The REAL Masters of the Air - Big Week - The German Pilot's Perspective - Animated 

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It must have been really demoralizing for the German pilots to know that no matter what they did, they weren't going to stop the bombers or the invasion, short of surrendering.

So that scene from "Fury" where the tankers look up at the sky to see 5 German aircraft flying towards an entire fleet of Allied aircraft isn't fictional....

If anyone is unaware, Heinz Knoke's memoirs titled 'I flew for the Fuehrer' is an excellent book - well worth the read.

It’s insane how much fuel, ammo and planes were needed for stuff like this daily

February 22, 1944….during “Big Week” my namesake Uncle was on one of 45 8th Air Force bombers shot down. No one in his crew survived.

I'm a 51 year old who has read and studied history, especially the period around the two world wars, for 30 years now. I've often thought that the Luftwaffe pilots were the first ones to know for certain that there was no way for Germany to win the war. Even when the Nazi's had the upper hand on the ground, the situation in the air was already turning against them and that was FAR earlier than 1944. No matter how many planes they shot down, there never seemed to be any noticeable drop in the eyes of German pilots. And the sheer number of bombers in the air was a demoralizing sight for any German.

Does anyone know the two B-17s shot down by Knoke and his wingman featured in this video? My very good Friend was shot down Feb 22 over Bielefeld from a formation of B-17s that had trouble forming up. They missed their fighter escort and were only about 45 strong, elements of the 381st and 91st. He was flying in "coffin corner" in a B-17 flown by Francis Flaherty named "Friday the 13th". This whole video lines up with his account and that of the most recent historical account of the 8th air force, and I'd love to know if Knoke shot him down. My friend is 99 years old and going strong. I'm sure he'd love to know who did it!

Greetings from Regensburg, reasonable good aim by the USAAF and lack of RAF night bombing left us with on of the few remaining medival city centers in Germany. Now a UNESCO world heritage site. The Messerschmitt factory was eventually wiped out anyway. Today there is a park and a public bath.

This is the only channel that I watch where the presentation and narration is so good that I regularly rewind to hear portions again, just because it was so amazing to hear what was said.

its insane how "young" these senior/veteran/ace airmen/sailors/soldiers are during the war. when i was 22 im still sitting in my couch eating chips at 2am lol...i've done nothing

In the late 1990s, I worked with a lady named Doris in Las Vegas. She was a waitress in her mid 70s. She grew up in Germany and remembers foraging for edible roots and wild vegetables with her mother and sister in the woods near her home in between Allied bombing raids during the war. Wild stuff.

the diary quotes hit hard, counting the friends you have left on one hand - knowing your fight is a losing battle

If you turn off your screen and just listen, you can feel every detail of the story

Can you imagine what a thousand bombers and escorts would look like from the ground? A THOUSAND! I mean, I know a lot had to turn back because of mechanical issues, and they did split up to different targets but you get my point. Seeing hundreds of bombers flying overhead to their targets would be wild. One of my favorite depictions of watching bombers fly overhead on the way to their targets is actually in the movie Fury.

It's always super interesting to hear any stories from a non allied perspective.

An episode that is especially interesting for me as I grew up in Wunstorf. After the war the airbase had been in use for some years by the RAF. It played a major role in the Berlin airlift. Nowadays it is used by the German Bundesluftwaffe.

Just finished the Intel Video about the development of the long range escorts😊

"Theo, I've just used all my ammunition. I'm going to ram. Good bye. See you in Valhalla." - Heinrich Ehrler

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