like they fit in, these are where the bombs landed.

My Granddad was in the Royal Navy in WW2 on the Atlantic conveys, protecting them and did some stuff in the pacific too Not battle of Britain but, he told me a mad story once. He told me once during a battle they caught a glimpse of a U-boat suddenly in front of them, the U-boat fired torpedoes at my Granddad's ship, he watched them come at them and missed his ship either side of him by mere feet/inches and unfortunately they slammed in to the ship behind his (Royal navy ship) and sank it, sadly (as well as all the other crew) my Granddads best friend was on that ship, the entire crew were lost, including his best friend If those Torpedoes had hit his ship and he had perished?, My mother was not yet born, and neither would 2 of my Uncles This would mean around 20-30 members of my family , would not exist today if that had happened (including my mum, me brother sister , niece nephew and 4 cousins and many more) Crazy

You should look up one of the ladies who appears in the video, Dame Vera Lynn, became famous for her war-time music, most notably "We'll Meet Again". During raids she was known to go down into the tube systems and sing for the people taking shelter. She sadly passed away just 2 years ago, aged 103.

They were jumping out of the plane no ejector seats in The Second World War, I watched this documentary when it was on tv In 2010. There was no NHS until 1948. Jimmy Perry used his WW2 experience in The Home Guard to create The Fighting Tigers which would become Dad’s Army, the character Private Pike (played by Ian Lavender the only surviving main cast member) is Jimmy Perry during WW2, he created the character Private Walker a spiv (a person who sells things that you can’t get as it is wartime) for himself but was played by the late James Beck who sadly died in 1973. I only have my paternal grandfather’s medals, beret, dog tags and sewing kit, after getting out of Calais on the last ship in 1940 then was sent to the desert with The 7th Armoured Division The Desert Rats 🐀 as part of The 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery Viscount of El Alamein. In November 1941 outside of Tobruk he was captured and spent the rest of the war as a POW (he didn’t bring his Lee Enfield home something he regretted not hanging on to to give to me), October 1918-November 2001. I also have the medals of a friend of my maternal grandparents who was a Chief Petty Officer in The Royal Navy and SOE (Special Operations Executive), RIP. The late Dame Vera Lynn was a singer well known for songs The Will Be Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs of Dover (there are no bluebirds in England the song was written by an american) and We’ll Meet Again, she was the forces sweetheart sadly she died last year aged 101, she last sang in the 90s. The Observer Corps were there to back up radar at one point in the Battle of Britain Ventor radar station on the Isle of Wight was bombed and out of action temporarily.

One of my dads aunties was in a big air raid shelter in Liverpool (on a different day to this) and one of the four engines from a downed German bomber fell into the shelter and collapsed the roof. She held up the doorway with her back while kids escaped under her legs until the doorway collapsed and killed her. There’s a plaque up there in her name so I’m told (I don’t live in Liverpool, so never had the chance to go and visit it).

my dad told me about collecting shrapnel and watching the air battles. he also told me about the German bomber that crashed into a nearby street, and all the kids trying to knick bits of it.

The RAF is the oldest airforce in the world.

Hundreds of your fellow countrymen left the US to join the RAF before America officially joined the war, they then transfered to Eagle squadrons when America joined the war.

A lot of this footage is from the movie “The Battle of Britain” from the 60’s…The best part about that movie is almost all the footage uses real aircraft, so when you see 30+ spitfires on the screen it’s because they had that many planes up there flying for those scenes.

My mother was bombed out of several houses. She lived on the Isle of Wight which is just outside the Royal Navy home port of Portsmouth and therefore mum was on either the approach or exit path of the German bombers. She would do a day’s work and then do a night working with the Red Cross treating those who had been injured. Hard times for all.

Jeremy Clarksons greatest raid of all is a great one to react to, tells the story of the WW2 suicidal british commando raid on Saint-Nazaire. Well worth a watch. As is Jeremy Clarksons the Victoria Cross for valor which goes into the history of the Victoria Cross and examples of how some recepients achieved the award. It's the highest military honour similar to the medal of honour. Both the above you can't go wrong with.

Just watched part 1 first time viewer and then watched this part 2, im from the uk and both side grandparents fought in WW2, one in the R.A.F and one in the Africa corpse and both later into normanday and germany, really felt this video as we grow up in the uk these days are still celebrated and rememberd, mean so much to so many as its part of more recent history, already a fan of this guys channel and videos hopefully more to come, big respect from the UK!

Rabbits - that’s what Londoners bred in their back gardens to eat, along with the occasional pig, and vegetables. The rabbits weren’t pets.

My father was in the RAF & my mother was in the ARP in London. The roof of our house was blown off in a bomb blast.

Growing up in the 70’s I still have vivid memories of playing on bomb sites! Even to this day it’s common for unexplored bombs that are found during building works to have to be destroyed; people are still sometimes killed or injured by UXB’s!

My dad served in The Grenadier Guards in Germany in WW2 and Palestine he had a German helmet and my grandfather was an air raid warden in London and recovered the sad souls who died from the bombings my mother was 8 and was evacuated to the country from London. Thanks for your respectful video and comments so cool cheers

Respect to you that you take the time to look at the history of our small country. I have just subbed as I believe that you actually find this all fascinating and that is refreshing in itself. If you find the time look up the Chindits, an elite unit of the British Army who fought the Japanese in WW2.

That’s why London has a lot modern buildings interspersed between the very old ones - the Germans flattened the original buildings with bombs and horrible 1950s and 1960s building were put up in their place.

Another great one Dezz. Thanks for staying up so late to get this out for everyone so soon after part 1.

You're over 1k subscribers now. Well done.

And I should have added (in my comment some months ago) that from this side of the Atlantic it is a credit to you that you were interested enough to watch this documentary, post it and react to it in the way that you did. One thing I really liked was that you really understood the seriousness of the situation when Churchill was looking for squadrons of aircraft being held in reserve and was told there were none. You were not there on that day and nor was I, but to me that question from Churchill sums up just how very, very precarious the situation was.

The rabbit... Rabbits use to be a popular meat to eat in the UK. They are considered pest animals on farm as they eat the crops. So they use to be very cheap and abundant. Not many people eat rabbits now, however they can still be brought from specialist shops. Also a rabbit is a popular pet in the UK, especially for children as they are quite friendly and easy to look after. 😊

You should check out 'The Greatest Raid of All' about the Commando Raid on St. Nazaire. Another brilliant video you will enjoy although another long one so you may have to split it into parts like this one.

One unfortunate German who bailed out over Kent was on landing cut in half by both barrels from shotgun held by my old dads mate Wally Challice ( a south east London villain) who i think had a score settle from WW1

Lets gooo,i love this stuff and im from the UK so its very emotional for me

Ive got souvenirs from both sides, some Nazi bits from Corfu and a lot of shrapnel from my dad, including a bit of a spitfire…. god I’m old..

If Britain hadn’t won, it would’ve been game over for Europe.

My dad brought home two Luger pistols from the war. For a while, there was an amnesty but then fines were brought in for anyone found to have WW2 souvenir weapons. So, my mother put them in her handbag and took herself off for a trip on the local ferry and, when the boat got into the middle of the river, nonchalantly flung the guns over her shoulder checking that nobody was looking to see what she was doing. Even now, you’ll hear on the news that a grenade or a bomb has been found in someone’s shed or on a mantelpiece and the army bomb disposal unit has been called out to deal with it. There’s rather a large souvenir in the Thames estuary near Sheerness in Kent. The SS Richard Montgomery - USA ship - ran aground on a sandbank and only some of the bombs and armaments were taken off before she started to sink. It’s been thought to be too dangerous for the rest of the explosives to be removed but they’ve deteriorated so much now that it could blow up at any time, wreaking havoc on the nearby town. So, the military is going to try and do something about it.

My father was given a Luger by a comrade coming back from the front. He sold it 17 or so years later.

I have my grandads dog tags. I’ve got a few bits from the war from beach combing, but nothing major. We do find ordinance at studland nearby quite frequently that may need detonating 😅

Try the greatest raid of all

It is a sad fact that plastic surgery was first needed for the many brave young men who were terribly disfigured from fires and shrapnel whilst flying for the RAF. Churchill was correct when he said that never had so many owed so much to so few. Valiant defenders.

There’s a very good documentary about the Victoria Cross, presented by Jeremy Clarkson. That would definitely blow your mind.

Check out Higher call the saving of a crippled B17 by a German BF109 Messerschmitt it’s basically an interview by both the American pilot Charlie Brown and German Franz Stiggler. The book by the same name is an amazing read. Adam macos author of the book at first only wanted Charlie Browns account of events but Charlie said if you want to write the book speak to Franz as he was the real hero that day. My real name is Mike by the way

epic brother big love from uk. seen you have a vid on the victoria cross cross that u enjoyed there is another one about the commandos which you will deffo like

If you would like to see more about the Battle of Britain, you could watch the 1969 film of that name. Some of the images here were taken from that film. It covers the period just prior to the battle starting, incl. diplomacy & the R.A.F. evacuation from France. Through to the aftermath of the battle.

Such a shame this documentary did not finish with Winston Churchill's (probably) most famous but short speech: "Never, in the field of human conflict, has so much, been owed by so many, to so few"..................

That was a good watch 10/10 reaction! i enjoyed that mate.

I really think you should watch The Greatest Raid. All the brave men of the British Armed Forces during the war must never be forgotten, but the commandos!! Well I'll let you make your own mind up.

The best way to remember the 24hr time format is add 12. I.e, 1pm +12 = 1300, 11.59pm =2359 then 0000 for midnight. So 0059 then carries on to 0100.

Just realised im watching this om 15th September battle of Britain day. So proud. Rip your majesty.xx

My Nan and her sister (my great aunt) were both nearly killed in the blitz (ie the bombing of london and other cities). They were both blown across the room by a near miss and my great aunt ended up with a window frame around her neck (but she survived). We used to have a bit of schrapnel somewhere too... BTW check out "The Battle of Britain" (1965) - it was a film which covered the same events and used some of the same footage, but helps to portray the actual tension of the event. Another film worth watching is "Angels One Five" - that has more ops room footage and might bring a lump to your throat. In both, note how short some of the pilots' actors' parts are... this is a sad truth about the pilots of the RAF in WWII (both fighter and bomber command) - too many never came home. Lastly, a shout out to all those non-UK pilots who flew in the Battle of Britain (in the 1965 film, watch for the Polish training flight... it's pretty funny). And remember everyone: "Don't just yell... RING THE BELL!!!"

thanks mate for being so caring. Us Brits have a lot of gumption.

23:33 he sure loved all those free pickles as a kid😂😂 what a guy❤

we use both 24hour and 12 hours, France uses mainly 24hour 1am= 0100 in 24hour 1pm = 1300

Some of the people interviewed here are household names here in the UK . Particularly Vera Lynn and Tony Benn . Vera was particularly well known during the war , indeed famous ! A prototype Madonna . LOL ! Also Nicholas Parsons and Brian Sewell .

React to the greatest raid off all time it's about the royal marine commandos in ww2

By this time, Britain was running out of pilots and could never have achieved this victory without volunteers from France, Poland, Australia, Canada, America , South Africa, New Zealand etc; etc;

"Eject systems" were get the cockpit cover off, climb out and jump! 'Eject systems' came in with jets because they were too fast to get out of manually without getting hit by the tail .

Great video 👍🇬🇧

While I appreciate the help G.B got from pilots of other countries, I.e. Poland, Chechs, American tiger squadron and many others I.e. commonwealth countries. It's always London or Coventry mentioned. Nobody speaks about the devastation of Liverpool and the munitions ship Because shipping supplies could not use the channel and London, Liverpool was a prime target, a nice juicy steak. All now passed, my family and relatives where either in North Africa and Italy as R.E., my dad was RASC driver medical in Burma, my uncle's where either in Bomber command as a navigator in a Lancaster, another in the R.N. convoy to Malta and torpedoed twice but managed to limp back to Alexandra north Africa. Not forgetting the may blitz of 1941 and SS Malakand explosion which literally destroyed a whole dock.

i dont think "red observer" would have said "we got hostiles" "hostiles" is a modern americanism he would most likely have said "the hun are coming " or "the jerry " or even "those bastards"

I’ve got quite a lot of souvenirs from the 6-day war. A pack of Egyptian cigarettes, a little spy camera, rounds of ammo etc.

The enemy gunner was already dead.

Thank you for this video. I am so very proud of those people. It is because of them that I have the life that I have now.

I’ll give an FYI this war was where our comedy programs and comedians came from after after the war. That’s the basis of the British sense of humour mostly on the radio. People had learned to listen to the radio avidly during the Second World War, the news, music, comedy programs and in the BBC overseas service coded instructions to the French and other countries underground gorilla fighters. The BBC was very important to everyone at that time.

Can confirm. My dad's mum was a teen during WW2 and we have a piece of a zeppelin as a souvenir from her!

For years after the war, boys in London used to search for live bullets amongst the rubble. When you found one, you’d put it in a vice (American vise) with the pointy end facing away from you and bash the flat end with a hammer and chisel. You’d get quite a big bang, apparently.

My Nan lost her boarding house. Bombed out. My mother can remember looking up and seeing a 'dog fight'. She was later evacuated, with her four sisters, to the countryside.

Yep the final battle for england was all-out gloves off dog fight in a pit

What eject systems? Although invented in the late 1920s, they didn't commonly appear until after the war. If an aircraft was rendered uncontrollable in the air, the pilots and crew jumped out and deployed their parachutes. When I was trained as a military pilot in a WW2 era aircraft, we wore parachutes which hung down below our buttocks and fitted into the aircraft seats. Happily I never had to jump, but I had a coursemate who jumped after his aircraft's engine caught fire.

They really should be mentioning Canada in the defense of Britain.

20:22 yeah that's called a death spiral and a bomber of that size usually could reach 300 mph and the g-force would keep everybody in the plane no ejection seats or anything back then just a parachute and hope you get out beforehand.

The gunner who did not fire back at the spitfire was probably already wounded or dead. The spitfire pilot said he thought someone else had already got him.

Regarding memorabilia/shrapnel etc I've things hanging around the house which we don't take notice of as it's always been part of the furniture....empty shells used as umbrella stands, doorstops, ashtrays, WWII bayonet, German helmet, Grandfather's medals...

My mum was born in 1937, she grew up with a common nightmare. She dreamed of Adolf Hitler breaking through her curtains every night.

I can see the ruins of a castle on a hill through my window. Just grassy bumps. In the 90s an archaeological dg took place to try to find the age of the castle. The first thing they found was concrete and wire. It turned out that it had been used as an air raid decoy control centre during WW2. Fires woul;d be lit on the moors around to lure bombers away from towns. It was secret at the time so this had largely been forgotten, though they manage to find some one who had worked there., They chose the hill for its views, the same reason the castle had been buit there. The castle was built during the anarchy, was reused briefly during the war of the roses. It was only a small one.

When France fell, the US ambassador to the Court of St James (a certain Joseph Patrick Kennedy - a rabid Anglophobe) reported back to FDR that Britain would fall in 6 weeks, and that sending help would be a waste. FDR ignored him and started bending the rules of neutrality so much that they looked like a pretzel - and, because of that material help, we survived. I look at Ukraine now - no one, myself included, thought that they stood any chance against the juggernaut of Russia - but a population roused only needs the tools. We Brits never seem to prepare for anything - we always seem to start from the back foot - but a more bloody-minded nation you're unlikely to meet (except, perhaps, the Ukrainians...) - in everyday life this can be a problem but, when the chips are down, it's exactly what you need.

This must be a 20 yr. old series because my father died last year in 2021@ 95, and he was 20 in 1945 and a two-year-old veteran by then. So, most of these pilots etc. have passed by now.

No ejection seat in those days. Just open the canopy and jump.

Incredible to think that London was being bombed up to a thousand times a day without the Battle of Britain. Brits. A different breed all right. Thanks for your gumption that gave us the freedom we enjoy today.🙏🙏🙏 God Bless Britain, the Allies and the Commonwealth countries of today that fought all over the world, including my grand uncle who fought in Burma.🙏🙏🙏

Should watch the battle of Britain,the movie it's very good pal keep up the good work

1am (an hour after midnight) is 1:00 on the 24-hour clock, midday is 12:00 and 1pm is 13:00, 6pm is 18:00, etc.

to be fair they dropped the bombs through cloud to get back to france faster. it might also have been they needed the weight gone to have enough fuel to make it, which was the case with the german fighters, but probably the bombers had enough fuel with or without bombs. i wouldnt have wanted to land with live armed bombs. the womans brother was IN a personal andersen shelter in their garden. that was where most people hid at night in the blitz, not everyone was close enough to an underground station.

I have official papers for my nana.. who was a nurce during WWII. She worked on a ward with foreign orphans who were brought over here ill. She also worked @ a munition factory. She had so many stories that i wish id written down, but as a kid i thought shed be around forever. I think her worst story was of a matron on a ward she was training on.. This woman liked to dress down (verbally shouting) @ her nurces in her charge. She also liked to throw those women out of her office.. her trick was to push these women to slide these women out her office & have them hit the wall of the corridor. She was given a medal for her years of service when she retired. She was so hated the nurces went out to celabrate getting rid of her.

No family souvenirs from then... Only my mum, she was born in 1940 in London and according to her has some memories of air-raid sirens and being bombed.

All the leftover airfields help motor sport grow in the uk. Most racetracks were RAF bases/ runways.

I'm sure someone has quoted this already but in case not Churchill stated in Parliament following this day When in this speech Churchill stated 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much been owed by so many to so few !

Regarding souveneirs My mother picked up a piece of plastic windshield from a crashed German bomber. I still have it. My father was given an aluminium cigarette lighter by a German prisoner of war. I have it now

Even Buckingham Palace got hit 😖

Mate aircraft then didn't have ejection systems they had doors and canopies to be opened and you jumped out.

Now we have UXB Units going round defusing Unexploded Bombs. 14:07 As for the wedding *"KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON"*