Interesting fact about 'Circus'..my father was ground crew with 603(City of Edinburgh)at Hornchurch, and he told me of a very bad day for the Squadron with a fighter sweep in Northern France, which resulted in all but one aircraft being lost.The Squadron had to be withdrawn and went back to Turnhouse in Scotland
There flew in combat for the first time a Free French RAF pilot called Pierre Clostermann, who in his first mission downed two FW 190s. If I ever had an Idol in my life, it was him. Outstanding Pilot, Man, Writer, Politician and Awarded Fisherman. He ended the war as Wing Commander, flying Tempests. When the war in Algeria started he was _Deputat,_ and therefore excluded from the draft. But he went nevertheless, from a total of only three _Deputats_ who volunteered. (one of them was Jean Marie Le Pen, the Father of Marine) There he flew _Broussards_ for the Army, an aircraft similar to a Norseman, after concluding that flying combat missions on the Mistral (Vampire) was too demanding for his age. He wrote three books about his memoirs: The Great Circus - his own experience in the RAF Fighter Command - Fires in the Sky - the most noteworthy aspects of air warfare in WW II - and Intimates of Death - his own experience in Algeria under a pseudonym. All superbly written. He passed away in 2006 and France can very rightly be proud of him. This Man left Brasil to the United States and crossed the Atlantic to Britain to fight for his Country.
Bader was very one eyed. When he got an idea in his head nothing would dissuade him even if he was wrong. Sir Keith Park was by far the better. Commander.
@@mothmagic1those who knew Douglas Bader well say that he was a distasteful person; arrogant, bully, insolent and plainly rude. Many disabled persons tend to become harsh and rude, maybe out of frustration, but it the case of Bader it seems that he just worsened. Even Paul Brickill's book hints at that and it was written with Bader still alive.
Just allow me one remark, the Brewster Buffalo was not actually obsolescent; by all accounts she was _horrendous,_ and much more so when facing a Zero. 🥵
Looking at these scenes: In Il2-BoX the AI controlled (average level) Spitfire Mk V and beyond are very, very difficult to beat even in a 190 D9. They are faster in every aspect and agile like hell. And they shooting with deadly precision from any angle. Funny is: All other AI controlled planes are less dangerous esp. Mustangs and Thunderbolts.
While the RAF struggled and died all over the world in inferior Hurricanes Buffaloes and Tomahawks The insane Sholto-Douglas was throwing away cutting edge fighters and their veteran pilots in pointlessly futile circuses, rhubarbs and rodeos over unimportant targets in West Europe. It was an insane strategy that reeked of WW1 RFC Trenchardian obstinacy except then it made brutal sense. A rump force of Luftwaffe fighter pilots thoroughly defeated the entire UK fighter force as though the BoB never happened. Shameful! .
@@BlueMax109 Even if by just a few hours or even minutes yes, many good people died in that short time. Had those veteran pilots been available to not just fly against Germany but to guide and instruct newcomers to the merciless aerial combat to come who knows? Had the wealth of BoB experienced pilots and most of all our best fighter aircraft been shipped out to Malta and the far east in 1941 how much difference would that have made? But no, Sholto-Douglas murdered them all by stupidly doing what he did! I know that radar coverage on the Malay peninsula was slack to say the least but at worst our pilots could have gone up against the Zeros in Spitfire V's instead of clapped out Buffaloes and the early western desert might have been a different air war to the 'happy time' enjoyed by experienced Luftwaffe 109F pilots bringing down hordes of Tomahawks and Hurricanes every sortie. Grrrrr!
Thanks for this video. Douglas and Leigh-Mallory were vastly inferior leaders to Dowding and Park, who were insulted for their superb efforts in 1940. Glory-seeking and brainless 'offensive', they. p!ssed away Fighter Command in utterly pointless operations, while British armies from Greece to Libya to Malaya and Ceylon went without meaningful air defence. A little-known disgrace, well explained here.
The narrator's got a great voice but seems to have mispronounced a few things: gruppe, jagdgeschwader, Leigh Mallory, Jagdwaffe, Bader, Malaysia. "Friend from Foe" should be "Friend or Foe"?
Time 05:44 is erronerous number fore sure. During whole 1941 only 169 Me 109 and 2 Fw 190 were lost due to enemy fire! The number for shorter period was definitely significantly lower.
Hi, thank you for the polite disagreement. I will respond in kind politely. Every claim in the video is sourced from Donald Caldwell's book JG/26 Top Gun's Of the Luftwaffe. He is a highly respected and authoritative source on the subject matter and has published numerous books on the Luftwaffe and whose research is predicated on the idea that both sides over claimed their victories and under claimed their losses. As such, he only publishes a claim if he can verify it's veracity against the other sides documented losses or victories. Hence, you may see some discrepancy with other sources. His book was endorsed by Adolf Galland himself in the foreward as being an accurate accounting of JG/26. If you believe you have a more accurate and authoritative source then by all means share it with us so we can all benefit from the knowledge.
@@BlueMax109 Good book by Donald Caldwell. Interesting how the Germans viewed the "nonsense offensive" of the Brits. Attacking only if they had the height and dive advantage or ignoring the Circus if at a disadvantage. Ignorable due to the light bomb load of six or so Bostons and Blenhelms. Then the Mighty Eight entered the fray.
I've always thought it was just a matter of the RAF not really knowing how to fight the Fw-190, whereas the Bf 109 was a more familiar opponent. For my money the Bf-109F was the best fighter in the world in 1941-42.
Якщо порівнювать пілотів Люфтваффе з другими - британці, поляки -достойні противники, американці - брали кількістю + хорошими ТТХ своїх Р51 і Р47... Але їм була б жопа,якби не вибили люфтпілотів 39 - 44років...
