The Worst Possible Way to Lose a B-17  

well in this case they likely didn't know what had hit them, but i'm sure other cases of friendly fire in world war one and two would have been frustrating for both parties

Worse than a death spiral? 🤔 oh, you don’t know what a death spiral is? 😂 thought so. It is called a death spiral because the centrifugal forces of the fall make it impossible for the crew to move and bail out, meaning you have plenty of time to complicate your mortality before impact.

@@damndirtyrandy7721 no one asked randy and no one cares you know about the death spiral

​@@damndirtyrandy7721 Oh stfu know it all. They know that. They are right, friendly fire IS the worst and most frustrating ways to die.

You cant be talking. You choke your men with the Force.

war will always have human error

The bombsight decides when to drop the bombs, not the bombardier

They probably didn't. War is Hell on earth. Unfortunately politicians love it and make fortune after fortune. America must pay close attention and do our duties as freedom loving citizens and make damn sure government is afraid of doing anything less than what is right for the country and the citizens who employ them. Criminals have hyjacked America government because the people failed. Government can't be trusted and need majority of citizens babysitting them. America is in for very hard times and politicians and their friends all live like royalty off of citizens debt.

​@@jhardycarroll...huh? The "bombsight" is just the tool to measure ground speed & calculate impact location. Bombadiers were the literal "bomb aimers" who targeted & controlled their Norden sights & the release of muntions.

​@@jhardycarroll"Look, Ma! It's a rawgabbit!"

You need to also mention the rest of the crew that died how dare you

@@DeFunnyGuy1wdym how dare you everyone in that squad was was probally friends so when he says lost a comrade it refers to everyone

Yet the keep doing it

​@@DeFunnyGuy1... how dare you make such stupid comment?

​@@DeFunnyGuy1....idiot

Isn't it the vertical stabilizer, as it stabilizes the vertical axis?

@@amppari_234 No, because the stabilizer is horizontal to the tail. The vertical stabilizer is the one that goes up and down and holds the rudder.

@@amppari_234 It’s kind of confusing lol. User2o2 explained it pretty well

​@@User2o2oh, ok.

​@@User2o2 You mean back and forth, not up and down.

And how many bombs were flying around.

It did happen more often. It just happened that a camera was filming from the offending bomber at the time.

It did happen a bit, not always on film. It was one of the concerns the RAF had when introducing the bomber stream but they calculated it as negligible

.. that is why they fly in strategic formations..

@@ericmccaffer6113 I think they flew in formation foe better protection against German fighters.

I can understand why. I served in Vietnam for 2½ years. I can't talk about some of my experiences to this day.

my father was also in the 15th AF on B-24s , he had nightmares every single night of his life.

I"m also cannot tell my experience to you all because its a secret,so I will keep it secret in my secret folder.

Mishaps like this are part of war. Its sad but true. War is horrific on all levels. I feel for the pilots and bombardier that dropped those bombs

Norden*

@@riccicrozzie8204 Good catch stupid autocorrect!

actually it wasn't very common

@@greenwave819 So tell me why the procedure changed?

I thought the lead aircraft of the flight carried out the aiming and the remaining aircraft released their load when they saw him drop his bombs.

A real close up view also ,really sad(Horrific).🙏🪖🙏

Yeah I've seen that, all the fuel starts spraying out, I don't think the crew escaped that sadly.

If I remember correctly that was a low level bombing mission on a Ploesti, Romanian refinery or oil field. There was a stream of bombs falling in front of the B24 and one went right through the left wing between the inboard engine and wing root. It instantaneously burst into flames as the wing folded.

Pathe News claimed the B24 was hit by enemy fire. Why is friendly fire covered up? It happens regularly in most wars truth be known.

@@fleebee3639 Yes, it was the bombing raid on the oil fields at Ploiesti where that footage is from. And those were just the unlucky few who had cameras on them filming. Think about how many more happened that didn’t get caught on camera. Especially when flying in the box formation and taking hits from the flak guns drifting you over the top of another B-17 four stacks beneath you. Or getting moved out of position from incoming bogeys hitting you with 20mm cannon rounds.

That was fun 😮

Yea some fun that

Well why didn’t he say anything?? He just watched it happen?

@@Outlaw_j84 he was a belly turret gunner. There isn’t really a way to communicate to other planes from his position. Let alone in the middle of looking for enemy fighters. The plane that dropped the bombs was above his airplane too. However being suspended underneath his airplane doesn’t really give him the best view of what’s happening above.

The cat my wife owned when I met her was named Kismet. That cat hated me and I hated him in return.

Punching out can be dangerous! Even under so-called good conditions. Bless his soul.

RIP. Hell of a way to go

FYI, an F-105 carried an Electronic Warfare Officer, not a Navigator. The 2-seat versions were made for detecting and destroying SAM sites. Called by their mission designation, they were known as Wild Weasels. Weasels brave and aggressive crews, heroes all.

@av8va Thanks for the information. This is their story if interested. Accounted For 06/27/1983 Name: Larry William Biediger Rank/Branch: United States Air Force/O4 Unit: 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron Date of Birth: 23 April 1933 Home City of Record: LA COSTE TX Date of Loss: 28 January 1967 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 215800 North 1052500 East Status (in 1973): Missing in Action/PFOD Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D Missions: Other Personnel in Incident: Claude Silva, missing Refno: 0586 Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews and CACCF = Combined Action Combat Casualty File. 2020 REMARKS: REMAINS RETURNED 06/03/83 CACCF CRASH/PILOT KNOWN CAPTURED/VERY ILL APRIL 1967 DIED No further information available at this time.

The North Vietnamese prisons were at least as horrible as if run by the Gestapo or NKVD. That people like MacCan were able to withstand such savagery and survive is breathtaking. My sincere condolences.

What position was he in?

my grandfather survived a crash in a bristol blenheim. crashed it in the desert after germans sabotaged it. was considered missing in actions for a few weeks till he was able to contact base. had burns all over his body, but the didnt look to bad. survived the desert because a random caravan with camels found him

And my step father was General Patton

@@BarkerVancityWas he the airman who hid his injured girlfriend in cave and then went for help?

​​@@BarkerVancity My Dad was a small French kid, born in Tunisia, living on a farm during WWII. There was an Allied airfield nearby. My Dad had 5 older sisters, in their late teens and the Spitfire pilots, Canadians and Americans, would often visit, have dinner, hang out. One day a Spitfire crash-landed in the field behind the farm. My Dad ran up to see. The pilot was fine thankfully but the plane was toast. The pilot decided to give my Dad the altimeter off his plane & unscrewed it. A Jeep arrived just as the pilot was giving my Dad his new "toy"... but it was quickly grabbed by a superior officer. Instead, they gave my Dad the little back tire! 😂😂😂 My poor Dad bemoaned that Altimeter decades later! I've looked for the names of the pilots he would talk about but he didn't speak English as a child back, so I'm not sure if the names were right. I also don't know if these were first or last names. There was a Marshall, maybe Martial, a Cohen, a McDuff... Marshall may in fact have been one perdon, Marshall Cohen, I'm not sure... I know they flew Spitfires. I think the airbase was near Le Kef in Tunisia. I wish I could have found these men for my Dad years ago, but we didn't have the internet then. Incidentally, the reason I'm Canadian today is thanks to those wonderful fighters who made such an impression on both my Mom & Dad that they decided to immigrate here. I thank my lucky stars everyday for their choice! Thanks for listening!😊 Isabelle, Victoria British Columbia.👋🇨🇦🌠

Yeah same

It did happen quite a bit, even worse in the 1,000 bomber raids. Also, Fighters on same side, sometimes flew into each other - or into an enemy fighter - though there are several recordings of fighter pilots unable to bring down a German bomber, out of ammunition, deliberately flew into the bomber, to stop it. One was definitely a Polish fighter pilot. Plus a number of bombers flew into each other - horrifying. I think a RAF fighter pilot deliberately flew into a German bomber, aiming for Buckingham Palace, and the King of England. He planned it to try to survive himself, and he did. Can't remember his name. But he became an instant hero.

@@georgielancaster1356hè found the tail section of the German bomber to be inviting

yea I think there are pictures even of a bomber that got a bomb straight through the fuselage, but it survived

​@@georgielancaster1356 i think there were a lot of great Polish pilots that flew for the Allies

Sick pfp

Came here looking for anyone else who spotted this error.

👍🏼

The worst accidents are caused by hitting the 45-degree stabilizers.

​@@robertjensen1048wait till you damage the destabilizers

Over 30000? You are way off. Lots lots more than that.

55,000 approx & 18,000 injured or taken POW

​@@damedusa5107 note the "over" part

@@thepeanut2681 if you want to get technical, USA, British, allied ??? He doesn’t state. But if it’s allied the numbers are well over 150000

Indeed

Those who send you have an odd opinion on that one

I was fortunate to have spoken with a WW2 bomber vet a few times before he passed away...he mentioned all the deaths he and his crew had caused, men, women, and children. It was just so overwhelming for him. I don't know if it had finally caught up to him, or if he'd had those regrets all his life post-war. RIP to all vets and civilians who had to experience war.

yeah

too bad, this is real life incident, no respawn.

They need more spawn points

The AF won the sky, which controlled the ground which won the war. The horrors of trench warfare were avoided but many thousands of brave flyers died.

You forgot to switch accounts

​@Aden Mitchell that's the joke einstein

@@X-380_ZD that's the joke, einstein

@@exceptionalanimations1508 Wasn't a joke hellen keller

@@X-380_ZD that's the joke, einstein

Given the scope of the bombing campaign it's a wonder it didn't happen a lot more than that.

I couldn’t stop laughing as I read that

Glen Miller disappeared in 1944 aboard a civilian transport. He was trying to get to France after his flight was cancelled for bad weather. He obtained a seat on a transport through an officer friend of his. Because it wasn't allowed he didn't report to his chain of command he was leaving in a civilian transport and took off with another Lt Colonel aboard and were never seen again. He was missing for days before army command knew about it, the day after he disappeared the battle of the bulge began and the army was scrambling. There was no one who saw them after take off, there was no one who reported seeing the C-64 Norseman he was in. No one reported hitting an aircraft after jettisoning their ordnance. he simply disappeared, and nobody new for days.

​@@bad74maverick1aaaand I read about this some months ago, that a gunner or similar reported "hey, theres a plane down there". Note that your argument is _technically_ correct as this guy didnt identify serial number nor nationality markings. This jettison zone was allegedly in the waters south of England.

@@jonashellsborn7648 Edit: I said "Cite your sources for the "hey theres a plane down there" and how it's attributed to the Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman carrying Miller. Surly there is a date also attributed to your source that would put the bomber crew in the same area, at the same day, at a reasonable time." I realized you were citing Shaw's comment he made about what he thought happened in a return to base mission. Sorry about that. It's been a while since I studied this great mystery. The RAF Training Unit at Twinwood Farm, where Miller left from, had cancelled flights because the weather was so bad before he left anyway. They would have also been passing each other in opposite directions as Miller was heading toward France and the bomber would have been heading home if jettisoning bombs making hitting it almost impossible especially if not using bomb sights, maps and topography (to intercept it) and randomly dropping bombs as they passed one another at the exact same traverse. Also if it was in southern England it wouldn't have been miller as Twinwood Farm is closer to central England north of London which means Millers plane would have been heading south east to Paris from northern England and not in southern England. If you are referring to Shaw's interview and description, which I assume you are, not only were they off course, but the weather was so bad he wouldn't have seen the plane from the height they were at. In fact a navigator/observer in the same flight refuted what shaw said “Considering that we were jettisoning from an altitude of 3,000 feet with almost nil visibility, in my opinion it’s a ridiculous claim from any observer.” Dennis Spragg an investigator backed that up "The lowest altitude any Lancaster reported for a jettison was 5,000 feet,” he told the Guardian in 2017. “The recommended jettison altitude was 6,000 feet. One mile is 5,280 feet. A Norseman flying almost one mile below would have looked like an indistinct flyspeck.”. Shaws account was originally backed up by several other accounts but the other two didn't describe a monoplane and one account said the plane was flying in the same direction. It was also described as a kite, something the RAF used as markers, and they were flying in an official jettison area. Of the 100 plus bombers many indicated that they could barely see their wingtips, let alone so far below. Given the testimonies, I'd say there is little to no chance miller was in that area and that far off course. I would say it's most improbable.

@@jonashellsborn7648 RU-vid keeps deleting my replies to you. I will try to send them in sections. YT seems to hate discussions with facts and accounts involved.

​@@jonashellsborn7648 I believe the account you are referring to is Shaws account of that day. shaw stated that they saw a plane (kite) way down below as they jettisoned bombs in the south channel, where the zone was to dump them. Miller left RAF Twinwood Farm when they had grounded their training flights because of bad weather. Miller broke protocol and took a civilian transport which wasn't allowed and didn't inform his chain of command. From Twinwood Farm to Paris is central England north of London would mean flying in a southeast direction. To get to southern england they would have been far off course and since they took off from near london they would have known when and where they hit the coast.

Indeed, RIP ❤

No they did not, are you actually serious?

Patton was referring to the Russians.

@@1allanbmw no he wasn’t..

​@@1allanbmwPatton was actually referring to ourselves hence the friendly fire

​@@JoeMun yes he absolutely was. You shouldn't make seething comments since you obviously have zero knowledge of historically accurate history, and only regurgitate zionist supremacist propaganda

Vertical because it controls axis maneuvering and stability.

What plane?

@@guaporeturns9472 I forget but it was a big British plane

@@NathanCoady You just said it was a smaller plane..? 🤔 Please start making sense.

@@guaporeturns9472 mb but it was a Lancaster

@@NathanCoady Gotcha.. thanks for clarifying. Lancaster is a cool plane. They have one in some museum in southern Alberta I visited years ago.. was a big, beautiful plane.

Rest in peace to the poor crewman ❤

Your Uncle is a bastard for not respecting the crew

It happened to Flt Lt Bill Reid, V.C. too, though his aircraft was on the receiving end.

The formation was as much too blame.Impossibly tight to prevent such unfortunate occurrence happening .Especially at night.Your uncles reaction sounds callous but war can do that to a man.Its a bad thing at the best of times.✌️

😞😞😞

Finally someone actually respects the crew, everybody keeps making jokes, I have to admit they were funny but they never realize these are multiple people in there

And bombing civs still happens to this day. War never changes.

Every single country did it

Kraut.

@@mizzyroro your poop 💩 is made of kraut

Like the innocent civilians in Guernica, Spain in 1937 and Warsaw in 1939 or millions dying in the concentration camps?

Haha funny, but they have many people in these B-17's it is serious

okay nerd they deserved it @@DeFunnyGuy1

​@ISee1994 how?

​@@HaseebIhsanhow?

@@snackmastersupreme because they killed innocent civilians. Duh

God bless ❤

If there was a god there would be no wars.

How Cruel

But for the crew irl, not so fun Rest in peace ❤

@@StrategicBomberEnjoyer Fr..

🗣️🔥🔥🔥 ✈️💥

Centrivical force Gs your glued to the fuselage no way out

Not many know this! "And now you know the rest of the story."

I've heard that account also.

He meant "horizontal."

Yes its also very very sad indeed I pay my respects to all the crews that were on these beautiful aircraft