Watching the little senator drawings slowly slump in their chairs as they realize the kind of man they're talking to is a delightful little bit of visualization.
Fun fact about Rickenbacker in WW2: He was put on transport plane which crashed due to mechanical problems over the pacific and he spent a month or 2 adrift with the rest of the transport planes crew. They all apparently hated him by the end for his bossy attitude, but did acknowledge he probably saved their lives by maintaining discipline.
I'm giving this a rewatch in a post-Titan-sub-disaster world, and the segment about Dr. Christmas lambasting safety testing is... WOW. Boy it was stupid before but now it's just a whole new level.
Finally, a BPL video I don’t feel odd sharing with my history teacher mother. She appreciates Tex’s humor but has no interest in stompy robots, so this is a win
The replies here are exactly what I expected and I am happy about it. If you can’t get a new mother who likes stompy robots, hopefully you can get someone you can call mommy who likes stompy related things including robots and if all that fails I hope your non-stompy robot loving mom enjoys this video and that you’re both in the best of health.
Professor Tex? I just want to say that I thought 'Tex Talks History' was going to be more overview of general topics of history, like World War 1, The Great Depression, The Roman Empire, etc... I wasn't expecting such an AMAZING in-depth video over a more esoteric part of military history. Thank you!
Gonna go ahead and say it. BPL has one of the most talented crews in all of youtube, and Tex is one of the best narrators in the English-speaking world . Thanks for the illuminating and regaling talk!
As gripping and rewatchable as any TTBT. It's ironic that a real historian had to do so many fictional historical documentaries just to finally get a chance to do a historical documentary. Love it. Keep it up. I'm there for any of either type.
Professor Tex... clearly you have the heart of an academic. To the Black Pants Legion let me say.... This was impressive. As someone who is also an academic at heart (why don't universities pay more!!!), I want to say a work like this deserves to be elaborated on and further peer reviewed. I am a 'plane guy' and a 'ship guy'. If this had been a story about tanks I wouldn't be surprised that I didn't know of Dr. C before hand. But the fact he was born in NC (my home state), went to UVA (my friend runs their hospital's labs) and then graduated from GWU (my dad's best friend got his PhD there) I am shocked and frankly impressed and happily surprised you brought this to my attention. I certainly will have to dive a bit deeper into the history, as I would want to formulate my own opinions but geeezzzzz.... you really slammed the door on this guy pretty hard already. The world needs more of this quality of content and education. There is certainly a lot of life experience to be taken away from this wonderful lecture. Entertaining, informative, factual (love that you provide your sources)... How about you let me sum up my praise with this comparison. Jim Valvano once said if you think, you laugh and you cry, everyday, then that is a helluva day. You've had a helluva day. Well sir, I laughed and I thought. Wasn't quite moved to tears, but perhaps I should have been/will be in the future at the absurdity of this story. Hat tip to you all. I give this lecture an overall safety rating of 7.
I’ve met a odd amount of professors who were often enough either drug abuser and or dealers as well as hot messes who just have their student aids do everything is . . . Indicative of some systemic “issues” in the field , you dodged a bullet by skipping that field.
30-year pilot here. I work for one of the big three now. Not Delta so chill out. I knew exactly what you were going to get into almost at the start. Love it! Christmas was an absolute lunatic. Oh and the guy flying figure eights across the river by your house. He is probably working on his pilots certificate. Being able to adjust for the wins aloft and make a perfect figure eight across the road or a river any kind of straight line is a maneuver you have to practice and then demonstrate for your certificate. Great video. Can't wait for the next one!
Can't help but feel like this video is criminally underrated... The amount of research, writing, and work that went into this is incredible, and I think that dedication shows!
On the one hand: Tex Talks Battletech taught me to love a new sci-fi setting in all its lovely, cynical glory. On the other hand: Tex talks history, by the virtue of operating in a subject I know enough about to understand the allusions and references better, can make me spit out my drink laughing at least once per minute for over an hour. I will watch both at every opportunity, but I gotta say, I think Tex's *impeccable* delivery at calling people batshit insane might be even better suited to talking history than fiction.
I think BPL have just hit jackpot with this one. Another well-made documentary video with facts, cultural references, plain stupidity, over-the-top daring/craziness and so much human shenanigans.
I've heard of the Christmas Bullet before, but I never knew the story behind it was so batshit crazy... Honestly, it makes me appreciate the craziness battletech lore sometimes achieve.
Honestly, nature and history always seem to out-crazy whatever happens in fiction. Like water bears being functionally invincible. Or the Hacksaw Ridge (I think) movie having to Underplay how many people he saved while under fire.
@@SendarSlayer Fiction has to be plausible. It has to make you think "Yeah, I could see that happening." It has to seem, perversely, realistic. But Reality doesn't give the slightest damn about your belief in it, and it'll slap you around with utter absurdity while you sob about it not having enough verisimilitude.
The current war was my fav bit of lunacy of this era when growing up until I found out about the medical fields insanity. the doctor who ended three lives in one amputation is a story that stuck with me. Another was the fact that the guy who created the current system students have to go through to become doctors was on foaming at the mouth levels amounts of Colombian marching powder the entire time he practiced.
@@the13inquisitor59 the doc was trying to do the fastest amputation possible cut his assistant while removing the limb patient bleed out assistant died of infection from the dirty saw & a witness had a heart attack from the shock of a doctor haphazardly chopping his assistants hand off
Tex, this is phenomenal. This didn't feel like wikipedia history regurgitation, this felt like a video that could only be produced by a man with a masters in history and an incredible skill for presentation. Please make more.
As a former civil air patrol cadet, thanks for shining a light on this great group of people. I learned a lot during my time as a cadet that has helped me as an adult.
Honestly, it's probably for the best Dr Christmas didn't practice medicine very much. Dude likely would have killed a lot more people than two unfortunate test pilots. Excellent documentary, very enjoyable to watch and listen to. Thank you to everyone at the BPL production house.
You stopped by my husband's MechWarrior stream once, so I thought I would come check out your channel! You have a fantastic voice for narration, and seeing as how I have a soft spot for early aviation history this video was absolutely delightful! I really can't wait to hear more from you, you've rocketed to the top of my list for history RU-vidrs instantly!
This was exceedingly enjoyable. "The Christmas Bullet" sounds (appropriately) like the headline for an infamous assassination, (which I would love to read if anyone has some fun alternate history they'd like to share.) You guys get better at this every time, and I always smile at how much fun you all seem to have in making these sorts of productions. Damn fine job as always, and merry Christmas!
Oh yeah, "The Christmas Bullet" sounds like the title of a pulpy noir detective story, one revolving around a murder at a Christmas party held by all the richest men and women in New York City, where everyone has enough dirt and skeletons in their closet to justify a motive, or at least interfere with the investigation just to protect their unrelated crimes from exposure...
the christmas bullet... how a revolutionary physician turned aviator, who created a plane capable of out speeding, out maneuvering, and out-distancing anything at the time... was shot by a german assassin when he refused the billion dollar gold deal, thusly denying America its best and brightest.
A rare breed indeed. If I may ask, what does that actually entail? In my head, I've always envisioned a museum curator who could uncharitably be described as hyperfocused on one specific culture, conflict, or country. I find that mental image to be very strange because most of the fans of history I know tend to be very well read on a very wide range of subjects. I swear, it's like watching people at a swap meet. "Trade this book on the geography of Mesopotamia for that book on the overlapping conflicts of the 80 Years war and that red stone from the Big Horn Mountains" kind of thing... I kept the stone.
@@Deridus it involves a lot of reading, understanding the importance of perspective in history, both in terms of cultural and temporal bias, among other things. You're essentially taught how to collect and interpret information, even when that information is incomplete or otherwise unreliable. There are differences depending on the period you study, ancient history will often cross over with archeology for example, whereas my discipline, modern history - crosses over with social and political theory more. It's the skills that are key, rather than the specific period. I have worked in the museum/cultural sector before, in public facing roles, but history is more of a hobby for me at the moment. If the right job came up I'd go back, but decent museum work opportunities are limited, even to those with advanced degrees.
As an archaeologist and historian nearly finished with her bachelors degree (archaeological field school in Jordan coming up), this was fantastic! I've always loved and enjoyed that mad period of invention during the late Victorian age as a field of historical study, combine that love with the talent of Tex and all the BPL and you've got a great fucking video! Thanks so much guys!
Wonderful work tex, you managed to get my ADHD addled mind to focus unflinchingly on something for nearly an hour and a half which is an accomplishment.
Please continue this series, and focus on the personalities and inventions that shaped our modern world in spite or because of their failures, that nobody's ever heard of. This is the reason your Battletech essays are the best ever made and the same approach to real world history is invaluable.
Jesus Tex, that 10 minute intro could have been a few different youtube videos by itself. You madman, I hope you didnt loose too much sleep while researching this beast of a documentary.
People learning from history. What a world that would make. Thanks for the hard work, chief. I appreciate every bit of the team's blood, sweat, and tears that went into this.
Honestly one of the finest documentaries on RU-vid. It's really something to consider that this entire, complicated story might have been completely lost to history and human memory if not for the efforts of one man to write it all down - seemingly just in an effort to preserve his own sanity. It's a reminder of how much history is lost, and how easily it becomes lost.
With the hush-hush approach to the topic, I had a dozen different ideas of what I hoped it would be, none of which were correct. Rather than being disappointed, I was deeply entertained and truly impressed.
Doctor Christmas truly embodies the enterprising American spirit of PT Barnum, most especially his quote: "There's a sucker born every minute". What a fantastic yarn you have spun, Mr. Tex! Hats off to you!
I'll admit, I was skeptical when I first heard the announcement of "Tex Talks History" as something that was going to Be A Thing. As a natural consequence, I've been pleasantly surprised today, and I now look forwards to the next story in what I hope will prove a very fruitful series.
You know, all those time in stream you said "Tex talk history" my brain just didnt process you would do a big cool video about *our* history and not battletech history. That being said I'm glad you did do it. you're interesting to listen to and the quality of your video is always top notch.
I am a fan boy of Tex’s Battletech lectures, but these history lectures that are pg enough to be used in a classroom… well it’s just majestic, and beautiful. Thank you BPL, and thank you, Tex.
Oh to be a barnstormer in the interwar years... Excellent work on this. It brings to life the truth of a madman. I'm very impressed. It deserves more views for sure
Such a great through-line here, you can tell that Tex the historian is fascinated by weapons acquisition and development. The passion comes through in the video, this was fantastic.
I know you don't want to be *famous* famous, and the idea of a lot of people perceiving you in general is uncomfortable, but this will probably hit a million views eventually. Not putting a timeline on it, but real life history that covers the specific details that SO MANY don't bring up is weirdly rare. I sincerely hope you aren't ready for the attention this will bring and I hope you can bring yourself to do it again after you recover from it because you have a voice made for this. Exact. Thing. Also your team needs 2 more years of backlogged work.
This is one of the craziest stories most folks have never heard of. Thank you Tex and the BPL team for bringing it to light for all of us! I hope the next TTH subject is equally as weird, obscure, and awesome if not moreso. Excellent job!
Let me just say Professor Tex, I understand your frustration with trains. I had to get a new route to work to avoid getting stopped behind this unpredictable, capricious train that runs across the road separating me from the college. I feel your pain, sir.
BPL team produces it best film yet. You fine people have made the internet, RU-vid and my understanding of aviation history better. Plus, you did while also being entertaining. Well done and thank you all.
I put this off until I had a calm 90 minutes with no errant thoughts or interruptions. Tip of the hat. It's a warm blanket of human entertainment from the inexhaustible hoppers of history. High recommend more of these.
Tex, thank you for this particular donation run. I was a member of Civil Air Patrol back in the late 90's and early 2000's. We were never able to get much funding for much of anything, as our budget comes directly from the USAF. We were pretty far down the list of funds. The best we could hope for was generous donations, as it's a non profit organization. Thank you so much for bringing attention to this wonderful organization.
I just gotta say I really appreciate the amount of work you guys put into these tex. Out of all the content I regularly watch, your videos are the ones I come back to watch repeatedly more than any other. They're legit documentary tier at this point. This is the 3rd time I''ve watched this video.
What a commentary on the military industrial complex in regards to aviation. Someone rolled a 1 on production but a 20 on charisma. I had no idea this ever happened. And such an entertaining and well-told story! Thank you!
I remember reading about the Spad in "Falcons of France" back in the early 90's while suffering through High School. Amazing plane. Outstanding Work Gentlemen.
Damn how did I just miss this. Good hear Tex talk about history with his twist on it. It really helps when you can weave a story with a history lesson.
The presentation is truly superb, the editing, sources, voice acting are all impressive. I adore that you chose a topic and specific chapter very often forgotten. The Dr. Christmas Effect will forever stay in my vernacular thanks to you. Looking forward to more of this!
Just saw the donation was for the Civil Air Patrol, Great organization, had many wonderful years with them. Thanks for bringing some attention to them.
Awesome to see. Great work Mr. Tex and team, you've knocked it out of the park again, and managed to showcase a topic that always makes me angry (RIP test pilots) in a way that didn't leave me wrathful and depressed. (On a side note, and for your information- despite specifically asking youtube for a notification, the only reason I got to watch along with this premiere was that I happened to glance at my phone at about the right moment, and remembered the time you'd told people it was going to be from last Tuesday's stream. No YT notifications, even though I'm still subscribed, done the bell icon, all the other stuff. Thankfully, sheer luck got me here before the end of the opening credits)
Tex, thank you so much for this wonderful documentary on how scams for new techs are an age old thing. It is a bit reassuring in the modern day to see we have always had to put up with this sort of grift. The story of Dr. Christmas is an amusing dark tale you told very well.
So, about the "Safety factor of 7" -I did some googling, I am not an aeronautical engineer or expert, so take this with a grain of salt, but there is actually a measurable safety factor in aeronautics, which is basically how much additional stress (referred to as "load") a part or airframe can take beyond what it was designed to take. Load is calculated as the lift force acting on an aircraft divided by its weight, usually referred to in "Gs". For reference, a load factor of one "g" is expected in straight and level flight. Assuming that Dr. Christmas' plane was design according to the spec of most other WWI-era fighter planes, we're looking at being designed for 2-3gs regularly, with bursts of 4-7gs in heavy maneuvering. So in order to have a "Safety factor of 7", at minimum, Dr. Christmas' airplane would have to be able to withstand at least 14gs of force before breaking up. For reference, the F-16 fighter aircraft, currently the most produced current fighter in the world, can withstand up to 9gs before beginning to fail.
I dearly loved this! Despite having an appreciation of aviation and history, I'd never heard anything about Doctor Christmas; for which I bitterly blame my upbringing and the pernicious state of education to which I'd been subjected. Please, gentlemen, consider expanding this series! Even more amusingly, how about a TEX TED talk?
Tex and Crew, this was a treat to watch and well worth the wait. Im waiting for the next one both the Hunchie and the Knight and whatever bit of History you care to show us good sirs.
