Famous American Aces Killed in Bizarre and Tragic Accidents - Historic Countdowns 

No F6F Hellas at the battle of Midway. Plane still on the drawing board.

@@theodoreskaff1209 That's right, Hellcats didn't enter combat until more than a year after Midway.

@@BTillman48 both of you see my edit above in my original post. I didn't say he flew the hellcat at midway.

A hero in my book!

a true badass

Maguire always damaged his plane because he was trying to catch up to Bong. Because he ran into a trap he and at least 1 more pilot was killed. Maybe 2 . He made a stupid rookie mistake trying to break bongs record.

​@@briancooper2112 Utterly false. McGuire felt that his luck was running out. He was trying to get to the point where he'd be sent home. He crashed clearing the six of a junior pilot in his flight, he saved the guy's life. The other pilot killed was shot down while actually lagging back from the fight.

19 y.o. Jesse fanus, armed with a shotgun killed him. fanus is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Imagine Fanus surprise when he realized who he killed

That's why I'm single

Thanks!

The story was that McGuire was flying his last missions before he was also sent to the states. He wanted to surpass Bong’s record so he scheduled himself for a long range mission requiring drop tanks. When he attacked a group of Japanese Army fighters, he ordered his flight not to drop tanks. He apparently stalled and crashed his heavy P-38 trying to out maneuver an enemy fighter.

@@manuelvillamil9809 Not exactly true. McGuire wanted to tie Bong, as McGuire felt that his luck was running out. He chose three pilots to fly a regular mission. The most experienced pilot, Rittmayer, reported a rough engine. As they encountered a single enemy aircraft, McGuire called "hold your tanks" and attacked it. There was a second, unseen Japanese fighter that appeared as if out of nowhere, and saddled up on McGuire's wingman, Weaver. McGuire was pulling onto the second fighter to dust it off of Weaver, and as he got a few hits, the enemy broke off, but McGuire, in an unfamiliar aircraft, not his own, had pulled into a high speed stall at 1500 feet, and spin in, he died instantly. The second plane made a head on pass on Rittmayer, and managed to kill Rittmayer in his cockpit with a lucky round, unusual as experienced Japanese pilots rarely went head on with a P-38. Rittmayer crashed into the jungle. And the first Japanese plane crash landed due to damage. Guerillas shot the Japanese pilot, and recovered McGuire's body. The other two pilots, Weaver and Thropp, were separated during the engagement, but both returned to base. Weaver had to tell Mac MacDonald, the CO, that McGuire and Rittmayer "were down and burning". Mac MacDonald ordered McGuire's P-38 to be stripped of all personal markings, painted, and shipped to a different unit.

@@AlanRoehrich9651 very true Japanese 22th sqd. of KI-84 "Franks" came from China newly assigned to the Philippines. These planes were designed to kill dashing P-40s , and occasionally they sneak behind P-51s then dash away low on the deck. The late Gen.Olds admitting many flaws in the P-38 , when the plane dashes she can become uncontrollable, plus the drop release switch or transfer can be a hassle. At one time Gen.Olds admitted dropping his tanks but failed to switch to his internal fuel source , both engines went out. I think system wasn't automatic , two switches had to be turned on. In fact Charles Lindbergh a civilian military consulatant for Lockheed and Vought suggested that P-38 pilots would conserved more fuel if they use their external drops tanks. In fact Charles Lindbergh was very involved with Thomas McGuire squadron. And remember the Japanese 22th Sqd.battled the U.S P-38js 459th.sqd. in China . They know the weakness of the P-39Js.

@@robertotamesis1783 The flaws Olds was talking about were the complexity of the controls. Now he did forget to switch fuel source when he dropped his tanks while saddling up once. All planes required manual switching of fuel sources. You had to switch them all. He also went into a full throttle dive in a pre J25 model without dive flaps. The complexity of the controls allowed the skilled pilot to exploit some advantages, such as differential throttle for both roll and turn rates that no enemy plane could match. Lindbergh merely got pilots to use the correct engine settings that were in the P-38 manual from day one. LeVier did the same thing in Europe. The correct settings are auto lean, 1600 RPM, and 32"-36" of boost. With the radiator and oil cooler doors set for cruise to keep the oil and coolant at 200°F and 190°F respectively. In Europe, in the 8th AF, they were trying to cruise in auto RICH, at 20" manifold pressure, and 2800 RPM. And they set the radiator and oil cooler doors to maximum cooling. The oil temp and coolant temp were around 100°F, and fuel consumption was near double. When you tried to go to 100% power, or worse, WEP, the engines backfired, blew hoses, and burned or dropped valves, they were dead cold, and simply couldn't go to max power. No doubt, the electrical system was handicapped by having one generator on one engine, and by having two electric props. The early models had no dive flaps, and too small intercoolers. The later models solved most problems. And only the War Production Board prevented the rest from being solved.

@@AlanRoehrich9651 I do not know if Olds or McGuire were left handed? Since the P-39Js uses a yoke not stick. Reaching an item on the opposite side can be tricky . As an industrial designer I find the biomechanics of the P-38s additional mental overload if you're left handed. My uncle brought me to the planes he flew in the Philippine Air Force , including the the cockpit of P-51D . I began to understand the biomechanics and additional mental constraints that many left handers have to adjust .

Thanks!

Waffen SS were notorious for executing downed allied airmen who fell into their hands. Civilians were also guilty of the same crime. Your best chance was capture by the Luftwaffe who manned antiaircraft guns, they had the ultimate responsibility for all captured airmen and at least had a kind of sympathetic view of downed aviators.

Well think about it. It's war. We executed unarmed prisoners as well. It's a bit hypocritical to engage in an activity where the goal is the death of your enemy on a massive scale but then balk at killing a highly skilled tool of war that has likely strafed factories and trains. It was mostly fellow pilots who showed restraint to others.

I look forward to the rest! Your videos are always great!

I can’t wait keep them coming

Many pilots died of planned accidents rip

Ah, great news 👍🏻 I was wondering why some well-known are missing.

Thank you!

Not yet! On my list for potential videos though.

Thank you!

Thank you so much.

joe I believe he was flying the P80 also. Nope sorry T33

ok so first of all, the proximity fuse wasnt electronic, it was magnetic, it would detonate when a magnetic field disturbance occured (for example an aircraft entered the magnetic field of the fuse), this was simmilar to the proximity fuses the germans used on their mid to late war torpedos. you could never use it to detect enemy aircraft behind you, thats just fantasy think

How could US flak guns keep our planes getting shot down?

The proximity fuse was a device that was installed inside our antiaircraft flack shells that detected when the shell was close to an enemy aircraft and it would trigger the shell to explode. It was called a fuse, but in reality, it was an electronic detection device. I was talking about using the idea of the proximity fuse and improving on the invention for use in our fighter planes to detect enemy aircraft approaching from the rear. It would have been used for detection purposes only to alert pilots to the pressence of an enemy aircraft and wouldn't cause any damage to our airplanes.

@@treefrogjoness OK, but in an aircraft you can use a much better version since ti doesn't have to withstand the forces and acceleration of a rifle projectile

The British night bombers had something similar. A rear radar that was supposed to give warning if a night was coming from behind to attack them. In reality the radar was was always on because of the friendly bombers close by. Most of bombers just turned if of because of it. The same problem if you do it in fighter, it doesn't know if it's a friendly or a foe.

Thought the same 👍🏻

Because he wasn't just the only navy ace.

This is only last names A-E so plenty more to come!

Combat is not an accident.

Sorry but you are way off base. At the time of his death he was flying an F6F Hellcat and he died during Operation Galvanic, the Tarawa operation. He was flying a ground breaking nighttime mission and got caught in a crossfire between a TBF Avenger and a Japanese Betty bomber

@@georgesetzer5283 Sorry but we both are...the only thing I got wrong was his disappearance. Ooops. What was I thinking? Everything else I said was correct. He was flying a Wildcat on his Ace in a Day mission near Rabaul on Feb.22, '42 and the Hellcat was adopted for flight operations in Aug of '43. Three months before Butch disappeared. Correct, He was flying at night with radar equipped TBF's to draw out Japanese bombers and shoot them down. There is no way to know how he was shotdown. One of the crew of the TBF believes he saw a chute but after several searches, no wreckage or Butch was ever found.

That is exactly what this video just said.

I mean...probably makes sense since it's the Phillipines

McGuire broke one of his own rules, pulling hard on on the yoke while low & slow. He spun out in to the trees & ground.

He had 38 kias. I was stationed at the USAF base named for him

Major McGuire had 38 kills. STILL Number 2 American Ace all time.

That would be the P-80 that was in service until 1959 by any chance? You know, the one that saw combat in Korea & had som 1700 models built? The one that the T-33 Shooting Star was developed from? The problem you refer to was during the testing phase & Dick Bong's death was because he hadn't switched on the newly installed emergency fuel pump. Or, put another way, stop talking out of your arse. Chuck Yeager flew them for 500 plus hours after Dick Bong's death to prove they were safe having been chosen specifically for the job along with 3 other pilots. The number of countries that operated the P-80/T-33 was quite large with the Bolvian Air Force using them until 2017. Not bad for an aircraft you reckon they scrapped.

@@k1200ltse Well,if the P-80 have 1700 different models that proves my point.It was a price of shit and not even in the same league as the F-86.

@@markpaul8178 Not very bright, are you? A PRODUCTION run of 1700 aircraft isn't considered a failure you clown. As for the F-86 Sabre, yes, it was a superior aircraft for several reasons, mainly because it was designed after the P-80 & used lessons learned from that aircraft but mainly because captured data from Germany allowed the use of swept wings - the original XP-86 had straight wings and wasn't much different to the P-80 in terms of speed etc. But tell me, oracle of the military aviation world, given that you think 1700 aircraft built represents a failure of the type, is the Panavia Tornado with a total run of about 960 built a failure? I mean, if they only built so few it must be rubbish according to your magnificent rules. How about the Eurofighter Typhoon with a mere 571 built (as of October 2020) starting 1994? How about the F22 with a mere 187 (plus 8 test) aircraft built? That must be a real dog if they only built that few of them. How about the F9F Panther? Only a paltry 1382 of those horrendous things built. They were so bad the US Navy Blue Angels used them from 1949 - 54. Here's a good one. The Hawker Hunter. Only 1972 built. Gotta be awful with that few built, right? Go away you arse clown. I don't expect you to take any notice as you're CLEARLY a well known & noted researcher on military aircraft & aviation with extensive knowledge pulled from your arse & dispensed in Delphic form.

@@k1200ltse North American aviation was a great aircraft company,but different designs were made as jet engines became more and more powerful.1700 different models made from the P-80,that is laughable.

@@k1200ltse Very good mick you said alot of things I wanted to say...lol. It was our 1st jet I believe and there would be bugs and you hit it on the knob about Bong's failure to activate the emergency fuel pump

War Thunder!

Not to fear, this is only American Aces with last names A-E other letters to come later on.

Not to mention that George Preddy from Greensboro, NC, was the leading ace at the time of his untimely death.

This is only last names A-E. He will be in a later episode!

Flight sims IL-2 Sturmovik and War Thunder

War Thunder and IL-2 Sturmovik

Post War

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LjjqpejU5gU.html

Absolutely.

1. Hartmann 352 2. Barkhorn 301 3-5 Rall, Kittel, Nowotny One Finnish guy in the 100and up club

While Rudel was a bomber/divebomber/ground attack specialist he also scored a few victories, enough to be an ace in any allied Air Firce

@@Dilley_G45 absolutely! Rudel's grave ist only 14km away from my home! A real fighter!

@@stefanvogel8255 fantastic, do you ever visit it?!

So sorry for your loss...

He should have followed the SS-ential safety rules

Sorry but this doesn't make any sense. 😔☹️

@@robertsettle2590 It's a bad joke

@@partygrove5321 yes very bad.

Jesus kills this first child, when at age one he curses a boy, which causes the child's body to wither into a corpse. Later, Jesus kills another child via curse when the child apparently accidentally bumps into Jesus, throws a stone at Jesus, or punches Jesus (depending on the translation). When Joseph and Mary's neighbours complain, they are miraculously struck blind by Jesus. (Infancy Gospel of Thomas)

Jesus was an ace who died when a Roman speared him